Do you like to draw or doodle? Write poetry or short stories? Why not put all of the above together and make a comic?

In the past ten years, the Internet has opened up a whole new outlet for you and your comics.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to make comics you had basically two choices: run a strip in a newspaper, or submit your work to publishers and get rejected... a lot. With the advent of the Internet and the influx of Japanese comics (aka manga), things have gotten a little bit easier to see and be seen. Now you can publish your strip, pamphlet or graphic novel online--for free! Or, you can self-publish any of the above thanks to numerous small-press friendly printers cropping up, and you can usually send them all of your files to print directly over the Internet with no postage involved. Plus, many publishers are now evaluating submissions not just for superhero comics, where perfect anatomy and experience are a must, but they are also looking for special niche comics like ones made for girls by girls! (See Appendix A for a list of girl-friendly publishers to tackle.)

Imagine circulating your own mini-comic series at school. Or how about starting an online comic-diary about your life?

Think about it for a minute. If you were trying to contribute to any other media, be it books, television, the movies, you would have a tough time of getting noticed or even getting you work picked up. But comics? There aren't nearly as many wicked comickers available as there are, say actors or novelists. In comicking, the competiton is rough, but it's not dog-eat-dog.

If you think you need to have impeccable artistic skills, think again. You can make a comic out of anything--from collages to stick figures! However, for a comic to succeed it needs one thing: a good story. Good grammar, properly prepared pages depending on their output and mad toning skills help, ad this handbook is here to coer all these things plus more. It's hard work, but it is fun work.