Postcards From Stygia

2011-02-19T21:02:00.000Z

Shelved it. I'm going to try and push something more casual than this. Nobody likes a one trick pony. Nothing wrong with it but when I set out to do it, it was meant to be something different not only for myself but for the artist to have a crack at.

I've been racking my brains to think of something fun to do, which is also a nod to something from the past, not plagiarism exactly, just something to define the look of the strip. This week's present favourite is Edward Gorey. Anyone who hasn't read the Gashlycrumb Tinies should go here now.

But a five page poem (8 lines per page) feels like I'm cheating, as it isn't strictly comic writing is it. Or is it?

2011-02-15T20:41:00.001Z

Here's the first little bit of the story I'm doing.

I don't want to reveal too much (and to be frank there's a one page gap in the middle), but it should give an idea what I'm on with. You can see from the prose I'm avoiding a pretentious story, covering my back by working that cheesy retro style thang again.

The Tower King (TTK) created a sense of dystopia by being set in present day but the characters had reverted to medieval behaviour through lack of electricity, which was daft but a cracking read. I'm imagining this to look like TTK, but it has a dystopia all of it's own towards the end which should be a right treat to draw.

Anyway, just to confirm I'm still doing stuff really. More later.

2011-02-07T13:32:00.000Z

So I ended up looking through some old notes and finding half planned, wildly ambitious stories which I never finished off. The time seems to have mainly been spent getting into the minutia before forming a solid story to go back and revise, and what's obvious is that my new ideas push the old ones aside. I need to get out of that habit because it prevents me from getting anywhere. Analysis paralysis I believe is the expression.

I've been wondering about attempting a plot script to speed up the process of page development. Sometimes it's difficult to picture every panel and describe it convincingly to someone who has a far better visual imagination (especially panels in which nothing is really happening action wise and it's just a vehicle for some dialogue).

Typically I've found stories written in this way can be a bit confusing to the reader, but I might have a dabble after this present script is completed: describe what's happening on a page, get some dialogue down and then leave it to the artist to decide how to lay it all out. Not just because of the time saving, but also because I think this could be more of a proper collaboration technique.

There are many websites containing people's opinions on how comics should be written, and the plot script technique seems to be very strict - I suspect this is to follow guidelines for submissions. But I'm sure it could be loosened up and made far more creative by just filling pages with notes and ideas and then handing it over. I wonder if there are issues of trust with some people, who like to have total unerring control over their stories, but from my experience of comic artists through meeting or corresponding nothing could be more exciting than saying 'Here I've done with this, you finish it off.'

2011-02-04T21:38:00.000Z

Been through a few revisions this latest submission. Not in the usual way (i.e. change this, tweak that) but it has jumped from one genre to another, and the story has totally altered to fit until I've found one I'm happy with.

The idea was to pay a passing nod to something from the past (as usual) and up to now that's included Prince Valiant and Ruprecht [sic] the Bear (tm)(c). Now we're at the one I like best and I've got the first draft done with an old strip called 'The Tower King' in mind. Exciting stuff.

What I like about these older strips is how fast paced they are, no ponderous space filling sections, just action action action... It's all over in the blink of an eye but there's been such a stack of content in those few pages! At the moment this is crammed into eight pages, but it'd be good fun to try and squish it down to six or seven.

2011-01-17T13:07:00.000Z

As I haven't done much if this "tell don't show" "show don't tell" writing for a while it's tricky to get back into the swing of things.

There's a whole page in my latest story involving an encounter between the protagonist and a giant eagle, a lot of blurb to fully open out and explain the story, then it continues on the following page.

So I omitted the page entirely. There was too much detail (down to the nth) but now the story flows better for it. It leaves a bit of a gap for the reader but it isn't confusing to fathom what's going on. The imagery is better and the whole thing is sped up to keep an action pace.

(...and I prefer it as I don't have to over explain or over write the story!)

2011-01-10T20:50:00.002Z

Belated HNY everyone... er, is anyone there?

Anyway, the writing dry spell is over. FINALLY.

Amazing how a new job with a shorter commute works wonders for the evening energy levels. I no longer spend half the week driving between Oxford and Derby which pleases me greatly to have my life back.

First story of 2011 is planned, looking forward to doing some tip tapping on the keyboard, hopefully it may even get published (unlike the last one which seems to have fallen through).

I'm quite literally keyed up (hoho) about seeing some genius drawing it out in all it's spooky glory!

2010-03-18T22:21:00.002Z

Ok I've suppressed the urge to 'shelve this story to make a longer one later', because I've quite enough of them already and it would probably be an idea to just finish one.

The sea story is taking longer than any of the others I've done, probably due to the leisurely schedule (i.e. none). It's a tricky one to write, because I'm reinventing my style a bit, my previous stories have been retro inspired tales, with the exception of 'Sides' which was more sensible (though that's not really the right word).

This one is more anarchic and throwaway despite being the third rewrite. There's a fair bit of research and humour in there which could easily be extended but I like the feeling that's it's short lived and packed into a small space. I've already toned it down a bit. I daresay there are certain artists I know of who might like to reintroduce what I've taken out, but we'll have to see about that. The problem there is finding someone who will want to publish it. Haven't really thought much of what to do with it when it's done.

I guess I could always readd the dodgy bits and submit it to homonecrosex monthly, but I'm not sure how I'd feel waiting at the Doctor's and finding it on the waiting room table.

2010-03-02T20:57:00.001Z

It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of talented artists out there who do this sort of thing in their spare time spewing out the most incredible results almost effortlessly. (I'm sure it isn't effortless, but they do make it look that way the speed at which they work.)

This last month or two has been a total treat if you like poking around the blogs of others: Gary Crutchley has done a sketch a day on his site, Indio's scanner has been sweating on an almost daily basis, and Dave Hitchcock has been teasing us mercilessly with sneaky snippets from his latest gem.

I had the whole day to myself on Monday, no work or children to worry about, and spent pretty much the whole day sitting with an A4 pad and a pen, and it was great. Outlining the first half of a large story came together so well I'm really excited about getting the plot completed. It's interesting to take on a tale with several elements and threads, as the possibilities become more widespread and with more choice comes more deliberation.

Hoping to have a plot outline and timeline done by the end of April, so more on that when I get it done!

