Have your own comic published Free!

Robert Curley

With the success of Free Irish Comic Day it became apparent from the amount of e-mails I received etc, that there are a lot of people who would like to get into producing and publishing their own work. With this in mind both Sub-City and New Cityview Press have come together to arrange a competition which will help one lucky winner do just that!

To enter all you need to do is come up with an original and complete eight page story in black and white along with a cover and title page. The winner will be chosen by myself and Richard from the shop. I think you will agree that this is a great prize and an even better opportunity to give somebody a kick start in the right direction.

If you are interested please send your completed story to me at the shop address.

Sub-City
2 Exchequer Street
Dublin 2

ztoical

Nice idea Rob, hope you get some good submissions.

Would like to spread the word around to a few Irish artists groups and newsletters that responded so well to the Free Comics day call, if thats ok? Would need a few more details for the call for submission.

Is there a deadline date for submission? Is it limited to one entry per person?

What will the situation be regarding copyright of the work? Might be worth doing up a short terms and conditions for people, I know it might seem silly as its just an 8 page comic but you don't want to find yourself or any of the artists in any of rubbish we've seen with the likes of the Tokyopop rising stars books.

Robert Curley wrote: »

If you are interested please send your completed story to me at the shop address.

You should prob let people know how you would prefer they send their work. I would assume your asking people to send digital copies and not original art. Should they send low res files for judging and you'll get the winner to send high res files when chosen or should people send print ready files straight away? Also a rough idea of the print page size or will that be open for discussion with the winner? How big a print run are you thinking of doing?

Fysh

This sounds interesting alright; I'm a tad wary of the word "competition" after all the hand-waveyness over Zuda's launch a year ago. That said, the the idea is a good one and hopefully it'll do well and take off. I do have a couple of questions though:

Is this a one-off thing, or would you consider turning it into a regular venture if there's enough support?

Will the chosen comic strip be published as a standalone entity, or as part of an anthology title?

Obviously the question of the copyright for the winner's strip is the more pressing one, but what rights do the competition organisers assume for all submissions?

Robert Curley

Questions questions!

Zotical please fell free to spread the word. The deadline is Jan 20th 2009. Copyright remains with the creator as will be stated in the comics title page.

As for the submission format your asumtion is correct ie digital copies only and low res is fine.

Fysh yes it is a one-off thing and the competition organiseres ie me! assume no rights to any of the submissions.

The comic will be a separate printing and not part of another book.

Hope this clears things up.

JesterWX

Rob,

what about budding writers who couldn't draw matchstick men to save their lives????

JFL

ztoical

JesterWX wrote: »

Rob,

what about budding writers who couldn't draw matchstick men to save their lives????

JFL

post in the comics production forum that your seeking an artist, I'm sure theres a few budding artists who can't come up with an idea for a story.

dmcloughney

I'm suprised nobody has asked this yet and now I'm gonna seem stingy but who gets the sales cash or how is it split???

ztoical

dmcloughney wrote: »

I'm suprised nobody has asked this yet and now I'm gonna seem stingy but who gets the sales cash or how is it split???

I don't think you seem stingy, its a very valid question. I meant to ask that as well but I focused on the copyright issue. Its one of the reasons I would have a terms and conditions written up so all these questions/issues can be cleared up. I did ask what the print run size would be as that would impact on the sales side of things. Also I'm wondering about branding - will this comic be branded with the atomic diner logo?

nicolo

is the 8 page thing set in stone? I have a six pager and a three pager at the moment that are my latest and wouldn't be sure if I could get something new written and drawn by january what with working loads over xmas.

ALANNOLAN

nicolo wrote: »

is the 8 page thing set in stone? I have a six pager and a three pager at the moment that are my latest and wouldn't be sure if I could get something new written and drawn by january what with working loads over xmas.

Hell, I've 18 pages of 24 done, well...pencilled.....and at my pace I'd be lucky to get anything finished by Jan 2010!

Great idea though, very generous!

nicolo

yeah I'm trying to actually get stuff done for submissions and portfolio. and most places aren't gonna look at epic yokes with a million pages, like 2000 ad submission guidelines state 6 pages fairly sure thats stanard with most places.
that said if the whole 8 page thing is set then I can bulk something out a bit I'd just like to know so I can start work.