Don't Hate. Legislate.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Everyone's doing it, I noticed Fossen doing it first.
In case you have no idea what that's in reference to, read the most read story on the MITC.
__________________________
Here’s a little fact none of you know, I sort-of-kind-of came up with the idea behind Civil War. Yup, it was my second horrible pitch I sent into Epic back when I first decided to make comics.
It was called “The Legislation”. Essentially, all of the superheroes (and some of the villains), began to feel inadequate – everything they were doing to “serve and protect” wasn’t really accomplishing anything. So, one-by-one, they started running for public office in order to serve the greater good. The Legislation kicked off at a time where everyone in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government had superpowers.
But all they ever did was fight each other. The book opened on Magneto and Havok sitting towards the back of the Capitol (out of costume, of course) while Northstar filibustered some bill. Havok has enough so he stands up and blasts Northstar. Next thing you know a huge battle breaks out and the heroes destroy the Capitol. Again. The first issue ends with the Silver Surfer coming back to earth to enlist the help of the heroes only to discover that he needs to make them remember who they really are first.
It is, without a doubt, the worst idea ever that has ever been pitched to Marvel.
And I got my rejection letter within two weeks (before I got my rejection letter for Ask).
Let me backtrack a bit. What motivated me to submit a superhero story was reading a thread on X-Fan where the then-Epic submissions editor, Stephanie Moore, said that they were more inclined to green-light stories that feature their existing intellectual property. So this is what I came up with. Super Senators.
At least this time I sent the pitch to my boy Guam so he can look it over firs. Guam, I should add, never read or wrote a comic script in his life. He read it and told me he didn’t get it. So I changed a couple of things and sent it in without showing it to anyone else. You know, because there just wasn’t TIME to show anyone. They were getting MILLIONS of submissions a day. MILLIONS! And I need to get mine in ASAP. I was overnighting these submissions, no shit, hoping I’d get the edge over a couple of cats.
I still have the rejection letter at home (I have all my rejection letters). I forgot to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with my submissions (because I was in a rush to get it out) and the folks at Marvel were nice enough to supply their own envelope (with Spider-Man on it) and postage. They wrote “Re: The Legislation” on the envelope. Typical form letter, nothing exciting. Addressed to "Writer”. You can see it for yourself:
It inspired me, though. I pretty much realized after sending this in that it’s really not what they were looking for. What anyone was looking for, really. But the fact that I got rejected for this, first – before Ask - that inspired me. So I set out to write my third and final pitch for Epic – a one-shot called “Turk” about a supporting character in Daredevil. I’d get into it today, but it is way too delicious to tack onto the end of a story. Next week you’ll hear all about Turk, I’ll even post the script.
But let me spend a little time talking about what the home life was like – I thought I was going to be the biggest comic writer of all time. ASK was going to be approved, I knew it. Despite the fact that there were no Marvel characters in it and it was way heavy on captions and I plotted and wrote it in a single day I thought that this was it. My fucking ticket to a dream I held for all of three weeks.
Robin put up with me. “Ok, love. Don’t quit your job yet.” It’s funny what our women put up with – I try to wonder how I’d respond if Robin came to me telling me she wanted to be something along the lines of “comic writer” – how I’d respond. I’m a dick, so I’d probably say, “As long as you spend your own money.”
Anyway, Robin put up with a lot of me and my “comic shit”. Nodding and smiling the whole time. I’m making money in it now, though, so she can say, “I’ve believed in you from the start.” And that’s a good position for her to be in.
She still won’t let me quit my day job, though.
In case you have no idea what that's in reference to, read the most read story on the MITC.
__________________________
Here’s a little fact none of you know, I sort-of-kind-of came up with the idea behind Civil War. Yup, it was my second horrible pitch I sent into Epic back when I first decided to make comics.
It was called “The Legislation”. Essentially, all of the superheroes (and some of the villains), began to feel inadequate – everything they were doing to “serve and protect” wasn’t really accomplishing anything. So, one-by-one, they started running for public office in order to serve the greater good. The Legislation kicked off at a time where everyone in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government had superpowers.
But all they ever did was fight each other. The book opened on Magneto and Havok sitting towards the back of the Capitol (out of costume, of course) while Northstar filibustered some bill. Havok has enough so he stands up and blasts Northstar. Next thing you know a huge battle breaks out and the heroes destroy the Capitol. Again. The first issue ends with the Silver Surfer coming back to earth to enlist the help of the heroes only to discover that he needs to make them remember who they really are first.
It is, without a doubt, the worst idea ever that has ever been pitched to Marvel.
And I got my rejection letter within two weeks (before I got my rejection letter for Ask).
Let me backtrack a bit. What motivated me to submit a superhero story was reading a thread on X-Fan where the then-Epic submissions editor, Stephanie Moore, said that they were more inclined to green-light stories that feature their existing intellectual property. So this is what I came up with. Super Senators.
At least this time I sent the pitch to my boy Guam so he can look it over firs. Guam, I should add, never read or wrote a comic script in his life. He read it and told me he didn’t get it. So I changed a couple of things and sent it in without showing it to anyone else. You know, because there just wasn’t TIME to show anyone. They were getting MILLIONS of submissions a day. MILLIONS! And I need to get mine in ASAP. I was overnighting these submissions, no shit, hoping I’d get the edge over a couple of cats.
I still have the rejection letter at home (I have all my rejection letters). I forgot to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with my submissions (because I was in a rush to get it out) and the folks at Marvel were nice enough to supply their own envelope (with Spider-Man on it) and postage. They wrote “Re: The Legislation” on the envelope. Typical form letter, nothing exciting. Addressed to "Writer”. You can see it for yourself:
It inspired me, though. I pretty much realized after sending this in that it’s really not what they were looking for. What anyone was looking for, really. But the fact that I got rejected for this, first – before Ask - that inspired me. So I set out to write my third and final pitch for Epic – a one-shot called “Turk” about a supporting character in Daredevil. I’d get into it today, but it is way too delicious to tack onto the end of a story. Next week you’ll hear all about Turk, I’ll even post the script.
But let me spend a little time talking about what the home life was like – I thought I was going to be the biggest comic writer of all time. ASK was going to be approved, I knew it. Despite the fact that there were no Marvel characters in it and it was way heavy on captions and I plotted and wrote it in a single day I thought that this was it. My fucking ticket to a dream I held for all of three weeks.
Robin put up with me. “Ok, love. Don’t quit your job yet.” It’s funny what our women put up with – I try to wonder how I’d respond if Robin came to me telling me she wanted to be something along the lines of “comic writer” – how I’d respond. I’m a dick, so I’d probably say, “As long as you spend your own money.”
Anyway, Robin put up with a lot of me and my “comic shit”. Nodding and smiling the whole time. I’m making money in it now, though, so she can say, “I’ve believed in you from the start.” And that’s a good position for her to be in.
She still won’t let me quit my day job, though.
posted by Jason at
10:27 PM
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jason rodriguez is an eisner and harvey-nominated editor and writer. email him. or become his digital BFF below:
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