REVIEW: Words For Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis's new book Words for Pictures is for comic writers what Stephen King's On Writing is for novelists. This book, in no small way, is the how-to / pep-talk hybrid that we've all been waiting for. As soon as I finished reading it, I wanted to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Words for Pictures is a unique look behind the curtain of making comics, a tour guided by one of the industry's best and most successful writers.

In the book, readers will find:

• A foreword by Joe Quesada
• A chapter discussing what your motivations as writers are
• A chapter discussing script format
• A chapter discussing the collaborative process between writers and artists (and what you as a writer can do to make everything easier on everyone)
• A chapter discussing editors and the process of editing your work
• A chapter addressing FAQs
• A chapter addressing the business of comics
• A chapter full of writing exercises

Each section stands alone as a helpful resource to aspiring comic writers, and you can read them all in one fell swoop or pick and choose which topics you want to dig into. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide to the process of making comics, from ways to organize your ideas to contacting editors to selecting artists, this is the book for you. Bendis's insights and advice about approaching the industry as a writer exceeded my expectations at every turn.

That said, it was a different Bendis that wrote what is arguably the most important chapter of the book. Alisa Bendis, Brian's wife and business manager, put in her two cents about how writers need to address their writing as a business. She dispenses some advice that has the potential to make or break your career. Her chapter gives you all the tools you need to make informed decisions about how to protect yourself and your work, and she gives some very insightful advice about being ready for success. I'm not talking emotionally ready for success. I'm talking legally ready for success. The book is worth the cover price alone for the list of provisions she recommends be addressed in any agreement you sign.

If you have a tendency to swoon over A-list comic creators, the cameo appearances in this book will make you weak in the knees. Bendis tapped other comic titans for their expertise and insight, featuring working examples, art and essays from Kelly Sue Deconnick, Matt Fraction, Sam Humphries, Ed Brubaker, David Mack, Alex Maleev and more. You'll also find professional advice from industry insiders like Marvel's C.B. Cebulski, Tom Breevort, Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker and more.

It's a quick, enjoyable read. Bendis's prose is paced perfectly to keep you interested and give you thorough information without laboring on any one topic to an unnecessary or tiring extent. He makes his point, supports his point, and moves on to the next. Bendis's voice shines through, and even if he's advising you to get off your high horse he does it in an unmistakably friendly way. You get the sense that he wrote the book because he wants to see other young writers succeed, to dig deep and work hard and a find a process that suits them and tell their stories.

Bendis's humility may have been my favorite thing about the book, though. He talks his readers through the process of creating comics from the perspective of the writer, and the apparent respect and awe he has for his artists and collaborators and their talent rings through every single word. This humility, though, it doesn't come with lower standards. It becomes apparent in Words for Pictures that Bendis holds comics as an industry to a higher standard, both in what he produces and in what he consumes. I don't think anyone would fault Bendis for having an ego after all the success he's seen. If he does have one, you won't find it in the pages of Words for Pictures. He discusses his accomplishments in a very objective way, without a trace of entitlement or arrogance. He is, in every sense of the phrase, still on his creative journey, and through this book he invites you as a fellow writer to embark on one of your own. In fact, I'd argue that this book won't just teach you to write comics. It will teach you how to write the very best comics you possibly can. Bendis wouldn't have it any other way.

You can order your copy here today.