MattBrady
09-01-2003, 03:35 AM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PJack1_rough.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="185" height="288" border="0" hspace="2" src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PJack1_rough_t.jpg" align="right" alt="Mitch Breitweiser's rough cover pencils for #1"></a><I>by Mike San Giacomo</I>
<i>This is a weekly look at the process of writing a comic for Marvel’s new Epic line. <b>Phantom Jack</b>, which was to be called <b>Nowhere Man</b> until THE MAN made me change the name. The inefficient, one-sentence description of the series is that the “hero,” Jack Baxter, is a newspaper reporter who can turn invisible.</i>
It’s Labor Day weekend, somehow the column has caught up to “real time” so I can advise everyone what it happening as it happens.
On Friday, just days before the art for <b>Phantom Jack</b> was due at Marvel to send to the Previews catalogue for comics coming out in December, I got a quick e-mail from Associate Editor Stephanie Moore. The debut of <b>Phantom Jack</b> was pushed back until January.
Oh.
Well, that was a surprise considering we had spent a good chunk of the day getting the work ready.
Artist Mitch Breitweiser; letterer and tech dude Ray Dillon and I were talking about exactly how to get the inked, colored cover and three interior pages to Marvel before the Tuesday deadline. Ray thought Marvel needed the work on a disc, which meant it would have had to have been sent Federal Express. Mitch believed it could be e-mailed. I didn’t have a clue.
Someone at Marvel could have answered the question, but it was already the Friday before the Labor Day weekend and most folks were already gone. I had asked Stephanie about it earlier in the week, but had not gotten a response.
Our colorist Jaime Jones was having problems of his own. He had a computer virus during the week and was behind schedule, though he said he could get everything done (and re-done) by Sunday. Remember, he also had to deal with his first week back in high school (see “George Harrison” column for details.)
No big deal, we would just have to figure it out on our own. Since Jaime would not be done until Sunday, it made our decision easier. We would e-mail the work to Stephanie Sunday or Monday.
That’s when I got the e-mail saying not to rush, the issue won’t come out until January and will be in the November Previews.
Now here’s a reality check. I know the folks at Marvel are very busy putting out all those silly books with Spiders and X’s in them among others. I also know that the whole idea behind Epic was low maintenance.
We few, we bold, we chosen Epic people were told: “pick your crew, finish the book and call us when you’re done.” But, as I have said before, nothing is that easy. There’s no way Marvel is not going to produce a comic with the company name on it that is not up to snuff.
I think readers, including me, wouldn’t want it any other way.
So as much as I would like to never bother the folks at Marvel until the presses are ready to roll, communication is a necessity. Creators have to get approval every step of the way from script, to pencils, to inks. Coloring and lettering isn’t as tough, if Mitch and I like it, it seems to be fine.
Keeping all that in mind, I try not to be a pain and only bother the powers-that-be when I absolutely have to. Which usually means bugging them to make a decision on a script or
piece of art.
Getting these answers has been the biggest stumbling block of the process. It should not be this hard. I think if anything is going to hurt Epic, it’s going to be communication problems. I also worry that pushing a series back, as happened to the other Epic non-pro book <b>Crimson Dynamo</b>, seems to be a decision made too easily.
I will find out next week the reasons for the delay of the debut of <b>Phantom Jack</b> from December to January, though I suspect it was simple scheduling. Which is all the more reason for us creative elves to get the work done as far in advance as possible, making the publication process seamless.
We are committed to finishing up the remain 9 or 10 pages of issue number one by Sept. 10. This is long before they are needed for a January publication, but I want everything in place way ahead of schedule.
As far as a status check goes, the issue is scripted and penciled. Mitt is about half-way through inking the pages and about a half-dozen pages are fully colored. Barring power outages and computer viruses, the rest of the book should be done by the 10th with no sweat.
Mitt and I have spoken about the need to quickly get to issue two. The script has been done and approved for months, Mitt has a couple cool ideas for the cover. We just have to figure out
which one works the best. I don’t know how other writers work with their artists but sometimes our level of communication scares me. I give him character and scene descriptions and BANG, he
draws exactly what I was thinking. It’s a little creepy. I learned last week it works in the other direction.
