MattBrady
09-08-2003, 06:58 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/Epic2.jpg" width="200" height="304" border="0" hspace="2" align="right">by Mike San Giacomo
<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>
<b>Phantom Jack</b> will make its debut in January, 2004, not December.
The reason was simply that there were too many books already scheduled for December and that Marvel’s portion of Previews magazine was filled.
So, it was decided to hold off until January and give it a better advance.
I was hoping it would be out for Christmas, but them’s the breaks.
Now that we are on real time here with the column, I can talk about what happened just days ago. Marvel Associate Editor Stephanie Moore and I discussed deadlines for <b>Phantom Jack</b>.
One deadline is to get the pages out in time for the November <I>Previews</I>, the second set is for the entire book to be inked, colored and lettered in time for the January release.
Neither are a problem, the <I>Previews</I> stuff is done. Still, I am urging the guys on the art side (Mitch Breitweiser, Jaime Jones and Ray Dillon) to get the work done as soon as possible.
Generally, I am a pessimistic anti-procrastinator, I try to get my assignments done before the deadline because I know if I wait until the last minute that something will screw things up and I’ll be late.
Jaime’s computer glitch two weeks ago is a good example.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/018_t.jpg" width="175" height="263" border="0" hspace="1" align="left"></a> Also, I am always in a hurry. I wanted <I>Phantom Jack</I> to be on the stands months ago! I am very anxious to finish the series, see how it sells and determine if we can do another five issues.
The next arc is basically done. I wrote it over a weekend when it appeared that everyone wanted Phantom Jack, then Nowhere Man, to start at his origin. I had included a brief version of the origin in issue #2, but it didn’t seem sufficient.
The next arc, Odin willing, will start with current problems and reveal how Jack got his powers and what happened to another man who got them as well.
Meanwhile, the art guys are putting the finishing touches on issue one. My rewritten version of the script for issue three has been in Marvel’s hands for three weeks, waiting for approval, and I’m working on the pivotal, fourth issue. The fifth issue is basically done.
I’m dragging my feet on finishing the fourth issue in case I need to change things because of changes to issue three.
That’s the news up to the minute, more next week.
<b>Project Stoplight</b>
Many readers have noticed the similarities between the Epic experiment and HBO’s <I>Project Greenlight</I>.
The biggest difference is that at least with Epic we’re all on the same side. I think if I had to deal with a sleazy backbiter like Producer Chris Moore on <I>Greenlight</I> I would have packed it in.
Jeez, what an asshole. (Hey Matt can we call this asshole an asshole? I hope so because he is truly an asshole.)
You have these three poor worker bees; a novice writer from Ohio and two green directors, busting their humps to make a good movie under rushed conditions that would challenge a seasoned director. And then there’s producer Chris Moore.
Moore, who produced all 98 amusing <I>American Pie</I> films, is supposed to help them put the film together.
Only, he does not come right out and tell the directors, “That scene doesn’t work.” No, he’ll ask the directors, “Do you think it works?” Of course they say yes and justify it to Moore’s smirking face.
Then he says, “Okay, fine.” They are happy because they think everything’s cool.
The problem with that is, Moore does not think the scene is fine and it will never get in the movie. He never really tells the directors that the scene does not work, but he will tell the writer, the other producers and the guy fixing sandwiches for the crew that the scene stinks. All this does is pit the writer against the directors and make the sandwich guy feel important.
Afterwards, when the Gods at Miramax declare the movie a stinker, Moore says, “I told them it stunk.” I swear I would have decked the bastard. (Hey Matt, can we call him a bastard? He really was a bastard.)
Fortunately, the directors worked the last few days and fixed the movie so <I>The Battle of Shaker Heights</I> was released. Go see it. I’m not just saying that because Shaker Heights is a Cleveland suburb, either.
The concept that the <I>Greenlight</I> crew was allowed to screw up for better television is not lost on me either. No matter, they were ambushed and backstabbed by people working with them.
One thing I could count on with Marvel, is that Stephanie Moore (no relation to Chris Moore, I don’t think), Teresa Focarile, Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas were straight. If something didn’t work, they would say, “It doesn’t work.” We would talk about it and sometimes I could convince them that the scene worked and sometimes I could not.
But at the end of the conversation I knew very clearly that the scene if to be removed or rewritten. And I didn’t have to hear it from the guy making sandwiches in the Marvel cafeteria…not that Marvel has a guy making sandwiches in its cafeteria.
Or that Marvel <I>has</I> a cafeteria.
