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Shark-Man, Twilife, and the Submission/Rejection Shuffle |
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Written by Elton Pruitt
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Friday, 16 February 2007 |
This just in...
The rumors of
Shark-Man's demise are greatly exaggerated.
Who is Shark-Man, you may be asking
yourself, and why haven't I heard these exaggeroneous rumors of his
demise?
To answer those in reverse order, (b)
because you didn't get the email from my online comic sub service
informing you that your order for Shark-Man #2 was cancelled due to
the strong possibility it may never be published, and (a) I could
write a whole column titled, "Who is Shark-Man, and why is he so
friggin' cool?"
So let me just say this: Shark-Man,
from Thrill House Comics, is probably the single coolest, just plain
old out and out fun comic book I read last year.
And when I first heard about it, and
when I read it, and even now, I am stunned that it took this long for
someone to come up with Shark-Man. I mean, we've had every possible
animal under the sun cast as a superhero (I have absolutely no
evidence to back this up, but it sure seems like I speak the truth,
doesn't it?) since the dawning days of American superhero comics in
the 1930s and 40s. And after all this time, someone goes and comes up
with a totally original new animal-based superhero concept.
It seems so obvious now. A shark - of
course! Unparalleled power and grace, cast in a world of mystery and
darkness - what better inspiration for a superhero, right?
Except nobody thought of it. Nobody did
it. Until three guys named Ronald Shusett, Michael Town and Dave
Elliott came along and hatched their golden shark egg last year.
Shark-Man was a story only they could
tell. And they told it magnificently.
* * *
And what of those exaggeroneous rumors
of the book's demise after only one issue? Pish. There's not a whit
of truth in them. Yes, the second issue is late, and yes, that's a
bad deal for any new comic trying to build an audience.
But artist Steve Pugh is hard at work
on issue two, and as soon as he's done, the book will hit the stands.
I heartily encourage you to check it
out when it does.
* * *
Those of you who've been reading this
column from the beginning may remember a column called Rejection,
Rejection, Rejection... Success! This column was originally going to
be a sequel to that, called Rejection, Rejection, Rejection...
Rejection!
But that was just more rejection than I
could bear. So I had to lead with something joyous, like Shark-Man,
to ease my way into the bitter pill of my latest encounter with
Rejection with a capital R.
* * *
This comic submission I've been working
on for the last year, TWILIFE, is my first real foray into the world
of trying to get published. Yes, I've submitted a few short pieces
here and there, and I do have my first actual published work, a story
called "Fall of the Triumvirate," coming out any day now in the
new anthology Sequential Suicide.
But as far as a comic book to call my
own, TWILIFE is it. At least, I thought it was.
It's basically the story of a guy who
dies and comes back as a zombie. To me, it's a clever twist on the
zombie genre, because instead of the zombie as villain, here we have
a zombie as hero. And we get to see and feel what it might actually
be like to be a zombie - to feel an unquenchable hunger for human
flesh, a craving not unlike a heroin addict's need to fix - and to
be all the while conscious and cognizant of this horrible new reality
in which you're now trapped.
So, when this notion came to me a year
or so ago, I thought, "Damn! This intelligent zombie story is gonna
set the world on fire - as soon as people hear about this, they're
gonna be like, Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that - what a
cool concept!"
Well, you know what?
They didn't.
I submitted to Publisher A first
because, well, they're Publisher A. Why not start at the top? In
short order, I got my first real rejection from a major publisher.
But that's cool, because I didn't
really expect them to say yes. It seemed like a bit of a stretch,
honestly.
But Publisher B - now there I felt
like I had a real shot. So hot on the heels of that first rejection,
I submitted to Publisher B. In less than a week, I got an email back.
Rejected again.
Hmmm... this is getting a little
strange now. Not quite what I'd expected.
So, never one to be deterred by a
little thing like two rejections in ten days, I submitted TWILIFE to
Publishers C and D. I got a boilerplate rejection from C within a
couple of days. D, I have yet to hear from.
After C's rejection, I felt pretty much
like a big fat failure as a comic book writer. Here I had what I was
sure was a unique, original concept. I'd written a good, tight
script, and paid a top-notch artist a not insubstantial amount of
money to illustrate it. And as I said earlier, this was about a
year-long process, from the initial idea, through scripting the first
issue, through combing the Internet for a suitable artist, to yadda
yadda yadda and finally in late January, having 16 colored and
lettered pages ready to show to a publisher.
And now, after all the time and effort
and money, what did I have to show for myself but a growing stack of
rejection emails?
It was not a pleasant few days in
Chateau d'Ecto, let me tell you. Okay, that's not true, actually.
Life was pleasant enough, because thankfully the quest to be a
successful comic book writer is not the be-all and end-all of my
life. I've got a job I love and a wife I love and a child I quadruple
times seventy love. So, you know, that keeps me balanced and sane.
But still, for several days there, it
was just a bitter pill to swallow.
And it still is a little disappointing,
and kind of frustrating. But you know what?
All is not lost. There's still hope for
my fledgling comic book career. I've got at least a couple of people
of editorly status rooting for me and willing to lend a little
guidance and support along the way. I've got several writer friends
who are varying stages ahead of me in their careers. And I've got a
good portfolio piece (if nothing else) in TWILIFE.
* * *
One of my recent rejections came from
an editor I've gotten acquainted with over the last year or so. In
rejecting TWILIFE, he went on to tell me that even though this
particular project wasn't going to fly, he'd definitely like to see
something else from me in the future. Something new and fresh and
completely unique - a story that only I could tell.
That was without a doubt the nicest and
most encouraging rejection I've received to date. Because it means a
lot, when you're in my shoes - an aspiring, barely published writer
- to feel like someone whose opinion actually matters (i.e., an
editor) believes in your potential.
* * *
For now, I'm taking a month off from
the submission/rejection carousel to focus on my writing. I'm working
on an as-yet-untitled anthology (see the related poll and cast your
vote for the best title) that will feature four stories written by me
and illustrated by four crazy good artist cats by the names of Juan,
Mario, Alan, and Noel.
I'll come back to TWILIFE in mid-March,
and I've already decided on the best publisher to talk to at this
point. Maybe it'll fly, and maybe not. Honestly, I have no idea at
this point.
And also honestly, I'm just not too
concerned about it. Maybe this just isn't meant to be my professional
debut. If so, I can deal with that. I'd love to see it in print, but
at the same time, I'm also ready to move on to the next thing.
So for the next month, the focus is on
the anthology with no name, and the back burner is pondering on the
four new miniseries concepts that've been rattling around in my brain
the last few months, and figuring which one should be next in line
for creation.
* * *
Next week, let's talk short stories,
starting with the story I'm writing for Noel. And as part of that
topic, let's talk about what I've learned in the last few months as
I've tried to bring this particular story to life.
Elton Pruitt used to smoke, but now he
doesn't. He likes moonlit walks on the beach, General Hospital,
and "Heard It In A Love Song" by the Marshall Tucker Band. When
he grows up, he wants to write comic books for a living.
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