Comic Talk, Tips and Tricks

What makes a good chapter title
Bimbo_Zombie at 6:43PM, June 15, 2007
(online)
posts: 62
joined: 12-15-2006
I'm currently at the end of my first chapter.

So what do you think makes a good chapter title page? Are there things that make a bad chapter title?
last edited on July 14, 2011 11:22AM
Kohdok at 7:45PM, June 15, 2007
(online)
posts: 776
joined: 5-18-2007
A good chapter title shows a little bit of what will happen but not much. That's how it is typically done in American comics. ("No, it can't be, not you!) Japanese comics usually either have the title worked into the first page or just have a picture of the main characters.

as for chapter titles, hint at what might happen (Or people suspect will happen), but don't reveal anything shocking that you might have in the chapter mentioned in the title; it sort of spoils the ending.
last edited on July 14, 2011 1:19PM
D0m at 8:06PM, June 15, 2007
(online)
posts: 661
joined: 5-26-2007
I think a good chapter title catches you like a hook to the chin. I wouldn't say Nadya's first is the best, but it interests me- it's the type I would love to see in a comic.

Nadya- a tale about what happens to SOME of us when we die.

Currently: Nadya is awake and asking more relevant questions.
last edited on July 14, 2011 12:02PM
silentkitty at 8:22PM, June 15, 2007
(offline)
posts: 620
joined: 1-15-2007
I usually prefer symbolic things, or things that foreshadow what's going to happen in the chapter. I'm not much for pinups of "here is this character, posing for the camera" type covers, but honestly, as long as it's eye-catching and has something to do with the upcoming chapter of the comic, it's good by me.
last edited on July 14, 2011 3:37PM
shaneronzio at 1:26PM, Sept. 22, 2007
(online)
posts: 497
joined: 12-4-2006
Quentin Tarantino
is the master of chapter titles.
Current Project:CROSS WORLDS NEXUS
Updates Monday, Wenzday & FRIDAY
last edited on July 14, 2011 3:32PM
legendkiller13 at 6:44AM, Sept. 23, 2007
(online)
posts: 155
joined: 1-1-2007
hell, i like going with something a bit quirky and kinda cheeky
last edited on July 14, 2011 1:34PM
Megawacky_Max at 9:16AM, Sept. 23, 2007
(online)
posts: 44
joined: 9-20-2007
Chapter titles! I spend a lot of time thinking those.

I prefer to come up with chapter titles that have a deep meaning in what the story of said chapter will be about. If I can make it a pun, then a pun it will be. I prefer titles that give the reader a wrong idea of what they will see, so they find a slight "surprise factor" while reading.

All in all, it depends on the type of comic, it's thematics, and the stile of narrating the story. Why to stick with one specific method?

There's more to do in the Net of Nets!
(Megawacky Max)
Other comics by me: Nagaly | Pixie Pals | NOOBS | Metal Skeleton
last edited on July 14, 2011 1:59PM
Darwin at 8:07PM, Sept. 24, 2007
(online)
posts: 611
joined: 4-25-2006
For my chapter titles I do something that is kinda quirky.

Most all (there are exceptions to every rule) of my chapter titles are words or phrases that not only give the reader an idea of what is within the pages, but also is used somewhere within the chapter itself. This applies more to my written works than my comics - though the graphic versions are based off the written versions.

For example:

Gemutations: Plague

Chapter One - Threats ...talks about a new threat (in this case a deadly mutating virus) making gemues(mutant's) lives worse. It is aimed at the humas and kills most who contract it...

Only Half:

Sins of the Father

This chapter is all about the wrongs Cabal thinks his father has done (mostly in the case of driving Cabal's mother insane) - or what he sees as his father's sins...(a lot of it has to do also with Cabe's faith...which is why a lot of the ending chapter are very faith heavy in nature - Faith and Salvation; To Forgive is Divine? Etc)

So yeah, they apply pretty readily to the chapters.

So I actively try to pull a title that both applies and that is in the written word!
last edited on July 14, 2011 12:08PM
Blackmoon at 9:11AM, Sept. 25, 2007
(offline)
posts: 60
joined: 2-24-2006
It depends.

In That Which Is Summoned, I liked to keep the chapter titles short 'n sweet, and hint at what was coming. The chapter with all the vampires in it? "Nightkind". Fanatical spider cult? "Arachnophobia". That sorta stuff.
The chapter/cover art was always only loosely connected with the chapter, and usually not done in my regular style. Typically something Photoshopped. Like the second chapter, where a griffin attacks- the cover art for that was a feather, lying in the grass.

In Sword of Heaven, I go with largely the same idea, but I make the titles be the titles of songs and stuff to go with my music theme. This does tend to make them catchier on the whole- "Blood and Thunder", "My Friend of Misery", "Snake Eater". Of course, there, I don't call them chapters, but "tracks", again, for the theme.

So, I suppose it all depends on the kind of effect you wanna convey. Short and catchy is best, preferably cryptic, maybe a joke. If you were gonna do a character where the main character, I dunno, goes sky diving, you might call it "High Times". That's just me talkin' there.
last edited on July 14, 2011 11:23AM
cetriya at 5:46PM, Sept. 28, 2007
(offline)
posts: 177
joined: 5-17-2007
Early in the stages, I realize that I spent too much time on thinking of chapter titles so I just stopped and just numbered the chapters with pretty art ^^
last edited on July 14, 2011 11:39AM
Darth Mongoose at 12:42AM, Sept. 29, 2007
(online)
posts: 488
joined: 1-7-2006
I have fun with my chapter titles and title images. I usually make them symbolic in a way that doesn't really make sense until you're reading the comic through a second time.
Really though, a chapter title can be anything. You could do it like Diana Wynne Jones books, where it's like "Chapter 2: In which our heroine talks to a tree" "Chapter 11: In which everything falls upwards" these make intriguing titles if you're not too obvious about what's going to happen, and give a story book tone. You could use single word chapter titles, which are often effective, especially if you're creative with the words. You could do anything really. Just be creative!
last edited on July 14, 2011 12:08PM

Forgot Password
©2011-2012 WOWIO, Inc. All Rights ReservedAdvertisement