Breaking into Comics - some quick tips

The first unassuming cover by Matt Bingham
for the comics zine that helped me
get into comics publishing. Subscribers
included Alan Moore.
Download a cbr of the issue

Regular readers will be aware, we hope, that our main downthetubes site features some guides to Breaking Into Comics, espcially on the writing side.

I recently had a few more requests than usual for tips on how to find work in the comics industry. It isn't easy, especially with the industry being quite small these days, at least in the UK, but here are some thoughts and suggestions...

• Post your strips online on a blog (which can be done for free) and see if they attract interest in your work

• Create and publish your own fanzine with your own strips (and perhaps some from other people you know) and sell it locally and via the above-mentioned blog (use Paypal), or get to nearby Comic Marts or events and try sell them there (all of which I did to get myself known several years ago). Your magazine doesn't have to be in colour (although a colour cover wil help) and you don't have to print many (because you won't sell many - it's about getting yourself known!)

• Get along to a comic convention - there are several across the UK through the year and we list them on DTT. Meet fellow creators and pick their brains. Show editors your work.

• Make sure that the portfolio you show editors includes only a small selection of your best work (and I do mean best work - if you feel you wouldn't pay to read it, it doesn't qualify!); make sure that if you want to show it to 2000AD, for example, you include a page of art featuring a 2000AD character; include samples of pencils and inks; and make sure the samples are comic strip, not full page illustrations (with editors it's more about seeing you can tell a story rather than 'can you draw'?)

• Listen to the feedback; learn from it. If an editor likes the work, get their details and then send copies of what they were shown once you get home, plus a couple of new pages, saying how much you enjoyed meeting that editor and that you hope the new samples have taken on board the advice you were given

• If you don't hear anything within six weeks, send a follow up, polite email asking if the editor has had a chance to look at the samples and that you're still keen to get the chance to draw

• Build your relationships with any audience you have built up through your blog and fanzine, develop your own audience. (Think about using Facebook and Twitter to maintain your personal marketing)

Quality will out in any industry but as with most things, breaking into comics is 10 per cent inspiration, 90 per cent perspiration...

• Check out downthetubes.net for other practical and hopefully useful advice. Our Writers Guide is here

• Advice to artists submitting work 

•  Live Pitching at Conventions

Boldy Go: Writing SF Workshop

Successful science fiction author Philip Palmer will lead a workshop on writing for the genre within the weird ambience of the MacRae Gallery at the Hunterian Museum, London on 9th July.

Run in association with The Arthur C Clarke Award, you will discover your own 'starts' of stories and, from skeletal robots to climate change and its consequences, Philip will help you touch and connect science into your own stories.

This workshop is open to writers of all levels, those new to writing science fiction are especially welcomed.

Philip Palmer is the author of three science fiction novels published by Orbit books - Debatable Space, Red Claw and Version 43 - and is currently working on his next two novels. He is also a screenwriter, script editor, teacher and producer. His screen writing credits include the BBC1 film The Many Lives of Albert Walker, Rebus, and The Bill, and his radio dramas include The King’s Coiner, Breaking Point and The Faerie Queene.

The founder of Afan Films., he's currently works as a screenwriting tutor at the London Film School, and has previously worked as a part-time lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University, the National Film and Television School, and Bournemouth University.

• To Boldly Go: Writing Science Fiction, Saturday 9 July, 10.30am – 5pm | £45/£30
, the Hunterian Museum, The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE


• Click here to book

London International Creative Competition Launched

The London International Creative Competition for 2010 has just been announced and is calling for entries.

Described as "a vehicle for facilitating contact between uniquely talented artists and an international audience", work is juried by a board of internationally esteemed artists, writers, curators, gallery owners and other luminaries of the visual arts (full list here). The jury-selected finalists and shortlist will be published in the LICC Annual Awards Book, on the LICC website and announced to the creative arts and media outlets worldwide.

The 15 finalists works will be presented at the LICC awards ceremony in London and one prize-winner chosen by the jury will receive the £2,000 cash prize.

This year's categories are:

• Architectural
• Audio/Music
• Design (Environmental/Fashion/Graphic/Interior)
• Drawing/Illustration
• Installation
• Mixed Media
• NetArt/Web Design
• Painting
• Performance
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Sculpture
• Textile
• Video and Film
• Writing
• Other

The Entry Fee is £20 single or series, Students £15 single or series. For an online entry form, click here. For PDF submission forms click here

LICC was founded by the Farmani Group in 2006 which, among other things, has founded many charities, businesses, and organizations including the award-winning VUE magazine, The Lucie Awards (the Oscars of photography), , Focus on AIDS, International Photography Awards, Px3-Prix del la Photographie de la Paris, Art For New York, the Farmani Gallery, aNet Communications, Design Awards and FYIdesign.

