Ask me about breaking into comics, breaking into Marvel, pitches, scripts, editing, storytelling and stories in general!
Recent Responses
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Is it weird if I say Michael Keaton? It's definitely between him and Adam West. Sorry, Christian.
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SPOILER ALERT Don't read this if you haven't read Scott Pilgrim 6 already.
Okay, I was a little undersurprised by the conclusion of SP, but not disappointed, if that makes sense. I wasn't blown out of the water, either, the way I was when, say, Roxanne Richter turned out to be evil boyfriend number four! (I'm not a boy!) What did blow me out of the water was Stephen Stills and Joseph, because I would totally date Stephen Stills in a hot second. I was totally with Scott there, freaking out a little (a lot). -
Tricky to measure, since you have the books going out right away, the books you're ignoring that are going out later in the month, and then the books you're REALLY ignoring because they go out later than that. Right now, I've got about 8 or 9 series I'm working on, but that changes from day to day.
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Interestingly phrased, Matt. Right now, I'm working on all the Norse books (with a few exceptions, some announced, others not) with Ralph Macchio. I also work on Black Widow and Iron Man Legacy with him, as well as the Stephen King books, The Stand and The Dark Tower (we also did an adaptation of a short story, "N.", as a miniseries earlier this year). I'm also editor on the Halo books, our recent adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Electric Ant (last issue of which just went to the printer!), Hercules: Twilight of a God and the adaptation of Raymond E. Feist's Magician Apprentice and Magician Master.
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Right now, I'm in the middle of reading Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides, and I'm loving it. My top books include Catch-22, The Sound and the Fury, The Song of Solomon, Kavalier and Clay and Me Talk Pretty One Day. I had a great time working my way through the New Yorker's Summer Fiction Issue this year--my favorite story was called "The Kid" by Salvatore Scibona. I think the whole thing is available online: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/06/14/100614fi_fiction_scibona.
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I hope I don't get fired for saying this, but I love Scott Pilgrim so so so so much. The event of my summer is not the release of the movie, but, in fact, the release of the 6th volume. Every minute I have one of those books open is a happy one.
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First, let me say what I always say when answering questions about pitches and such: Marvel doesn't accept unsolicited pitches or submissions. However, let's assume for the moment, that you've been asked to pitch something. Here are a few to-do's and to-don'ts:
1) Know what's going on with the character. With rare exception, our books fit in to the larger Marvel Universe. If Thor just got through having a big battle with Gargamel (YES FROM THE SMURFS DEAL WITH IT) then don't propose another Thor vs. Gargamel book. Same applies for Ghost Rider vs. Miss Piggy.
2) Make sure you can explain your story in one sentence. Often called a logline, if you can't distill your story down to this easy-to-digest tablet, than it's too complicated.
3) Don't overwrite. This is a pitch, so we need to get the story and get through the story quickly. If we are bored by your pitch, you better believe we'll be bored by your comic. It doesn't have to be nonstop action, but it should be a good balance of action, drama, comedy, and so forth.
4) Don't underwrite. YOU MUST TELL US EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR STORY. I've had a number of experiences where the writer leaves out a detail, either because they want us to be surprised later or because they haven't figured out that detail. Guess what: we don't want to be surprised. Would you not mention to your brain surgeon that you have a metal plate in your head? No. Why not? Because you don't want to surprise your surgeon. You don't want to surprise your editor either.
5) Don't hold back. You have exactly 20 seconds to intrigue me with your story, and then you have to keep me intrigued. Show me your A-game.
6) Maybe hold back a little bit. This can be broken down into two parts: a) don't pack the entire marvel u into one story. Especially if it's your first pitch, concentrate on the characters at hand, and don't try and bring in everyone. b) I'd recommend not pitching as your first pitch a Marvel story that you've been incubating since you were a babe, the story that is right up against the walls of your heart it's so dear. A comic often looks nothing like the original pitch, so if will break your heart to see the pitch ground up and reconstituted backwards (or flat-out rejected) then don't feed it to the lions.
7) If you're a first-time pitcher, make sure it's all spelled write and written clearly. Pitches are read in our spare time, which we have none of, so don't fuck with us when it comes to typos and grammar and style.
8) This is kind of an off-shoot of 7, but get other people to read it before you send it in. Another set of eyes will always find things that your own eyes won't. 3 other sets of eyes will find even more. There's diminishing returns at some point, but the more people in the real world who like it, the more likely we'll like it in the pretend world we occupy.
If I think of more, I'll share it, but these 8 are a good starting point. -
It was given to me by MacKenzie Cadenhead, my comics mama (and good friend and former boss). She's also responsible for nicknaming DC's Sean Ryan "Rhiney" and our own Tom Brevoort "T-Voort."
