Need suggestions for my next graphic novel project
Dream9Studios
Posts: 125
I've been working on a spy story to turn into a graphic novel for quite a while now. I gave it a try in mid 2009 but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped and gave up about half way through. Now I'm giving it another try since I've hopefully improved a lot since then. I've got most of the stuff planned out and I've finished my first draft of the story but I find it a bit lacking, even for a first draft. It's got promise but it needs more, I think.
Question; what (to you) makes for a good spy story in the retro genre?
I absolutely love the 1960s spy genre so that's what I'm focused on. Still, I think I'm missing some essential elements but I'm just not sure what those elements could be since I can't do any more research right now (my Netflix sub ran out). So I'm asking for ideas of what I need to include so people will view it and say "oh, it's a spy genre novel".
I've got globetrotting, scenes that take place in a casino, unnecessarily easy to escape yet terrifying death traps, a maniacal villain with henchmen and a plot to take over the world, lots of cool gadgets, and an atypical female lead along with the typical action and intrigue.
I'm not yet sure if I want to go serious, semi-serious, or parody. At the moment, my first draft is semi-serious.
If you'd like to see what prep work I've done so far, I made a website for it with my concept art and more stuff to come. It's at http://rigby.d9s.co/ Just be warned that the intro I wrote for the website currently is... not up to par. I need to rework it at my first available opportunity.
I'd very much appreciate you suggestions!
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Comments
Retro spy genre? You need a heavy helping of the 3 Gs, Girls, Guns and Gadgets
Interesting, I loved the old Bond flicks and Dean Martin as Matt Helm, so you have my attention.
in looking at the concept art, the one thing i see is that none of your characters really have a retro feel to them, they all look and seem modern. Your main guy Joel is to young and comes across lacking in wisdom and experience. If you age Shadowing Man by about 10 years, I think he would make a better main character. I like Volos, almost for the main character since he seems more intriguing and worldly. maybe he could be another countries agent helping Joel. Ciera works for me, but I feel you need more underling agents around.
Storyline, give the main character an interesting and intriguing background which gives credence to his actions while doing his job, otherwise, he's just another agent.. Maybe some twists like the director on the take, the secretary working for ARKA, even exotic romance interests that are ARKA spies/assassins.
Anyway, just some ideas, best of luck with it.
Got all that, LycanthropeX. :-)
Great suggestions, FSMCDesigns! I've got a few of those twists included already but I think I'll include a few more of them. You did mention one thing that is missing from my first draft, the characters' backgrounds. Right now I have little to nothing and that definitely needs to change. Will have to strike a balance between background and the main story but I think I can pull that off.
It's tough to get that retro look given how little retro 3D clothing there is out there. I'm trying, though it appears I need to try harder. Agreed about Joel, he looks too boyish. I'm working on that and will hopefully come up with a far superior concept of him for the next round.
PS
Everyone knows James Bond but so few people recall Matt Helm. Kudos to you! I also love Derek Flint. :D
I actually have all Matt Helm on DVD, LOL. Oh yeah, forgot about Flint, if you could fine a character likeness of James Coburn, that would rock. I was looking at hair for a project and thought this guy/texture/hair would make for a good main character
http://www.daz3d.com/hair/short/royal-prince-hair
Clothes will be tough, but I would think sets will be harder.
I do some imagery for publishers when they send me the story details, but have thought about doing my own, you kind of inspired me with your novel, look forward to seeing how yours pans out.
need more Asian characters, guys like Oddjob, Tiger Tanaka, and Dr No, as well as the deadly and dangerous Dragon Lady characters were big in cold war fiction. During WWII Japan was Germany's ally, after the War Communism became our big threat, so China wasn't trusted. Asian characters of that era had a great role in can I trust this person or not? Some were bad, some were good, some were both.
I also agree some of your male characters look too young. The cold war era was a time when out heroes looked like Charles Bronson and James Coburn. More rugged looks, not the pretty boys you see now
need your Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin types
I think a lot of energy will be wasted if the style isn't established right from the start. It's far easier to adjust story to fit style than it is to try and change style half way through while maintaining visual continuity (assuming story is not ultra-realistic, but if it is, then it should really be completed before starting anything else to avoid plot headaches later).
I agree that based upon your current preference of semi-serious, and current summary on the introduction page, Man From U.N.C.L.E. would appear to be the show to study stylistically.
The slight problem with "1960s spy genre" is that it's too broad to offer you a solid direction to go in e.g. noir is very specific, it can cover a multitude of topics, but there are certain essential elements that define a story as noir... whereas with retro 60s spycraft, this can range from farcical fantasy (Matt Helm) to realistic tension (Harry Palmer), with just about every degree in between being potrayed in some movie or TV series (Danger Man, James Bond, Mission Impossible, The Avengers, Callan, Man In A Suitcase, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold etc etc).
Once you've narrowed down the precise sub-genre style to do, then you can focus on how to portray it... if it's along the lines of Man From U.N.C.L.E. for example, then murders can be jovial and plot twists do not need to be breaking new ground (not to be confused with an excuse for lazy storytelling of course!).
Of course, that all having been said, if by "retro" you mean Austin Powers, then it would just be wall to wall spy movie in-jokes and famous scene parodies.
Don't forget The Avengers as another possible source of inspiration, and Danger Man though my memories of that are hazier.
and of course Danger Mouse!!!!
http://youtu.be/Wv43hKSzBws
If it's the 60'sspy genre, have a look at NO ONE LIVES FOREVER series of video games, they took a lot of the genre cliche' from many of the sources mentioned above and shook them up into the games.