• For more info visit: www.licc.us

The Script Archive Needs Your Help

We're sorry to report that the fab comic writers resource, the not-for-profit Comic Script Archive might be going down.

"It sucks because I know it’s been really helpful to a lot of you – even some pros have emailed me, happy that the site exists – all of them commenting that they ‘wished something like this was around’ when they were breaking in," says the site runner (whose name I can't actually find on the site -- which is really annoying!)

"That said, my hosting dues are up and I’m at a point, until December, where financially I’m living in a bunker. There’s just no way I can justify the cost (which is around $120 a year, not exactly life changing money, but that’s a utility bill).

It's a great resource for would be comic strip writers and we reckon it should continue. If you can, please donate whatever you feel comfortable with here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8587754

On the chance that the site does not make its goal, any donations offered will get kicked over to legendary comic writer John Ostrander’s cause: www.comix4sight.com/. As we've previously reported, John has been battling glaucoma and is need of support.

Plus, in the event that the site OVERshoots its goal, all overages will also go to John’s cause.

For the full details on the appeal here's a Tinyurl that directs back to the post: http://tinyurl.com/yecmors

• The Comic Book Script Archive is at www.comicbookscriptarchive.com

Tube Surfing, 30 June 2008: Baxendale, Bernice Summerfield and Graveyards

Above: The Bash Street Kids, drawn by Leo Baxendale, start a circus in a story from Beano Issue 1063, published in 1963. Bash Street Kids © DC Thomson

• (via FPI): Leo Baxendale features in The Times today, recalling the early 1950s and his first approaches to DC Thomson, them taking on Little Plum, Minnie the Minx then the immortal Bash Street Kids. More details and links over on Forbidden Planet International's blog, or jump straight over to The Times. Talking of Leo, his next volume of memoirs, Hobgoblin Wars, is due fairly soon.

• Big Finish have announced that Simon Guerrier's book, Bernice Summerfield - The Inside Story, will be out in August. The book is a warts-and-all guide to the character first created for Virgin's Doctor Who New Adventures by Paul Cornell, but who quickly grew to feature in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip and get brought to life by Big Finish in several audio adventures, voiced by actress Lisa Bowerman. More info here on the Big Finish web site.

• (via Bear Alley): The latest Eagle Times (Volume 22 Issue 2, Summer 2009) continues a run of excellent issues with more of the same. The cover story is a look at the nature artwork of Tom Adams, nowadays best known for his covers for Agatha Christie novels but who has had quite a diverse career over the past sixty years. Other features include looks at the Dan Dare stories Operation Saturn and The Man from Nowhere, Eagle Autographs, Rex Keene (the first in a new series of 'Rivals of Jeff Arnold'), the third part of a look at Heros the Spartan, a P.C. 49 text story, pop music in 1965 and a look at Eagle Holidays.
Subscriptions are £22 (overseas £34 in UK pounds) for four issues a year from Keith Howard, 25A Station Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 2UA. More info at: eagle-times.blogspot.com

• Congratulations to Neil Gaiman, who has picked up yet another award for his novel, The Graveyard Book, this time the 2009 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book.

• A new web portal, Talenthouse launches today, aggregating the works of artists from multiple disciplines including music, fashion, fine art, graphic design, film and photography.
Based in California, the site is the brainchild of British recording artists Amos Pizzey and run by CEO Roman Scharf. It allows artists to build their own profiles for free to display their work in full screen mode, gather followers and alert friends when new work is posted.
Cynopsis Digital reports the site's business model includes selling subscriptions to its database to TV and film studios and talent agencies (like the Amazon-owned IMDBPro), as well as launching brand-triggered creative competitions to source the community for new designs (sort of a multidisciplinary Filmaka)

• Bloggers and other writers may be interested to know Google-owned YouTube has launched its own portal to help instruct citizen journalists about how to practice better reporting. YouTube's Reporter's Center features house-made videos, clips from seasoned Pros from Dover including Katie Couric and Bob Woodward and practical shooting tips from sources such as Howcast. Check it out at www.youtube.com/reporterscenter

Bryan's Badger Detective Trailed

The official trailer for award-winning comic creator Bryan Talbot's next graphic novel, Grandville, has just been released.