On another note I recently bought Pat Mills' Defoe comic, which is shaping up to be a thumping over-breakfast read as it features lots of things I'm into: history, black and white artwork, oh- and zombies. :)

2010-02-09T21:57:00.002Z

I've been messing about with a little story for a month or so, it's up to eight pages and I need to make sure it doesn't spill over to more than ten. In my previous efforts I've always tried to keep the descriptions and dialogue down to a minimum (being a fan of the John Wagner type script... well ok... maybe not that sparse) but there's something about this new story which seems to be sucking me in, and I CAN'T GET OUT!!!

It has to be a combination of flying blind with the plot, pirates, and sea monster mythology. I want to get on with something else soon so things need to be wrapped up. Two pages to bring it to a satisying end...

Then again, I can always write it longhand first and shrink it.

I love sea monster stories. :)

2010-01-14T12:52:00.006Z

I need to be careful.

Here is some lovely art drawn by Gary Crutchley for a strip I did last year (The Master Cracksman). It was my first strip, and the three main parts of the panel I specifically asked him to take care of were done extremely well I thought... the moustache and... the other two bits.

And now here in 2010, almost a year after writing Cracksman is a scan from a strip I'm working on now. Sometimes we flatter ourselves by thinking we've somehow matured and moved on, when we really haven't.

2009-12-18T19:47:00.005Z

Been ages since I posted, so having scraped through a second bout of 'flu I thought I'd update with what I'm up to. That's hoping that any regular readers are still alive out there.

I've seen the completed covers and first page for Hell's Nazis, drawn by the pencil-murderer Gary Crutchley. Giving a nod to the old 70s comics Gary seems to have almost reinvented his inking style to pull off the look and the result is just brilliant. You can head over to his blog for more on that when he feels like telling the world.

If I get time to scan it in, I'll post my sketches of a short story which may not materialise into the real world. It's just for fun as I haven't written anything since September and wanted to get back into writing: if you don't use it you lose it. Maybe a bit cheeky but I've nicked the central character from Indio's sketchbook. So if it is any good I'll send it to him and leave it's fate in his hands. Obidiah Marsh of Innsmouth is simply too good to waste. Alternatively, if it's pants, we shall never speak of it again. Agreed? Good.

I always maintained that the best results are when writing for enjoyment, and with this one I'm experimenting with something a little bit different (i.e. twisted), which I haven't attempted to do before. So once it's all laid out I'll start typing things in and see what happens.

And over these last couple of months I've also been snatching the odd bit of time here and there to sketch out the backdrop to a new story. I'm intending to plot script in the new year and see how it looks before approaching those involved. So more on that if and when it happens.

Oh, Best of British, Merry Christmas and all that.

2009-10-11T21:14:00.003+01:00

Well I've managed to tear myself away from my birthday present (The Complete Nemesis The Warlock) for long enough to brush the cobwebs and blow the dust off the blog, just to mention about my first experience of a comic convention last week.

The best way I can describe it is like a busy market street in Cairo but all the stuff on sale is comics and you don't haggle over prices. It does have a feel good factor though. And before long I was being drawn into examine the stuff on sale and chat with some of the creators about their work.

I spent my money pretty early on some secret stuff (gifts so I won't mention everything here) and some Edgar P. Jacobs books (think of Tintin and you won't be far off)- although they're some 50 years old I couldn't resist. The artwork is stunning; I'm a sucker for old stuff as the authors didn't have much in the way of comic book influences like we do today.

There were a couple of surreal moments while eating a cheese sandwich in the foyer. First a dalek trundled past and didn't notice me, thankfully. Then Darth Vader strolled past, and I'm quite relieved he didn't say anything like the sauce is strong with this one.

Sorry...

Hurriedly said hello to a busy Dave West (from AccentUK), and met up with industry veteran Gary Crutchley (who has kindly accepted the task of drawing my three successful submissions for this year). He brought along the final pages for my first story which I'm going to frame and stick up somewhere unmissable in the house, and I've been witness to the full Warlord-esque pulp majesty of Hell's Nazis and a couple of other beautifully illustrated things in the pipeline (which I think are secret so you'll just have to believe me that it's coming and it's all very good indeed). All over a pint of bitter. What a splendid and talented chap he is.

Following on I also met the down to Earth and decent bloke Dave Hitchcock, and had a shufty through his latest work, Madame Samurai. The amount of effort going into this comic is significant and the art is gorgeous, looking forward to when that comes out.

I'm not a big 'networker' when it comes to making contacts, but it's one of those events where you can reap what you sow, and I'm looking forward to meeting more talented people and nosey around to see what they're all up to next year. :)

2009-09-04T14:11:00.001+01:00

Hello there! No, I've not disappeared off the face of the Earth. For the next month or so all will be quiet as I need to make time to finish a module for my degree (which is already late). I have lots of balls in the air and need to put a couple down before I drop them.

So comic writing, for the moment, is out of the picture though I will be jotting down notes for ideas in anticipation, and typically I've had a few ideas now that I have no time to write them. Gah.

I'll be back around October time, probably reporting about BICS. If I can find some gaffer tape to get my camera working there might be a picture or two too. :)

In the meantime, check out Gary Crutchley's blog to see how the art is progressing for the stuff I've written so far. See you in the autumn!

2009-08-10T17:12:00.008+01:00

My Exile script has been accepted by Insomnia!

That's my third acceptance this year, and I have three reasons to be pleased about this one: Firstly, I went through a major idea drought and didn't think I'd be able to come up with anything. Secondly, Gary has leaped on board for some artistic shenanigans, and thirdly, I wrote most of it while I had the flu. Proof indeed that you can be productive while laid out for a few days.

So I'm going to treat myself. I've been waiting for the release of Rainbow Orchid for a while, so that one'll be in the basket. Great-looking 1930s style strip, have to hand it to the creator Garen Ewing for bringing back fond memories of Tintin books.

Who remembers Commando? Like Warlord but a bit smaller, fit well into the back pocket (with a little effort). Well I discovered today that it is still going strong! Very surprised that I never realised that. In July's issue is a strip entitled Harry's Gun, which looks great. An up to date strip of a soldier advocating the merits of a 3.7-inch screw Howitzer (last used in Northern Africa). That's on the list, too. Unless it's extortionate, as the next Sandman collection beckons.

I also read about an ongoing art project on Dave West's blog that tempted me to have a go. Even though I'm no artist, I thought I'd fiddle with Photoshop for a while and see what came up. Here is my contribution.

My wife Sam couldn't resist the allure of some quirky fun, and has also had a go, nicking crayons from our boys stash and scribbling in the kitchen.

2009-07-30T21:41:00.003+01:00

Bah! Ha-rumph! Pah! Pffsh! Hmph! Hergh.

