UPDATE: You can read all three of my Info-Heavy Comics posts compiled into one long mega post now! Non-patrons can buy it for just $3

In Part 1 of Making Info-Heavy Comics, I (Erika. Hi, it's Erika) explained the first steps I take to break down dense information into its visual elements. That post got balls-long real fast, so I cut it midway through with the promise to finish the lesson in a second part. So that's where we are! Part 2! Right here! Right now! But before you proceed, make sure you go back and read:

Making Info-Heavy Comics (part 1)

Alright, we all caught up? Cool! Proceed!

Now that you've collected all your valuable information and brainstormed how to represent it through images, you may be tempted to dump them on a page together. And yes, that can be the most effective way to communicate the information you're trying to share! .

.................But have you considered... Storytelling?

Think of your raw data as the meat of an educational sandwich. It's the good stuff! It's why people are eating your delicious sandwich in the first place! But that information needs a vehicle to contain and deliver it to the knowledge-hungry recipient. That's where the bread/story comes in!

🍞 The top layer of your sandwich's storybread (it's a word now) introduces the subject of your research. This can be as direct as someone asking questions, like, "What is [SUBJECT X]? How does [X] work? Why does [X] do this thing that it does? When did [X] start doing the thing that it is known for?" or show someone struggling with an unsolvable problem which, it turns out, can actually be solved with [X]. There's a million ways to set the stage, be creative!

🥓🥬🍅 Your research/information/analysis is the delicious sandwich filling. Explain what [X] is, how it works, what it does, why it's worth knowing about, and anything else that makes it an interesting subject. You also may have space to play with any characters you made, make jokes, inject peripheral details, or basically have fun with your storyline (if you have one)!

🍞 Wrap up your knowledge sandwich with the bottom layer of storybread that concludes the narrative. You can bring resolution to your story by answering questions or resolving problems that you introduced in the beginning of the story, or show your characters understanding the subject. If all else fails, draw the earth getting obliterated by an asteroid- that's, like, the most definitive end you can possible have.

Every story has a narrator- who's yours? Who is telling your audience all the cool information that you researched? It doesn't have to be a character, it can be authoritative narration simply stating the facts from on high, like the voice of God. You can also introduce characters to interact with each other, ask common questions, debunk misinformation, recount expository dialogue, or get up to unrelated hijinx to give your readers a break from the work of learning new stuff. Even the very subject of your comic can be the narrator! If your topic is an object, anthropomorphize it! If it's a concept, make up a mascot or character for it! There's probably other types of narrators but this is all that I can think of right now!

It is tempting to just dump all your info as a big block of text on the page. Resist the urge! Remember, the reason you're sharing this knowledge as a comic is because visuals are an incredibly effective, compelling way of teaching new concepts. And likewise, comics also provide an incredibly clever way of giving your readers a momentary pause from all this learning, to help stave off them getting overloaded and burnt out on the topic. This break can be in the form of on-page shenanigans! Your characters can interrupt the educational text with jokes or unrelated bullshit, for one example, or you can have whole little adventures playing out between other individuals or elements in the background. However you wanna do it, you can add in entertaining details around and behind the Big Important Learn-y Stuff.

And now it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is and make an actual comic using (some) of my guidelines. As I mentioned in the first post, I drew this literally minutes before my studio presentation, so it's not a... comprehensive example of all the stuff I discussed across these two posts- but, hey! It shows some of it! That's close enough. ENJOY:

There we have it! From research to finished pages, you now posses the building blocks of how to make your very own information-heavy comic!

Use this information only for good.

(Cross-posted from Oh Joy Sex Toy's Patreon entry on July 24, 2026)