Bryan, probably best known as the author of Britain's first ever graphic novel, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright but also creator of The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland, has now completed work on this brand new steampunk graphic novel.

The story is is set in a retro sci-fi world populated by anthropomorphic animals and stars Detective Inspector LeBrock, who the writer artist describes as a "large working class badger”.

"He has the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes but, being a badger, he’s also a bruiser and is quite happy to beat the crap out of a suspect to get information," Bryan recently told Steampunk magazine. "His adjunct and close confidant is the diminutive and elegant Roderick Ratzi, who talks like Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey.

"I wanted to do one of those sorts of adventure stories that starts very small and parochial but gets bigger and more exciting as it goes along until it finishes in an epic climax," he continues. "The story begins with LeBrock investigating a murder in a small English village (in actuality Rupert Bear’s Nutwood). The trail leads him to Grandville, where he discovers a shocking and far-reaching conspiracy. It’s basically fin-de-siecle Paris, populated by animals and furnished with speaking tubes, automatons and steam-driven hansom cabs."

Grandville is set for release in October 2009 and will be published by Dark Horse in the USA and Jonathan Cape worldwide.

• View The Trailer...

• For more information about the book visit www.bryan-talbot.com/grandville

• Check out full the interview Bryan gave to SteamPunk Magazine

Tube Surfing: Saturday 9 May

• During a short interview for an upcoming issue of Star Trek Magazine about his new IDW comic, Alien Spotlight – Romulans, Ian Edginton also gave me a quick run down on his other current projects. As usual, the acclaimed writer of series such as Scarlet Traces is as busy as ever. "I’m part way through new series of Stickleback, Red Seas and Ampney Crucis Investigates for 2000AD, and I’ve also just finished a four-part Judge Dredd that’s been drawn by Dave Taylor and it looks just astonishing!" he reveals.
"I’m also writing Stormwatch for Wildstorm and I’m partway through adapting the Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet for Self Made Hero. Artist Ian Culbard and I have already done The Hound of the Baskervilles. It’s part of a rolling program to adapt all the Holmes canon, starting with the novels first."
I took the opportunity to ask him: if he has one piece of advice he gives would-be comic writers, what is it?
"To write, plain and simple. Work at it," he replies. "I started out trying to emulate the authors I respected and there’s nothing wrong with that because you have to start somewhere, and it gives you a toe hold, something to work with. It sounds prosaic I know, but you then have to go off and find your own voice. It’s an on-going process."

• Talking of comics writing, Richard Starkings, former Marvel UK editor and now First Tiger at US lettering company Comicraft as well as writer of hit US comic series Elephantmen, reports he is working on Doctor Who comic strip once again. Richard, who edited (and wrote some of) the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip in the 1980s, is scripting a
story entitled Cold-Blooded War plotted by former DWM editor Gary Russell and illustrated by Adrian Salmon.
Funnily enough, it has the Ice Warriors in it - the very same monsters that starred in the first strip Richard edited for DWM, A Cold Day in Hell, just published in a collection by Panini UK.
• Buy A Cold Day in Hell from amazon.co.uk
• Buy A Cold Day in Hell from amazon.com

• All three parts of Pádraig Ó Méalóid's major interview with Alan Moore are now availabel to read via the Forbidden Planet International blog: Part One is here, Part Two here, and Part Three - well, you know how this going to go, don't you... The final part includes questions from fans.

• If, like me, you're not in Bristol for the Comic Expo, Geek Syndicate (www.geeksyndicate.co.uk) tell us they plan is to have live audio blogs and mini podcasts going out from the event... "if we can get it all to work!" Follow them on audioboo, a social networking site that allows you to record up to 5m of audio and upload it. "It’s fantastic because literally a minute after you’ve recorded its on line," say the team. And, of course, just like others at the event such as Tony Lee, Simon Gurr, Cheryl Morgan, Paul Cornell, they'll also be twittering all weekend – http://twitter.com/GeekSyndicate. There's even a robot Re-Tweeting all messages people post about the Bristol Comic Convention on Twitter - http://twitter.com/BristolConBot. (You can also use this search string if you are a Twitter member). Hmm, if you do follow all this you could really give the impression you were there, except judging by many of the posts, the lack of a four day long hangover would give you away...

Major Alan Moore Interview Published

Alan Moore and interviewer Pádraig Ó Méalóid. Picture via Forbidden Planet International

The Forbidden Planet International blog - earlier this week announced as one of the Top 50 blogs in the UK and the only comics blog in the list - have been hinting at it for a while but the first part of Pádraig Ó Méalóid's new and "smegging huge" interview with top award-winning writer Alan Moore has just been published, with the following two parts due to appear in the next few days.

