Talent, perseverence and luck
'You need to be better than 99.999999999 44/100% of all the potential creators out there, and diligent enough to improve your work and strike when an opportunity comes your way'
.'
Wow, I feel a lot better, now, alot of pressure gone. I wish the editorial staff have to wage the same sometimes, instead of saving it only for new comers.

May I tell you something about Talent, Perseverance and Luck ?
When Picasso first tried engraving, well I knew nothing about it so he asked the help of a teacher, to learn how to engrave, ok ?
The teacher said lately that Picasso was sistematicelly doing the contrary of the teacher' advices, litteraly at every step : to the acids baths trough the printing.
And it was wonderful. Picasso' engraving were wonderfuls, how do you explain that ?
There's the fact that Picasso is a painter, and the best painter of all, so he know what is it to build a picture, how far you can go, where you have to stop, and as everybody knows, he's not afraid to start again.
Where I want to go with this story is that I'm barely sick to hear 'people', let's call them like it, who say there's only one way to do things, and who barely save all the pressures for the guy who's under him and take all the fun...

What kind of talent are you talking about ? The talent to sell books ?

I'd like to take a particular point :
the re-lauch of a book like Alpha Flight. Or an ongoing about Dazzler, Machine-Man, WonderMan, whatever. All w have as answers for our demands on relaunchs is ready-made sentences like ' it seems that there's a lot of interests on such titles, bit it remains more interesting on theory...IT LOOKS LIKE WE DIDN'T FIND THE RIGHT CLIC TO PROVIDE A CONSEQUENT FOLLOWING FOR A LONG RUN ONTO THIS CHARACTER,...'
but when there's six Wolverine's books launching , we have ' WE FELT IT WAS THE RIGHT FOR DOING THIS' and this is all it is about.

We know that during 'Dark Reign' we won't have the relaunch of the title we'd like to.
If it's the case, then we'll have six titles of this new title, worst enough to make us lose our interest. If someone at the editorial staff prefer to publish stories with a guy with a cape and guns , because he wants to be remembered for having let his iconic mark, then there will be no 'Dazzler', no 'Alpha Flight', nothing about what make the diversity of being an editor...

Don't tell me that during all the 'Dark Reign' ties-in , you can't have a team who is mapping three-years of Dazzler's stories...Because of the 'British Invasion' of the 90's, we all learned than any obscure character can be a best-seller, if you have something to say...In other terms, 'when you really want, you can'.
So your real problem is you don't have something to say with Dazzler, with MoonKnight , with Alpha Flight...especially not during cross-overs.

But the usual answer is there's no long-term readership, 'we give to people what they asked for but they're not following with their dollars'..the fact is they 're not following with their dollars because you didn't exactly give them what they wanted, let's take the late Alpha Flight mini, who really deserved a following, a chance you didn't allowed...we have plenty of Wolverine's weak stories launched, but that's always better than an Alpha Flight low-start...Every book we wish have to be a hit, is that it ?
But you barely prefer focusing your efforts onto another Wolverine one-shot, instead of really building a title.
Sometimes you have to propose different things by yourself to get the attention...nobody liked spontaneously Alpha Flight, but how they were used maked them interesting.
It's not that there are characters who are better or more interesting as supporting-cast, they can be interesting too if you stop to use them as supporting-cast.

friendly yours,

Posted by wildasparagus on 2009-06-27 06:26:50
any stalker stories?
"Network with people who are in a position to provide opportunities for you, but be careful not to become a pest, or worse, a stalker. "

Since you brought it up, do you have any "stalker" stories? I know it sounds twisted, but I'd really like to hear about some real experiences with someone who was convinced, even delusional, about working in the comic book industry.

Posted by Mardochaeus LXX on 2009-06-28 10:44:27
Neat post! Although I do have a question; do you think writing fanfiction hurts or helps or doesn't affect your chance of getting in?

Posted by ScottyQuick on 2009-06-28 23:33:46
TY!
What if you're living in a mid-American town with the population of your NYC neighborhood? Networking is nil. Does that mean the world is doomed to read only egotistical metropolitan writers? :)

Thanks for the post!

Posted by jrrd1979 on 2009-06-29 14:24:58
Woah.... people are trying to 'break out' of comics? Is it like a prison in there?!

