IRREDEAMABLE #8 came out today, so I decided to do a full sized mock cover for one of the characters who died. He didn’t die in this issue, but we may have discovered why. Peter Krause does a knockout job on drawing that book. Mark Waid writes it.

Today, instead of typing my novel, I made a spreadsheet to tell me the averages of words and balloons per page for different books.  Nothing like raw data to sooth away the hardships of crafting narrative all day.  I think this is mildly helpful information for figuring out how to balance your word count by what type of story you are delivering.  I mean, it’s nice to know that you have a cap of about 40 words for any given panel to share between everyone who needs to talk.  Add in an variance of 5 to word count, 2 for balloon and panel count, and you have probably accounted for most of the publishing under these titles.

Silver Age Superman

• Average Balloons per Page: 12
• Average Words per Balloon: 16
• Average Panels per Page: 6
• Average Words per Panel: 34
• Average Word Count per Page: 184

Tom Strong

• Average Balloons per Page: 13
• Average Words per Balloon: 11
• Average Panels per Page: 5
• Average Words per Panel: 34
• Average Word Count per Page: 147

Hellboy

• Average Balloons per Page: 11
• Average Words per Balloon: 10
• Average Panels per Page: 5
• Average Words per Panel: 22
• Average Word Count per Page: 105

Powers

• Average Balloons per Page: 21
• Average Words per Balloon: 11
• Average Panels per Page: 9
• Average Words per Panel: 27
• Average Word Count per Page: 229

While SUPERMAN and TOM STRONG have about the same numbers, TOM STRONG has fewer words per balloon, and more balloons.

HELLBOY numbers are a little funky because of all the silent panels, so the number of panels per page is misleading, but the average is true.  But you can throw in a variance of an extra 1 or 2 panels of extra action or mood for a horror book.

And POWERS is really something. Fewer words per panel, but twice the panels, balloons, and words over all!  And you thought  SUPERMAN was windy.

This kind of system probably doesn’t work for books like PROMETHEA or SHAOLIN COWBOY, but it gets you somewhere for less experimental books.

This is a little inside joke that has clearly gone too long.  JUNIOR CTHULHU © Kyle Latino 2009, All Rights Reserved.

A little early to be losing sleep over something, but it’s preemptive, trust me.

EDIT: Don’t worry folks, lack of sleep was still achieved.  I woke up with a Night Terror, and could really sleep after that.  My hands are still shaking from that one.  Maybe if you say JUNIOR CTHULHU © ‘s name three times into a mirror,  you too can awaken to your own screaming/unknowable horror.

I had a difficult time writing for this character until, in a moment of clarity, I cast him as Tom Baker. It really worked out quite beautifully. My pictures of him always make him turn out more crazy than he is, but what are you going to do.

Ah, bah, gah… typing. Always, more typing.

EDIT: NaNoWriMo word count, Day 4: 6931.