As you’d expect from Alan the subjects and references are many, from Threepenny Opera to Monty Python and the Clangers (and the especially nice thing is you just know he’ll attach as much importance to a Clangers reference as he would to a classical literary reference). This part also includes more background on Alan and Kevin O'Neill's latest book, Century: 1910, and some of his past music work. Will he perform again? Read the interview to find out.

When we say huge, we mean it by the way. "The interview ran to two hours long, all of which I then had to type up, with the exception of a very small personal piece that got left out," says Padraig. "The whole thing was 27 pages and nearly 15,000 words long." Not quite as long as one of Mr Moore's famous comic scripts, then.

• Read Part One of the Alan Moore Interview Here
• Find out more about FPI's Top 50 Ranking in the UK's Top Blogs

Tharg's Head Revisited

In October 2008, occasional downthetubes contributor Matthew Badham interviewed freelance writer Andy Diggle (who is also the ex-editor of 2000AD). An edited 2000 word version of that interview was published in the February edition of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Now, with the kind permission of Andy and Megazine editor Matt Smith, the full, un-edited transcript of the interview has been posted at Citizen Badham, Matthew's blog.

In the interview, Andy talks about writing comics and video games, editing 2000AD and gives his thoughts on the future of comics and the British comics scene:

"Yeah, I've always enjoyed telling stories. I tend to think very visually, and I was always more drawn to script writing than prose. I remember when I was a kid, back before we had a VCR, I recorded The Empire Strikes Back on audio tape off the TV and then transcribed the asteroid field sequence in screenplay format. Just to get a feel for the medium, I guess.

"Weeding through the submission pile was always grim, but you made up for that when you found the occasional ruby in the dust. Guys like Jock and Frazer Irving were sending me unsolicited submissions; now we're not only working together, we're good mates. A lot of great talent came out of that slush pile: Mike Carey, Ben Oliver, Si Spurrier, Boo Cook, Rob Williams, Ian Edgington, Al Ewing...

"As for British comics, there seems to be quite a thriving small press scene at the moment. So much so that I've been seriously considering setting up a small comic con. Watch this space."

• Read the full interview at Matthew's blog here.

Tube Surfing: 20 February 2009

• Ben Templesmith has donated some art from IDW's Doctor Who - The Whispering Gallery book to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund which they are currently auctioning off on eBay. The aution ends later today (Feb-20-09 15:00:00 PST) so now is the time to get in there and bid. As of writing this item, the current bid stood at over $360.

• Fancy winning a signed copy of Titan Books' Schoolgirl Milky Crisis, a new collection of nearly two decades of articles, speeches and interviews by Jonathan Clements on anime, manga, and Asian culture? Well, now's your chance.
The book's official blog (yes, even books have blogs these days) reveals that Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is described as ‘A stupid name for a generic anime show, made up to protect the innocent in Jonathan Clements’.
To win a prize, all you have to do is come up with your own stupid name for a generic show in the style of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. It can be anything you like and feel free to submit multiple entries (though we would advise that you avoid profanity!). There is no need to include a synopsis of your imagined show as this contest will only be judged on the title itself!
To enter this contest, all you need to do is simply email your entry to schoolgirlmilkycrisis@titanemail.com

• Faz Choudhury's latest contribution to online webjam strip Huzzah!! is up. "It's been a huge amount of fun doing these but that doesn't mean to say I'm not daunted by the setting, it's not the kind of thing I'm used to drawing," he says. "And that's all the more reason to take part, being pushed out of whatever comfort zone I may have!"

• The officially-recognised Mistycomic.co.uk site, devoted to the 1970s girls' comic Misty, is looking for artists to illustrate some tales of horror and intrigue for the next Mistycomic Special. They already have several strips "in the bag" but there have been some drop outs and delays to promoised material, so release of the special has been put back.

• Thrill-Powered Thursday, put together by "Grant, The Hipster Dad", has a new home, prompted by concerns about changes at LiveJournal. It's a weekly look at the world of 2000AD, prompted byt Grant's re-reading of his collection of 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, one issue an evening, and once each week for the foreseeable future.
Grant also complies Reprint This, a blog offering suggestions for collections of long gone comics, a theme which has been taken up recently by Chris Mautner over at Comic Book Resources in a new column Collect This Now!

