IDW publishing is the latest company to pass on our graphic novel. I wasn't really surprised. Before the editor even read our synopsis, he shook his head and said, "I'm going to level with you, things are tight." Long gone are the days when DC Comics published a leather-bound volume of Dark Night tales by Frank Miller (which I own). Most publishers are not willing to spend that kind of money on creator-owned projects.What I have noticed is that a lot of graphic novels on the shelves at Barnes and Noble are illustrated companion pieces for successful franchises. IDW publishes the True Blood graphic novels. I subscribed to the installments and I read them on the iPad. They are fun and it's something to feed my appetite when the show is on hiatus.
I just wonder if this is what most graphic novel publishing will be like. IDW owns tons of these titles, including Jurassic Park, Dr. Who and Star Trek. I guess I thought that the point of owning the rights to these franchises would be to free up more cash for riskier ventures. But that's probably a bit idealistic.
The interesting thing is that I got a chance to meet Tony Lee who writes the Dr. Who graphic novel and he had a writing resume like you would not believe.
So do I have to become known for writing something else before I can get hired to write a comic book?
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1 comments:
Hi K,
It could be that in better times, the point of franchises was to free up cash for risks...but maybe not now. There isn't anyone I know of in any discipline that has cash to take risks with right now. I am having to really wrack my brain right now to think of creative ways to make money just to scrape by.
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