Former Marvel Comics editor Andy Schmidt moderated a New York Comic Con panel on writing and story structure earlier this month.

The group of panelists included writers Jimmy Palmiotti, Daniel Way and David Hine. Based on the discussion, we created a list of do’s and don’ts for story structure.

Do create an outline for your story.

Don’t treat your outline as a strict, controlling template. These tools are meant to enhance, not stifle, creativity.

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Last night The Daily Show with Jon Stewart took a satirical look at Batman‘s Parisian sidekick, Nightrunner–uncovering some prejudice against the comic book character.

The French sidekick has an Islamic background. The segment featured Bosch Fawstin, a comic book artist who seems to believe that being a Muslim and being a Jihadist are mutually inclusive. Daily Show reporter Aasif Mandvi (who is also a Muslim) donned a costume to pose as a crime fighter, all in the name of comedy.

This is not the first time Nightrunner faced such criticism. Batman writer David Hine explained why he had Batman meet his sidekick in Death and Taxes magazine: “The process of developing a story is complex and there are all kinds of things I looked at. The urban unrest and problems of the ethnic minorities under [Nicolas] Sarkozy’s government dominate the news from France and it became inevitable that the hero should come from a French Algerian background.”