Indy Comics Writer

Trying to break into comics writing is tough. If you can’t draw to a professional level, it’s even tougher.

Most comic publishers are searching for talented artists. They already have their favorite writers. It’s a tough break for the would-be comics writer, but it’s the reality in this business.

I’ve been fortunate to have had some success. My first comic mini-series, GEARZ, is in the midst of its four-issue run now. That publisher, Bluewater Productions, has also commissioned three other four-issue mini-series from me, all of which will be published at the end of this year, beginning of next year. I also have a comic story scheduled to appear in the When Aliens Attack anthology to be published early next year by Iconic Comics. Elfin Kids, a new publisher of graphic novels, is scheduled to publish my graphic adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea next year. And I just had a prose story accepted by the comic anthology series IF-X.

But for as many projects that have come, or are coming to, fruition, there have been countless other false starts, moments where I thought I was on verge of seeing some of my comics writing published only to watch as the plans either flamed out or died slow deaths.

There was the newish comics studio that had an open call for new creators. I took their writing test, posted the results on the company’s Web site and received rave review, from both forum visitors and the company’s founder. The company even paired me up with an artist to create a six-page short that would eventually run on the company’s online home. Unfortunately, after I’d finished my script, and the artist had penciled all six pages, the company decided to change the way it works with creators. The story I created, then, would not be finished. It didn’t help that the powers that be at the company felt that the artist they paired me up with wasn’t up to snuff. That project died.

Then there was the new anthology whose editor accepted two of my scripts for his debut issue. Unfortunately, as with so many new projects, that anthology died from, I’m assuming, lack of funding. I’m only assuming, because I never did hear back from the editor.

And that’s just the start of it. In the comics industry, moreso than in any other writing endeavor I’ve tackled, you have to take risks on unknown editors, publishers and artists. More often than not, that means that whatever project you’re working on will amount to little. But there are those exceptions, and those make everything else worthwhile.

And here’s the key: Just because you’ve worked on a project that might never see the light of day doesn’t mean that you wasted your time. You should also learn something from every experience. Maybe one failed project was just an opportunity to practice writing tight and concise stories. Maybe another gave you the confidence to write in a genre you never thought you’d be able to tackle.

When you’re trying to break into an industry, you’re going to have more “failures” than “successes.” But if you learn from each of those failures, it won’t be long before you’re on the other side of the ledger.

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