Issues 1 & 2

So I've got a pretty good storyline and plot set in for Issues 1 & 2 of my comic. It serves well as an introduction to the main characters without going through the boring "this guy's name is this, he acts like this" droning that plague a lot of introductory episodes of things. It does a good job of showing the environment these fighters are in, and setting up the inevitable clash that will be happening in the future.

I've taken to calling each mini-arc "episodes" instead of the traditional "issues", for one main reason. I want to be sure that in 24 pages, I fill each issue with enough story, action, and intrigue to warrant spending one's time reading it. When I use the term "issue", I think of one piece of a puzzle, or one chapter in a book. That's a well enough way of putting it, but when you're reading a book, you're not necessarily thinking each chapter will be as brilliant as the one before it or the one after it, so you're more willing to forgive the simple chapters and continue reading. Because you paid for the whole book, not just the chapter in question.

But with something like a comic book, or even a TV show, each issue/chapter is rightly subjecting itself to more criticism, because they each stand alone as well as work in part of a greater whole. So I want each issue to be seen as an episode of a brilliant TV show like The Sopranos or The Wire, where you feel fulfilled and satisfied after you've finished reading it. When I use the term episode, I think in terms of TV--something I'm much more familiar with than books. And I'm striving to make each issue just as fun and exciting and intriguing and poignant as the last.