This content was originally included in an issue of The Duelist magazine. The original article can be accessed via Internet Archive here.

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Main Magazine Page: The Duelist #5

By Jeofrey Vita

When I was younger, I always looked forward to each Friday when all the new comics came in to my favorite store. I waited patiently outside, peering in from time to time at the store employees counting out the titles and stocking the books on the shelves. When the doors finally opened, I rushed in, bought the books that I desperately needed to read, and went home happy. But in my love for comics, I never stopped to think about the work that went into producting the book. As far as I was concerned, someone wrote it, so-and-so drew it, and I read it. Period.

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Now I’m a little bit older and have the good fortune of actually working in the comics industry. As the assistant editor of the Armada line for Acclaim Comics, I oversee the progress of our newest project, comics set in the world of Magic: The Gathering™. Jeffrey Artemis-Gómez, Armada Line Editor and series writer, and the entire Acclaim Comics staff, along with the folks over at Wizards of the Coast, have assembled top talent to bring the worlds of the Dominia multiverse to life. Penciller Val Mayerik, inkers James Pascoe and Rick Bryant, and colorist Mark Csaszar are responsible for the beautiful work on the first series, Magic: The Gathering — The Shadow Mage, which began in March. Penciller Rafael Kayanan, inker Rodney Ramos, colorist Eric Hope, and cover painter Charles Vess create Ice Age on the World of Magic: The Gathering. In May, look for the Fallen Empires™ comic, brought to you by writers Kevin Maples and Jeff Gómez, penciller Alexander Maleev, inker Rodney Ramos, and colorist Mike Tuccinard—not to mention cover artist Anson Maddocks!

Stop for a minute and look at the above list again. That’s a lot of people. And in terms of producing the books, there’s a lot more still!

So what actually goes into making a comic book? Thomas Edison said, “Invention is 2 percent inspiration, and 98 percent perspiration.” He may as well have been talking about comics.

First, Line Editor Jeff Gómez and I confer with Bob Layton, Acclaim Comics Editor-in-Chief, to determine whose talents would best represent the book. For the Ice Age™ comic series, we chose Rafael Kayanan as penciller, Rodney Ramos as inker, Eric Hope as colorist, and Charles Vess as our cover painter. After the team was chosen, Bob Layton stayed on as senior consultant to get us out of any creative jams we might find ourselves in.

In the comics, we want to tell stores which help develop Dominaria, the planet where much of Magic: The Gathering and its expansions are set, and which fits in with the story on the cards. In the Ice Age comic, Jeff set out to depict a proud race of people who struggle to survive despite the falling temperatures of a global Ice Age. To do this, Jeff develops a page-by-page breakdown of the action in the story. Jeff uses this breakdown, called a “plot,” to convey to the penciller what he wants to see on each page.

Page 10 of this plot reads like this:

The party arrives at the abandoned encampment of the Lost Tribe the next morning , Onala still in shock over Gregor’s death.

A dense mist makes for a foreboding search.

As they do, Kailo questions Zaraya. She has lost another man—doesn’t she feel for Gregor? The answer from Zaraya, of course, is yes. But now is not the time. A terrific evil is afoot. It must be rooted out and destroyed. Does Kailo criticize her leadership… or does he criticize her womanhood?

Bolar calls out. He has found a lone nomad

Here, Jeff sets up the action of the page, placing all the characters in their appropriate moods. Jeff also includes any visual elements, such as the mist, which he feels will contribute to the overall composition. While there is no actual dialogue yet, Jeff indicates the flavor of any conversarion so that the penciller can give each character the correct expressions. From here, the plot goes to the penciller. who will do his best to inrerpret the action.

But before that can happen, the entire plot has to be sent over to WotC for final approval. The Dominia continuity editor, John Tynes, and the Magic R&D team go through the plot with a fine-toothed comb, evaluating the story’s content and making suggestions for changes. When the plot meets with approval, it comes back to Acclaim, and is off to our Ice Age penciller Rafael Kayanan.

When Rafael gets the plot, he looks at the page and decides how he can best tell the story with his pencils. Rafael then draws the page, making are that the most dramatic action gets the largest panel. Each character that he draws must look dynamic and each panel must carry the story smoothly into the next. For this page, Rafael chooses to emphasize the angry Kailo. That action is balanced out by the pensive states of both Onala, in the left comer, and Zaraya, in the right.