I want to write something else.

Having spent the best part of my July writing time on a fantasy style story, it just doesn't cut it. So that one is going on a shelf for another day. It isn't a bad story but it feels half-baked, and I can't conjure up anything exciting to inject which would make it a good read. So screw it.

That aside, I did have a second story idea for the Exile submission and only today (while tackling an ambitious excavation project on the back garden) did it occur to me how to do it. So I've rattled off another first draft to see how that fits.

I haven't set out to achieve anything specific with this one, just gone at it with an open mind, and although I have had alcohol today, it does seem quite good, if a little strange. (Not as strange as Indio's Sherlock Drengz, which begs to be written, but a bit off-kilter nonetheless.)

2009-07-22T12:03:00.004+01:00

Never really considered Frankfurt as somewhere I'd be keen to visit but having seen some pictures of zombie day might be enough to sway me.

More here.

Regarding comic stuff, I'm having a good think about injecting story elements succinctly during scenes where there isn't much happening. The story I'm working on isn't long enough in pages to waffle, but there are important plot aspects which need to be in place. Introducing them gradually has worked quite well so far, but I need to make it work for the whole thing to have substance, otherwise it'll just feel half-baked.

The present scene has the protagonist hiking over a desolate mountain, and is an ideal opportunity to show his struggle while relaying a little history or motive through captions. But it all needs to be quick, can't have him hanging about on the mountain for more than 4 panels as there's only so much you can do visually with snow.

2009-07-16T20:35:00.006+01:00

Jose Carreras! It's been ages since I posted anything on here. So is anything happening? Well, yes. Or at least, it is now.

Having been running on empty and churning out some pretty poor idea drafts, I've started work on a tale for Insomnia's Exile anthology which I'm quite pleased about. But the last few weeks of trying too hard haven't been wasted, in fact they've been quite the eye-opener and they've taught me to only do this when the ideas come along and when you're in the right frame of mind.

I've also overstretched myself by trying to work on something big before working on some more little things, so am now humbly changing my priorities on the writing front. And going once more for the fun factor.

Looks like our efforts for the Victoriana anthology have paid off! AccentUK's site shows our story as the first one received and ready. Thrilled to see that, and also that my first effort is rubbing shoulders with some very talented people indeed. Still can't get over how quick that all happened, just cracking stuff.

The undead meet Warlord is now three pages deep of b-movie retro greatness and the story is just heating up! Only five more for Gary to do, and it's looking fantastic. He's generously given me permission to post little teaser shots up, but I didn't know which to pick. So here is a nice randomly chosen one of a Nazi taking it in the kisser.

I'm not going to show anything of the creatures as they're too good to reveal pre-publishing.

Check out Gary's site to see how that's going.

2009-06-30T22:15:00.003+01:00

I like to read introductions to books when they're done in an insightful or interesting manner. i.e. Not some name dropper gushing on about how they enjoyed their expense account meal with the author.

On a recent trip I took The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, which had an interesting intro by Karen Berger. She mentioned that the ideas within Sandman could have developed into a B-level fantasy horror. And this made me stop and think about my own slow burning project: What exactly was it turning into? And is B-level fantasy horror a bad thing?

Presently it's a jumble of notes and half finished rtf files which loosely hang together, but the holistic thinking is missing.

I had an idea while away which I thought would make a good story, but it would translate better if I altered the environment in which it was set and also the way it was told. Not to say that as it stands it wouldn't work, but I feel that it would work better done as a more subtle, creepy, ethereal affair than the brash old school type of story. Even though I love that sort of thing, some ideas just won't work in that format. Creepy cowboy stories are good.

So the old plans still stand, but character dynamics and ongoing plot lines need to change to make the stories fit together better, and I suspect the horror element will benefit from this. Time will tell what happens there.

On a brash, balls to the floor note, I received the first sketched page to Hell's Nazis today, and it's a corker. If ever there were a series waiting to be made which was unashamedly old school then it's this. Simply cannot wait to see more, Gary has recreated the old war strips perfectly, and fortunately some of his favourite creatures are in it so he doesn't get bored. Chipper.

2009-06-13T20:57:00.004+01:00

Had a few things drop through the post this week. A copy of Insomnia's Choices anthology, AccentUK's Robots and Wolfmen, the latest LoEG and also a copy of the first Sandman, which I've never read and wanted to catch up on. Still waiting on my Terror Tales which apparently was held up at the publishers, might have to chase that up...

Anyway, the Choices anthology was an eye-opener. I'd found out for their next one they want submissions based on a theme of survival, and for some reason (maybe through some of their titles) I'd expected that they may only be interested in a particular type of script, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If there are such things as regular viewers to this blog (and judging by the followers I'd say not but never mind, I can look back at it when I'm old) you may have noticed the disquiet which has surrounded my submission for this. But the good news is, thanks to brushing up and doing a little research, I've started on a FOURTH title for it!

This one is intended to be a little along the lines of a fantasy realm story (such as Conan or Kull) and the first draft is three pages long. Hoping to do two more on that of an evening soon, I'm taking my notebook on holiday with me.

Have also received a beastie sketch from Gary for the zombie submission to AccentUK. Modestly branded as a little sketch which isn't final, it is totally great; I can't wait to see it having a scrap with some Tommies.

And finally, since I haven't posted for a while, I've added an extra character to the gn and totally revised the first story. Because of this it's put back the first draft, but I now have a nice pile of notes to work from so hopefully can get an overview of a completed episode done at some point soon.

Nice to have a few irons in the fire.

2009-06-02T15:52:00.005+01:00

Character development is challenging. I've been drawing up more detail to the characters in the gn to give it more substance.

These fictional beings need to be interesting and contribute something for the writer, artist and reader to enjoy. And if they can somehow assist in the flow of the narrative then all the better. The process raises all sorts of interesting questions which are vital to address if a story is to have any depth:

What are their strengths/weaknesses? Do they have any abilities? If they do, how is the story to benefit from this (please be sensible with it and don't copy Marvel). How did they get it? What are they going to do with it? Is it stupid? How do they feel about it? How do they relate to their peers? Why are they in the story? Is the story better without them? How do they fit into the environment? (This last one is of particular importance. In a comic world the sky is the limit regardless of the era in which it is set though it is still possible to go too far.)