On Monday, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada e-mailed me that he had not seen the proposed cover for issue #2 or #3 which showed a half-buried helmet in the desert sand with the name “Baxter” on it. I had mentioned the cover in a previous e-mail.
When talking to Mitt, I told him how much I loved the cover and that he ought to send another copy to Joe who somehow had not seen it.
“Mike, I haven’t drawn it yet,” Mitt said.
“Of course you did,” I replied. “I’ve seen it, it looks great.”
“No, I haven’t drawn it,” he said. “But since you like it so much, I will.”
The weird part is that I have an actual memory of the cover, clear as day, even though it has only been described to me. And I’m sure the real cover will look exactly like it.
I’m pretty happy with the way the second issue turned out. It contains an important, terrible sequence that causes Jack to doubt himself as a reporter and a man. This scene is for every reader who yearns to see a superior react like a normal person when facing mortal danger, instead of making jokes. A real person finds it hard to breathe, feels his face heat up and would sell his soul to be anywhere else.
Ask any of the soldiers coming back from combat if they ever felt like making jokes. In contrast, the second issue begins with some happy scenes at the newspaper, complete with snappy banter.
The mood is destroyed when Jack and his editor get some bad news about Jack’s brother, former intern and all-around screw-up, Casey.
This causes Jack to take matters into his own hands. He learns some harsh lessons...
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PhantomJack-logo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PhantomJack-logo_t.jpg" width="500" height="157" border="0" hspace="2"></a></center>
<I>Mike Sangiacomo, a freelance writer for Newsarama and other sources, was invited to share his experiences with pitching to Epic by Newsarama's editor, Matt Brady, in the interest of keeping readers well informed. Brady advises Newsarama readers that he is aware of the inherent conflict of interest presented by journalists working for a publisher they cover. Sangiacomo's regular column Journey Into Comics has and will continue to be found in the Opinion/Editorial section of Newsarama. Brady has not, nor does he plan to pitch to Epic himself. </I>
<i>This is a weekly look at the process of writing a comic for Marvel’s new Epic line. <b>Phantom Jack</b>, which was to be called <b>Nowhere Man</b> until THE MAN made me change the name. The inefficient, one-sentence description of the series is that the “hero,” Jack Baxter, is a newspaper reporter who can turn invisible.</i>
It’s Labor Day weekend, somehow the column has caught up to “real time” so I can advise everyone what it happening as it happens.
On Friday, just days before the art for <b>Phantom Jack</b> was due at Marvel to send to the Previews catalogue for comics coming out in December, I got a quick e-mail from Associate Editor Stephanie Moore. The debut of <b>Phantom Jack</b> was pushed back until January.
Oh.
Well, that was a surprise considering we had spent a good chunk of the day getting the work ready.
Artist Mitch Breitweiser; letterer and tech dude Ray Dillon and I were talking about exactly how to get the inked, colored cover and three interior pages to Marvel before the Tuesday deadline. Ray thought Marvel needed the work on a disc, which meant it would have had to have been sent Federal Express. Mitch believed it could be e-mailed. I didn’t have a clue.
Someone at Marvel could have answered the question, but it was already the Friday before the Labor Day weekend and most folks were already gone. I had asked Stephanie about it earlier in the week, but had not gotten a response.
Our colorist Jaime Jones was having problems of his own. He had a computer virus during the week and was behind schedule, though he said he could get everything done (and re-done) by Sunday. Remember, he also had to deal with his first week back in high school (see “George Harrison” column for details.)
No big deal, we would just have to figure it out on our own. Since Jaime would not be done until Sunday, it made our decision easier. We would e-mail the work to Stephanie Sunday or Monday.
That’s when I got the e-mail saying not to rush, the issue won’t come out until January and will be in the November Previews.
