Comic Ideas: Creative Concepts for Strips, Books & Love Stories
Some comic ideas are action packed, full of heroes and villains and possible world destruction. And yes, those can be ridiculously fun to write. But the ideas that actually make great comic stories, in my humble opinion, are those based on real life moments. Unless you are of course the next Steven Speilberg! The story needn't be totally factual, you might create a fictional story but weave in real life moments, whether it's your own life, or someone else's.
My name is Aura Gold and I've been writing comics for years, I was just thinking that I must have created every story possible, but of course I haven't, everyday I am greeted with new and original ideas from my clients.
Quick question before we start...
Are you planning to create your own comic, or are you looking for someone to turn your idea into a finished comic? If you're creating your own comic, keep reading - this article is full of ideas and inspiration to get you started. But if you want help with specific things these guides might be useful:
If don't want to create the comic yourself, and would rather get it professionally written and illustrated, then check out the links below.
The difference between a “funny idea” a "fun idea" and a great comic idea"
You might get an idea for your comic story, but will it make a great story? Best place to start is brainstorming all your ideas, however crazy they seem. Make a big long list and keep going, pick your top favourites and start to beef them out a bit. Your ideas will likely be quite different, the main thing you need to figure out is, what's the main hook of the story? If you don't have a main hook, a problem to solve, a kingdom to conquer, a lost love to find, you don't really have a great comic story idea.
I often get clients coming to me with what seems like a great idea, but once we start to brainstorm together we find there isn't much to get our teeth into. So don't cut corners on the ideas stage, really put some time and energy into it.
My advice make it about something that you are passionate about, whether it's your local football club, your family, climate change, fashion. It will give you the head start you need. It's always much better to make it a story you would love to read rather than trying to come up with a story that you think others will love.
Where Comic Ideas Actually Come From
People love to imagine that great comic ideas arrive like lightning bolts. In reality, most of them arrive like a mosquito: small, irritating, and hard to ignore once you notice it. The ideas worth pursuing tend to grow and grow and they keep coming back to you time and time again. The idea starts to naturally blossom in your mind and it's almost like the brain naturally starts to build on it. I had a client who wanted to create a sci-fi comic and it was to be about her boyfriend who loves sports and gambling. Now I don't know much about sport or gambling LOL - but strangely enough I was invited to the casino that same week. Whilst I was there, playing black jack (very badly) the idea started to come together. But it is much harder to write a story about a subject you know nothing about. I don't recommend it.
Anyhow that idea stuck with me all week, and every day on my daily walk I would find myself extending on the idea - until the day I found 'the hook', and discovered the overarching storyline that made made it sci-fi but also included everything the client wanted. It's such an aha moment! This was an especially difficult comic story to write, in the end it became a long 12 page comic book. But not all stories need to be so complicated or so long.
Shorter comic strip ideas are easier
The easiest stories like I said are from real life, the moments and memories which mean something. But what if it's a very short custom comic strip, say 3-5 panels. Sometimes these very short comic stories can be harder to figure out than a longer comic story. With only 3 panels how much can you really say? I do find that most of clients love to over complicate their story -thinking they can cram several events into 1 comic panel. Think of 1 comic panel as 1 action or 1 event. So you could pick 1 really funny moment that might only cover a few minutes, or you could pick say 3 - 5 events which occurred months or even years apart from each other. Such as a relationship story.
Longer Comic Strip Ideas (10 Panels & Beyond)
When you start to create a longer comic strip, say 10 panels or more, you can include more detail or more events. I find 10 panels is great for most stories. You have space to set the scene, introduce your main characters(s), add in some action and have a great ending.
I do feel that a longer comic is worth the effort, although it easy to get carried away and before you know it you have a 50 panel story. It's important to consider how you are going to print and display the comic, because say you want to create it at 16"x20" and frame it, there's no point writing a story which is 50 panels long as it won't fit.
Relationship Comic Ideas
I write more relationship comic stories than anything else, they are by far the most popular choice. If you’re specifically thinking about creating something romantic, like a personalized comic book for your boyfriend, I go into much more detail in this blog.
You don't need to be into comic culture to love a gift like this. I think they are possibly the most sentimental and personal gift you could ever give your loved one. If you have got this far and feeling like you might want me to cerate you a custom comic strip. check the link.
