Indy Comics Writer

Here’s what I want: I want to be writing Spider-Man — the right way — for Marvel comics.

Of course, that’s not going to happen. Why would Marvel turn to an unknown when the company not only has its own stable of writers to choose from but can also turn to top novelists and TV and movie scribes, too?

So I’m working hard on writing my own comics and completing scripts for smaller, independent publishers. I do a lot of work with a company called Bluewater Publishing, which has published my first mini-series, a four-issue action/comedy called GEARZ, and in November will publish my second series, a four-issue mystery called Welcome to Waterbury.

But I’m also trying some other tactics. I write this blog, for instance. And while it doesn’t attract the kind of viewership that you’d find at a Newsarama, it does bring in some readers. I’m also hoping to get some editing work at an independent comics company. I work full-time as a writer and editor of a trade magazine in Chicago, so I know how to edit copy. I may also be writing some press releases for this company.

As a writer, you have to use all of your talents to get a foothold in this industry. It’s not easy to make a go of it at writing comic scripts. Not at all. But if you can write press releases for a comics publisher, or edit the descriptions of their comics on their Web sites, you might eventually get the chance to write the publisher’s next one-shot or mini-series.

I saw an ad the other day at Digital Webbing from an independent comics company looking for columnists for its Web site. The job didn’t pay. But it might make an excellent opportunity for the writer looking to get noticed by the publishers. If you turn in a series of well-written, well-researched columns for the company, why wouldn’t it give you the chance to write a comic or two down the line?

That old saying about skinning a cat is true: There are many, many ways to do it. So get creative and start working on your own unique ways to break into the field of writing for comics.

A comic that I had written hit the stores recently. Of course, I was thrilled. I’m new enough to writing for comics that publication is still an amazing rush.

But my joy was tempered a bit as I flipped through the pages. A throw-away character — not an essential one by any means — had been transformed somehow from a male, which the character was in my script, to a female, which the character ended up on the printed page. This wouldn’t have been a problem — like I said, the character was a throw-away one — except for the fact that the character refered to herself as “Mr.” so-and-so.

Obviously, this character was not a “Mr.” Far from it.

The typo didn’t ruin the story. But it annoyed me. And I’m sure other readers saw it and wondered what was going on.

But I have no right to get ticked at anyone but myself. I should have proofed the book more carefully before it went to press. Yes, the company that published the comic has an editor. But remember, editors are human. They’re not infallible. They don’t, and can’t, catch everything.

So here’s my free advice: Never hope others will catch mistakes in your company. Rely on yourself, first and last.

If you like superhero comics, the odds are good you’ll like superhero fiction, too.

Superhero fiction has been around for a while. But it’s not been all that well-publicized. Here’s hoping Who Can Save us Now?, an anthology of 22 prose stories featuring a variety of new superheroes. Published by Free Press, the anthology features some amazing writers, including Elizabeth Crane, John McNally, Kelly Braffet and Richard Dooling. You can read more about the anthology here.

I’m a fan of the kind of superhero fiction presented in the book. This type of fiction looks at superheroes in a new way, giving them problems and challenges typical of any citizen of the world, super-powered or not.

If you’d like a taste of superhero fiction, visit A Thousand Faces, an online — and print — publication publishing reams of superhero fiction. A Thousand Faces is the creation of Frank Byrns, a writer himself who specializes in superhero fiction. There are plenty of stories to chose from at the site, considering that Byrns is already on his fifth issue of his creation. That’s pretty good for a genre that’s still pretty much in the fledgling stage.

And here’s some shameless self-promotion, if you search the archives at A Thousand Faces, you’ll find that Byrns has printed two of my prose stories, “Halloween in Hero Town” and “Darkness at the Edge of Town.”

Writing superhero fiction is a nice break from scripting comic stories. It’s also a good way to simply write, without having to worry about the “stage directions” you have to give artists as a comics writer.

So check out Frank’s site, and Who Can Save Us Now?, and let’s hope we see the genre of superhero fiction continue its growth spurt.

It’s always a pleasure when you stumble upon a new comics site that’s fun, informative and absolutely unafraid to be geeky.

That’s Project Fanboy.

