Date: Sun, 7 Apr 1996 04:25:13 -0500
From: [f--hb--e] at [user1.channel1.com] (Gregory Fishbone)
Subject: Mythic Writer/Artist Guidelines
This is the project I'm currently putting together for Mythic Press -- not
a comic book in the traditional sense, but a prose alternative that
contains several comics elements, including serialized story lines, "cover"
artwork, and an exploration of the superhero genre in new and original
ways. We're looking to have the first issues read to solicit in May, for
delivery in September. What we need most right now are stories and
artwork, as outlined below. We are on a low budget, but there will be
advertising space available in the magazine, and a comics-oriented
readership, so it would seem natural to trade ad-space for artwork, or
ad-space for ad-space. Let me know if you have any interest, and feel free
to distribute these guidelines to any writers and artists who might be
interested as well.
Direct all questions to [f--hb--e] at [user1.channel1.com.] Thanks.
--Greg Fishbone
---
These guidelines are as of April 7, 1996 and supercede previous versions of
the guidelines. If you're reading this and it's not early April, 1996,
please contact Greg Fishbone at the email address above to find out if more
current guidelines are available *before* you prepare anything for
submission. These guidelines are subject to change at any time without
notice.
*** MYTHIC HEROES
A serialized superhero anthology, coming soon from Mythic Press!
(with a little luck and lots of help...)
Picture if you will a collection of ungraphic superhero stories,
accompanied by illustrations, in a comics-style format, available in comic
book stores all across the land. Reinventing the pulp magazine for the
90's! In order to make this vision a reality, what I need most is material
-- well-written original stories and fantastic artwork to accompany it.
And if you can't draw or write, I need advertising reps as well! Feel free
to forward this file to anyone you think might be interested, and let me
know if you have any questions.
*** MYTHIC WRITERS' GUIDELINES:
To get the monetary issues out of the way first, this *will* be a paid gig,
but the money won't be much more than a few dollars per episode unless the
book does a lot better than I'm expecting. At the very least, you will
have something published that you can hand out at parties, and a
professional credit that might help get your foot into other publishers'
doors. If you are already a comic book writer, you might want to use this
as an opportunity to explore a new format, to polish your storytelling
skills, or to tell an interesting story that for some reason might not work
as well in a visual form.
A Mythic Heroes story arc is six episodes or less, with every episode being
about 3,000 words (give or take a couple hundred). The book will be
published twice monthly, but you do not have to write at that pace -- your
series arc won't debut until after you have completed the final issue. You
may wish to continue your story with one or more additional arcs, each of
which may be submitted after preceding arcs have been accepted for
publication. Just keep in mind that there is no guarantee that additional
arcs of any given story will be published after the accepted arc has run
its course.
There is no Mythic Heroes shared universe to worry about, and thus no need
to worry about matching the continuity of your story with that of others.
Your arc may take place over the course of a single day, or over a decade
or more. If you want to crossover with another writer or two, details can
be worked out at that time. You are free to set your story in any type of
world you can imagine -- realistic, futuristic, historical, four-colored,
or what have you, as long as you write it *well*. You may not set your
story in an established universe (the "Marvel Universe", the "Superguy
Universe", the "Star Trek Universe", etc.) unless you own the rights to
that universe. You can adapt stories that you have written for story
universes to fit them into the Mythic Heroes format, but only if you remove
all references to characters and settings that are not your own. Likewise,
you can not take someone else's characters or story, change the names
around, and pass it off as your own. The key here is originality.
Since this will be a prose story, there will need to be something
inherently interesting about the plot and/or characters to attract the
readers. You will also need to know the mechanics of writing and
storytelling. Our editorial staff is small and overworked, and will not be
able to find every punctuation and spelling error in every story, so we
would appreciate getting your manuscripts as error-free as you can make
them.
We are buying publication and reprint rights only -- all trademarks,
merchandising, and adaptation rights will be reserved to you.
Let us know as soon as possible if you want to write a series for this
project. Your proposal to [f--hb--e] at [user1.channel1.com] should contain the
following (note that we are accepting *only* electronic submissions at this
time):
* An overview of the series. This should be a short paragraph of
three sentences at the most, one ideally, that gives a basic idea
of what the series arc will be about.
* Descriptions of the major characters, including enough physical
description for an artist to work with. If you want to include
sketches or templates, I'll give you an address to mail them to.
* A detailed synopsis of each episode in the arc (remember, there
should be six episodes or fewer, and one-shots *are* acceptable).
You may also want to suggest actions/poses for the "cover art" of
each episode.
* Any ideas you have for a series logo to be used on the front and
episode covers.
* A draft copy of the first two episodes (roughly 3,000 words each).
What I'm going to look for in selecting stories is originality and variety.
If your story is selected for possible publication, I will send you a
contract to sign and go into greater details at that time. These
guidelines are still very rough, so please send me any questions you have
about any aspect of this project.
*** ARTISTS' GUIDELINES:
The art in Mythic Heroes will consist of a color cover for the book and
black and white covers for each individual story. You will be taking the
character descriptions supplied by the author(s) you are drawing for, and
bringing those characters to life. Again, there will be pay and
reimbursement for art supplies and postage, but it's not going to make you
independently wealthy. All artwork will be sent back for you to keep. If
you are just starting out, a published page will look good in your
portfolio and on your resume. And if you are already a professional with a
title in production, we can discuss a trade of artwork for advertising
space.
If you want to draw either color or black and white "cover art", send us a
description of your style and professional credits (if any), and we will
give you an address to send copies (not originals!) of your work. If you
are proposing a penciler/inker team for cover art, be sure to include
samples from each member of the team.
You can contract to draw any number of pages you want to on assignment, or
to draw for a specific series, or to draw a certain number of pages per
month. We are willing to be flexible to meet your needs, but keep in mind
that we will be depending on you to meet the deadline set on any assignment
you agree to take on.
Direct all inquiries to [f--hb--e] at [user1.channel1.com.]
*** ADVERTISING REPS:
Mythic Heroes is going to contain ad space, and some of that space is going
to have to be sold in order to keep the magazine afloat. Anyone who wants
to help will receive one quarter of the value of every ad he or she sells.
Let me know if you are interested, and I will send you rate sheets and
promotional materials as they become available.
---
[f--hb--e] at [user1.channel1.com] Greg Fishbone, Dead Author's Society
"A body at rest tends to stay at rest until blueberry waffles are
placed in the toaster." --Astatine's Second Law of Motion