20 Mini Comic Story Ideas: Complete Stories in 8-24 Pages
Perfect for zines and short projects—20 mini comic ideas designed for limited pages. Each concept is self-contained and achievable in one creative burst.
Mini comics—8 to 24 pages—are perfect for experimentation, zines, and completing projects without years of commitment. These 20 ideas are designed for the format’s constraints.
Single Scene Stories
1. The Wait
Two strangers at a bus stop. Neither speaks, but their body language tells a complete story about their days, their moods, and a small moment of connection before the bus arrives.
2. The Call
One phone call that changes everything. We only see one side—expressions, reactions, the silence after hanging up. Eight pages to show a life pivoting.
3. The Line
People waiting in a line—at a food bank, a concert, a government office. Each page follows the line forward, revealing why they’re there and what happens when they reach the front.
4. The Meal
A family dinner where everything important is said between the lines. The food, the reaching, the clearing of plates tells the real story.
Day-in-the-Life
5. The Routine
One perfectly ordinary day for someone with a not-ordinary job—a night shift worker, a lighthouse keeper, a professional mourner. Beauty in the mundane unusual.
6. The Commute
A commute from hell that becomes strangely meaningful. Delays, crowds, and frustration lead to unexpected moments of humanity.
7. The Night Shift
Overnight workers share a space—a diner, a hospital, a 24-hour store. One night, one location, multiple stories intersecting.
Supernatural Shorts
8. The Ghost’s Chore
A ghost who can’t move on until they complete one mundane task—water a plant, mail a letter, feed a cat. The problem: they can’t touch anything.
9. The Familiar Application
A witch’s familiar interviews potential replacements. Each candidate is wrong in a different way, revealing what made the original familiar irreplaceable.
10. The Last Monster
The last monster of its kind trying to scare children who don’t believe in monsters anymore. An elegy for imagination.
Relationship Vignettes
11. The Ex Factor
Two exes run into each other unexpectedly. The conversation is polite. The panels show everything they’re not saying.
12. The Favor
Someone asks a favor. The person being asked has to decide—and we see the entire relationship in how they weigh the decision.
13. The Secret
Someone discovers something they shouldn’t know about someone they love. The rest of the comic: what they do with the knowledge.
Genre Shorts
14. The Heist (Miniature)
A heist story where the stakes are deliberately small—stealing back a sweater, retrieving an embarrassing photo. Ocean’s Eleven energy, zero casualties.
15. The Prophecy Problem
A prophesied hero arrives too late—the villain already won years ago and has been running things fine. What’s a chosen one to do?
16. The Time Traveler’s Errand
A time traveler pops into various eras for increasingly mundane reasons. Historical scope, zero drama.
Experimental Formats
17. The Instruction Manual
A story told as an instruction manual—how to use a mysterious object that’s clearly more than it appears. Reading between the lines reveals the real narrative.
18. The Lost and Found
A lost-and-found box. Each object’s page shows how it was lost and whether it was found. The objects tell stories their owners never would.
19. The Review
A story told entirely through reviews—restaurant reviews that reveal a failing relationship, product reviews that hint at something strange, book reviews that describe real events.
20. The Recipe
A recipe comic where the food being prepared parallels a memory or relationship. Instructions and reminiscence interweave.
Mini Comic Tips
One location helps: Containing your story geographically reduces pages needed for establishing shots.
Start late, end early: Enter scenes as late as possible, leave as soon as the point is made.
Trust the reader: Mini comics reward careful readers. Not everything needs to be spelled out.
One emotion per comic: Choose the feeling you want readers to have, and make every panel serve it.
Start Small, Start Now
Mini comics are the perfect entry point into comic creation. Multic’s intuitive tools let you create complete short stories quickly—perfect for experimentation and building your skills.
Related: How to Make a Comic and Panel Layout Basics