Twittering about Breaking into Comics

Originally posted by Marvel editor C.B. Cebulski at: http://twitter.com/CBCebulski

Every year, [the] same "writer" tells me how he's better than Bendis, and same "artist" can't understand how Bachalo gets work over him. No, seriously, I heard "I deserve..." and "I'm just as good as..." maybe 5 or 6 times at NYCC from writers & artists looking for work. This has been going on for four years now, con after con, and neither has broken into the top five publishers in that time. I wonder why?

And just to clarify, while I meet and talk to writers, I can't read pitches & proposals or discuss stories. My job is to find artists only.

Oh, I'm not venting, just trying to head off any potential confusion. Don't want people pitching me when they shouldn't be. Hope that helps.

Ultimately, it's the editors who hire the writers & artists. They choose the talent on their books.

Disturbing but eye-opening fact: No writer or artist has been hired through a cold submission mailed into Marvel in recent memory.

Upon intense review, we discovered that almost all new talent hired by Marvel over the past five years has come through "word-of-mouth".

"Word-of-mouth" extends beyond comics: novelists, screenwriters, video gamers, bloggers, designers, illustrators, poets, painters.

…this old adage is still the most apt: "The best way to get published by Marvel and DC is to get published elsewhere first."

Never limit yourself. Comics is a medium without boundaries. Explore all options available to you in this glorious form of storytelling.

There are pros and cons to both creator-owned and work-for-hire comics. I always recommend balancing both, if possible.

Why would you want to work-for-hire? Simple... Desire! You have to WANT to work on Marvel/DC/DH characters.

Never write for the money.

A good writer is a good writer. A good artist is a good artist. Talent is talent no matter where you find it.

Advice for new writers? Be realistic, start small. No major comic publisher will hire you for a mini or run on a book as your first gig. You're better off pitching 8 or 11 pagers or one-shots. Anthologies, back-ups and fill-ins are where many new voices are being tested now. And as for pitches, I'd keep them to one page. Tagline, high concept, and a full overview with the beginning, middle & end. Less is more.

Advice for artists? Start a blog. It's the best way to get your work looked at. Picasa, Deviant Art and flickr are impersonal and bulky. Keep click-thrus to a minimum. With a blog it's just one click and the editor can simply scroll down & see everything you have to offer. And blogs are easily updated and personalized, which will let more of your individuality and voice come through along with your art.

Read anything you can get your hands on: MCP, Astonishing Tales, Popgun, 24/7... see what other writers/artists are doing in short stories.

Sorry if some folks don't like what I'm saying here, but it's the honest truth. It's not as easy to break into comics as people think.

Use message boards/websites/blogs to find out about other people's pitching/submissions experiences. There's a lot of info out there.

Know who you are pitching to. That's very important. If you follow the industry, you should know what kind of book editors work on/like.

Couple of weeks ago, Ms. Diyco featured another campaign made by the creatives here at Harrison Communications. Here's her review about the Neozep "Neozerye" TV campaign: Romancing the mighty colds cure ADS AND ENDS, Nanette A Franco-Diyco BUSINESS WORLD Vol. XX, No. 139, Friday-Saturday, February 9-10, 2007 http://www.bworldonline.com/Weekender020907/main.php?id=marketing_diyco The four television commercials that serialize the life of pretty housemaid Luwalhati, culminating in a storybook wedding to her once-upon-a-time señorito from the imposing mansion belong to an ad campaign awards class all its own. There have been other spoofs of soap operas selling other brand categories in the past. But for several reasons put together, the Neozep series of commercials that began with honest-to-goodness ad teasers that looked and sounded like teasers for true-blue soap operas proved ultra entertaining and more importantly, "reinforced Neozep’s leadership and further s...

the sons and daughters of Kanlaon

Last Friday, we attended the 40th Anniversary of KBS, the Kanlaon Broadcasting System, where my mom and dad once worked. I was still a baby when my dad worked there. I barely remember the people there. One of the first people to greet me was Lando, my dad's old driver. Him, I remember. As the story goes, when I was a baby, I could not pronounce his name and just started calling him "Agoong". Hence, he got that nickname and that's what everyone called him. I remember how we used to play chess while waiting for dad to finish work and how I always forced him to make me win. (Makes me wish I forced him to teach me how to play chess better and learn how to not win things so easily.) As expected, as my mom re-introduced me to her old office mates, they all looked surprised and delighted to see me. They would then immediately extend their hand, palm down, and show me how small I was when I first met them. Some would pretend to carry me and tell them they were the ones who ca...

Will you Play it Safe in 2025?

One of my favorite songs which I learned about early this year. Our boss at the agency played this at one of our town hall meetings. It's reminder to all creators that we will always be told to "stick to safe ideas" (which is fine, if you just want to get the work done and go home) but there will always be this other voice at the back of your head that will ask, "Maybe there's another way to do this? Maybe there's a better way to tell this story? Maybe you can tell if from a different point of view and make this old story feel like new? Maybe you can spend a few more minutes working on it? How about it? Let's give it a try? Another hour trying to re-write? Let's give it a go!" What I love about this song is how the lyrics take on the conservative point-of-view and how the visuals show us the exact opposite. One of my favorite bits of this song is this part, where the lyrics starts to give you a "list of commands", like it's a list o...

Babbling Point

Search This Blog