Posted by NewChad on 2009-06-30 03:47:52
An absence of standards
One problem I see, given the current policies apparently in place at Marvel Editorial, is that writers wanting to do stories for Marvel, whether or not they’re accomplished writers in other formats, will look to current and recent issues for guidance and inspiration. Years ago, editors and writers lauded character-driven stories. Readers were told how enjoyable it was to handle Spider-Man, Cap, or the FF, because stories virtually wrote themselves. That wouldn’t necessarily be good, if writers were turning out formula fiction pieces and readers could predict what would happen just be reading a PREVIEWS blurb. But if the focus was on the character(s) and his ingenuity and heroism, then the comments made sense. Novel situations inspire ingenious and heroic solutions.

I don’t see character-driven stories at Marvel now. What I see are genre-standard or even generic plots that can be easily promoted, whether the plots are the basis for arcs or events. The arc that just concluded with NEW AVENGERS #54 was so wrong about the specifics of the characters and devices, so incredibly mistaken about practically every aspect of magic in the Marvel Universe, that the only way for the arc to make sense is to suppose that the storyline was set in some other universe, featuring characters with the same names but completely different identities.

The absence of character-driven plotting was ruinous in SECRET INVASION #8. The Wasp’s death should have been tragic; instead, it was random, death as a plot device, instead of being connected to her soul and being. The NEW AVENGERS: REUNION miniseries was ostensibly about the characters, but the storyline falsified the histories of both Barton and Morse, used the false characterizations to split up the couple, and then ended in an unconvincing reconciliation. Nothing in the storyline was true to the characters’ personalities or themes.

“Avengers Disassembled,” of course, is a prime example of an event that is entirely plot-driven with practically every prominent character serving as a plot device, with crucial details of their histories falsified as necessary to meet the plot requirements.

If normal practice at Marvel Editorial now is for the surface appeal of a plot to take precedence over character specifics, with writers being told that they can change characters however they like for the sake of attracting new and casual readers, then what basis is there for accepting or rejecting submissions? Personal like or dislike? The absence of clear, storytelling-oriented standards at Marvel has become embarrassingly plain.

SRS


Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-06-30 12:06:13
The advice is pretty generic.

I'm not sure if talent and perseverance are as relevant as they should be if we still have to depend on outside factors just to get our foot in the door. Luck is not dependable. It's not quantifiable. It's nebulous. It almost seems like it contradicts the other two factors.

But hey, that's human nature. I bet Marvel's missed a lot of great talent over the silliest circumstances, right down to a manuscript being at the bottom of the pile or being sent at the wrong time of the year. It happens. Sure, it's a slap in the face to all that talent and perseverance when those outside factors interfere, but it can't be helped.

As for growing a thick skin... that's my major flaw. I don't have it yet. That's why I'm afraid to try. Rejection letters are damaging to morale. I'll work on that.

Posted by DRock1 on 2009-06-30 12:17:55
Oh, and another thing...

Wildasparagus has moved me. He thinks the plots are generic and the comics need to be more character driven. I agree. Do it. Forget the big sweeping Marvel U changes. Forget them. Get back to the characters. Develop deep characters again.

And make them relatable. Forget the Generation X interpretation of the world. Forget even the Baby Boomer interpretation of the world. Forget using their attitudes, their thoughts, their feelings and their fears. Forget them. Their time has come.

Try to make more current generation characters. Make characters with more of a Generation Y attitude, and you'll make new fans. Maybe make the new crop of heroes a little more self indulgent and self important. But make these people dedicated, not afraid to work hard and do better for this world. Make them exasperated by the current shape of the world. Make them frustrated that they can't seem to do anything about it.

Make them broke. Make them worry about debt, the environment, their government. Make them have trouble making ends meet, with no support. Put a few with their parents, not for family but because there's no frellin' work and they have to. Make these new batch of heroes resent the older orders and generations. Make them feel like everyone else is just in the way. Make them put insurmountable efforts to try... but make them fail and wonder why their efforts were for nothing.

But give them hope that their efforts are worth something.

And ditch the older heroes. Fantastic Four. Hulk. Even the X-Men. They're now the heroes with fancy ubercars, mansions, and a great life. We can't relate to them anymore. When they have problems, we Gen Y's think, 'Go back to your mansion with your uber hot wife and cry some more...'.

If you want to make a hero, you got to appeal to the attitudes of the current generation. You did it in the 60's. You did it in the early 90's with a take no prisoners Gen X attitude. But their time has come. You have to make heroes that reflect my generation more, not to an older generation who already had their chance and are now, to the attitude of us younger people, a barrier to our success.

