Underdogs

The Joys of Risk

What separates a good story from a great one? In many ways, less than what separates a great story from a terrible one. The greatest stories I’ve ever read, watched, or played in any mediums were the ones that took risks, that took their characters to new and dangerous places from where they couldn’t easily return.  These were the stories that made me excited to follow the characters, because I couldn’t guess what would happen next, but the intensity of what the heroes endured made me eager to tune in. Even when I didn’t think the direction the story was going in was a good idea, or when I found faults with the writing, I was still interested because the story was so unique and compelling. And I learned this from Chris Claremont, the man who made the X-Men great.

joys-of-risk

 

One of the greatest influences on my own comic work, Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men for seventeen consecutive years, and in doing so exemplified how to keep characters fresh and interesting over even the longest period of time. Since very few people knew or cared about the X-Men when Claremont was hired to write the book, he was able to not only create new characters, but radically redefine the existing ones. It was under him that Magneto went from a one-dimensional megalomaniac to an embittered Holocaust survivor fighting to spare the world another such genocide, and one who eventually renounced his extremist ways to try and work with the X-Men. It was also under him that Professor Xavier, the X-Men’s omnipresent and intrusive adult supervision, was gradually pushed into the background and eventually sent away to outer space, allowing the cast room to make their own choices and thus their own mistakes. And it was under Claremont that the status quo was never stable or certain, such as the period in 1988 when the X-Men faked their deaths and operated in secret, while camping out in an Australian Outback base. Not all of these changes worked in practice (such as that year in 1990 where team disbanded and the book focused on the various X-Nomads’ alternating solo adventures), but it was always compelling even when it was outright strange.

Of course, as Claremont made the X-Men popular, he also gave parent company Marvel Comics much more reason to watch their new brand like a hawk, and eventually the man who made the franchise beloved left over creative differences, while the book regressed to a more familiar status quo and an illusion of change replacing the real thing.  By the time Claremont left, Magneto was a villain—again, the X-Men were living in Xavier’s mansion—again, and new story directions frequently reversed themselves, so dead characters would never stay that way and heroes who left the team for whatever reason would always return. It’s difficult to fault Marvel for trying to make money, especially when so many people do that in much worse ways than just making mediocre editorially-driven comics. (Nor am I implying that there have been no good X-Men stories since Claremont’s first departure, though many of the better ones—particularly those by Grant Morrison and Joss Whedon—seem preoccupied with metatextual satire on the franchise’s creative sterility).

However, I bring up Claremont’s X-Men because it was one of the few times that a corporate-owned comic was directed by a unique authorial voice, and the franchise’s subsequent regression proved the importance of such creative control. And since we self-published webcomickers do not have any editorial restrictions, it is our duty to take make our stories as personal, creative, and risky as possible. Once our comics start making money (if any of us are so lucky), then we have legitimate reasons to be cautious with our works and their marketability. Until then, I urge you all to take as many risks as possible. Give your characters the kind of stories the X-Men can no longer see, if not for yourself, then for Wolverine and the complete lack of character progress he’s seen over the past couple of decades.

Written by Neil Kapit, creator of Ruby Nation.

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7 Responses to “The Joys of Risk”

  1. DaemonDan

    Nice post, Neil (even though the MAN wants me to think Michael posted it).

    I wholeheartedly agree that we should take risks and try to tell our stories creatively, without feeling like we have to limit ourselves and our art.

    That’s something I try to really take to heart when I’m writing my story. I don’t want it to be so creative and risky that no one wants to read it, but I don’t want it to be boring and simply “another” webcomic. It’s certainly a delicate balance.

    Reply
    • Michael Yakutis

      LOL! Sorry, we can’t change the “Posted by___” But hey, Neil’s name is in the title!

      Reply
  2. Sinclair Gray

    Taking risks is always fun! I plan to do just that, but have my brand flourish from it. Is it a gamble yes, but I want to be innovative and pull others into my imagination.

    Reply
  3. melaredblu

    Even without editorial input, taking risks with the story can be a scary experience since it’s so easy to just keep thing under control instead. Still, I agree that the best stories take risks that lead to a satisfying payout. I guess it’s just another obstacle growing writers and artists have to conquer.

    Reply
  4. Michael Yakutis

    This is a great blog, Neil. Well done, well done. To me, Claremont was/is the most important figure in Marvel history, save for the founders of the company. I always considered myself to be in the X-Men camp, rather than Avengers.

    Is Claremont still doing any work with Marvel? I know that they kind of screwed him years ago, but I don’t know the full story.

    Reply
  5. NeilKapit

    Thanks, everyone! To my knowledge, Claremont isn’t currently working with Marvel. He started writing the X-Men again in 2000, and worked on various projects within the line from 2000 to 2009. Unfortunately none of those works matched the heights of his original run, and not just due to editorial meddling. Still, there was some really good stuff in Claremont’s second tenure, most notably X-Men Forever (basically showing us what would’ve happened if he didn’t leave the franchise in 1991, starting with Wolverine’s death).

    Reply

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