Let’s build a comic book together (aiming to publish later this year!)

Had this random idea last week… what if you pick the characters and I turn it into a story?

Just choose by number (you may give it a name):

A. 1 main character

B. 1 villain (antagonist, clear opposing force)

C.+1 wildcard (unpredictable, morally grey)

D. 1 emotional anchor (pet friend etc)

If you’ve got a quick story idea, drop it too.
We’ll build the story based on the most popular picks and share updates.

We’ll credit everyone who contributes 🙌

What is this cake? Have a name? Help me spot the recipe. It was delicious.

Anyone else learning like this?

I stopped trying to “study” German and started doing this instead:

I take a book and read it multiple times with a pen.

• 1st–2nd pass: I underline in yellow everything I understand (even partially)
• 3rd–4th pass: I switch to orange and mark what finally clicks

No translating every word. No perfection. Just repetition until the page stops looking foreign.

The book ends up destroyed… but my comprehension goes way up.

Feels messy, but it works. I can't stop reading this book Wilhelm Hauff's Fairy Tales (are amazing).

UPDATE No. 1

I am glad this post collected so many useful insights in the comment section. It was a pleasure to read all of them!

UPDATE No.2

Let’s build up a comic book together!

I kick started a CROWDWRITING project:
Let us build the protagonists first:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RateMyRead/comments/1t4q2ie/pick_2_heroes_1_villain_from_this_page_lets_build/

Reward: We’ll credit everyone who contributes 🙌

Koningsdag read check from Goes 🇳🇱 The Netherlands.

I’m at the rommelmarkt in right now — surrounded by orange, music, and random treasures.

What are YOU reading today for Koningsdag?

Or… what book would you grab from a rommelmarkt if you found it? ;)

A Brutally Honest Review. I read “How to Talk to Anyone” by Leil Lowndes, expecting simple social advice. What I got instead felt like a collection of hacks for influencing people’s perception of you.

It works but it kind of feels like social manipulation.
And yeah… it actually works. That’s the weird part.

This isn’t a deep philosophical book, it’s a playbook.
“How to Talk to Anyone” by Leil Lowndes is basically social engineering for everyday life.

“The Flooding Smile”
Don’t smile instantly. Pause, make eye contact, then let the smile slowly spread. It makes it feel real, not automatic.

“You only have ten seconds to show you’re a somebody.”

The book breaks talking to people into small tricks:

• how long to hold eye contact
• when to smile
• how to stand or react
• how to make people feel like you’re really interested

“People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Mmm... nah.

“Your body language is your autobiography in motion.”

Sophistic..ation

Honest take

Some techniques can feel a bit manipulative if you overthink them. But used lightly, they’re just tools to be more intentional socially.

What do you think about it?

A masterfully drawn book about ageing and the death of a small business. Many readers read the ending as tragic. Others see it as spiritual.

Before engaging into a discussion about this book below here is my view after reading 75% of the book.

Clyde Fans tells the story of two brothers, Abe and Simon Matchcard ( : ) I hope I did not misspelled it), who inherit their father’s electric‑fan company in mid‑20th‑century Canada. The story might be... true at least partially.

The novel becomes a kind of double character study (reflective monologues): one brother crushed by the world outside, the other crushed by the world inside.

Abe (the older guy) A traveling salesman who slowly realizes the world is changing
He is confident on the surface, but hollow underneath. He watches the business die as air‑conditioning replaces fans.

Simon is gentle, anxious, socially fragile he lives almost entirely inside his own mind. Obsessed with routine, memory, and small comforts he is unable to function in the world Abe thrives in.

This is the Death of a Salesman of the graphic novel world. It’s depressing, monochromatic, and painfully slow... and that’s exactly why it’s perfect.

Clyde Fans is a quiet, masterfully drawn elegy for two brothers who never quite fit into the world and for a Canada that no longer exists.

Personally, I think the ending is quiet, ambiguous, and deeply melancholic rather than “plot-resolving.” It makes you feels like a lost memory you never had... : )

I purchased this book from in France at Angoulême International Comics Festival (Canadian Pavilion).

Challenge

Love it or hate it? What did you think of the ending of Clyde Fans?

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^(Author:) ^(Seth |) ^(Genre:) ^(Graphic Novel / Literary Fiction. Seth is the pen name of a highly influential) ^(Canadian cartoonist,) ^(best known for his deeply atmospheric, retro‑styled graphic novels such as) *^(Clyde Fans)*^(,) *^(It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken)*^(, and) *^(Wimbledon Green)*^(.)

^(Title:) ^([BOTD] Day #09 | "Clyde Fans" — A 20-year masterpiece about the slow death of a business.)
^(Copyright:) ^(© Seth.) ^(Publisher:) ^(Drawn & Quarterly.) ^(Disclaimer:) ^(Illustrative panels are used for literary and artistic critique under Fair Use.)

Challenge

How this book change how you feel about their isolation? your 5/5 rating? : )

Hot Take

Some purists argue that adapting such a sacred text into "comics" diminishes its weight. I argue the visual metaphors (like Anne seeing herself as a Greek statue) actually make her inner life more profound than the text alone.

^(Authors:) ^(Ari Folman & David Polonsky)
^(Title:) ^([BOTD] Day #06 | Is the Graphic Novel of Anne Frank's Diary the best way to teach history?)
^(Copyright: © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel / Ari Folman & David Polonsky.)
^(Publishers: Pantheon Books / Penguin Random House.)
^(Disclaimer: Excerpts are used to illustrate the visual narrative for critical analysis under Fair Use.)