I made a character once called The Weapon. He was a Gen Y hero. He was a bit self entitled, but he was a dedicated hero. He wanted to make a difference and be a hero so badly that he even went over the heads of the established superhero orders just to save the day. He didn't want to wait and be given permission. He did it now.

And his first line was 'Where do I go from here?' after he failed to try out for a superteam. He echoed my own frustrations at my own life, on the verge of giving up. That's why I wrote him, to express how I felt, how lost I was.

There were no other heroes like that in your Marvel inventory. Almost everyone in the Marvel U has it made in some way or another.

Where are the people I can relate to.

In your defense your company has a few.

That's why I like the new Spiderman... until he started getting his cushy photo gig back again, because he had real problems just like guys like me. He was struggling to get a job. He still had to be dependent on his aunt but he was sincere in not becoming dependent on her for long. He had rent to worry about, roommates to appease. That made him so genuine. That's why I like Kick Ass, who is a poster child for my generation, a disenfranchised troubled youth that didn't want to wait around to be a hero. He just did it, damn the consequences. It's so like the people I know, with one difference... he wasn't afraid to break out and try.

Why can't Marvel make more people like that? Forget the Iron Mans in their ivory towers. It's too DC... it's too much like the people my generation feels holds us back.

Bring more Gen Y characters with Gen Y attitudes. Don't dump them in the Initiative or the X-Men... that's the kind of elitish cliquish junk we Gen Y's see as establishment. Make new characters. Have them do their own thing. Have them struggle again. And don't give them support from the world.

And you will see Marvel succeed!

Posted by DRock1 on 2009-06-30 12:36:36
And on another note...
Sorry about the unrelated rant. :-)

Posted by DRock1 on 2009-06-30 12:47:17
jeez guys give the talented guy wih experienc
I don't know what you guys (you guys as in posters not Tom) are talking about. First, I see people complaining that Marvel is just trying to sell books, or whatever it was that guy was trying to say. I like reading Marvel every month, I don't want Marvel to go away (and for those of you with bad memories that almost happened a while back) so I don't think it's a big surprise that Marvel wants to put out books that people want to buy. Also, sales indicate interest, if the stories were as bad as some of you say then why do people (including you) keep buying them. I here comic fans complain alot like they have to fork over their $4 but you don't, its your choice, and essentially the voice of your dollar will always be louder than the voice of your message board or mouth.

Secondly, as a newcomer to Marvel fandom, I can say that the stories vbeing produced now are VERY character driven, if they weren't I wouldn't be attached to so many of these characters right off the bat, if it was empty events I would just be confused rather than excited. Tom defends Brand New Day alot and he's right to. That comic more than any other is a perfect example character driven storytelling. But I feel silly even mentioning it because I can't think of a single title that isn't character driven. Dark Reign sure is title heavy event. But our (or maybe just my) interest is driven by the characters involved. The use of Norman Osbourne makes it interesting. It's not like we are talking about an event that creates some empty character. We are talking about an event centered around existing characters. It's the characters involvement that makes the event interesting. Alot of posters are saying that it is all event driven no character, but it's not mutually exclusive. The way I see it we have Events driven by characters, and characters driven by events, and without change, without the creators taking the risk of doing new things with these characters we wuld just be having the same stories rehashed over and over.

Tom, I think you and the rest of the Marvel staff are ding an amazing job. Keep up the good work.

Oh and everything Tom said about talent and opportunity is true. Either take his advice or don't. But I'm pretty sure the longest running editor at Marvel might know what he is talking about when it comes to what it takes to succeed in comics.

Posted by afelder on 2009-06-30 21:23:43
Eliminating mistakes
". . .I can say that the stories vbeing produced now are VERY character driven, if they weren't I wouldn't be attached to so many of these characters right off the bat, if it was empty events I would just be confused rather than excited."

afelder, character-driven stories make use of characters' histories and established personalities to shape the plots and the evolutions of the characters. One can't misrepresent a character's history and/or misinterpret his personality and theme(s) and still produce a character-driven story. An editor's major responsibility is to ensure that mistake-filled stories aren't published.

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-06-30 22:31:55
Sure... they're somewhat character driven.

Just to me not driven to characters I care about as much (albeit, they are still very fascinating...).

So my idea, being a younger person myself, is to write people that are more like my age group, the young adult, rather than people from a generation or two before, like the people who create the comics.

