The Comic Spot
"Helping Hands"
by Chris Lambert
 In the comics industry there's a sort of assembly line mentality going on, or at least there has been for many a year. By that I mean that every process has a different pair of hands…usually.
A writer writes the script and passes it on to the editor to approve it. The editor then passes it on to an artist (unless the artist and writer are one and the same) who then finishes the work and passes the finished pencils to an inker who will darken the lines and fill in the black, solid areas. A letterer and a color separator comes next before the book (which used to go to the engraver next) goes to the printers.
So five or six hands were and sometimes still are lined up in the creation of a comic. Of course the hands are more electronic now as everything is e-mailed to and fro and sometimes the inker is even cut out of (but that's an article for another time) the process. But you get my drift, comics are mostly a collaborative effort and take time and effort and understanding on the parts of all parties involved to make sure there are those wonderful, colorful gems for us to enjoy every month.
But it's too bad that my beloved hobby can't serve as more than a template to better understanding. Wouldn't it all be just too great if we could all get along like the production of a comic book? Sure, there would be the occasional glitches, looming deadlines and friction between departments, but there already is that situation in the real world. But if we could all work just a little bit better together our real world record would equal that of the comic book worlds…that is that everything flows fairly smoothly from month to month. And then the only wars we might have are the ones in the comics like the Kree/Skrull War or the Secret Wars or the…well, you get the idea.
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My Favorite Panel
by Chris Lambert
Keeping with today's theme of "hands," I'm picking the panel from Batman #130, March, 1960. The story is entitled, "The Hand from Nowhere." Page 2, panel 5 is my favorite, so I hope you enjoy.
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