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Consider sending a copy of whatever earned you that award to an editor--especially if it's an editor you know (or meet at a Con). For the most part, an e-mail that says "Hey, I won an award, give me work!" isn't going to gain much traction with an editor. We want to SEE the work that won you that award before we give you any work. Be casual about it, too: don't over-self-promote. Also, if you've won that award, we'd be pretty interested in your resume (figuratively speaking). Have you written for something we would have heard of? Throwing that in your intro helps too.
Just remember: Award-winners need just as much persistence and luck as the rest of us do. -
At the moment, ICON generally tends to be for creator-owned projects of our exclusive talent. You don't just send your stuff in to ICON and it gets published. However, ICON is in no way, shape or form the only place to get your creator-owned stuff published! There are plenty of independent publishes, not to mention Image, that do plenty of creator-owned books.
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The short answer is that there's no way to make sure that your stuff doesn't end up in the trash... that's just the natural paper attrition of trying to get published. Actually getting an editor to read your stuff is a big part of the ball game. Try and meet editors at Cons--not as someone looking for work, but someone who is interested in comics and storytelling. Know what an editor works on before you talk to them. Then, ask them, if you sent them your stuff, if they'd mind taking a look. They may say no, they may say yes and then throw it away anyway, or they may remember you and give it a read. It's all very chancy and there's no sure-fire methods. Persistence, patience, and non-overbearing self-promotion are key.
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I lucked into this job... pretty hard, actually. I was an English Major at NYU and I stumbled across the listing for the Marvel internship on NYU's internship boards. It's possible that I had never read a monthly comic before I got that internship [shocking!].
I really hit it off with my internship advisors, Mark Paniccia and MacKenzie Cadenhead, and it was easily the most productive and informative semester of my entire college career. After I graduated, I worked in France as an English teacher for a year, and when I got back, I started looking for jobs, and once again, stumbled accidentally upon a comics job. This was at Virgin Comics, where MacKenzie Cadenhead had joined on as the Director of Development and acted as a Senior Editor. She brought me on in January of 2007, and by April or May I was being given my own books to edit. When the company went under in August of 2008, it serendipitously came just as Marvel had an opening for an Assistant Editor, which I pounced at.
As far as training goes, there is none other than the job itself. You can't get an MA (or MFA) in comic book editing. Internships are a great point of entry into the industry, but they're not a surefire way to get in, either. The best training you can do on your own is to read a lot--comics and other stuff--and make sure you expose yourself to a lot of stories. Knowing storytelling and how to make a good story better is the only reason I have my job. Read Shakespeare, watch Casablanca, but also stay current. Watch LOST and think about what works and what doesn't. Be able to talk intelligently about stories, and you've already given yourself a fighting chance. -
It's a tough, tough call, but I think Princess Mononoke is the favorite. If they re-scored Nausicaa, that might give Mononoke a run for her money. On the other hand, Totoro is such a classic... but I think Mononoke is the best.
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I lucked into this job... pretty hard, actually. I was an English Major at NYU and I stumbled across the listing for the Marvel internship on NYU's internship boards. It's possible that I had never read a monthly comic before I got that internship [shocking!].
I really hit it off with my internship advisors, Mark Paniccia and MacKenzie Cadenhead, and it was easily the most productive and informative semester of my entire college career. After I graduated, I worked in France as an English teacher for a year, and when I got back, I started looking for jobs, and once again, stumbled accidentally upon a comics job. This was at Virgin Comics, where MacKenzie Cadenhead had joined on as the Director of Development and acted as a Senior Editor. She brought me on in January of 2007, and by April or May I was being given my own books to edit. When the company went under in August of 2008, it serendipitously came just as Marvel had an opening for an Assistant Editor, which I pounced at.
As far as training goes, there is none other than the job itself. You can't get an MA (or MFA) in comic book editing. Internships are a great point of entry into the industry, but they're not a surefire way to get in, either. The best training you can do on your own is to read a lot--comics and other stuff--and make sure you expose yourself to a lot of stories. Knowing storytelling and how to make a good story better is the only reason I have my job. Read Shakespeare, watch Casablanca, but also stay current. Watch LOST and think about what works and what doesn't. Be able to talk intelligently about stories, and you've already given yourself a fighting chance. -
Great question! I really like working Marvel Method, but we don't have a lot of opportunities to do it these days. I always feel like the story you get from a Marvel Method book is much more a product of the combined minds of the team. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming popularity of the full-script method, fewer artists are developing those storytelling skills that you need for drawing from a plot. I will say, though, that working with Tom Grummett and Paul Smith on X-Men Forever has made me really awestruck at what good storytellers both of those guys are.
If any of my writers are reading this and want to do a book Marvel Method, let me know! I'd love to do it! (This does not apply to writers who are not yet working at Marvel. Sorry folks.)
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Charlie’s Bio
Beckerman
I'm an editor at Marvel Comics in New York, NY.
