Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Ian Ascher

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

This is a good question to start with because I’ve been out of the game for a while now and looking to start writing again. There have been days, weeks, even months, where I thought I was done and no longer wanted to write. It sucks but it happens.

Then I see something or read something and I think there’s still so many great things being done within the medium of comics that I start to get that itch again.

Before I know it I have an idea gestating in the back of my head. Inspiration can and should come from everywhere and anywhere your mind and soul allow it.

Do you have a set routine?

When I was writing on a regular basis, I was always working around a job that had to pay the bills. Some days I would write early in the morning and others where I wrote after work. Some days o% I would only get an hour or two in and other days I might be able to sit and write for a good chunk of the day.

The only constant routine I did have was to make sure my tools were available when I started. Notebook. Pen. Research materials, be it books or pages printed from the internet.

If those were at the ready then I knew I would be able to work.

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

Output always depended on the project and the deadline.

Writing short comics for books like Digital Webbing Presents back in the day it may only take me a day to plot and pace the story but then it might take me another week to dialogue and edit it for publication. These were three to five page stories to start and as the book progressed they went to eight and twelve page stories.

One of the screenplays I wrote I was told I had three weeks to write the first draft and I think I turned it around in five or six.

I once challenged myself to try and write a screenplay (avg of ninety pages) in a week. I want to say I got fifty or sixty pages down in two days before I derailed. I’ve never gone back to that script either. It remains a dusty +le on my computer.

What inspires you WHEN you create? Music? Noise? Silence?

I’ve written in silence. I’ve written with music on. It’s rare I’ll write in front of the tv but I have in the past. I don’t think anyone outside source drives me when I write. I have heard music before and will stop and think of how that music could influence a fight scene visually in my head, almost like I was directing a movie, but that’s usually when I’m in the car or doing something else and not in front of the computer.

Who was the “first comic book creator that influenced you to pursue this?

The first names I can remember were Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

Their work on Crisis on In+nite Earths grabbed hold of my imagination harder than any other book I can recall. I went in backward and saw the cover to the +nal issue on the spinner rack in a grocery store. Multiple versions of Superman and Wonder Woman and heroes I had never even seen before all fighting a giant villain rising up at you. Mind-blowing. And inside heroes were dying. What the hell…? From there I went back and eventually collected the rest of the story and I still re-read it to this day.

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

I have a memory, and it’s possible it’s been fabricated from several other memories over the years but real or not, I have a memory of /ipping through comics in the living room and I may have only been ten years old. I would open the covers and there on the first page where names. This is who wrote it. This is who drew it.

Seeing those names, I realized this was their job. They went to work and they wrote and drew these comics, these stories, and I thought wow, maybe I could do that too.

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

My current challenge is finding the time and energy after working to just sit down and produce something. I’m not a young guy anymore. It doesn’t help that circumstances in life have kept me from doing anything serious for about five years now. I’ve never fully stopped but I haven’t produced anything for a reader’s eyes in about the long.

What else do you have to learn?

I don’t think there’s enough space and time right now to list all of that. You should always be learning and if you think you don’t have anything else to learn then that should be your signpost in life to realize you have a lot more to learn.

What keeps you motivated to get better?

Reading a good book. Enjoying a good comic. Watching a good movie. Those are reminders that there is so much creativity out there. That there is so much that can still be done. It’s human nature to tell stories. It’s in my nature to tell stories.

Can you turn your brain (creativity) off (and on)?

No. I have what I call an unquiet mind. It always spins on something. That’s not always productive but I can’t just shut it off. Eventually it will hit on something that can be used as a story or an element in what I’m working on or towards. Like most writers, I do my best work when I’m not in a place to do the work.

Booster Shots:

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

Learn everything. Don’t just learn to write or draw. Learn how to letter. Learn how to color. Look beyond just comics. Embrace everything as a potential opportunity. Be smart enough to know when something is worth being paid for your time and effort vs when something is a learning opportunity that you can’t put a price on.

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

I think I’m more worried about coming up with good ideas than I am with running out of them. Not that I’ll ever get asked to write an industry icon like Superman or Spider-man but what do you do with a hero that has been in thousands of books and adventures across multiple media platforms? That’s what would keep me up at night.

How do you handle the slow times?

Writing has never paid the bills so I’ve always worked around a regular job. I’ve never gotten to a point where writing was my job. It sounds simple but balance is going to be the key to keeping the lights on.

How do you feel about the industry?

This might be the hardest question you’ve asked. Simple answer is I think the industry has far more potential than what we as fans or consumers are being given.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

The power to be able to sit and write compelling comics.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by the above creator are theirs. This interview may not 

be reprinted or reposted without permission.