All these questions and more have been buzzing around my decayed old brain for the last few days. What makes it fun is the gamble. Take an existing hero, let's say Nemesis the Warlock (not that this will ever happen more's the pity). His character is already developed, anyone who has read the strip knows how he will react and behave- to a degree at least for Ntw- so the whole story boils down to coming up with an enironment and plot line, dropping the character into it at the beginning, and adding time into the mix. (Sometimes when writing surprising results happen by tackling it like this. Dialogue appears out of nowhere and although some of it makes me cringe when re-reading it, it's still a nice feeling when something spills onto the keyboard which works despite lack of forward planning.)

The gamble though (at least being a new writer) is inventing characters that an audience will give the benefit of the doubt to (or an editor will consider for publication!).

Hopefully the mob I've invented will be enticing enough. The dynamic between characters is a massive part of any major story, and one which I need to be cautious not to overlook.

2009-05-27T13:09:00.006+01:00

A bit of what you fancy does you good (or so it should).

So now I have all the background info in place I'm working on the first draft of the gn. Currently the first 'episode' is 18 pages with around 20 planned as a starting size. It flows well, I'm happy with the pace, and more importantly I'm enjoying myself writing it.

Usually I don't show scripts to people until they're formatted properly, but due to the size of this one I will need some feedback before I start translating first draft into comic script, so will consult the wise counsel of Sam (my editor) and Gary (my advisor) before tackling that one.

The other stuff I've been messing about with just ain't working at the moment, and I think it's because I want to do this instead. So unfortunately (?) that's the way it'll be, as I'm unable to concentrate on something if I know something more fun is around the corner. However, I do have a one-pager which is about ready for submission. It has no dialogue though (which makes me feel guilty to send it in as the 'writer'). But if it comes down to it, at least I have something to send in and that's nice to know.

I imagine that I may well end up doing this for a spell and ignoring things I ought to be on with, but for me the whole point is enjoyment, and it shows in the end product.

Yes I've altered the URL of the blog a bit. Not important but I never imagined to actually meet people in the biz and have stuff published using this thing. The original name I registered is ok but doesn't make sense. And that, dear reader, is my explanation.

2009-05-22T12:36:00.002+01:00

Prioritisation has always caused me a problem, as I tend to do what I want rather than what I should. It occurred to me last night that while I'm beavering away at my latest gn idea, I'm reducing the time that could be spent on the survival story.

I don't know why this theme is causing me such grief to come up with a workable strip, but I'm putting it down to the fact that I just have to be patient, stop thinking about it, and something will (hopefully) pop in there.

Gary had a cunning idea yesterday about the direction I should take with it, and it's a corking little plan because it allows us both to have a bit of fun and hopefully conjure up a submission before the deadline. Not to mention the lucrative merchandising potential.

2009-05-20T12:29:00.003+01:00

Although suffering from mental exhaustion with one thing and another at the moment, it's been a fairly interesting week.

Dave West from AccentUK has agreed to publish the Warlord-esque story, so that's a second published piece for me which I'm thrilled about. Gary is going to be drawing again and (as he's as much of a retro-comic fanboy as me) I'm anticipating much greatness there. It has also given me a nice confidence boost and closure that I didn't just strike it lucky last time.

I've not really done much in the way of writing this week, but I have gone over some of my old script notes to help plan my next one carefully. Interestingly, one of my older multi-part ideas is shaping up as a couple of planned one shots could be rolled nicely into a series, so I'm going to be drawing up a six-episode synopsis for that. If it's of any merit I'll post more detail later. What I will say is that it's horror-based, and set in 19th century America.

I had begun writing some stuff for Insomnia's Survival anthology but they haven't really ignited much of a spark with me, and motivation is difficult when confidence in the script is low (and also when you aren't enjoying it that much). In short, they feel a little pretentious so I'm stopping them for the moment with a view to changing or trashing them.

Finally there's a second part to Master Cracksman which I've almost planned out. I'm going to do that on a back-burner (as it'll probably never be published so it's more for personal enjoyment than anything).

2009-05-13T16:41:00.001+01:00

Much to my relief Gary seems happy with the Warlord script. So I'm going to have a few days rest now. Short and sweet but there you go.

Bye!

2009-05-11T13:22:00.003+01:00

My copy of Dave Hitchcock's Gothic came through the post the other day (along with my sketchbooks), and I have to say Well Done, Sir. A great assortment of tales, the historical style of which is right up my street.

I was intending to have a quiet weekend away from the laptop but it didn't work out like that. As a result the first draft of my horror submission is almost complete, and I sketched some key panels of the zombie story (just to check they draw ok using my descriptions).

I've also read through a novella I was working on last year to judge whether it would work as a potential gn. A certain publisher seems to like the kind of theme of which that is a part, but more on that later. Don't want to get ahead of myself.

2009-05-08T12:22:00.004+01:00

Panels can be tricky.

I've been writing pages with about 10 panels on to keep the original feel of the old comics, but I've run into a couple of interesting issues which separate the old and new styles.

In the old style, a whole page can feature lots of running about and shooting with machine guns- this is fine, by the way, I like this- but there is no artistic focal point on the page. Nothing incredibly interesting for the artist to draw, just people being shot.

What I realised I'd done on a couple of pages was similar to this, lots of panels, lots of running about with guns, but I also included a panel on each page for the artist to unleash his insanity upon. Which causes the following problem:

How can I have 9 or 10 panels on a page, where one of them is expected to contain a lot of detail which is not only fun to look at but also (hopefully) for the artist to draw? Well, it can be done. There are a fair few comics with this amount of panels on a page BUT usually these aren't crammed full of dialogue... and my guilty pages had a lot of dialogue too. Ahem.

So what would have happened is that either the nice grisly illustrations are cut down beyond recognition to make way for dialogue, or vice versa.

As a compromise, I've mercilessly hacked the worst offending page down to 8 panels and trimmed the dialogue. Hopefully this leaves enough elbow room for artistic flair, and still maintains the storyline through the quickened-up talky bits. I'm going to aim for 6 panels per page on my next story, as it's much easier to add a panel than take one out.

In other news, I received the inked artwork for Master Cracksman last night, and it's spot on. Gary Crutchley has added some stylised touches to my Victorian tale which makes the whole thing visually very striking. Looking forward to working with him again, if he survives his next venture.

Also as my Warlord story is done and sitting on the mulling shelf (meaning it's going to be ignored for a day or two until I read it next week with a fresh brain) I've started tentatively on my surreal horror story, which is more serious than the previous stuff and is a nice change from Tommy Atkins and Hande Hochs, but more on that later.

