By Filip Sablik

Okay, I admit this week’s Blog title is a bit of a cheap attention grab. But you’re reading, right? My title refers to a Blog@Newsarama article that my buddy Randal Jarrell, Managing Editor at Oni Press, posted last week. He addressed a popular topic – “How do you go from aspiring creator to comic book professional?” – and did an admirable job of explaining how comics are a lot like “American Idol”. No really, he did a much better job explaining it, so give his column a read.

I wanted to add to the conversation and thought, “Self, you need a topic for next week’s blog entry. People seem to like to talk about this topic, let’s just steal some of Randal’s thunder.” Thanks for laying the groundwork, Randal! Hopefully I picked up a drink for you at WonderCon this weekend.

But enough exposition, here’re my thoughts on the topic.

First, Randal is right. In my years in the industry, I’d say a good 90-95% of the pitches, pencils, inks, colors, lettering, and completely finished comics are really, really bad. That cannot be understated.  (I am, of course, not talking about your samples/project/pitch, dear reader. You are awesome.) But that’s true of any entertainment/creative industry. All you have to do is watch shows like “American Idol”, step into any art college around the country, or hang out at Open Mic night at your local coffee shop. As human beings, we love to express ourselves creatively. After we’ve satiated our basic needs of food, safety, and love, most people want to express themselves.

Secondly, I do believe most human beings have the capacity to become at least proficient at some artistic discipline. Some of us are born with a greater natural disposition or talent for one thing or another. For example, I had an easy time figuring out how to doodle faces and people as a kid, while my cousin could shoot hoops while I sat on the bench. But with enough time, effort, and genuine education, I do believe anyone can learn to play an instrument, draw, sculpt, or whatever creative pursuit might tickle your fancy. In his most recent book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell estimates it takes the average person 10,000 solid hours of sincere & regimented practice to achieve technical mastery of a single set of skills. That’s about 10 years at 2-3 hours of practice per day. It’s an interesting thought, because how many of us truly put in that much time to master a skill? Here’s the other thing, even if you get good enough is it actually enough to ensure your success?

Probability says “no”. Because here’s the cold hard truth – it takes more than talent and skill to be successful in an entertainment industry. Using Randal’s example of “American Idol”, look at the contestants the judges pick. They aren’t just the best singers, but also they tend to be well spoken, charming, good looking, and so on. It’s about the whole package. To bring it back to comics, when I look at a portfolio at a convention I’m not just looking at the work. I’m taking in information about the potential creator as a person based on the way they introduced themselves, how they handle themselves in a conversation with me, how they’re dressed, and a hundred other little clues that tell me something about them. I (and most editors who’ve been in the business for some time) can usually determine in the first minute if there’s any potential for a working relationship there. Sometimes less. If you are a jerk to me in the first couple minutes of meeting me, there’s a good chance that will be reflected in an ongoing relationship. Or if you make excuses for your work, it signals that you’ll probably make excuses when I try to give you notes on a real project.

Randal was also right in that it is much easier to review an artist on the spot than a writer. I can glance through a portfolio in a few minutes, but a pitch will take at least 10-15 minutes to read and even the pitch doesn’t tell me much except that you have a good story idea. It doesn’t tell me much about your ability to write compelling dialogue, pace a story, build solid story structure, and so on. It’s honestly why here at Top Cow we don’t break a lot of new writers. It’s too time-consuming and too risky to do with the half a dozen books we publish each month. Randal suggests publishing your own work as an actual comic, which you can then use as an example of your work. If you look at the list of top writers in the industry, they are full examples of guys who believed in themselves enough to publish their own work or get a friend to do it for them. Bendis, Brubaker, Kirkman, Hickman, and the list goes on.

Here’s a positive example, since I don’t want this column to be overly negative. Last year at New York Comic-Con, at the end of the show a guy came up to me to show me his portfolio. He was friendly, well spoken, and not at all cocky (1 point!). I opened his portfolio and it was really, really good (2 points!), and he had previously been published by two other publishers (2 more points!). Within the first minute of meeting him, I knew he was a guy we should give a shot too. I walked him over to Rob Levin, shoved his portfolio in Rob’s hands and said, “We should give this guy work.” His name is Nelson Blake II and he just drew Broken Trinity: Witchblade for us. He’s got more work coming out soon, which is even better!

A connected story for the writers out there, Rob asked Nelson to send him the full story he had done for another publisher, because he thought the sample pages looked great and he was curious to read it. After reading it, he thought not only was Nelson’s work great, but that the writer had talent. He asked Nelson to introduce him to the writer and asked the writer if he had any other pitches. Shortly afterwards the writer turned in what was hands down one of the best pitches Rob and I had read all year. His name is Bryan Edward Hill and he’s writing half of Broken Trinity: Aftermath with Ron Marz. You’ll see more of that awesome pitch down the line.

One last anecdote before I leave you – there are some rare individuals that can spot a “diamond in the rough” from a pile of dirt. I’m lucky enough to work for one of those guys, Marc Silvestri. Marc has an undeniable eye for talent and can spot someone with great potential before I ever could. A couple of weeks ago, I was shown one of the pages from late, great Michael Turner’s original samples that caught Marc’s eye. I looked at it and with all humility and awe realized that I would not have seen Mike’s talent in one of those pages. They were bad. Really, really bad. But Marc’s gift is to see Mike’s potential and that’s what has allowed him to help nurture so many young artists over the years.

Take care,

Filip Sablik

Publisher Guy

Filip Sablik is the Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc. He’s been in the business for eight years and just officially entered his thirties. Occasionally, he does a bit of writing and drawing. He loves comics. Top Cow Productions, Inc. was founded by Marc Silvestri, co-founder of Image Comics. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 am and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.