What publisher should I go to?

[Orbis De Ignis]

I have a new idea for a comic, basically. I've just turned around and realised that I'm pretty much ready to do my 2 page synopsis and pitch it to a company. I have a penciler(at least one) who'll do it if it's picked up.

I honestly don't know who.

My choices right now seem to be Image, Dark Horse, IDW, or 2000AD.

Image, require 5 pages of the finished comic, which is awkward as it means I have to actually pay the artist. They seem to have to most titles that I actually like to read at the moment, but at the same time they have some characters(as in real life ones) that I don't get on with so well.

Dark Horse, don't seem to view their submissions all that often. They don't have many titles that I read; but I love Hellboy an awful lot so I guess that's enough. They did Tank Girl for a while too, which was great.

IDW are currently closed for submissions, but might open up again. They seem to be mostly licensed stuff, but they had one or two comics that looked very visually different and interesting to me. They also publish Transformers comics, which is great.

2000AD are supposedly the only one that do the submissions thing properly, and aren't as guilty of the "Nepotism" that the other companies are. However, I'm not sure where they stand on creator-owned comics. I know they had some issues a while back, and I'm not sure if they've changed their policy. They would be good to shoot for, but I'd like to stray from the 4-6 pages an issue thing eventually, but it might be an interesting start. They're British owned, so that's great.

Then there are the more obscure ones. Problem with the more obscure ones is that it's harder to get noticed and it's not necessarily any much easier to get your pitch through than it is to say, Image.

I'm not sure which it suits being. There are some strong Image elements in some ways but I get the feeling I could end up getting jerked around there and getting lots of "advice" that kind of misses the point; it could work within the context of any of those publishers. I couldn't ever imagine it being a DC or Marvel comic(though it'd work pretty damn well under Wildstorm/ABC, I don't think they take many submissions though, heh).

I don't want to give out specific details of the comic right now. But it's dark , somewhat gothic, yet light hearted(So I guess it's a very "Death from the Sandman" kind of thing)and a little surreal, has some strong existentialist/philosophical threads going around every now and again, but also has quite a lot of traditional superhero comic elements. It's sci-fi/fantasy; technically nearly every comic book IS, but this one actually brings it to your attention. The art style I'm pushing for is quite alternative and it may be ones that some publishers may turn their noses up at, but I think that the actual buying public would love it. The lead is female, but it's not a T&A book.

[Magneto_X]

Treat Dark Horse as a company like DC or Marvel. I heard they tend to not give back creator owned titles once they have them.

Image can get you into dept unless your title sells well. Supposedly this is why Ant dropped out. Their last few issue(s) had thousands of issues unbought and now the creator owes them something like $10 grand. :eek:

[Mac Danny]

Try SLG or Avatar Press or Boom Studios.

[Brandon Hanvey]

You 'll find my potential publishers want around 3 or more pages for art to get an idea what the comic will look like.

A story synopsis alone will be hard to sell without some art to back it up. Though I've have heard of pitches working out that way, but usually the creator has a proven track record already.

Here is a nice link of publisher you might want to check out.

http://www.downthetubes.net/resources/comics_links/comics_by_country/uscomic_publishers.html

[Orbis De Ignis]

Which one of that list would you recommend? Interesting how Image are absent.

Can anyone confirm the Dark Horse creator owned thing? What about 2000AD?

[Jeff Brady]

Which one of that list would you recommend? Interesting how Image are absent

Your best bet is to try them all, not picking one. What if the one you want isn't interested? You have to pick another one. Just do them all at once & get it over with. If more than one company bites, compare the offers, and go with the best one.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Self-Publish an issue - it lets them see how it looks/reads, and shows your committed to your idea.

Besides that, just send it to everyone - beggars can't be choosers, they'd be taking the risk on you, not the other way around.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Which one of that list would you recommend? Interesting how Image are absent.

Can anyone confirm the Dark Horse creator owned thing? What about 2000AD?

That's not a complete list.

As for Dark Horse, here is there submission guidelines (http://www.darkhorse.com/company/submissions.php). I'm not sure about the creator owned clause or not.


Your best bet is to try them all, not picking one. What if the one you want isn't interested? You have to pick another one. Just do them all at once & get it over with. If more than one company bites, compare the offers, and go with the best one.

I would suggest that you research each publisher before submitting to make sure they fit what you want to do. Plus if you are submitting to more than one company make sure they know it is a simultaneous submission since some publisher's let to know that kind of thing upfront.

[king mob]

Which one of that list would you recommend? Interesting how Image are absent.

Can anyone confirm the Dark Horse creator owned thing? What about 2000AD?


2000AD is published by Rebellion, but you'll be hard pushed to get a creator-owned deal with your first script. The form is you submit scripts; they'll stick you on short stories in 2000AD or one of it's spin offs, then if you're good enough you might be offered a crack at one of the big name strips, (highly unlikely though) or asked if you have anything worth looking at.
Of course you'll have to get past the hundreds of people each year who try to get their work accepted.

So basically I'd either self-publish as recommended, or go to one of the smaller publishers out there.

[mgs]

Sides all the wonderful suggestions here, I'd recommend getting a move on on the actual comic itself. If you have not even made one complete comic to submit and unless your single pages are AMAZING, I greatly doubt any publisher will be willing to look into your future.