2009-04-30T15:10:00.003+01:00

I'm going to interrupt normal service now to bring you a broadcast which isn't about my comics. During moments at work when no-one is looking, I enjoy snooping around on blogspot and reading what other people in the comics biz get up to.

Artist and writer Shane Oakley has posted a very pertinent article concerning distribution of small press comics which should be read by anyone who likes comics, and really you'd be doing good by linking to it and heeding the advice (especially if you like the alternatives to Marvel or DC).

2009-04-28T14:41:00.001+01:00

A page too many.

It isn't about the words or the pictures but the way they compliment each other and generate a great-looking page, and in this case there's almost an entire page which to my mind is redundant. I'm not irritated, more saddened because I have to drop it, in another type of comic story it would be fine: little dialogue, movement through rooms... But in this one I'm not convinced it's right.

The page isn't boring but it doesn't add anything, wouldn't be particularly interesting to look at, and needs changing to keep the fast-pace of the story going. My concern now is, I need to rewrite a large section but maintain the linkage either side because it would be terrible to have to ditch that.

2009-04-23T13:03:00.007+01:00

Whoops! I broke my script! Not for good, but I was attempting to sort out the last two pages yesterday (which are action scenes working up to the crescendo), and being overtired at the time (too many late XBox nights methinks) I seem to have made a dog's dinner of it.

Reading back what I did yesterday, I can see the ideas I've had but it's all over the shop. However, during lunch today I restructured the penultimate page (I did originally post the changed page here but I've taken it off now, as it may give the ending away) and am happy due to plenty of stuff going on. It had previously felt a little, he hits him then he says this, and it didn't flow. But it's better now. Just have to try and translate what I did with page 8 now.

It occurred to me yesterday why this story (though not as twisty as my usual stuff) has given me the occasional grief and the reason I suspect is because ordinarily the process of writing is based around having an idea for a story and then laying it out.

With this one, the idea of laying it out like a particular strip came first, the story came after.

The difference is a subtle one, but as I've been aiming at a specific type of strip to write a story into it has made a massive difference in the whole process. Not that this is a bad exercise, and I don't think the story suffers for it (in fact I think it'll be quite a good little yarn once I end it properly).

2009-04-20T12:22:00.003+01:00

Wow. Quite an amazing weekend really for a few reasons.

Firstly, Gary Crutchley has mailed me the art to my first published story, The Master Cracksman. Gary is no man, but a mind-reading comic drawing machine! Capturing the essence and feel of the story I wanted perfectly.

And secondly (and thirdly), I've had two more ideas for stories: A subtle horror for Insomnia's 'Survival' anthology which I'm really excited about, and a potential follow-up to the Master Cracksman. Now I've seen the characters drawn it's a lot easier to imagine them in a story.

Lastly, I've decided to pursue my new idea for a Future Shock. It's the most ridiculous story I've ever thought about, or perhaps even read, and I was wondering whether to put it on the maybe file. But in an effort to try brave new things I'll go for it after the others. Even if just for my own gratification. It is very dark though, and almost topical, as well as silly, so it should tick some boxes at least.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll jot the ideas into my notebook today and put them out of my mind until the zombie strip is over, otherwise they'll distract me from my current project.

2009-04-17T13:20:00.003+01:00

Small post just to say the loose ends and bits I didn't really feel comfortable with are gone. Great.

Just have to revise the last page past second draft and I can sketch it out. Also need to just make sure that any objects vital to the plot are mentioned with plenty of warning for the artist to draw.

I had forgotten to mention a Luger on a table. Probably wouldn't have been spotted other than by eagle-eyed readers but better there than not, plus it makes the whole thing look more polished.

2009-04-16T12:46:00.002+01:00

Ok first draft done. The storyline is down, and if I handed it over to an artist I'm sure they'd be able to sit in dark rooms performing elaborate Enochian rituals (or whatever artists do) and transform it into a decent strip.

However, there are some aspects about the story which don't seem to fit with my original brief to create a Warlord-style story (plus zombies for an added novelty). So I need to go over it and rewrite a few more sections before drawing it out.

This isn't as big a deal as it sounds, the original story I had accepted about a Victorian burglar was nothing like the end product. Taking a piece of work and making it better is quite a satisfying thing to do. Last time I really enjoyed taking panels away to cut the story to it's essence, but this time I need to keep the panels in for authenticity.

Nostalgia can be dangerous though and I need to be aware of that. A worrying thing when reading through old Warlord strips is that nowadays it's rather boring: Soldiers land on a beach and fight their way up to a Japanese outpost. A few get blown up with grenades, the ones who make it slap each other on the back. Oh, and a couple of them have an argument in the middle over who's best at sneaking about.

Not good. Needs livening up somewhat.

While fueling nostalgia and reading some webstuff about Warlord, a post from Barbelith Underground made me chuckle. A witty poster mentioned that as a child, his friend was a member of both Warlord and Fireballs club and thought he would be executed as a double agent. Quality.

2009-04-15T16:50:00.003+01:00

A quick scan to show where the story is at the moment. Going through a stage of near completion, daily re-reads and re-writes. The ending needs a little work which I need to sit down and crack on with. Preferably with beer.

It's nice to get everything on paper before going through it with a comb, changing bits which don't make much sense to give the poor artist a chance, and finally running it through the scrutiny of a third-party (my wife).

This last step is the most important, as if she doesn't understand what is supposed to be happening, it means I haven't tried hard enough to relay my scene idea- or I've been lazy and slapped something shoddy down expecting the artist to work miracles.

I've now rewritten this page so it isn't as it appears here, but at least this proves I am actually on with something. I know I keep harping on but it takes a lot longer to keep going over a 15-page script than a 2-page one (even though the story is only 8 pages long). I find myself rewriting the early pages before I've got the ending past first draft. Hopefully now I'm happy with 80% of it I can make some headway with the remaining bit.

2009-04-09T13:06:00.003+01:00

Phew! Hard work doing so many pages of story! Though I have been rather tired this week (excuses excuses).

I'm six pages in now, two left to do and then I can sketch the whole thing out and see where it looks a bit slow or boring. There is a page with a significant amount of dialogue which I need to trim down, and I've just put a couple of panels in where the whole thing has exploded into an orgy of violence. (I must admit I like stories where the striking action scenes just seem to happen out of nowhere.)

My only concern is that I need to up-zombie the tale a bit, as although they kind of provide the story's glue, they don't do a great deal and I need to make sure they feature. So on the to do list are arms falling off or gaping mouths with rancid teeth.

