Comic Book Club: Live!

In case it wasn’t clear to you from the title, I think a lot of people are missing the point of Marvel’s new submission policy. A little background, before we get into it:

- First, listen to our podcast with C.B. Cebulski, linked here, or just go one post below this, and listen from 11:00-25:00 minutes in. It’ll give you background on submitting to Marvel, and why they changed the policy.

- For those of you with less patience than that, here’s the gist: Marvel used to have an Open Submissions Policy, meaning they would accept anything (art or writing) from anyone. They have changed that, so they no longer have an open submissions policy.

And now, some quick background on where I’m coming from:

- I used to work in the literary department at a major Off-Broadway theater, with an Open Submissions Policy. My job was to read every single script that came in, and gave feedback. It was an excruciating, yet very rewarding job. I could go on at length, but let’s just say I sympathize a bit with Marvel, and a bit with people submitting their material. The end result is, I learned, if you want to make it in any industry, don’t submit through an open submissions policy.

So now, to the point. On Thursday, Marvel announced the closing of its Open Submissions Policy, and here’s a smattering of the reaction from Newsarama’s thread on the subject:

Dalarsco: “Wait, so they used to have an open submission policy for WRITERS!? DAMN! I thought it was only for artists! Had I known that it was possible, even if unlikely to work, to submit anything without art then I would have actually given it a shot.”

Tridon: “I had no idea that Marvel had an Open Submission policy for writers. I always thought it was only for artists. If had known this before, I would’ve been submitting stories and pitches for years. Obviously their advertising for this policy wasn’t all that amazing if I hadn’t heard about until now when it’s announced that it’s closing. Damn”

NeoSamurai: “I wish I had remembered Marvel’s open submission policy for writers before they closed it…:(”

I’ve seen similar comments around on various other sites, and I just want to say… I don’t think you understand what Marvel is saying, and I want to clear it up for you. You NEVER had a chance to get your work noticed through the Open Submission Policy. The piles are way too large, and the slog far too deadening to be knocked out of the park by anything, ever.

When I was working at that theater, very, very rarely, I’d find a script that had some small amount of promise. To those people, we would send a personal letter with encouragement. That’s one step up from what everyone else got, which was a form letter. But it’s also not a show at the theater, or, more to the point, your own mini-series at Marvel. If you got a letter from them, you’re lucky. If you didn’t, don’t sweat it, but also stop sending in unsolicited manuscripts. You didn’t miss your chance… You never had one. This way.

A few more comments, from the Internets:

Sonofodin: “Wow, thank you, Marvel, for killing my dream of breaking into comics. Now it appears that, just like at DC, I’ll have to “prove my worth” in another medium before getting a crack at the big leagues. Bull$hit, just bull$hit.”

What’s ever wrong with proving your worth? Other than the fact that it takes work, and being handed things on a silver platter does not. The problem is, and you’ll hear this from any editor in the biz, most people come in thinking, “I have been reading Spider-Man for years, so therefore I know how to write Spider-Man, and you should give me Spider-Man.”

Um, no, you don’t.

I’ve been writing sketch comedy for years, and I have trouble writing stand-up comedy, even though I’ve seen a ton of stand-ups. They’re different skill-sets in the same genre. So if you’ve never written comic books before, why, in a million years, would you be instantly able to visualize and write a comic book script?

Here’s another little writing lesson for you guys: in any medium, a young writer will write the exact same stories and ideas as any other young writer. To go back to plays for a second, pretty much any playwright will write the following plays, in order:

1) A play that is similar to their favorite playwright’s most famous play.

2) A personal story that is far too insular to be of interest to anyone except for themselves and their family.

3) A story that ends in the same place that it begins, which they think is genius, because it’s so ambiguous.

This is the same for novels, movies, and yes, comic books. So my tip is: get these stories out of your system before someone who will actually pay you checks them out. Write dummy scripts at home, and get comments from friends, and then maybe, MAYBE you’ll be in shape when an editor from a major company takes a look at your pitch.

Shadowchaser: “conventions these days are the WORST place to show your artwork…this past NYCC con was horrendously set up. looks like online is the way to go these days. if anyone cares to see my art, check it out here: http://shadowchaser076.deviantart.com/”

Er, oops. Okay, this isn’t a big deal, because Shadowchaser clearly hasn’t listened to our talk with CB, but comic book people hate deviantart (as do I, personally), because it’s impossible to click through. Set up a blog, dude. You’re correct about Online is the way to go, though.

Clem: “So that basically means “Go make it on your own. We’ll hire you if you’re famous”.”

See about about making it on your own, absolutely. Incorrect about the famous part. How famous was Fred Van Lente before he started getting tons of work at Marvel? Famous to a small percentage of comic book fans, maybe. Which, let’s be honest, is not that famous.

AlexRules: “I’ve checked that webpage every few days for the last couple years and sent stuff in and never even got one of those official rejection letters I’ve always wanted to have. An Email once, but no letter. Disapointing. I don’t know about anyone else but supposidly Marvel and DC are having people at the Emerald City Comic Con to do reviews this year (unlike LAST year), so that will be my big make or break event. I’m not giving up that easily.”

Now, see, this just makes me sad, for several reasons. One, even if you’re commenting on the Internet, use your spell-check. Two, submitting to Marvel and DC should NEVER be your “make or break event.” Nothing should be your make or break event, ever. If you put all your hopes and your dreams into one thing, what if you don’t achieve it? What if you do? Either way, that is the pinnacle of your life, and it’s only downhill from there.

Look, here’s the thing that is great about this change in policy: people can stop putting all of their hopes and dreams into writing for DC and Marvel, and instead try to create comics. There’s a huge difference between dreaming of writing (or drawing) comics, and dreaming of writing (or drawing) for a company. One means you’ll be telling stories from your heart… The other from your wallet. You tell me which is traditionally considered the better path to go.

One last little note about this: I don’t work for Marvel. I have no stake in whether they have Open Submissions, or not. I just think that when the line is becoming so blurred between fan and creator, people should stand back, get a little perspective, and think about what drives them to do something. Is it because you love it, and can’t imagine a world where you would do anything else with your life? Or is it because you want to be famous? Because if it isn’t out of love… It will suck.