In order to keep readers interested in you story and coming back for more you must have a few basic elements in the majority of the series.

To keep readers interested in a comic you must have humor. Without humor a comic cannot be taken very far. Even if its only a few jokes every comic it will still be enough. Dead-Pool is a great example of a comic with humor. In fact, the humor is the one of the main elements of that particular comic. When one reads a comic that is straight storyline and no relief, it tends to be more of a stress than anything else.

Humor can be placed and planted throughout a comic in many ways. Sometimes humor doesn't even have to be through dialogue, it can present itself through pictures. Picture humor as something developed by emotions; over exaggerations and unique scenes. Mikey of the Ninja Turtles plays a key part in the comedy relief sector of the Ninja Turtles cartoons, movies and comic books. He holds such a large part of the audience in his hands because people love to get a laugh every once in a while. You don't have to be a comedian or even humorous to write a funny comic book script either. Just work around with different ideas, play with what you like, and see what happens.

Through dialoge, the writer can present as much or as little as he or she wants to. For example, humor can be added to dialogue through lines like, "What do you think this is, a comicbook?" Or lines that are more complicated can be added. Do not overlook humor as an element of interesting comics though.

Another element that should be added to comics are constantly developed storylines and new ideas. While some parts of the comic should remain constant and grow more dynamic, new characters and plots must be added to the story. Help with this can be found in the next tutorial.

The last main point that I want to make to you is about consistancy. This would include characters development and settings-mainly throughout ongoing comics. For example do be sure to reference back to past comics so that a character doesn't live in a mansion one comic and a ghetto the next. It seems like common sense, but you might be surprised at how many writers don't pay attention to these details.

- Joseph Lookabaugh