This came from a recommendation in one of the books on writing comics that I’d read recently. I’ve had some experience with this sort of thing in the past, but it’s never been very positive. To my way of thinking, shoving your ideas into a preexisting framework is the same thing as being formulaic — and I’ve never cared for formulaic. But this book made me realize that there are more basic elements in common in nearly all the great stories in history.
“The Hero’s Journey” described within deals more with that shared humanity, and allows for an incredible flexibility that includes such diverse works as The Wizard of Oz, Titanic and Pulp Fiction. It takes the ideas set out by Joseph Conrad, as applied to ancient mythology, and translates them into terms better understood by contemporary screenwriters (and, by extension, comic book scripters).
Best of all, for the first time, it made me realize that a basic framework isn’t always a bad thing. By taking the assortment of cool scenes and characters that had been floating around in my head and giving them a little more order, I was able to come up with what I feel to be my best work to date — the still-in-work third rewrite of Tales of the Odd. I think the results will speak for themselves.