The site is many things: It contains reviews of recent comics (including GEARZ — yeah, I know, that’s a shameless plug — the comic mini-series I wrote for Bluewater Publishing), comic news, interviews with comic creators and several columns.

The best thing about the site is that it’s written by, as its name suggests, true comic fans. Many of the writers are aspiring comic creators themselves. Because of this, a love of comics permeates the site. Sure, most of the reviews may seem overly positive. But they’re still informative. And the interviews and columns dig deep into what makes the world of comics such a fascinating ones for us fans.

One of my favorite columns on the site is Bolts & Nuts, written by editor and writer Steven Forbes. You might have run into Steven if you ever visit Digital Webbing. There, he’s always willing to edit sample comic scripts from aspiring creators. He’s honest in his reviews, and doesn’t praise merely to make someone feel better. If there’s something wrong with your story, he’ll let you know. His column is worth the price of admission to Project Fanboy — of course, that price is zero, but you get the point. As its name suggests, it delves into the very basics of creating a winning comic story. If you’re learning the art, you should definitely give it a visit.

The Internet has not only changed how comics are published — sites like Wowio, even though it is now having financial difficulties, come to mind — but how people gather to chat about comics and discuss the art of making them. It’s far easier today to find like-minded individuals who also love comics. That’s a great thing.

I got my start in freelance writing at a local community newspaper in the neighborhood in which I grew up. The editors there had me writing police reports, obituaries and feature stories. I covered high school and, even, elementary school sports. My first assignment was covering the local elementary school’s science fair. Scintillating stuff, all of it.

But I learned a lot at that little paper. And one of the most important lessons I learned was how important it is to proofread your work, no matter how confident you are that you haven’t made a mistake.

The newspaper publisher was writing a caption once, one that was supposed to go under a group photo of a local business opening its doors. My publisher knew everyone’s name except for one man. He wrote “Joe Blow” for the man’s name, to gauge how long the completed caption would be, and then said he’d find out the man’s real name and slip it in.

You guessed it: He forgot. The paper went to press with “Joe Blow” proudly celebrating the opening of his family’s business.

Needless to day, Mr. Blow was not pleased when he read the caption.

Mistakes can be simple, or they can be embarrassing. That one was embarrassing. As I was proofing a page of comic art from a story in development now, I noticed that a dialogue balloon was attached to the wrong character. Another character mistakenly referred to herself as a “Mr.” instead of a “Ms.”

Those mistakes were just mistakes. But, if they would have gone to print, they would have taken the reader out of the flow of the story. The readers would have paused to say, “Why does that lady think she’s a man?”

Proofreading may be boring. It may be tiresome and, at times, mind-numbing. But don’t skimp on it. You’ll be glad.

I know it sometimes seems impossible to get started as a comics writer. Hunting for an artist, finding publishers that will even look at the work of a novice writer, scrapping up money to pay for an artist to to self-publish … it all seems like an impossible dream.

The worst thing an aspiring comics writer can do, though, is give up. Even if there aren’t any publishers lined up at your door, even if you can’t find an artist who wants to collaborate with you, even if you can’t afford to pay an artist to draw one panel much less 22 pages … keep writing.

That’s the key. Keep writing scripts, even if you fear they’ll just be sitting on your hard drive for years. The only way to get really good at this job is to keep practicing, even if it seems you’re the only person in the world interested in what you have to say.

If you work hard, and, of course, if you have the natural talent to become a creative storyteller, you will find success. It’s easier to publish these days, thanks to the Internet. If you want feedback on your script, post them at places like Digital Webbing and Pencil Jack. There you’ll get plenty of advice from folks who’ve been published and from those who are just like you, aching to get into the door.

And remember, even if you do land a publishing deal, you’ll still need to keep working hard to find that next job. Getting one script published in no way guarantees that you’ll get a second one published.

This is not an easy industry. And writing for comics is far more complex than sprinkling some “bams” and “pows” across the page. You have to truly work at it, even when everyone else seems to be telling you to pack up your keyboard and go home.

This summer was the year of the comicbook movie. The Dark Knight was a smash hit. Iron Man did surprisingly well, and was surprisingly enjoyable, too. The Incredible Hulk wasn’t bad, and the second Hellboy movie snagged a top-notch director to bring Mike Mignola’s vision to life.