Comic book page length

[DavidC]

Hey guys:

Trying to find some clarification here. Normally, comic books are 22 pages in length. Is that a hard and fast rule?
I've see some longer, usually around 30-32 pages, not many shorter.

I ask because I recently finished a script that is 18 pages in length, and I'm hesitant to include additional pages that will add nothing to the story, other than pretty pictures w/out dialog. I've played around with splitting a page with six panels into two pages of three panels, but doing so seems to interrupt the story's pacing, and screws up a two page spread.

David C.

[Night Robin]

I've never heard of a comic with less than 22 pages. I've heard 24-26 is the norm now. Beats me though. I do think 18 is too short though. People will probably feel gypped.


EDIT: Scratch that. Just flipped through several comics and an issue of Fantastic Four was 20 pages.

[thEbrEEze]

I believe the industry standard is 22 pages of art give or take depending on the editor.

[F!]

Interior page counts are always multiples of 8. The standard single issue comic book comprises 32 interior pages (4 x 8), plus a 4-page cover section. Of those 32 pages, story usually accounts for 20 to 24 pages, with the difference made up of advertisements and/or ancillary material like letter columns, pin-ups, essays, previews. Some publishers limit the number of pages available to story to 22 so they can fix the number of pages given over to advertising, whereas other publishers may allow you the entire 32 pages to play with.

There's also a format known as ‘self-cover’, where the separate cover section is done away with and those 4 pages are actually part of the 32-page interior count, so the actual interior space drops to 28 pages. Effectively, the whole book is ‘interiors’. It's an increasingly popular option due to its cost-effectiveness.

It's not unheard of to have a book with less than a 32-page count. Image experimented with a slimline 24 interior page format (3 x 8) some years back for Casanova and Fell, which were offered at a commensurately lower price point. Not sure if anyone's ever done 24-page self-cover, but it may be feasible. With 4 pages for covers and 18 pages for story content, you'd only have 2 pages left to fill.

One possible disadvantage to doing less than 32 pages may be that comic book printers operate with the 32-page interior count as the norm, and so a lower page count may actually incur additional charges for setting up. If you're looking to self-publish, make sure you get quotes for both the standard 32 pages and for the 24 lower to find which is actually cheaper. Cutting those 8 pages might just be a false economy.

[DavidC]

After posting, I reviewed the script again. I was able to stretch it to 19 pages. But, I don't know if I can add 3 more pages. May be able add one - two pages of 3 to 6 panels w/out dialog at the beginning to introduce the reader to a bit more detail of the story's surroundings.

I have begun to rough out "Issue 2" a bit, but I don't want to include pages from it for continuity reasons.

@F! Not sure if I'll self publish or attempt to sell the story. For now, this is just an exercise in creative writing. I have this story that's been floating around in my head for awhile. I just want to get it down. Don't know where it'll lead yet. Thanks for the explanation.

[F!]

If there happens to be a particularly dramatic moment, then you can always devote a whole page to a splash, as long as you rebalance so as not to throw off your later spread.

Or you could employ a cold-open in order to insert to turn a potentially picturesque establishing shot into a one- or two-page title splash.

[Symson]

Comic books are usually 32 pages because of the 8 page signature printers use. So no matter the length it always has to be divisible by 8.

Comics used to be 24 pages of content and 8 pages of ads. The story length decreased to save money(paying talent) and get more ads.

So you can have 18 pages of story and fill the rest of the pages with whatever you want. Be inventive and give the reader some bang for their buck.

[Night Robin]

True. You can always add sketch art and stuff like that. I personally love seeing that "Special Features" type stuff in comics.

[DavidC]

@F!--I have a splash page near the end & a two page spread at pages 8-9. I like your idea of a cold opening and could rearrange some of the pages and add another page or two with art no dialog. Thx.

[Lonrott]

Interior page counts are always multiples of 8. The standard single issue comic book comprises 32 interior pages (4 x 8), plus a 4-page cover section. Of those 32 pages, story usually accounts for 20 to 24 pages, with the difference made up of advertisements and/or ancillary material like letter columns, pin-ups, essays, previews. Some publishers limit the number of pages available to story to 22 so they can fix the number of pages given over to advertising, whereas other publishers may allow you the entire 32 pages to play with.

There's also a format known as ‘self-cover’, where the separate cover section is done away with and those 4 pages are actually part of the 32-page interior count, so the actual interior space drops to 28 pages. Effectively, the whole book is ‘interiors’. It's an increasingly popular option due to its cost-effectiveness.

It's not unheard of to have a book with less than a 32-page count. Image experimented with a slimline 24 interior page format (3 x 8) some years back for Casanova and Fell, which were offered at a commensurately lower price point. Not sure if anyone's ever done 24-page self-cover, but it may be feasible. With 4 pages for covers and 18 pages for story content, you'd only have 2 pages left to fill.

One possible disadvantage to doing less than 32 pages may be that comic book printers operate with the 32-page interior count as the norm, and so a lower page count may actually incur additional charges for setting up. If you're looking to self-publish, make sure you get quotes for both the standard 32 pages and for the 24 lower to find which is actually cheaper. Cutting those 8 pages might just be a false economy.

Wow good post. Informative.