Right now there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people trying to break into comics. Out of all of these people only a very small handful actually make it each year. I know, I know you're different. You have talent. Well there are still some things to think about. One company that is seriously mis-leading is Image Comics. Read their entire forum on submissions. It is depressing! Image has NO intention of picking up a blind submission. They actually say in their forum that they can count on one hand how many books have been picked up through blind submission and still have fingers left over. Keep in mind that they receive 10+ comic submissions a day. The odds of your book getting picked up by them through a blind submission is damn near impossible. If you want a small chance of getting picked up by Image Comics go and print your book yourself. Try to get some fan base by dumping tons of money into riding the convention circuit and if at that point Image thinks they have something to gain by picking up your book then they will. Comics is all about who you know. I saw a book where the colorist was horrible. I know I'm not even close to the best in the industry but I'm definately not the worst. Anyway, this book was crap. The art was amazing, the inking incredible but the colorist sucked. I couldn't believe it. I looked into it further and saw that it was the artist's wife who had colored the book! Of course! If you want to work for Marvel or DC then you need to be out there at the conventions trying to kiss up to the people that will eventually give you a shot. You want to be a comic artist? Where is your book? Create your books and go into debt and hopefully if you are lucky you will eventually get noticed for either your art or your property and then maybe something will happen. I was once told that breaking into comics is more difficult that breaking into the NFL. That is absolutely true. The comic community is small. Everyone knows everyone else and it is difficult to get in. If you want to just create or work on comics and you don't care about the money or what company you are with then there are a ton of indy companies out there that will happily publish your work. You won't receive a dime but you will be published. The comic book industry is a harsh one and if you don't either know someone or are the most amazing artist of your generation then you are shit out of luck. If you can afford to work for free as an intern at Marvel or DC then move to New York and knock yourself out. You might be able to get a job working for them then. My advice of whether you should even bother with the comic industry is give it a shot and if you don't see it going anywhere then bail out and grow up and get a real job. Trust me, there is nothing more depressing than seeing a 40+ year old man with nothing to show for himself still trying to break into comics. You may read this and think that I am just disgruntled, well of course I am, but that doesn't change what I have discovered about breaking into the comic book industry. I couldn't afford to print my own books and sell them at conventions and mingle with the artists. If I could then things would probably be a little different for me. I absolutely could not move to New York and work as an intern for free. If I had I probably would be working for Marvel right now. If you can dump some money into your dream then you have a better chance but keep in mind that you may be losing all of your investment. Working in comics hasn't been a total wash. I've met some great people. Sean O'Reilly of Arcana and Jessie Garza of Viper Comics among others. These are good people just trying to build their dreams and anything I was able to contribute to help I am thankful for the opportunity. I've colored 10 books in my time. I've done more covers and pinups than I can remember but I was never able to make that transition into the majors. One Marvel artist, whom I will not name, told me that it took 10 years for him to get his first Marvel gig after he had been published in his first indy comic. Some people can chase that dream for 10 years but I couldn't. I did it for 5 years and I feel that it is time to move on. I will still do a cover here and there and I'm sure I will still dabble but it will be in a hobby capacity. Hopefully someone will be able to take something from my experience and learn from it.

So the submission for Protector is complete and I am getting ready to send it out tomorrow. Hopefully it will be well recevied and we will get a book deal!

It is 2am-ish and I just got home from driving back from Moline, Illinois. I am dead tired after the 11 hour drive but it was worth it. I had a lot of fun at the QC Funcon and would like to thank all of those that were involved.

I will be at the QC Funcon this next weekend. August 22-23rd. If you are in the area drop by and say hello! [link]

staying at deviantart...for now muahahahahaha