Chapter Eleven

So, Kid, You Want to Break into Comics?

A 26-part story told in real time about how a writer manages his career after the announcement of his two biggest projects.

So it’s been a couple slow weeks around here as I try to stay ahead of my deadlines in anticipation for San Diego Comic Con and spending time with ABSOLUTE GREEN ARROW artist Rafael Albuquerque leading up to it.

I did get a chance to hang out with a bunch of other Absolute writers, though, as part of an Absolute show on WhatNot – which I will hopefully one day soon understand what all those words mean strung together in that order – but the important thing to me is that proceeds benefited the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, BINC, and it gave me time to hang out with some other Absolute writers. And the thing I feel most grateful for was the chance to talk to them and learn that if you care about your work, the anxiety of living up to expectations never really goes away, you just learn to manage it. And the really interesting thing to me is that even when you get used to some level of it, there’s always the next challenge to wrap your head (and nerves) around, and part of your growth is hopefully that there’s always the next challenge. Of course, now that I write that all out, it feels like something I always knew, but I’ve talked a lot about my imposter syndrome on Day 2, and I suppose part of this journey I’m on is re-learning some lessons as you’re in the center of the storm.

But it did make me reflect and think about the question I probably get asked about the most by aspiring writers…. How do you break into comics in the first place? And for a lot of people that question comes down to if I’m breaking into comics, how do I find an artist?

And that brings us to the latest installment of our non-regular feature…

HOW TO BREAK INTO COMICS - FINDING AN ARTIST

I tell this story a lot at conventions, and it occurred to me I should write it down so it can be of use to more people. A question I hear a lot from aspiring comic book writers is how do you break into the industry?

And there’s two basic ways to do that. The most straighforward is write up a short 2 – 4 page pitch document and send it to editors at different publishers, while pointing them to your other credits to prove you’re a reliable, professional writer and hope those editors are convinced by that package. From there, they’ll pair you with an artist and work with you to make your comic.

But what if you’re just starting out? What if you don’t have any other published credits because you just want to make comics and this is your first one? What do you do then?

Well, the best answer I’ve heard to that question is the story of Julio Anta. Julio wrote, amongst other things, HOME with art by Anna Wieszczyk, published by Image Comics and THIS LAND IS OUR LAND: A BLUE BEETLE STORY with art by Jacoby Salcedo published by DC Comics.

Julio has figured out what’s easily the smartest way to break into comics I’ve ever heard.

You see, there was a time when the best way to break into comics was to go to a convention, then hang out and meet artists until you strike a chord with one. And then if they’re trustworthy and talented enough, you convince them to draw and co-create your comic. Eventually, you take that comic and shop it around to publishers to prove to them you can make a comic and have those editors take a chance on you to either publish your next book or hire you to write something they want.

But Julio figured out how to break in during the pandemic without ever leaving his house.

See, he would write these 2 – 6 page stories and pay comics artists online to draw them. Since they were so short, paying those artists wouldn’t break his bank. And when they were done, he’d post those comics on his webpage. And yeah, sure, like every indy publisher, you deal with flakes, but eventually, Julio had enough to eventually make up a CV. That was something he could point other artists to convince them to work with him.

Eventually, he had enough to convince Anna Wieszczyk to draw the first 8 pages of HOME and shop that pitch around to publishers. I was very flattered to learn he based that pitch around the 16-page pitch format I included at the end of the trade paperback collection of my first Image book INFIDEL, which you can find here.

Maybe that helped HOME to be eventually published by Image Comics, and from there, Julio became a published comic book writer. And then from there, he used that book to get work at Marvel and DC, eventually leading Julio to write the aforementioned original graphic novel, THIS LAND IS OUR LAND: A BLUE BEETLE STORY with art by Jacoby Salcedo and sell the Middle Grade graphic novel SPEAK UP, SANTIAGO with artist Gabi Mendez, the first book in their Bull Hill graphic novel series, published by Random House.

To this day, I haven’t heard of a breaking in story as smart as Julio’s, and in my opinion, it serves as the clinic of how everyone looking into breaking into comics should do it.

If you want to hear that from Julio’s own words (and see how badly I mangled the details), I was lucky enough to talk to him about it on a podcast sponsored by the excellent independent bookstore here in Los Angeles, Skylight Books. You can find it below, with the pertinent part starting around 13:50. But honestly, just listen to the whole thing, because it’s always great listening to Julio speak:

Julio’s become a friend during this big comics journey, and I have a feeling I embarrass him by how often I talk about him, but the truth is, this is just the smartest way I’ve ever heard to break into the industry. Now, having said that, it definitely isn’t easy. Honestly, I’m not sure anything in comics is. But it’s a place to work very closely and intimately to get your vision directly to an audience, and for all those reasons, it’s why so many people who work in comics fiercely love doing it despite its troubles and travails.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

ABSOLUTE GREEN ARROW # 3 (JUL 15)

GOLDEN APPLE COMICS - West Hollywood - signing (JUL 15; 11 am - 1 pm) – with Rafael Albuquerque!

COLLECTORS PARADISE (North Hollywood) signing (JUL 15; 5 - 7 pm) – with Rafael Albuquerque!

ARSENAL COMICS & GAMES (Ventura) signing (JUL 18; 11 am - 1 pm) – with Rafael Albuquerque!

COMIC BUG (Manhattan Beach) signing (JUL 18; 4.30 - 6.30 pm) – with Rafael Albuquerque!

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON (JUL 23 - 26; my crude panel schedule below; check out my IG in the coming days for my signing schedule)

INSPIRATION READING: