Larry Young does that talking sense thing he likes to do:
You may want to tell superhero stories, but no matter how genius they are, it won’t add to the scene, over-crowded as it is. Use your powers in service of a story that only you can tell. And talk about it in a way that adds to the scene; you’re going to get enough accusations of being self-serving and shameless and whatnot as it is as you try to garner interest for your book; don’t make it easy for the Peanut Gallery to tar you with the Stupid Brush.
He’s referring to this discussion over at The Engine, where hopeful creator tries to explain why he wants to do superheroes:
I do superhero comics because those are really the stories I want to tell.
I think it would be really great if the powers that be at Marvel or DC read my comic and said “hire that guy”!
But I don’t expect that to happen, and that is not my goal. My goal is to get the stories out o my head and onto the page. And those stories that are in my head are superhero stories.
It would be a disservice to them to try to re-package them as detective stories or WWI medic stories, or whatever.
I think it would also be foolish to try to tell some other story, and hope to get noticed, and pray to get hired, and then try to force corporate characters to do the things I want my characters to do.
Taking the route you suggexted, I would never get to tell my stories the way I want to tell them. I would either be dressing them up as something else, or using someone else’s gear to do it.
And, who knows, maybe by the time I work my way into a position where I can do an Icon book or something like that….maybe I won’t even have this story in my head any more.
It’s worth checking that thread for Larry and Warren Ellis discussing why wannabe creators should leave superheroes to Marvel and DC (”The complex thing here I’m trying to wrap my head around (and tried to point to with the ditch metaphor) is that Marvel and DC don’t own COMICS, so if you’re “starting out” it’s better to do a comic than a superhero comic, see? If your goal is to do a superhero comic, do one, of course, but if the goal is to work in superhero comics you’re better off dating the brainy math wiz before trying to ask the cheerleader to the prom. And, then, you may find that the brainy math wiz is what you were after the whole time. geez, I love me some analogies.”), and also for finding the link to the depressing true story of Chris Wisnia.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:55 am
You’re certainly going to get more work if you show you can do more that just superheroes.
November 16th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
There may be a glut of superhero comics, but there’s a severe shortage of *good* superhero comics.
November 16th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
There’s a severe shortage of good non-superhero comics, too.
November 16th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
It was a great discussion to drop into when I was 2/3s of the way through my new superhero comic, that’s for sure.
Happy Legs-Out-From-Under-You-Day!
The sad truth is, of course, that Lar and War are absolutely right. It’s a shame that Big Superheroes have such an effect on what a person might want to create - let alone read! - but, you know, the fantasy world ends at the edge of the page.
Anybody want to publish a book about the creation of the world’s first iron bridge?
//\Oo/\\
November 16th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Does this bridge fight crime? What are its powers?
November 16th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
It, like, comes to emblemise the Industrial Revolution and indirectly provides jobs for umpty-um and a third thousand people, or something?
Also, crockery.
No-no-wait! It starts a civil war for thr future of throughfarekind, and everyone has to choose a side: Iron Bridge or Captain Aqueduct!
No! It falls to earth and befriends a young boy called Abraham, only to be destroyed by the Army! At the end of the book, a single radial can be seen hopping over the horizon, as if the bridge knew how to rebuild itself.
…or maybe not.
//\Oo/\\
November 16th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
We apologize for the form letter. We know how impersonal these things can be, especially to someone whom has invested so much effort in their work. Unfortunately, the material you submitted, ” I, Ron Bridge ” does not meet our current needs. We wish you luck in your career.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Typical. It’d be published, too, if it had beem twenty-two pages of a motorway sliproad flashing its biscuit at us.
Anyone want to publish SUPER SENTAI FRED DIBNAH, instead?
//\Oo/\\
November 16th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Jake and Matt? That’s pretty damn funny.