2021-10-11

How to "break into" writing comic books, today


While the big 2 US comic publishers are zombies of ghosts of what they were, *right now* is the Golden Age of the "boxes of drawings with word balloons telling a story" long form narrative art.

If you were the 16yo reincarnation of Todd McFarlane today, you don't go showing your drawings to your idols in the hallway of a some comiccon and then go camping in the lobbies of the NYC based publishers begging for starvation wages clean-up inking gigs.

You take a couple of online courses "how to layout comic pages", after first having spent 10 years self-teaching learning to doodle with an iPad and then a wacom. Then you start sharing your work on Tumblr / Twitter / Instagram / etc, until you feel ready, then you do a Kickstarter, and fail. Then another Kickstarter, and fail better. Then do another Kickstarter... and succeed.

Then you start a Patreon to fund volume 2, 3, ..., N ...

Eventually Marvel or someone invites you to draw or write for them. And if you are smart, you look at their contract, and the pay rates, and the "community" of the people you would have to work with, and then you tell them to get lost.