OMG yes!!! Patrick McGoohan, though here in the States the show was called Secret Agent. He was good looking AND rugged. Oh and, of course, the other Patrick . . . namely Macnee, a/k/a John Steed, The Avenger.
Two of my favorite TV shows back in the early '60s. :-)
I've always liked your graphic noves Lizzie, and I'm a huge fan of spy novels (own and have read every one of Robert Ludlum's books), so keeping my eye on this thread. ;-)
I'm now reworking my male characters to "rough" them up a bit. Joel kind of vaguely looks like Jeremy Renner now, not that that is a bad thing at all but it was totally unintentional. :-)
@LycanthropeX
The secretary, Emi Riko is Asian though it's kind of hard to tell because her hair and glasses cover up too much of her face. I'll see what I can do about that because you're absolutely right the symbolism.
@Jabba101
I definitely don't mean Austin Powers. Those movies were hilarious when I was a kid but for some reason they don't have as much appeal for me anymore. I agree with what you're saying about style. That's why I'm trying to get my concepts in order before and while I write so I don't write something wrong or impossible to properly visualize. I think I will go with semi-serious because that's just the type of person I am. Expect some smart mouth dialog and a few funny blink and you'll miss it settings gags.
@Richard Haseltine
Oh yes, I love The Avengers especially the Emma Peel episodes! She and that show are one of my main inspirations for this.
@FirstBastion
I LOVE THOSE GAMES!!! I haven't played them in probably ten years or so though. I'm ever careful not to copy what I remember but I think it would be worth playing them again just to research the styling. Yeah, sounds like a good excuse to play some games to me!
@Miss B
Aw, thanks! :-)
Okay, I think I got everybody... thanks for all the replies! I'll keep you posted about when I update the characters thanks to all your suggestions.
I once read a book called Scorpio One, at last I think that's what it was called. It was very much in the vein of these spy genre stories although it took place in the 90s. There were alot of the things you see in Bond movies that were part of that book; heists, plans for world domination, villainy and sexy women and lots of sex, not to mention technobabble and technological gimmickery.
Anyway, here are some off-tangent ideas I could think of.
1. Base your villain or villains on real life leaders/business men/women who are relevant right now: Apple, Bill Gates, Stephen Harper, and so on. Exaggerate them though to about 1000 % LOL.
next...
2. I love the X-Files and they dealt with a lot of paranoia. Meaning secondary characters that worked alongside our hero and his crew were sometimes shady, Agent X being one. You never quite knew what he was about.
You also had Krychek and he was worm but you also had other characters that helped Mulder, even the Cigarette Smoking Man helped Mulder out plenty of times.
They did that one story during season 6 which had nothing to do with Mulder or Scully, it was about an agent in the 50s. There was a lot of paranoia in that story, the russians, etc, military and so on. Paranoia!!!
You could also throw in a monster in there too to shake things up LOL.
A. Shady friends/foe with unclear or unfocused agendas/goals that develop over time if you are planning on more stories with your book/novel
B. Paranoia of government, companies, establishment, McDonald's, charities, etc.
C. Monsters!
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3. Main Character: I think its about time we had a character that is well... open.
If anything I think that would bring more interest in your story if the character was open enough for same sex hookups at the very least, if you are comfortable with that. :D
next...
I'll see if I can come up with some more but I think most of them have already been mentioned. Good luck!
Great suggestions, mardook! I never thought of using the X-Files as an inspiration but that just goes to prove that anything could be great inspiration, especially anything that has such great storytelling.
Good call about basing the villain on a contemporary that people can relate to. Do you think I could find a 3D model of Donald Trump's hair to put on the ARKA Leader?? LMAO
I think I've got the paranoia thing covered (they will discover evidence of a double agent, who could be anyone in SPARK.) Although I do rather love the idea of being paranoid of McDonald's. I'm pretty sure those came about in the 50s here in the US but were they world wide by 1966? Oh man, now I'm thinking that could be a great "take over the world" plot. I mean, I've often thought that they drug their french fries to make me eat more of them. LOL
Given the obsession with all thing nuclear, monsters could definitely be a possibility of mad science gone wrong. Yet another good suggestion!
I'll give #3 some thought. Not really something I'm into but that doesn't mean I won't consider it as a story enhancement for at least some character(s). Got to have some diversity here!
Do keep the ideas coming, all of you, if you can. I'm writing down a list I'm calling "Stuff to Consider As I Write Next Draft" and most of the stuff is coming from this thread.
Here's v2.0 of Joel Rio. I think I'm on the right track now but he probably still needs some work. Do you think he needs to be more aged, rougher, etc? He had that scar on his cheek before but now it's larger and more pronounced plus I darkened around his eyes because I doubt super spies get that much quality sleep time. :-) Also added a better hair style that still fits with the time period according to my research. Hair styles were a lot more varied in the mid 60s than I would have guessed!
At the moment I'm brainstorming for a prologue that explains exactly how Ciera got into SPARK without diverting from the main story of this particular book (I hope to make it a series!). Hopefully I will be able to tie it all together so it all makes sense in the end...
I was kidding about McDonald's but I too love their fries. When I see McDonald's down the street, that fries craving kicks in and then I gorge myself and then I hate myself!
Don't worry about #3 it was just a one off idea. :D
LOL I knew you were kidding. Still, it would make for a very "different" sort of foe. :D
I'm now working on the next round of concept art while I also brainstorm for the second story draft. I've got a lot of new ideas to include thanks to all of you!