Glow Graphic Novel Design

Objective

Design and letter the single issues of each Glow comic to bring the story and art together in a way that complements what the writer and artist have already done. Create a design for the collected book including all the different issues of the Glow comic series. Make a strategy for creating new content.

Challenges

Make the book collection stand out from the single issues already printed for this series. Adhere to licensor guidelines which change from book to book. Make sure the book conveys the same tone visually as the story’s plot.

Solution

A lot of time with trade collections of comics we use the extra pages to show off covers that have been previously printed. It’s a great way to save money by adding in content that has already been created. Yet this can also be problematic as well: it doesn’t give fans of the comics any new content or an incentive to also buy the collection. For this book I wanted to do biography pages that showed off the personality of the characters involved. For anyone who decided to pick up the comic without having seen the show, they can get extra insight as to who each character is. For people who are already fans of the show, they can see bonus content of their favorite characters.

Adhering to licensor guidelines is one of the most key aspects of creating any licensed book. The licensors wanted everything to have an 80s feel like the show and so I chose a vaporwave-esq style to keep in line with 80’s look but to also bring modern design trends into the mix. 

One fun element that I put both in the single issues and the collection was the casting call. In each issue we would add or take away characters based on the story which added entertainment value. Because there were so many characters and wrestling aliases to follow, this was a fun and easy reference at the front of the book in case you lost track. Though the artist did a great job rendering each character in comic form so if you have seen the show, it’s easily identifiable who everyone is.