Those are the guys with talent, perseverance and luck that could give Marvel quite a shot in the arm.

Give Kick ##$%!&*@ a better investment of time and resources.

Bring in Adam Warren. Sure, he's older, but if you read Livewires and Empowered you would understand completely that he has his finger on our pulse.

Find more people like this. They have the first two factors. See that they are good for Marvel and help bring in the Luck factor.

Or I could be wrong. I'm speculating at this point, and I think kinda regret posting what I did. It kinda sounded ccrrraaazzzzyyyyy....

Posted by DRock1 on 2009-07-01 02:00:03
Or, Tom, instead of working hard, you forgot to mention that we have the option to just hang around and insult your work out of bitterness for not being handed cushy jobs that make us famous.

I, for one, appreciate the post. Though I agree that it isn't really a path we can all go out and follow. Because, in the end, Tom's only consideration is if a writer will be immediately popular. As he said, you can't start out in the Major Leagues, so he can really only spend his time looking at people who are pretty much halfway there already. In other words, as much as he is friendly with the fan crowd, he isn't going to hold someone's hand and slowly build up their career from scratch, with them, in order to gain a new writer.

Personally, I'm happy pursuing my own writing right now that doesn't depend on me already being well known. It's a bit more comfortable and less pressing.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2009-07-01 08:07:21
More on Dr. Strange
Neilalien doesn't think much of the "New Sorcerer Supreme" arc in NEW AVENGERS either. See http://www.neilalien.com/doc/archive/2009/06/index.html#a090630

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-07-01 10:13:51
I'll say it...
I'm hearing a lot of complaining I'd rather not have be associated with.

Posted by jrrd1979 on 2009-07-01 10:14:52
Situations
One thing that would be nice to see in the way of advice for aspiring writers is defects in proposed storylines, whether the problems lie in a storyline’s plot, characterizations, continuity, facts, or other areas.

For example, one of the nice things about Dr. Strange is that the situations he faces don’t have to be strictly mystical menaces. He could deal with philosophical dilemmas and reality alterations as well, as long as they’re sufficiently dramatic. If Earth was altered so that there were three sexes, with all three being needed for procreation, and the trinary system was the new “normal,” Dr. Strange would be one of the few Marvel heroes capable of dealing with the situation, and the best choice in any case. In dealing with the situation and its cause, he’d have to refer back to the old duality-based reality, with duality present in religions as well as biology, and ask himself whether the old system was actually better, or just more familiar.

If the situation above was fleshed out, could that qualify as a storyline? Or is the basic situation too abstract in some ways for Marvel’s readership? Examining the details of writing successful stories is preferable to general advice.

SRS


Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-07-01 15:05:45
There is no formula!
Several of the responses to Tom's blog entry seem to be quite bitter and it seems that some people can grabs what it takes to break in.

There is no concrete formula, sometimes it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. However, you MUST back up your luck with skill! That means study and practice your craft and constantly improve it.

However, the best artist/writer is nothing if no one sees your work. You must always be agressively marketing yourself and if your work is as good as you believe it is, you will get noticed.

My 2 cents.

Posted by punkfunkandjunk on 2009-07-02 16:10:12
PRactice practice practice
If u want to break into the biz its all about practice pracitce practice. I aman artist and there is no way i would be as good as I am today without practice!!!

http://c-trainsentertainmentreviews.blogspot.com/

Posted by cjt0805 on 2009-07-03 07:55:31
why marvel keeps deleting my posts?
for some reason marvel keeps deleting my posts. I just asked if Moon Knight was cancelled since there was no update on Moon Knight #31 and I said that hopefully is being delayed trying to find a new penciller/artist since the last one sucked for my taste. Obviously, Marvel does not like their readers and suscribers opinion,whythey delete the post? are they protecting the artist/penciller? he did the last 3 issues of the secret invasion Black Panther and killed the title, now he did the last 5 of Moon Knight and never heard from Moon Knight ever since, it's been months and recently subscribed to the title, I think I deserve to know if Moon Knight has been cancelled and also to voice my opinion in regards of the penciller/artist Jefte Paolo or Palo what ever his last name is.

Posted by lethaluscg on 2009-07-03 07:58:16
Blog comments deleted?
"for some reason marvel keeps deleting my posts."

Your comments haven't actually been deleted. If a comment is flagged as "offensive" by someone, the comment disappears from view until its status is changed by a blog administrator. The system could be improved by eliminating the "flag" option and relying on an online censor.

