Let's Get Published! Young American Comics Part 1

I was compiling a list of publishing requirements from various companies (Image, Marvel, Dark Horse, DC) when I found this.

Thanks to Comic Foundry Magazine's blog.

Apparently Young American Comics is inviting all creators to submit material for a themed anthology. Excellent!

My goal is to get published, this just makes sense for me. I had an outline drawn up already for a story that fits the theme of the anthology (small town/big city) and, after contacting an artist friend of mine, I'm now working on making the story work 2 - 8 pages.

My first thought is that it's going to be 8 pages. Since my outline is for 22, that's condensing quite a bit, but I think it's entirely possible if I strip out a few things. I'm hoping to have the story fit into less pages, as I think I'd have a better shot at getting accepted, but 8 is my goal.

I'll keep this space updated.

Sample Scripts: Dwayne McDuffie various

Dwayne McDuffie has been writing comics for at least as long as I've been writing them.

This is a link to a section of his web page that contains scripts and pitches.

He's best known for his work on the Milestone comics, an imprint of D.C. which featured a world in which African American superheroes had their day in the sun. I remember Icon fondly, but haven't read any Milestone work in a long time.

Pro Tips: Warren Ellis on writing

Newsarama had an interview with Warren Ellis back in late 2006 I just stumbled on.

Budget time? I work sixteen hours a day. That’s all I can tell you. I write until I can’t.

There's way too much in here that's good and interesting. I'm convinced that anything Ellis writes is gold. The man's mind and method seem to be both impenetrable to me when I'm trying to analyze it. His own words make it that much easier to understand.

Musing: What happens and why it happens

I was writing today. I'm on page twelve of my first comic book script ever, and I finally figured out why my characters were doing what they were doing. The main character, who I lovingly call "The Narrator," has just gone through some changes in his life. Some very major changes, and this story is all about him dealing with those changes.

For twelve pages I've had my characters doing things for reasons that make sense to the character. Makes sense. I just didn't know why they were doing those things. I knew why in the immediate scheme of things, but in the grand design of the cosmos that fiction inhabits there is always a scheme greater than visceral gut reaction. There are metaphors and hidden meanings, symbols and signs, and words that means so much more than their definition.

I'm going to keep those twelve pages, largely unchanged for the time being, because they're organic, and because they're the reason I've come to understand my story. I'm just super glad I have a strict focus for the next series of pages.

Comics Increasing Popularity

MediaPost Publications has an article partially validating Comic Books as a mainstream market. Recognition from reputed sources can't be anything but a good thing, right?

From the big screen to the little screen to the paper screen, this genre of periodicals -- once considered a medium for the weird, the nerdy, the uncool -- has become mainstream. But where are the advertisers?

Cool.

Maybe the mainstream will get down with Comic Books themselves after seeing the next big movie. Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3 and a new Fantastic Four movie are all coming out soonish. Maybe we'll see a rise then.

A Pro Speaks: Gail Simone on BoP

Gail Simone talks with Newsarama about Birds of Prey. A very interesting read, more interesting probably, because Gail is one of my favorite writers.

It was strongly felt at DC that, mostly due to Birds of Prey I’m told, the Canary had become an interesting and powerful enough character to stand a bit more on her own, to take more of a center stage role.

I'm stoked that Simone is getting this kind of credit from DC. She totally deserves it, and her mind, or at least what she writes on the internet, is amazing to me.

Read her blog. It's got tons of content and advice.

How to Guide: by Barry Lyga

Here's a handy primer on writing comics.

It's written by Barry Lyga, whom I've never heard of before, but seems to know what he's talking about. There's a short bio on the top of the page listing his credentials.

First, we need to clear up a couple of very popular misconceptions about comics. One is that writing comics is easy. After all, a look at a comic book page shows that most of the heavy lifting is done by the art, right? No need to write "John ran across the field" when the artist has drawn John doing precisely that! This misconception goes hand-in-hand with another: namely, that all comic book writers do is write the words that go into the word balloons.

The article is very informative, and even contains a short bit of script. I love scripts. For whatever reason, I like to have the format down for anything I do. Seems to make it easier.