Also I may need to simplify the dialogue a bit. It's meant to be an old-fashioned story, which leaves nothing for the reader to work out. i.e. In Warlord, the only times captions are used (other than to set the scene) is to tell the reader something which can't be made out from the picture. For example, if someone has their back to you and is punching someone else, the Warlord authors are generally kind enough to inform us who is throwing the punch.

Also the dialogue needs to be a little more cliched. I'm happy that I haven't had to include much in the way of derogatory statements for Nazis, which makes it less likely to be picked up by the PC people. I put some in but it made the dialogue more... unconvincing somehow. Presently there are only two references, one to Fritz and one to Jerry. Which shouldn't cause any issues.

2009-04-07T12:40:00.002+01:00

My retro strip felt a little thin on the ground (bearing in mind it will be 8 pages of 8 panels) but I had an idea on how to beef the plot up and I'm excited about it again now. Mainly as I have more story to cram into the panel space. One thing I don't want to do is to have meaningless or meandering panels which you could drop and not notice. They're all important and I need them to count for something but this can be difficult when building the story up.

For example, the initial two pages are set in a forest which isn't too exciting a location, so I'll have to ensure that stuff happens and rattles along at a pace to avoid encroaching boredom. By page 3 things start to happen and become more intriguing. The old fashioned way the strip will be presented may carry it a little due to the novelty value.

None of this means that the strip is boring to begin with, I just consider it more exciting to read about smuggling yourself into a Nazi castle than grubbing about in bushes. Enough of the forest already, bring on the Nazis!

2009-04-04T12:27:00.002+01:00

Dribbs mentioned tentacles. Good idea. The story now has tentacles.

As it's an old school strip (apart from Lovecraftian creatures), I'm wondering whether to suggest it be delivered in two parts, so it will effectively have a cliffhanger half-way through with a don't forget to buy next week's copy type caption, and two title pages of 4 panels each.

This will have to be approved by the editor who (if accepted) may want to just run it as a 5/6 pager, but I like the idea to make it look authentic. Plus it'll give me an opportunity to kill the protagonist at the end of the first half and miraculously resurrect him for the second half.

2009-04-01T22:21:00.002+01:00

Well, for me it's fairly late for writing (so I suppose I won't sleep now, I never do when I write after 10), but the draft for my next story is complete. I've decided to skip the Survival theme for a while as nothing springs immediately to mind, except for things like tigers and lions and i don't want to write a story about either of those things, I always think of Born Free or Tarka the Otter. I like wildlife. But let us leave it for David Attenborough eh? So this one is about zombies, which are strictly off limits for BBC documentaries.

Presently at six pages, it's very rough and I've yet to pad out each panel (it looks like a Marvel script at the moment, plot outline for each page with the odd bits of dialogue, but I don't like to submit this format as it isn't clear enough in my mind what the story is doing or where it is going, hats off to those of you who write this way).

I was reading through some old Union Jack Jackson stories from Warlord and thought it would be cool to do something like that, so I'm going to. But it has made me wonder how far you can go with political correctness in comics. Now don't misunderstand me, you only have to read a couple of Warlord stories to see that the troops generally use slang for the opposition, such as Fritz, Jerry, and Japs. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I wonder if I'd get away with it in this script?

Well, I guess we'll see soon enough. I tried substituting some of the words with others but they lost the feel. "Take that, you bugger!" is certainly not as effective in this context as "Take that, Fritz!", and a couple of Achtungs never goes amiss.

On the subject, I remember reading a particularly amusing (when I was nine) Baron von Reichs-Pudding strip based on that very phrase. The joke being that a captured British airman accused the Germans of always saying Achtung. BVRP claimed this wasn't true several times during the course of the story, and then at the end, the cook serves him tongue for tea (something they had for every meal) and BVRP exclaims "Ach tongue!" much to the amusement of the airman.

I'd love to have the balls to submit that as a synopsis.

2009-03-30T12:49:00.002+01:00

I'm finding this Survival story difficult. Don't get me wrong, I've ideas for three stories since being told about it. Problem is, do they fit into the category of survival? One does (albeit tenuously) but the others are horror stories and I can't mangle them into the required shape to squish them through a publisher's letterbox. Fiddling with them would be detrimental.

The Expedition story I mentioned is ok. I've written 5 stories now, and only two I would consider as being better than ok. I submitted both of them and had one accepted, which is being drawn by the very talented (and rather busy) Gary Crutchley.

But it isn't good to rack the brain for ideas. You come up with odd things and lead yourself down blind alleys, sometimes the only way out is the predictable one, so I'm not going to think about Survival for a while. The best ideas always seem to come when I don't go to work, all the day to day stuff which crops up is very distracting. I've got a few days off this week so will poddle about the house, generally doing sod all, and hope that it brings on some fancy brain waves.

Oh and I've got my western anthology on order which I'm pretty excited about. Be great to see the sort of thing I'm getting myself into.

2009-03-27T12:12:00.004Z

Well the second draft of my Survival story is done. I'm quite happy with it, another 10 panel wonder though, same as Master Cracksman. Oh well, no point trying to stretch things out. I tried to make it 11 panels but even then it felt elongated. I suppose there's a lot to be said for being succinct and knowing when the story is over.

Here are my sketches for the first page. It's Victorian again. No reason for it to be set in the Victorian era specifically but then there's no reason for it not to be either. Besides, I think ludicrous outfits and revolvers are more fun than, say, futuristic stuff with laser guns; It suits the story quite well. IMO Victorian and Old time westerns compliment dark stories.

I just need to not think about this one for a day or so now and see if anything obviously bad leaps out before I mark it as done and start on the other idea.

I seem to have developed an aversion to speech bubbles and wonder whether it's to do with my stories containing a narrative. For the Survival theme I have a second idea which I'll approach differently, and try to introduce more character dialogue.

It also made me smile to think of story titles. Comic story titles are nice in the way that they don't take themselves too seriously. I don't feel at all silly sending in a sub with the title 'The Expedition'. I imagine a book would be laughed out of the office with a title like that.

The thought came to me after emailing my uncle, my personal oracle of vintage comic knowledge, about Doc Savage comics. I could swear I recall a strip based on an African hunter type character, kind of like DS but mixed in with a little Tarzan. He wasn't too sure if I'd imagined the whole thing, but the closest he could come up with was Ka-Zar, lord of the hidden jungle or Morgyn the Mighty. Neither of these fit the bill as I distinctly recall safari suits being thrown into the bargain.

