Comic strip writing tips from the pages of history

History is a deep drawer of strange costumes, dramatic misunderstandings and instantly recognisable characters. For a comic strip writer, it offers far more than dates and famous battles. It supplies situations that can be reduced to a visual gag, then sharpened through anachronism, exaggeration and a well-timed final panel.

A medieval knight trying to use a smartphone, a Roman demanding better workplace conditions or a Victorian inventor frustrated by a flat battery can become funny because the audience understands both sides of the joke. The past creates a clear contrast with modern life, giving each panel a built-in comic engine.

Andy Fanton’s work demonstrates how broad that engine can be. His comic creations, including George vs Dragon, Boo!, Carrotty Kid and Bad Grandad, show the value of strong character premises and economical storytelling. The same approach appears across the creator’s written work, where personality and an unusual point of view drive the material.

Find the comic engine in a historical fact

Begin with a fact that contains tension. History is full of people wanting incompatible things: a monarch wants obedience, a rebel wants freedom, an explorer wants glory and a clerk wants to finish work before five. The funniest premise often comes from placing an ordinary frustration inside an extraordinary setting.

Rather than researching an entire era, collect small details. Look for peculiar laws, obsolete technologies, social rituals, food habits and occupations. A scribe with repetitive strain injury has more immediate comic potential than a broad summary of medieval politics. Specificity gives the gag a surface that readers can see.

Try turning research into a simple sentence: “A character wants X, but the historical world makes Y impossible.” A Roman road builder wants a sick day, but the emperor has declared a deadline. A gold-rush shopkeeper wants contactless payment, but the customer is paying in nuggets. That conflict can usually support several panels.

Build characters around historical contradictions

A strong comic character should have a desire that survives the setting. George wants to defeat the dragon; the dragon may simply want peace, a snack or recognition for his artistic achievements. The historical background becomes funnier when it presses against a familiar emotional need.

Give each character one defining contradiction. A terrifying Viking might be frightened of public speaking. A celebrated explorer could be hopeless at reading a map. An apparently dignified queen might be obsessed with bargain hunting at a suburban shopping centre in Melbourne. The contradiction should be easy to draw and easy to understand before the punchline arrives.

Dialogue can reveal the period without turning every speech bubble into a history lesson. Use one or two authentic details, then let the character speak plainly. Readers in Sydney or Brisbane do not need a lecture about feudal taxation to understand someone complaining that the castle budget has vanished into “moat maintenance”.

Turn research into readable panels

History inspires your best panels when it changes the visual action rather than decorating it. A helmet, scroll or horse should affect what characters can do. If a knight cannot reach a ringing mobile because of armour, the costume is part of the joke. If a medieval messenger delivers bad news by carrier pigeon, the delay becomes a useful beat.

Plan the strip around escalation. The first panel establishes the normal historical situation, the second introduces a complication, and the final panel delivers the reversal. In a four-panel strip, allow the setup to breathe, but remove any line that repeats information already visible in the drawing.

Historical ingredient	Modern comic contrast	Useful visual payoff
Castle siege	Customer service complaint	The battering ram becomes a queue-management tool
Ancient marketplace	Cashless payment habits	A merchant rejects coins as “too old-fashioned”
Royal decree	Workplace policy	A scroll is amended with increasingly petty rules
Medieval feast	Australian takeaway culture	A banquet argues over who ordered the chips
Gold-rush town	Housing prices	A tiny tent is advertised as premium accommodation

The final panel should make the reader reinterpret what came before. A king’s grand speech may turn out to be an attempt to avoid washing dishes. A dragon’s threat may be a formal complaint about noise after 10 pm. This kind of reversal works especially well in short-form comics because the reader supplies the missing logic.

Use Australian life as a modern measuring stick

Local details can make historical humour feel immediate. A convict-era character trying to understand a QR code, a bushranger being fined for illegal parking or a knight complaining about a long commute on Melbourne’s tram network creates a recognisable bridge between centuries. The contrast is stronger when the modern reference feels observed rather than imported.

Australia’s comic market also rewards clarity and speed. Readers may encounter a strip in a newspaper, on a phone during a train ride or between errands at a suburban shopping centre. A gag should survive without an explanation box. Test whether the central action is clear in thumbnail form, especially for social media publication.

Legal and practical details matter when history becomes parody. Australian copyright law protects original expression, while historical facts themselves are generally free to use; copying a modern illustration, translation or distinctive adaptation is a different matter. Moral rights can also apply to creators, so credit and permission remain important when using archival images or commissioned artwork. If a strip makes claims about a living person or business, Australian defamation rules are another reason to keep the target fictional or clearly absurd.

Edit the past until the joke lands

Research is valuable during drafting, but it should become nearly invisible in the finished strip. Keep the detail that creates conflict and remove the facts that merely prove you did homework. A comic about a Roman senator does not need five accurate references if one toga, one voting ritual and one modern complaint will do the work.

Read the dialogue aloud. Historical vocabulary can slow a joke, particularly when a character uses terms unfamiliar to Australian readers. Replace a long explanation with a prop, expression or background sign. A “royal edict” pinned to a castle wall can communicate bureaucracy faster than a speech bubble about administrative procedure.

Visual research can also influence tone and composition. Even a subject as decorative as floral pattern history may suggest a setting, costume motif or recurring background gag. Treat reference material as a source of comic textures, then let the characters disrupt its seriousness.

Keep a running file of historical oddities, modern observations and possible reversals. Pair one item from each list, sketch three thumbnail versions and choose the one with the clearest final image. That routine turns research into repeatable comic-strip writing rather than a search for a perfect fact.

Build a portfolio of these experiments alongside finished strips, written pieces and mini-comics. Publish the strongest panels, refine the premises that earn a reaction and let distinctive characters return in new historical settings. A well-chosen fact can open the door, but the character’s problem is what makes readers stay.