How The Hero’s Journey Benefits Comic Writers

You can probably find more detailed discussions about the hero’s journey just about anywhere. (I added a video at the end of the article that does just that)

I do doubt, however, that you’ll find a good discussion on how it can benefit the comic writer.

Now, whether you’re writing a comic book, a graphic novel, or manga you can definitely benefit from taking a look at this particular layout and try filling it in with your idea for a story.

You can use this template with a one-shot issue, limited series or even an ongoing series of comics. All it takes is some imagination and some drive.

Simply, the hero’s journey goes a little like this.

Status Quo: This is where we start. We get a glimpse of how the hero lives in their everyday world.
Call To Adventure: The hero receives some mysterious message, invitation or some sort of call to action.
Assistance: Hero seeks out or finds some help. This individual can be someone older and wiser or some sort of friend or peer.
Departure: Hero crosses the threshold from their normal world into this some strange, special world. It’s definitely not how the hero used to live their life.
Trials: Hero overcomes a single or a variety of challenges. Be they puzzles, a fight, an illusion you name it.
Approach: Time to face the biggest ordeal. The big bad. The hero’s greatest fear.
Crisis: The hero’s darkest hour. They can fall, maybe even dies. Then they become reborn, improved, different. They’ve changed from what they once were.
Treasure: The hero claims some sort of treasure, a reward. The hero can overcome that which they faced in the approach.
Result: This can really depend on the story. Does the world that the hero entered embrace or reject him? Either way, they eventually are driven to a new kind of life.
Return: The hero returns to their old, ordinary world. This can be in one way or another.
New Life: The hero is no longer the same. They have been changed. They have outgrown who they once were.
Resolution: All plotlines are neatly resolved.
Back To Status Quo… But Different: Everything goes back to normal. Although, the hero is not the same. Nothing really is the same after becoming a hero.

Similarly to the 3 Act Structure of writing or Scene To Scene Comic Writing Styles, you can use the hero’s journey to help you fill in the story you wish to write.

Let’s see how else can this template help us write better comics.

Remember that the hero doesn’t have to be a superhero. They can be a regular person trying to overcome some sort of challenge in their lives. Only to come out better, stronger, or even just different than they were when they started.

Consider applying the hero’s journey to not just your main character. Don’t forget that no individual is an island. See how your story can affect the other characters.

Remember, in their own way everyone can be a hero at the end of the day. Your own story may surprise you by bringing out some amazing people or challenges.

Here we see how the Hero’s Journey can help us the least (I don’t say it to diss the template).

In one-shot issues comics, depending on their length, we can take a deep dive into the heroes we are presented with and the various challenges that they must overcome in order to reach the end of their tale.

Typically, with one-shot comics, we will see the main hero go through a single cycle of the hero’s journey.

Again, depending on their length, limited series comics can still offer an opportunity to utilize the hero’s journey in similar ways as a one-shot comic (usually with a miniseries) while offering us a new twist (with maxiseries).

If the comic runs long enough we can be given a chance to see more than a single cycle of the hero’s journey. Sometimes we need to see an idea become refined over time. Maybe we want to see just how the first few trials wear a hero down in preparation for the final one?

As my father would say; now we are cooking with fire.

You can’t effectively write an ongoing series without putting your character(s) through an ongoing recycling of the hero’s journey.

You should see your hero rise, fall, evolve, and start all over again time and time again.

The hero may not even look, act, or think anything alike between issue one and one hundred. And that’s perfectly fine!... As long as it makes sense anyway.

This is just a thought at the moment, but what if you tried treating a single cycle of the hero’s journey take on the properties of an individual step in the cycle itself?

Let me try breaking that down. Let’s say that you make the first arc of your story the introduction of the status quo for your hero.

The next one you introduce the next major arc where the character meets their true call to adventure.

So on and so on. All throughout the time the hero is met with challenges that force them to change, grow, fall, and rise again in order for them to develop into the hero that they will need to be to reach a brand new status quo. Something wholly different than what we could have ever imagined seeing when we started the tale.

Can you imagine the amount of planning that could go into something of this scale? A single cycle of the hero’s journey can amount to a few issues at least. There are 12 steps not including the return to status quo with a change.

Can you imagine how in depth the story would have to be to accommodate something of this scale? It makes my head spin with a ton of ideas just thinking about it.

The hero’s journey is a writer’s reminder that no one ever stays the same in the face of adversity, especially our characters.

In order to overcome some new ordeal, we need to accept something new with oneself in order to change or find balance with the world around us.

As a writer, this can be anything you choose. Have fun and be creative with it.

Make sure to see how the hero’s journey can be applied to not just your main character but you’re supporting characters too.

Take the opportunity to see how you can apply the hero’s journey to the type of comic series you decide to write.

Finally, try and see how you can apply the hero’s journey within the hero’s journey to create one amazing story that is meant to lead to some great finally or a real chapter in a hero’s tale. The lengths you take are only ever up to you.

Well, like I promised, here is the video that explains the hero’s journey. Enjoy! (p.s. Ted Talks rock! I would recommend supporting them if you can.)