The Scene We're Scripting
To compare formats apples-to-apples, every example below scripts the same Page 1: a detective arrives at a rainy crime scene at night, surveys the area, and crouches to pick up an object from the ground. Five panels. Same setup; five different ways to put it on paper.
Format 1 — Full-Script (DC / Mainstream Style)
Used by most mainstream American comics since the 1980s. Every panel is described, every line of dialogue is written, the artist has clear marching orders. Best for solo writer-with-collaborating-artist work where the artist isn't a long-standing partner. --- PAGE 1 --- PANEL 1. Wide establishing shot. Rainy alleyway at night, neon signs reflecting off wet pavement. Police tape across the entrance, two squad cars with lights on. DETECTIVE MARA REYES, mid-30s, in a long coat, ducks under the tape. CAPTION (Mara): Three crime scenes in a week. All the same. PANEL 2. Medium shot. Mara walks past two uniformed officers, one of whom (OFFICER CHEN) looks up at her. Rain streams off the brim of Mara's hat. CHEN: Detective. Body's down the end of the alley. MARA: Anyone touched anything? PANEL 3. Mara's POV. The alley narrows into shadow. A figure (the BODY, off-panel below frame) is just visible at the far end. CHEN (off-panel): Just to check vitals. MARA: Good. PANEL 4. Mara crouches next to something on the pavement — a small metallic object glinting in the rain. Her hand reaches toward it but doesn't touch yet. (No dialogue) PANEL 5. Close-up of the object in her gloved hand. A brass button, military-style, with a specific insignia visible. CAPTION (Mara): Same button. Three times running. CAPTION (Mara): That's not a coincidence. --- END PAGE 1 --- Note the format: panel headers in caps, character names in caps, dialogue in mixed case, captions parenthetically attributed.
Format 2 — Marvel-Style / Plot-First
Stan Lee's original format from the 1960s. The writer gives the artist a plot outline, the artist paces and pencils, the writer comes back and adds dialogue afterward. Used today only by writer-artist teams with long collaboration history. --- PAGE 1 PLOT --- Detective Mara Reyes arrives at her third identical crime scene of the week. Establish the rainy alley, the police presence, her professional weariness. She brushes off Officer Chen, walks down the alley toward the body, but stops to examine an object in the rain — a brass button with a specific insignia. She recognizes it; she's seen this same button at the previous two scenes. The page ends on her realization that this is a serial pattern. Key beats: establish setting (rain, night, alley), establish Mara's authority and weariness, establish the recurring object (the button), end on her realization. --- END PAGE 1 PLOT --- The artist now paces this across 4–7 panels at their discretion. The writer adds dialogue after seeing the art.
Format 3 — Indie Page-by-Page (Image Style)
Common at Image, BOOM, and indie publishers. Slightly more flexible than full-script — panel count is suggested rather than locked, the writer trusts the artist to interpret blocking. --- PAGE 1 (5 PANELS) --- Rainy alley at night. Mara Reyes ducks under police tape. She's seen this scene twice before. MARA (caption): Three crime scenes in a week. All the same. She acknowledges Officer Chen without slowing down. CHEN: Body's down the end of the alley. MARA: Anyone touched anything? CHEN: Just to check vitals. MARA: Good. She walks toward the body but stops. Something glints in the rain at her feet. She crouches. Picks it up. A brass button. MARA (caption): Same button. Three times running. MARA (caption): That's not a coincidence. --- END PAGE 1 --- Notice the dialogue and beats are present but blocking and shot choices are left to the artist. This style trusts the artist more and writes less.
Format 4 — Manga Style (With ネーム Thumbnails)
Used in most Japanese manga. The writer or writer-artist drafts a prose script and then thumbnails the page layout (the ネーム step) before any final art. Panel direction is right-to-left. SFX are first-class elements with weight and position notes. --- ページ1 (PAGE 1) — 5 panels, right-to-left --- Panel 1 (top, full-width). Rainy alley at night, neon reflecting on wet pavement, police tape across entrance. SFX (large, top corner): ZAAAAH — heavy rain CAPTION (Mara, thought): Three scenes in a week. All the same. Panel 2 (right-center). Mara ducks under tape, hat brim shedding rain. Officer Chen visible in mid-ground. CHEN: Tantei-san. (Detective.) Body's at the end. MARA: Touched anything? Panel 3 (left-center). Mara's eyes — close-up. Cold focus. CHEN (off-panel): Iie. (No.) Panel 4 (right-bottom, small). Her gloved hand reaches for something on the pavement, off-panel below. SFX (small): SHAA — water trickle Panel 5 (left-bottom, large). Close-up of brass button in her hand, insignia visible. CAPTION (Mara, thought): Onaji botan. (Same button.) San-kai. CAPTION (Mara, thought): Guuzen janai. (Not a coincidence.) --- END PAGE 1 --- Notice the panel direction notation (right-center vs left-center) and the SFX as composed lettering rather than incidental.
Format 5 — Webtoon / Vertical-Scroll
Used for vertical-scroll digital comics on Webtoon, Tappytoon, Lezhin. Pages are abandoned — the format is a single endless vertical canvas with one beat per scrollable screen. --- EPISODE 1 — Opening sequence (6 vertical beats) --- Beat 1 (full screen). Wide establishing shot of rainy alley at night. Neon, wet pavement, police tape across entrance. CAPTION (Mara): Three crime scenes in a week. Beat 2 (full screen). Mara ducks under tape, walking forward. Rain visible. CAPTION (Mara): All the same. Beat 3 (full screen). Mara passes Officer Chen. CHEN: Body's down the end. MARA: Anyone touched it? CHEN: Just vitals. Beat 4 (full screen). Mara stops walking. Looks down. (No dialogue, beat panel for the scroll) Beat 5 (full screen). Hand reaching for something on the pavement. (No dialogue) Beat 6 (full screen). Brass button in her gloved palm, insignia visible. CAPTION (Mara): Same button. Three times. CAPTION (Mara): Not a coincidence. --- END EPISODE 1 OPENING --- Webtoon scripts read vertically. There is no page; there is a scroll. Episodes are 30–80 beats long. Dialogue is even sparser than manga because mobile reading rewards economy.
Which Format to Pick
Solo writer, new to comics, working with an artist for the first time: full-script (Format 1). Solo writer-artist, doing everything yourself: indie page-by-page (Format 3) or manga (Format 4) depending on style. Writer working with a long-collaborator artist: Marvel-style (Format 2). Targeting digital-first audience (Webtoon, Tappytoon): vertical-scroll (Format 5). When in doubt, full-script is the safest default; the artist can always pace looser if given more freedom than needed, but cannot pace tighter without details.
How to Format the File
Set the script up to be read on screen and printed without losing structure. Use Courier or a comic-script font like Blambot's at 11–12pt. Headers (PAGE 1, PANEL 1) in all caps. Character names in caps before dialogue. Dialogue in mixed case. Captions parenthetically attributed. Stage directions in standard sentence case. Save as .pdf for distribution and .docx for collaboration. Many writers also keep a private Markdown version for searchability.