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Column:
Comic Book Junkie
Pitching Marvel
By Matt Yocum
Published: 2007-06-19
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Okay, so I’ve sold a story to Marvel. It
wasn’t Civil War or the Death of Captain America,
but a ten-page Spider-Man backup story isn’t bad. But
that’s not where I want it to end, with a small story and
nothing further. So what to do? Pitch Marvel. Throw them fastballs,
curveballs, knuckleballs, whatever pitches I can deliver. And
hopefully they’ll take a swing at one, and when they do, I pray
that swing turns into a hit.
There’s no one formula to pitching Marvel, but here’s
how I’ve chosen to do it. It all starts with a story, and story
starts with character. So, who to write about? Breaking out my new
50-lb copy of The Marvel Encyclopedia, I scoured the articles,
looking for characters that were small enough they could be given to a
new writer (not like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers who go to
A-list writers) yet recognizable enough that fans would know who they
were. I wanted to take someone not as well known and flesh them out.
I decided I’d do three pitches, and I chose three characters:
Jasper Sitwell (a SHIELD agent), Miss America (a golden age heroine
who fought with Cap), and Madame Hydra/Madame Masque (currently
villains). Jasper Sitwell was long ago a staple in Iron Man
and can now be seen in Avengers: Initiative. I always saw the
flat-topped, freckled agent as what Jimmy Olsen would have looked like
as a SHIELD agent. A story grew in my mind about doing a humorous
SHIELD book that crossed She-Hulk’s sensibilities with the
Austin Powers movies. Eventually I settled on the idea that with a
new SHIELD director, Tony Stark, comes a new book, and Jasper Sitwell
gets to write that book. Stark tasks Sitwell to rewrite the SHIELD
regulations, and since Sitwell still has operative status, each new
situation he falls into leads to a new, ridiculous reg.
Now let me stop there. I’ve addressed one example of the
“what” I’m going to pitch, so let me explain the “how” to pitch.
Again, there’s no formula, but this is the method I’ve
chosen. First the idea, which for me is a four-issue miniseries
titled “By the Book” that I’ve boiled down to a single page. On
this page I have a couple paragraph premise of the entire story and an
issue-by-issue breakdown so a Marvel editor can see the story beats.
Then I decided the best way to see a comic idea was to see actual
pages. Writing the opening four pages, I looked for artists willing
to work on each pitch. Four pages and a cover should be enough for
someone to get the feel and tone of the book and what you’re
going for.
In the case of my three pitches, I’m using Jake Bilbao, my
artist for Devolution on one, and I’ve found two others
for the remaining pitches. Using www.digitalwebbing.com, I scoured
the artist and sequential art forums and made a few offers. The two
I’d hoped for signed on at the chance to be seen by a Marvel
editor. Right now I’ve got an American, Drew Moss, working on
the Jasper Sitwell idea, and I found an Italian, Marco Turini, who is
working the Madame Hydra/Madame Masque pitch (more on these in another
column).
I’ve further refined how I pitch a story by having the art
lettered. Originally, I’d send a premise page, the opening
pages of art, and the opening script pages. These editors are
unbelievably busy, so then I realized the best way an editor can read
my script is directly over the comic art. I’m not having the
pages inked or colored, hoping an editor can more easily evaluate my
artists.
I’ll discuss this process and the three pitches in more
detail in the next Comic Book Junkie. For now let me leave you again
with the statement that there’s no one way to pitch Marvel, DC,
or any comic company you’ve got your eye on. There are as many
ways to pitch as there are stories to tell. The keys to remember are
to be concise, professional, and tell as good a story as you are able.
These editors see a lot of pitches, and the easy answer is to say no.
Your job is to make them say yes.
Feel free to email me at myocum@comiccritique.com and
if you’d like to learn more about me, go to www.mattyocum.com.
—CCdC—
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