"We start out talking about the story, trying to figure out who is who and what should happen, taking notes the whole time. Then I do a rough layout of the issue, showing what happens on each page. Then we discuss that some more"
About this Quote
Foglio’s process sounds almost stubbornly unromantic: talk, map, talk again. That plainness is the point. In a medium that still gets misread as spontaneous doodling, he’s quietly insisting that comics are built, not burped out. “Who is who and what should happen” frames story as logistics and identity management before it’s ever line weight or punchline. The note-taking isn’t a garnish; it’s an admission that collaboration (and memory) needs infrastructure.
The rough layout is the real tell. By jumping quickly to “what happens on each page,” Foglio foregrounds comics’ native unit of meaning: pacing. Not scenes, not chapters - pages. That’s where suspense gets rationed, jokes get timed, reveals get engineered. A rough layout is a promise that the story will be legible under pressure, that the narrative isn’t just good in conversation but functional when converted into panels, gutters, and turns.
Then comes the most revealing line: “Then we discuss that some more.” It’s iterative, almost comically circular, and it’s also a manifesto against auteur mystique. The subtext is that comics-making is revision as a lifestyle: you don’t find the story, you negotiate it into existence. Coming from Foglio - long associated with expansive, joke-dense, worldbuilding-heavy work and often collaborative production - the quote reads like a defense of craft discipline. The intent isn’t to dazzle; it’s to normalize the grind, and to remind you that the magic trick is mostly carpentry.
The rough layout is the real tell. By jumping quickly to “what happens on each page,” Foglio foregrounds comics’ native unit of meaning: pacing. Not scenes, not chapters - pages. That’s where suspense gets rationed, jokes get timed, reveals get engineered. A rough layout is a promise that the story will be legible under pressure, that the narrative isn’t just good in conversation but functional when converted into panels, gutters, and turns.
Then comes the most revealing line: “Then we discuss that some more.” It’s iterative, almost comically circular, and it’s also a manifesto against auteur mystique. The subtext is that comics-making is revision as a lifestyle: you don’t find the story, you negotiate it into existence. Coming from Foglio - long associated with expansive, joke-dense, worldbuilding-heavy work and often collaborative production - the quote reads like a defense of craft discipline. The intent isn’t to dazzle; it’s to normalize the grind, and to remind you that the magic trick is mostly carpentry.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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