At this point, Jeff and I step in again, this time as the editorial team. We look over the pages to make sure that Rafael is telling the story well. It is our job to check the pages for any mistakes and then make suggestions on how best to correct them. I track the progress of the pages and gently remind the creatos of their impending deadlines. The folks at WotC look over the penciled pages, too, and make suggestions where needed.

Next stop on the Comic Page Express is our Ice Age inker, Rodney Ramos. The inker’s job is to flesh out the penciller’s lines and really define the art. Using pen and brush, Rodney goes over Rafaels pencils and makes each character stand out. By varying line weight, Rodney can make Kailo’s blade really “pop” from the page. Different line thicknesses and the appropriate placement of shadows draw the readers’ eyes to the characters, such as Onala and Zaraya, keeping them firmly in the story.

After another brief stop with the editorial team, the inked page goes off to Production. Production manager Darren Sanchez heads the crew that is responsible for erasing any excess lines on the inked page, placing word balloons, and then shooting the page on special coloring paper for the colorist to use. Among the production crew are people like C.R. Lister, who also moonlights as an Armada designer; Mike Tuccinard, who is also the colorist for the Fallen Empires comic; Frank Bozyan; Rafael Soler; John Kelly; and a slew of others who cut, paste, glue, and measure, all to make a great comic book.

Meanwhile, letterer Adam Niedzwiecki does his stuff to get the characters ralking. Another uf the under-appreciated heroes of the book, the letterer works hard to make sure that the words convey the appropriate tone and emphasis without drawing attention to themselves. For this series, Adam has had to put in a little extra work to learn an archaic lettering style appropriate for the epic feel ot the plot.

From Production, the page goes off to Ice Age colorist Eric Hope. Eric’s job is to choose the colors that would best suit the mood of the story. On this page, Eric sets a somber mood with his palette. Using Doc Marten’s watercolor dyes, Eric turns the black-and-white page into color, and the world of Dominaria really comes to life.

Once the coloring is done, the main part of the book is finished—but there is still much more to do. While the pages are being prepared for printing, the Special Projects team does whatever it can to make the book look better. Special Projects manager Harry Eisenstein assembles all the ads that go in the comic while computer graphics designer Kenn Bell is busy creating ads and designing the beautiful Letters pages that appear in the back of each Armada book. Rob Johnson and Elim Mak are busy marketing the book, while design director Scott Friedlander checks to see that all the art and text in the book are in perfect synch, and puts together covers and posters for the series.

Then, when we have everything together, the whole kit and caboodle goes off to one of our printers, who puts the whole book together and ships it off to you. Then we wait for the final and most important step in the process: your approval.

It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to put one little comic book together— and the team has to put one together each month that the series lasts! But none of us would have it any other way. Each and every contributor has put heart and soul into this book to make it the best possible comic that we could make. I think it shows.

A Brief History of Acclaim Comics

Acclaim Comics began operation in October 1989 as Voyager Communications, Inc., publishing comic books under the Valiant imprint. Since then, Valiant has been recognized as a force of innovation in the field; Diamond Comics Distribution named Valiant “Best Publisher of the Year” in 1992 and 1993. Valiant titles include X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Shadowman, and Rai, as well as successful revivals of such Gold Key characters as Magnus Robot Fighter; Turok , Dinosaur Hunter; and Solar, Man of the Atom. In 1994, Voyager was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., publishers of popular video games such as Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. Voyager Communications changed its name to Acclaim Comics. As part of a company-wide revitalization, Acclaim Comics recruited eight of the comic industry’s top writers and artists, including Norm Breyfogle, Jackson Guice, Paul Gulacy, Dan Jurgens, Mike Manley, Ron Marz, Bart Sears and Andy Smith. Acclaim also signed renowned comics figures Mike Grell and Neal Adams to establish a new creator-owned imprint, Windjammer. Now, Acclaim Comics has joined Wizards of the Coast to produce comic books set in the world of Magic: The Gathering™ under the new Armada imprint. Current titles in this line include Magic: The Gathering™—The Shadow Mage and Ice Age on the World of Magic: The Gathering™. Later this year, Acclaim will also be releasing a comic miniseries on Fallen Empires and “The Antiquities War,” as well as a special comic about the Nightmare.