Comic Thoughts  
by Eleutherios Borrias

You there. Yes, you, the one who likes comics, don't be shy, step forward. There are very few forms of expression as misunderstood as this, decades of prejudice have created the stereotype that the 9th art is an immature, simplistic stupidity concerning men with muscles and tights, able to fly and explode stuff, suitable only for the smaller ages and yet better off without it. Well, if that's how much you know on the subject, allow me to observe that you know nothing at all.

There were always comic books not like those indifferent ones that come out every month in vast quantities, if you just know where to look there's no way you won't find something valuable even in a huge industry like this one. I'm talking about those interesting, dark, realistic or not, innovative, groundbreaking stories that come accompanied by captivating art, each issue a work of art on its own, every month coming to you in a price and form if nothing else approachable. Today more than ever, with hundreds of different titles being published every month, there's a whole pile of junk threatening to overwhelm us but fear not, the same applies for those great comics that seem to be taking the place they rightfully deserve in the hearts of readers and the minds of critics.

Some of the greatest creators of fields related have turned to comics, and that's not accidental, writers and artists worked together in this brave new world using its potential. Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Alan Moore, Frank Miller and so many more, all of them proof that it's not kid cartoons we're talking about but a new form of art with an adult target group destined to change the way we think about text and picture, using a combination of them in a way, maybe not that traditional as literature, but promising and fresh. It took some hard years for the comics industry to grow up and get wise but the mistakes of the past have helped, the production is now evenly matched to the demand, the companies more responsible and the readers significantly more mature and demanding. Comic reading is no more for the geeks, those too bored to read a book or even only for the guys, people who would be concerned to be totally irrelevant to the subject nowadays show a great interest to a new suggestion willing to get you to places none ever took you before.

Arm yourselves with patience and persistence, the quest ahead of you is a hard but promising one. You might stumble upon cheap art, naןve stories and uninspired characters but keep searching, for there are some worth it, capable of traveling you to lands unreachable and dreams unspoken. You may lose yourselves in magic stories and even better, you may reappear a better person. It happens every day!

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News writing - how to write a sports report in 4 steps  
by Nazvi Careem

News writing style is just as important for sports reporting as it is for general news, business stories or any other journalistic work.

The advantage of sports writing is that you are allowed a little it more leeway in your choice of words. In crime or business writing, you are restricted in your use of adjectives and adverbs and are encouraged to focus more on nouns and verbs.

Sports writing, however, allows you to go to town in describing plays, the atmosphere, fans and other colorful aspects of a sporting event.

For this article, we will go through, step by step, how to write a straightforward sports report using quotes.

Ideally, any sports story would have quotes from the winners and losers. Indeed, many sports articles are written around what athletes say rather than what they have achieved on the field of play.

However, you also have sports articles written without quotes. When rookies learn how to write like a journalist, especially in sport, they are likely to come across the structure that we will show you here.

We will adapt the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers on April 1 as our example article.

1. Intro - the most important news aspect of a sports game is the score. Who won? How did they win and what effect did the victory have? Also important is whether we are writing from a Boston perspective or Cleveland. In this case, we will go with Cleveland.

"Cleveland Cavaliers lost 98-96 to the Boston Celtics after Delonte West's sank two free throws in the final seconds, dropping three and a half games behind the Pistons for the best record in the Eastern Conference."

2. More info - The above is enough for those who have a passing interest in the sport. However, NBA fans would want more information and you could give it to them in one or two paragraphs.

"The Cavaliers were without star player LeBron James, suffering from a knee injury, while the Celtics were minus Paul Pierce. Gerald Green led the way for Celtics with 25 points while Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Cavaliers, for whom Larry Hughes scored 24 with Sasha Pavlovic scoring 17, have already qualified for the play-offs while Boston are out of the running."

3. Quote - This is where you can provide a quote from the coach or a key player from both teams. You can precede each saying with a lead-in paragraph or go straight into the quote.

"Celtic forward Al Jefferson, said: 'They were missing their best player and we were missing our best play. We just stuck in there.'

Cavs coach Mike Brown said James' absence was a key factor in their loss.

'We miss LeBron. We miss LeBron every time he doesn't play. He's our guy,' said Brown."

4. The rest - Once you got the main information and key quotes out of the way, you can go on to describe the game. Even better would be to describe just one or two plays and include more quotes.

The thinking behind sports articles is that people would have watched the game on TV anyway and would not want boring game description. Therefore, quotes from the people who matter, such as athletes and coaches, would offer better reading value.

There are many types of sports news writing that is offered around the world everyday. We have merely showed you its simplest form. Certainly, it is a rewarding form of news writing for journalists who love their sport. And the structure they use allow them to adapt their skills to any type of journalism writing.

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