<I>Next week: some advice to perspiring writers.</I>
<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>
<b>Phantom Jack</b> will make its debut in January, 2004, not December.
The reason was simply that there were too many books already scheduled for December and that Marvel’s portion of Previews magazine was filled.
So, it was decided to hold off until January and give it a better advance.
I was hoping it would be out for Christmas, but them’s the breaks.
Now that we are on real time here with the column, I can talk about what happened just days ago. Marvel Associate Editor Stephanie Moore and I discussed deadlines for <b>Phantom Jack</b>.
One deadline is to get the pages out in time for the November <I>Previews</I>, the second set is for the entire book to be inked, colored and lettered in time for the January release.
Neither are a problem, the <I>Previews</I> stuff is done. Still, I am urging the guys on the art side (Mitch Breitweiser, Jaime Jones and Ray Dillon) to get the work done as soon as possible.
Generally, I am a pessimistic anti-procrastinator, I try to get my assignments done before the deadline because I know if I wait until the last minute that something will screw things up and I’ll be late.
Jaime’s computer glitch two weeks ago is a good example.
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/018.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/sangiacomo/018_t.jpg" width="175" height="263" border="0" hspace="1" align="left"></a> Also, I am always in a hurry. I wanted <I>Phantom Jack</I> to be on the stands months ago! I am very anxious to finish the series, see how it sells and determine if we can do another five issues.
The next arc is basically done. I wrote it over a weekend when it appeared that everyone wanted Phantom Jack, then Nowhere Man, to start at his origin. I had included a brief version of the origin in issue #2, but it didn’t seem sufficient.
The next arc, Odin willing, will start with current problems and reveal how Jack got his powers and what happened to another man who got them as well.
Meanwhile, the art guys are putting the finishing touches on issue one. My rewritten version of the script for issue three has been in Marvel’s hands for three weeks, waiting for approval, and I’m working on the pivotal, fourth issue. The fifth issue is basically done.
I’m dragging my feet on finishing the fourth issue in case I need to change things because of changes to issue three.
That’s the news up to the minute, more next week.
<b>Project Stoplight</b>
Many readers have noticed the similarities between the Epic experiment and HBO’s <I>Project Greenlight</I>.
The biggest difference is that at least with Epic we’re all on the same side. I think if I had to deal with a sleazy backbiter like Producer Chris Moore on <I>Greenlight</I> I would have packed it in.
Jeez, what an asshole. (Hey Matt can we call this asshole an asshole? I hope so because he is truly an asshole.)
You have these three poor worker bees; a novice writer from Ohio and two green directors, busting their humps to make a good movie under rushed conditions that would challenge a seasoned director. And then there’s producer Chris Moore.
Moore, who produced all 98 amusing <I>American Pie</I> films, is supposed to help them put the film together.
Only, he does not come right out and tell the directors, “That scene doesn’t work.” No, he’ll ask the directors, “Do you think it works?” Of course they say yes and justify it to Moore’s smirking face.
Then he says, “Okay, fine.” They are happy because they think everything’s cool.
The problem with that is, Moore does not think the scene is fine and it will never get in the movie. He never really tells the directors that the scene does not work, but he will tell the writer, the other producers and the guy fixing sandwiches for the crew that the scene stinks. All this does is pit the writer against the directors and make the sandwich guy feel important.
Afterwards, when the Gods at Miramax declare the movie a stinker, Moore says, “I told them it stunk.” I swear I would have decked the bastard. (Hey Matt, can we call him a bastard? He really was a bastard.)
Fortunately, the directors worked the last few days and fixed the movie so <I>The Battle of Shaker Heights</I> was released. Go see it. I’m not just saying that because Shaker Heights is a Cleveland suburb, either.
The concept that the <I>Greenlight</I> crew was allowed to screw up for better television is not lost on me either. No matter, they were ambushed and backstabbed by people working with them.
One thing I could count on with Marvel, is that Stephanie Moore (no relation to Chris Moore, I don’t think), Teresa Focarile, Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas were straight. If something didn’t work, they would say, “It doesn’t work.” We would talk about it and sometimes I could convince them that the scene worked and sometimes I could not.
But at the end of the conversation I knew very clearly that the scene if to be removed or rewritten. And I didn’t have to hear it from the guy making sandwiches in the Marvel cafeteria…not that Marvel has a guy making sandwiches in its cafeteria.
Or that Marvel <I>has</I> a cafeteria.
<I>Next week: some advice to perspiring writers.</I>
<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>