• Script writers out there may be interested in this article in Script Magazine, offering advice on "How Not to Annoy a Reader". While it's greared toward film scripting writing, comic strip writers may find this passage particularly pertient: "Don’t assume I know what you’re talking about. This problem is especially popular with writers of sci-fi and fantasy scripts, scripts based upon highly technical or academic premises, or those featuring characters with highly specialized knowledge or abilities." Writer ray Morton also opnines that, as a rule of thumb, script writers should "Assume your reader is a dolt who needs everything spelled out for him. But spell it out dramatically, using action, character and behaviour."

• Tim Pilcher, author of the two volumes of Erotic Comics published by ILEX, has been interviewed by Chicago-based journalist Steve Bunche. The interview is online via Steve's blog, but may later show up on Publisher's Weekly Comic Week.
Exhaustively researched and approached with an enthusiastic and scholarly eye, the two handsome hardcover Erotic Comics editions chronicle the evolution of erotic comics and gives readers intimate looks at the lives of the pioneers and legends in the field. Volume 2 is released in March: Mature Readers Only...

Insomia Seeks Submisisons

Edinburgh-based Insomnia Publications , publishers of titles such as Layer Zero and the upcoming CancerTown, are accepting submissions from both writers and artists.

Incoming Creative Director Nic Wilkinson tells us: "Insomnia are currently inviting submissions from both writers and artists (pencillers, colourists and inkers).

"We will be at the Birmingham International Comics show and will be hosting portfolio review sessions throughout the weekend. Times will be up on the table, so come over, talk to us, show us your stuff - art, writing or both.

If you cannot make the show this year, or would like to send submissions in advance for discussion on the day send me an email to "nichola [at] insomniapublications.com" but please do not send any files over 8Mb or they will bounce."

Crawford Coutts, the MD, will write up the "official guidelines" for the Insomnia Publications website in the next couple of days, but for now the company has revealed the books they have in progress at the moment cover a wide variety of subject matter.

"It is originality and quality that Crawford is looking for rather than any specific genre," says Nic. "We would rather have something unusual, challenging, inventive, creative, inspired, literate, thought provoking (you get the idea!) than another version of something that is already out there. You can get mainstream works from many places, that is why they are called mainstream."

Here's what they want from writers: tell them about the story - proposed length, how much (if any) is complete, about the characters, the setting, What happens, Why it happens, – all of that not just a 10 word high concept "idiot pitch". "That tells me if you are good at formulating snappy high-concept pitches," says Nic, "not what your scripting, structuring and storytelling are like.
"Samples are good if you have them but not required at the pitch stage
"We do not care if you have the right script formatting software or fonts at this stage, we want your talent, not your technical know how."

For Artists, Insominia is looking for pencillers, inkers or all three. "We would like to see sequentials as well as pin ups," Nic reveals, "Unless you want to be purely a cover artist - which is fine, but let us know that. Tell uas what formats you work in - traditional media, digital etc., and whether you work in Colour or black and white.
"If you are submitting to be an inker or colourist then we need to see copies of the underlying pencils as well as your work.
"If you have been published before or have self published in print or online and can show us a portfolio, that is fantastic. However Insomnia is all about new writing, new art and new concepts and we certainly welcome submissions from new talent.

"Finally one of the most important things for both writers and artists is to let us know the length of story to which you feel you can commit," Nic adds. "We have an anthology title for people who want to do short stories through to complete graphic novel series of hundreds of pages.

"We also appreciate that many creators are showing incredible dedication by working on their comics alongside day jobs and other commitments, but if we like your work enough to publish we will work with you to agree a schedule that suits all parties.

"Many of us at Insomnia are/were creators ourselves and we appreciate that making submissions can be difficult and nerve-wracking," Nic says. "We will look at everything we receive, although it may take time we will respond to everyone. The important thing to remember that your work may be great, and we may even personally love to read it, but it sometimes will just not what we are looking for right now.

"We are also interested to hear from games designers, animators, and model makers as we often need to call on such services.

As for what Insomia plan for their titles, "In most cases we will look to put our books out as albums or 'instant trades' so that they can be sold in bookshops and online as well as through comic shops."

• If you would like to see examples of Insomnia books to get a feel for the type of material they publish then you can see previews of two forthcoming Graphic Novels and a selection from their Anthology title online at MyeBook

Graphic Novels:
• Cancertown - by Cy Dethan and Stephen Downey
• Cages - by Xander Bennett and Mel Cook
• Layer Zero Anthology Selection