Now here’s a reality check. I know the folks at Marvel are very busy putting out all those silly books with Spiders and X’s in them among others. I also know that the whole idea behind Epic was low maintenance.
We few, we bold, we chosen Epic people were told: “pick your crew, finish the book and call us when you’re done.” But, as I have said before, nothing is that easy. There’s no way Marvel is not going to produce a comic with the company name on it that is not up to snuff.
I think readers, including me, wouldn’t want it any other way.
So as much as I would like to never bother the folks at Marvel until the presses are ready to roll, communication is a necessity. Creators have to get approval every step of the way from script, to pencils, to inks. Coloring and lettering isn’t as tough, if Mitch and I like it, it seems to be fine.
Keeping all that in mind, I try not to be a pain and only bother the powers-that-be when I absolutely have to. Which usually means bugging them to make a decision on a script or
piece of art.
Getting these answers has been the biggest stumbling block of the process. It should not be this hard. I think if anything is going to hurt Epic, it’s going to be communication problems. I also worry that pushing a series back, as happened to the other Epic non-pro book <b>Crimson Dynamo</b>, seems to be a decision made too easily.
I will find out next week the reasons for the delay of the debut of <b>Phantom Jack</b> from December to January, though I suspect it was simple scheduling. Which is all the more reason for us creative elves to get the work done as far in advance as possible, making the publication process seamless.
We are committed to finishing up the remain 9 or 10 pages of issue number one by Sept. 10. This is long before they are needed for a January publication, but I want everything in place way ahead of schedule.
As far as a status check goes, the issue is scripted and penciled. Mitt is about half-way through inking the pages and about a half-dozen pages are fully colored. Barring power outages and computer viruses, the rest of the book should be done by the 10th with no sweat.
Mitt and I have spoken about the need to quickly get to issue two. The script has been done and approved for months, Mitt has a couple cool ideas for the cover. We just have to figure out
which one works the best. I don’t know how other writers work with their artists but sometimes our level of communication scares me. I give him character and scene descriptions and BANG, he
draws exactly what I was thinking. It’s a little creepy. I learned last week it works in the other direction.
On Monday, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada e-mailed me that he had not seen the proposed cover for issue #2 or #3 which showed a half-buried helmet in the desert sand with the name “Baxter” on it. I had mentioned the cover in a previous e-mail.
When talking to Mitt, I told him how much I loved the cover and that he ought to send another copy to Joe who somehow had not seen it.
“Mike, I haven’t drawn it yet,” Mitt said.
“Of course you did,” I replied. “I’ve seen it, it looks great.”
“No, I haven’t drawn it,” he said. “But since you like it so much, I will.”
The weird part is that I have an actual memory of the cover, clear as day, even though it has only been described to me. And I’m sure the real cover will look exactly like it.
I’m pretty happy with the way the second issue turned out. It contains an important, terrible sequence that causes Jack to doubt himself as a reporter and a man. This scene is for every reader who yearns to see a superior react like a normal person when facing mortal danger, instead of making jokes. A real person finds it hard to breathe, feels his face heat up and would sell his soul to be anywhere else.
Ask any of the soldiers coming back from combat if they ever felt like making jokes. In contrast, the second issue begins with some happy scenes at the newspaper, complete with snappy banter.
The mood is destroyed when Jack and his editor get some bad news about Jack’s brother, former intern and all-around screw-up, Casey.
This causes Jack to take matters into his own hands. He learns some harsh lessons...
<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PhantomJack-logo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/PhantomJack-logo_t.jpg" width="500" height="157" border="0" hspace="2"></a></center>
<I>Mike Sangiacomo, a freelance writer for Newsarama and other sources, was invited to share his experiences with pitching to Epic by Newsarama's editor, Matt Brady, in the interest of keeping readers well informed. Brady advises Newsarama readers that he is aware of the inherent conflict of interest presented by journalists working for a publisher they cover. Sangiacomo's regular column Journey Into Comics has and will continue to be found in the Opinion/Editorial section of Newsarama. Brady has not, nor does he plan to pitch to Epic himself. </I>