Superhero comic story ideas
I find that 10 panels is great for a simple superhero story. I LOVE writing these stories. More often than not Dad, or the husband or boyfriend has an alter-ego, usually a good guy, but we have turned people into villains before. With 10 panels I have enough room to set the scene and the main character. I then very quickly introduce the problem, perhaps the city is under attack, perhaps the family or kids been taken hostage, then our main character turns into his superhero alter-ego, and goes and saves the day. Panel 10 will be the victory, or what i like to do a lot of the time is end with the hero out of his costume, in his PJs, asleep on the couch next to his wife, with his superhero suit poking out of his back. The wife might say something like "busy day?" and he might think "oh not much, just saved the world"
You can have a lot of fun with superhero stories, I love weaving in factual things about the person, or taking inspiration from real life.
I've also cerated many custom comic covers, check out the page for ideas for your own superhero.
Pet comic story ideas
I'll start by saying that dogs are ALWAYS heroes and cats are ALWAYS villains LOL. I don't ever suggest this to my clients who come to me wanting to create a story about their pet, but every single time dogs and cats always play these roles.
When I write a pet story it is always from the perspective of the pet. It is so fun to convey their personality, imagine how they might speak. Have them stopping to smell some poop whilst in battle with a villain.
Sometimes the pet stories don't include heroes or villains, they are more factual stories, I have written themes such as "Billie's Best Day - Billie was old and the family knew she was going to leave them soon, so I wrote a comic story about her best day to commemorate her life. It was such a touching story. Another great example of how writing about real life events often creates the best storylines. You can really draw your reader in emotionally.
How to Make Readers Feel Something
Every comic story needs to draw your reader in, making them feel some sort of emotion. This is how to get your reader hooked. This is why anyone buys anything, because they are emotionally invested in it. Whether you make your reader laugh, cry, be on the edge of their seat or surprise them - you have hooked them in. Feelings of sentimentality and nostalgia are the two strongest feelings, if you can evoke these you are on to a winner.
Why Every Comic Needs a Main Character
Now every comic I write has an element of real life in it, and I always include the recipient in the comic. So this makes it VERY easy for me to create a hook and reel the reader in. Everyone who reads a comic story about themselves is going to LOVE it.
But perhaps you don't want to create a comic for just one person, perhaps you want to create a comic which many people will purchase and love. Perhaps you want to create a comic book series? Well whether its a comic for one person or for many, every great story needs at least 1 great character, and you need to build on this character, Your readers need to resonate with the character - and over time begin to love them. So if your audience is teenage kids you want to put yourself in their shoes and think about what kind of character they would align with.
What If Your Comic Doesn’t Have One Main Character?
Creating a story without a main character is really hard, I am currently writing a historical comic about Ibiza, which doesn't have a main character. So how do I draw my reader in then? Well Ibiza is the theme, and people are fanatical about this island. they come back year after year after year, all their lives. So this is my hook, the places, the venues, the characters.
What makes a comic idea feel professional
It's hard to say, I'm not sure there is a clear answer on this. I believe any story can make a great story and will have people interested in t. It's definitely more about how the comic looks, the drawing style, how its coloured. But in saying that it needn't be incredibly drawn with great skill, sometimes the simplest stick drawing can convey the comic story well. Take a look at the many stickman comics out there, remember bit-strips from years back - they were great, SUPER popular, yet so simply drawn.
So don't spend too much time procrastinating on this, my advice, just go for it. There are many comic artists out there if you don't feel comfortable to draw the comic yourself.
If you have a comic idea but want someone else to create it
That's where someone like myself comes in handy. I have been working with people who want to create comics since 2012. I work with clients to develop their ideas into professionally structured comics. I am very good at storyboarding the comic for you and writing and designing the entire comic from the story to the characters to the visuals.
I have an incredible team of professional comic illustrators. we have been working together for years and together we have created more than 5000 comics. We only have 5 star reviews.
So if you like the idea of creating a comic. Whether it's a custom comic strip about your relationship, a 1st anniversary gift for your husband. Or perhaps you want to create a custom comic book - about your family, or even a comic book series to pitch to DC or Marvel. Perhaps you recently lost your pet and want to commemorate their life with a fun comic story about them. I can help you write any story, and then we can turn it into a real life comic which can be printed and framed or perhaps printed as a comic book and sold in comic book stores.
