We catch up to our heroine in the cavernous exhibit hall at WonderCon, striding from one informative conversation to another.
Eric Shanower’s table in Artist Alley
After talking with Stephanie Lantry and Carrie Smith, who create and publish To the Power Against, I finally made it over to Eric Shanower‘s table. But he wasn’t there. He was over at the Marvel booth, for a scheduled signing. I looked over his books, which were beautiful. This was my first glimpse of any of his work. There were many issues of the Age of Bronze series, as well as three collected volumes: A Thousand Ships in soft cover, Sacrifice and Betrayal (part one), both available in hard cover and soft cover. These are published by Image Comics and are also available at Hungry Tiger Press.
There were some Oz books. Eric Shanower is writing adaptations of L. Frank Baum‘s Oz books, and Skottie Young is illustrating them for Marvel. The first one was there, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I was more attracted to Eric’s original Oz stories in Adventures in Oz, which he both wrote and illustrated, but there were only two copies left, so I bought one, with the plan to bring it back to be autographed later.
Chris Garcia recommends smaller presses for Graphic Novels (and gives other advice).
My next goal was to find Chris Garcia, whom my costuming friend had mentioned. Chris was volunteering at the Science Fiction Outreach booth, into which I had wandered first thing on arriving Friday, after picking up my badge. Their booth was right near the entrance from badge pickup. What caught my attention was that they were giving away books. For real.
I stopped in to talk with a lovely woman there who explained their mission. When I explained to her my mission in attending WonderCon, she helpfully told me that John Scalzi had serialized his first novel, Old Man’s War on his website (which is intermittently hilarious, the website, I mean, especially the opening blurb on the canonical bacon page). That got the attention of Tor Books, who then published the novel. She allowed as how this was a traditional novel and not a graphic novel, but it was a good example of how to get something out there, and possibly published by another company as well. She also mentioned that Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza had turned their webcomic Least I Could Do into several collected edition books. I think they were at WonderCon, but I didn’t ever track them down. I was so busy with everything else.
Since I had been to the Science Fiction Outreach booth, I knew right where to look for Chris Garcia, and found him easily. He was quite happy to help me, and was a font of information.
Chris felt that the best small press in the world is Slave Labor Graphics, and said they publish about 20 books a year. I looked at their website, and they seem eager to welcome newcomers to the field, which could bode well for my project. Of course I need to check them out more. They do accept unsolicited projects, and I looked over their submission guidelines. Chris did say that Slave Labor Graphics mostly publishes in black and white, and I think color would be better for my book, but it’s certainly still a good recommendation, and I’ll be thrilled if any publisher takes it on.
In the realm of smaller publishers, Chris also mentioned Fantagraphic Books. They seem to be looking for very individualistic visions, steering clear of anything the major publishers would take. I found their submission guidelines on their FAQ page in the About Us category.
Chris also mentioned Top Cow. This is an amusing moment in the adventure, because I thought he said “Pop Cow,” (it was loud in the exhibit hall) and I just spent 20 minutes searching online for them, to investigate and link to, before I stumbled upon Top Cow, and its parent group, Image Comics. Here are submission guidelines for Image Comics.
I read the Top Cow submission guidelines. At the moment, they’re not hiring writers or looking for original story material. They are hiring artists of various sorts, but this is clearly not a possible publisher for my project. They advise writers to self-publish, saying, “If your work is good a larger publisher will eventually notice you,” and “Publishers are always on the lookout for promising young professional writers.” Over the weekend at WonderCon, I heard similar advice from various people.
Chris also mentioned two bigger publishers, and he advised that if I wanted to contact them, I should have my manager call. One was Vertigo, which is a division of DC Comics. I checked them out. They also are not seeking new writers or original stories, but they are looking for new artists, through their Talent Search at Comic Conventions. Here are the DC Comics Talent Search Guidelines. Here is some further info about Vertigo, from DC Comics, and from About.com. Since Vertigo is not looking for original stories, it seems it is not an option for me, either (even if I have my manager call, as Chris suggested), although my story is in line with the kind of thing they do.
The other, bigger publisher Chris mentioned was Tokyo Pop. Since Tokyo Pop is primarily focused on manga, and previously-created franchises (like Star Trek and Sponge Bob Square Pants), and they don’t seem to be taking any submissions at this time, they also wouldn’t be an option for my project.
Other Advice – from Chris Garcia
In the realm of studying graphic novels, Chris Garcia also had a few recommendations. He mentioned that Gail Carriger had written a manga called Soulless, but I must have misunderstood, because this book turns out to be a novel in her Parasol Protectorate Series, which Gail describes as, “comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are Jane Austen doing urban fantasy meets PG Wodehouse doing steampunk.” Her website is delicious, full of Victoriana and Steampunk, and personality. (Re: mistaking “novel” for “manga:” Did I mention it was loud in the exhibition hall – especially where I was talking with Chris?) Anyway, I’m very glad to find her website, because it’s fun, and it may have useful publishing information.
Later update on Gail Carriger‘s manga: There is going to be one! It’s a manga version of her novel Soulless, illustrated by Rem. It’s going to launch officially at the upcoming Comic-Con in San Diego, July 21-14, 2011, serialized in Yen Plus, a monthly online anthology, and as a full book next spring, published by Yen Press. (I guess I didn’t mishear Chris after all.)
Chris also mentioned Scott McCloud‘s book, Understanding Comics, which everyone mentions (and I ordered right away, when I started this project). But Chris Garcia was the first one to suggest another McCloud title about the business of comics, by which I think he meant Reinventing Comics, which contains a section on the business of comics and creator’s rights. I discovered Scott McCloud has another book, Making Comics, that also seems like an excellent resource for anyone learning to create comics and graphic novels.
Chris Garcia told me that I should have only 2 characters talk at a time in a panel, although as I have continued reading graphic novels, I have seen exceptions to this, of course.
He also said I could find examples of comic book scripts in the back of one of the Sandman trade paper back collected editions.
When I asked about his recommendations of graphic novels to study, he said the best was Stuck Rubber Baby, by Howard Cruse. It has won an Eisner award and bunch of others. It got three stars in my notes as Chris talked about it, so I know he really enthused about it.
Another fellow was standing nearby, and now I don’t recall whether he or Chris Garcia also recommended Barnum!: In Secret Service to the USA, by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, art by Niko Henrichon, and Kill Your Boyfriend, by Grant Morrison, art by Philip Bond and D’Israeli.
Of course, I thanked Chris so much for his time and suggestions, and headed back toward Eric Shanower‘s table in Artist Alley.
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