So if anyone has any ideas let me know, and if I did make the whole thing up I suspect I've found a niche in the market.

2009-03-23T13:24:00.004Z

I had wondered whether changing genres could be tricky. Jotting down an idea for a horror story it dawned on me that there was something fundamentally wrong with it. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, whereas when jotting down stuff for steampunk stories the amount of outcomes seemed more forthcoming; I was concerned about my ability to write something scary.

Horrors need unpredictability and creepiness which can be hard to produce. An eerie or lonely setting helps, but if it's too lonely then you're just left with characters and have to create your horror aspect from them rather than their surroundings...

Jotting things down in this blog in free flow from brain to keyboard opens up pathways you'd not considered. And my last paragraph proves that, as I've just realised what's wrong with the story. The characters aren't strong enough to carry off a story in a remote environment, revealing that it's probably a non-starter. Another one for the maybe pile then.

2009-03-20T22:25:00.001Z

Oh my submission has been accepted! Wasn't expecting that. Yippeee!

2009-03-20T13:09:00.003Z

Scribbled down a draft synopsis for my next story yesterday (the culty one I previously mentioned). It's shaping up to be a sad tale, some science elements but nothing to do with inventions this time. Of course as I've only done the synopsis there's still a fair bit to consider before writing anything so it may come to nothing yet, hoping not though as I'm quite excited at how it's looking at the minute.

I had meant to have a bit of a rest after submitting the last two for feedback but my thumb ends were sore from twiddling (and playing Oblivion) so I thought I'd make a start. If I get some criticism to work from on the others I can hopefully incorporate what I learn into this one.

It's strangely liberating to actually send a story off. There were still things which arguably could have been done but my wife reminded me not to over work it, and she's right. With my present experience I would have been shoveling words around without actually changing very much. Time to move on to something else for a bit.

2009-03-17T20:28:00.004Z

During the composition of a story, ideas for other stories crop up and it becomes necessary to jot them down. This isn't a bad thing as it means my little notebook slowly fills up with ramblings, but on the downside it questions whether I've opted to work on the one with most potential, especially now my work is going to be evaluated.

For my couple of hours a week I'm trying to concentrate on Victorian stuff, and am finding the amount of potentially interesting themes almost overwhelming, making it difficult to stay on one train of thought.

I set myself a challenge with The Master Cracksman two-pager and after completing it (although happy I'd crammed it into two pages) I felt that it would make a better read if I altered it. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, and by changing direction it's no more or less predictable than before, but I think the story would now make a more enjoyable strip. Though I could be wrong.

Today's idea about initiates of an esoteric cult and a pale woman will have to wait a couple more days yet. No way that'll fit into two pages, it'll be like stepping out of a padded cell into a nice breeze.

2009-03-13T12:27:00.004Z

Sometimes when a script is done and sketched out, flaws leap out. A second Victorian tale I wanted to finish had two panels which were just plain boring. The captions were fine and kept the pace of the story going, but not being interesting to look at placed a poor finish on the script as a whole.

You may notice from the scan just how dangerous a pen can be in the wrong hands. That last panel was removed and another one inserted previous to the fourth. Only a slight change was needed to the narrative to accommodate the new image, and after a couple of days waiting for my brain to visualise something I'm content that the replacement adds to the story rather than feeling like it's been sandwiched in as an afterthought.

So that's kept me busy this week. Tweaking words and wondering what to do with the two dull panes. It's completed now (a massive two page epic consisting of 10 frames!) and I just want to have another day or two mulling it over before I take the plunge and submit both to AccentUK for their anthology.

I doubt anything will come of this, but at some point I'm going to have to click 'Send' and sit on my hands for a few weeks (though I'll be checking the spam folder every day). At least some feedback will be welcome to give more insight for the future, and I'd much rather have some earnest advice from a failed submission than hang my scripts out in public.

Although these sketches illustrate the story, they are only to check the 'flow'. Lots of new script writers describe their panels in massive detail (probably down to all the Alan Moore scripts out there). I wouldn't want to assert too many visual ideas to an artist as I can't draw. My outlook is to provide details of what's in a scene to the artist (who can think of ways to draw things exponentially better than I ever could) and put words in the boxes so it flows. It'll probably look nothing like this... if it's published.

2009-03-05T12:08:00.004Z

I completed a script yesterday which I originally set out to complete with no particular submission criteria in mind. I noticed midway that it was shaping up as a Future Shock: elliptical storyline, 5 pages, 6 panels a page, concise panel descriptions, and black humour. However after becoming swept up in the whole thing I'm having doubts now whether it's actually a suitable candidate for that particular strip. It's set in Victorian London, and only now (having written the thing) has it dawned on me that Future Shocks are generally set in the future. I do have a FS story set in the future but I've decided to sit on that one; Although it's a good story I think it's a little predictable and I don't want to submit something I'm not confident with for fear of earning a reputation as a poor writer.

I could change the theme to be somewhat more steampunk and inject a few futuristic elements. The Gothic Empire from Nemesis the Warlock springs to mind, but it would be unnecessary and wasted in the story's context, as it doesn't make full use of that environment and bolting on bits and pieces to get it to fit doesn't seem right somehow. That being said, a steampunk story would be great fun to write, and I could live with it being regarded as an homage to Kev O'Neill. Pat Mills must have wet himself when he saw the finished artwork to Nemesis, and I hope he had a nice Blitzspear-shaped birthday cake for Kev that year. Full of jam.

So what shall I do with it now? I've heard about a comic called FutureQuake which takes on new stories, so I'll pick one up at the weekend and check out the type of material they publish. They don't pay but that isn't priority at the moment, it would be nice to have some work printed. I'm open to suggestions for one-shot submissions!

2009-03-02T12:54:00.002Z

During a conversation with a friend I had a rather good idea regarding radio waves, which I intend to synopsize once I've finished on the Time Twister. It was such a good idea that I wondered why it had never occurred to me before; Sometimes the building blocks are all there, just in the wrong order. You can glean ideas from anything, it's just that your perspective needs to change to transform it into something amusing.

Having played guitar for years I'm convinced that ideas/inspiration do not come when you want them to. Sitting in front of a word processor or with a pad on your lap usually produces very little material of any worth or merit. In the same way that sitting with a guitar and recording everything you play tends to produce the worst musicianship of your life.

I suspect that there has to be an element of free-thinking when coming up with something original, and no stress. Deadlines are stressful. At least, they are to me. Fellow comic blogger Gary Crutchley commented on an earlier post about drawing a story for the summer. Given such a far reaching deadline would hound me to the ends of the Earth, where all the second-hand 1970's gas cookers go.

Being told to write something before, say, June would be being forced to write a brilliant novel before sundown with a gun held to my head.

In fact. That gives me another idea...

2009-02-23T12:32:00.004Z

I bought two Cthulhu tales editions this weekend. The Dave Hitchcock one isn't out yet but I thought it would be rude not to grab a couple for breakfast time reading while I was there. It's an interesting comic which doesn't take itself too seriously; For example, a story placing pop-hating Lord Cthulhu as guitarist in a rock band takes up most page space. I did have a little chuckle.

A most bizarre artwork mix-up happens in the opening panels of one story though and took a few seconds for me to realise what had happened. I'm no pedant or nit picker, but allow me to explain it anyway...

A character climbing out of a car is some sort of construction worker in an orange jacket. In the distance, standing in the ruins of a building, is a man in a grey suit with a balding head.

In the next pane, they have switched places and the penny drops that the man in the grey suit should have been getting out of the car, he is a doctor who has been called to the demolition site by the man in the orange jacket. It didn't really ruin my enjoyment of the story but the significance is that I don't recall every seeing this happen before in a comic, it's so glaring that it momentarily distracts the reader.

I felt sorry for artist and writer, as neither of them would have intended for this to happen and it does mar the quality of the work done by both. But having worked in newspaper production I know too well the clock fights with you and little errors like this are made. It's just that they're more noticeable in comic form.

2009-02-18T12:24:00.006Z

I finally left my pondering of structure for a bit and found time to do a little writing. It's quite difficult to get back into when you've left it for a week or two, rather like when you have a long break from regular use of a pen (for example, when you had a summer break at school and come September had to keep up with copious amounts of note-taking from the blackboard) and seem to forget how to balance it in your hand properly. Only in this case it's wrestling with Word, trying to shoehorn script format prose into a program which tries to do all the formatting for you and generally gets it wrong.

Recently on the Yahoo! group scriptdroids, someone had posted up thoughts on writing a Future Shock with only one character, which was something I had considered after my previous post on scant use of dialogue. Although both ideas are valid, I wonder for reasons of consistency whether 2000AD would be interested in such a tale. FS stories don't vary in size or style the way they used to back in the 80s. There are obviously reasons for this, facilitation of editing and submission guidelines would be a guess, but one thing to come of it is that potential authors know the criteria for such a story and would be taking a gamble submitting anything different to the norm before making a name for oneself.

After reading on Dave Hitchcock's blog that his art was to appear in Cthulhu Tales #12 (of which I didn't even know existed), I've found a supplier near to where I live; Looking forward to getting my hands on some of those.

2009-02-16T12:03:00.006Z

Dialogue can be overused in comics to the detriment of the artwork. The temptation to fill panel after panel with dialogue, squeezing as much prose into the story as possible is unfair to the artist. And I suspect such a tendency would mean the author is better suited to writing novels or short stories.

A great example which springs to mind is the opening section of LoEG vol 2 which is set on a Martian landscape, the majority of scenes are played out with no dialogue. An alien language is used for the occasional speech bubble, but as it's decipherable it forces the reader to study the images carefully to make sense of what is going on. I liked this. An average reader takes a few seconds over each comic pane, which I feel is a little dismissive of the artistic effort which has gone into drawing it. This technique can be used to resolve that and bring more focus to the images.

From a creative viewpoint, the author must almost take on the role of the artist, as it is more important than usual that the images are strong enough to carry and explain the story without extra explanation. It also serves as an example that for certain parts of comics, words are simply unnecessary, and corresponding plot parts should be kept enjoyable and not over complex.

2009-02-12T12:42:00.006Z

My initial efforts at writing involved coming up with a strong synopsis and taking the script from there, though last night (quite inadvertantly) I had a breakthrough.

In the Alan Moore essays on comic scriptwriting, he emphasises that you start with an idea and the plot develops from there (idea + time = plot). I hadn't fully appreciated this technique and it is apparently ignored by many scriptwriters, but yesterday I had an outline idea for a story and wanted to get it down.

Typically I would have begun work on the synopsis, but the theme was too large and complex to tackle before doing a brain dump somewhere for reference. My idea was composed in a note to self style, and now that it's down somewhere I can focus more clearly on the plot. Keeping the idea in your head while you work out a synopsis is too much work for the brain, juggling all these new thoughts, and it doesn't allow ideas to develop.

Mental clarity, in keeping the mind empty of little things seems important. So taking my partner's advice I've decided to jot down anything which is using up brain activity: Domestic or work tasks, things I need to mention to people, things to remember. If you have the sort of brain which accumulates thoughts and gives you no rest until they are complete it really works. I'm just surprised I never realised before now.

2009-02-11T12:23:00.008Z

I've been coming up with ideas for comic books for quite some time, but only since Christmas (since my partner bought me a spooky little notebook) have I been writing them down and attempting some scripts; It's an amusing past time and a good creative outlet. To think that one of them may be published someday is a pleasant little pipe dream, but it isn't an easy business to break into.

A promising option seems to be the 'Future Shock' or 'Time Twisters' route, stories which can be found in the long-running UK comic 2000AD, since they welcome submissions. (Not a common practice these days and if you don't believe me then look on comic publisher websites!)

You wouldn't think that it would be difficult to write a story with a twist or amusing time travel whimsy, but it is trickier than it sounds. When you work and have a family, you can't ruminate on different ideas all day to get your story to 'fit' and after several script attempts, it's clear that a good idea does not necessarily make a good story. Writing to order (a defined structure with a set number of pages) is even more restrictive on how far you can run with it. So, probably the hardest rule learnt so far: If it's a donkey, even one which has cost you many hours lavishing attention upon it, let it go...

This is my problem: I have two graphic novel ideas (the type which are thankfully developing into good plots), both of which I feel are unique and engaging. I haven't invented any new heroes with laser cannons for armpits and a solid titanium brain since these stories are typically not what I enjoy reading. Perhaps my target audience would be a mature one. It's understandable that comic producers wouldn't want to take a gamble with an unknown writer producing a hefty comic book as their first foray into the business, especially when you may lack that teenager appeal.

Teenagers buy comics. When they're round the local comic shop playing Magic all day, they're bound to succumb to the allure, even if not on an intellectual or imaginative level the males may be tempted to buy the issue featuring a generously proportioned warrior lady in an outfit best described as too small. And I suspect this is where the money is made.