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-07-03 08:48:51
thank you Mr. Stahl
thank you for your response, it does make sense, i heard that there is a new moon knight series brewing named Vengeance of Moon Knight (volume 5), is this true?

Posted by lethaluscg on 2009-07-04 15:37:55
I agree a lot with wildasparagus and drock.
There's place enough for outcast titles in the Marvel catalogue.
One example is Dazzler. Matt Fraction interest for the character could surely end with him handing an ongoing, and I'm sure it would be interesting, once again because the guy is passionate, and have to say something with the character. A new Dazzler ongoing don't have to be absolutely evenemential - despite this is the way things are working now - or stamped as a 'MAX' title, or an 'ICON' title, or a 'KNIGHTS' title.
There's room enough for just a 'Dazzler' title as there is for a 'Spiderwoman' title...

I, for my part, would be very interested about something with the Profile.
And if you're not sure it will sell, make him guest-starring into the pages of 'Dazzler'...


Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-07-07 12:59:46
uh, sorry :
make him guest-starring into the pages of 'Spiderwoman'...

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-07-07 13:00:41
I agree a lot also with PseudoSherlock :
unless you're a published author, you'll not have the editors attention, and that's kind of frustrating. And I don't know if I really want to break in the industry to become a yes-man like Ed Brubaker. So I'll tend to agree a lot with Robert Kirkman, or Steve Gerber philos about creator-owned works, and the end is definetely about what kind of stories you have to tell versus making sales and eventually loosing yourself.

Sure I'll be very curious to know in which way writing 'fan-fiction' could help the process, I haven't checked there, I don't know if fan-writers really write their stories as close of the comics format. And if it was the case, if it's enough to get attention.
I've read many interesting pitchs here and here by Mr Steven R Stahl actually; he proved that he has understanding perfectly how a story works but it seems to interest no one.

I've find a way to deal perfectly with the problem, having grown-up with Marvel characters, they finally become part of my life, or I finally appropriate them to my self, so I write pitchs or complete stories with my favourite heroes : stories I'd like to read,
and I feel perfectly equilibrated as pursuing my own writing, and thinking about comic-books plots. The real problem I have is reading so-called professionals talking about their professionalism, which I don't find especially in their works, and who tend to disgust me about something I like : Marvel comics by the way.

I'm not an established professionnal but I think sometimes I've understanding the core of some characters better than the ones who write them, and I can proove it right now :
I'm a huge fan of 'Ghost Rider' but I haven't found an interesting story with him for years. All I've read is concepts-recycling : Brubaker and Fraction setted-up stories about the Iron-Fist legacy, so we have all the Ghost Riders from the world...so what ?
Despite his run hadn't been really appreciated, Daniel Way came out of this a little closer of the concept of the character and used it simply and nicely - and notice how easily it immediately implies particular stories :
first, by revealing that the Spirits of Vengeance are Heaven' black op squad, which is not without remembering Alan Moore with his take-on of 'Swamp Thing'...Emile Cioran said that the real intuition of Antiquity and Greek mythologia is that the only entities who preexist the Gods are the Furies, also known as 'The kindly ones' and they are the Spirits of Vengeance. That's why making Ghost Rider useless between World War Hulk because of the lack of innocence of the Illuminati is a genius strike, that's what I'm waiting for from Marvel books, and the professionals in there. This and not stories about jerks who likes to disguise themselves in Santa Claus, or some 'natural one' gibberish.
To me, 'Ghost Rider' should be the 'Jonah Hex' element of the Marvel catalogue, ( especially about self-contained stories also ) someone who will irreparably brought justice because he is litterally 'driven' at the door of the culprits. I even have an idea about the Ghost Rider versus the KKK but I can't talk about it there because Marvel doesn't take unsollicited pitchs.








Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-07-07 14:02:42
A Quick Question
I agree with you that one has to have talent, percervierance, and luck to get into this business. I myself was an intern at Marvel last summer, and though they graciously offered me a job there, sadly I could not deal with the commute, nor could relocate closer. However I have begun posting my own stories and fanfic on my blog. Enough of my rambling though. The question I have is it seem everytime I wrtie there are always things I could do to make my writing better. As an Editor, do you still see problems that writers make and have to correct them on it?

Posted by Toadchief on 2009-07-08 10:05:31
thinking about drock said, I'm sure it could work perfectly for ' Sleepwalker'...

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-08-08 12:10:41