RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books northwood saga

I think so. Is that the one with the new Batgirl?

Yessir. Something about the Sharks and the Jets and gasoline... hot dog carts. Sounds like West Side Story meets Mad Max... my kinda comic.

Right, Dave. Say, you're on the boards a bit early tonight/this morning. It occurs to me that maybe you're in a new time zone.

Disco, that's the one.

Janet Harvey had some bad luck this year. She had a character called Jungle Girl. I remember seeing sketches of JG when we were working together. So after lobbying hard for two or three years, Janet finally placed Jungle Girl at an independent publisher. The book was drawn, colored, and solicited in Previews... and then the publisher pulled the plug, citing poor advance sales. Ironically, Janet's initial success with Jungle Girl was one of the things that got me back into comics.

So it is a hard business. It can be ruthless.

Damn. That really sucks. I guess you can never get your hopes up, even when the damn thing is finished.

I'll never give up hope!

Obi-wan, you're our only hope!

As opposed to Marc Campbell. If I was the only hope, I'd advise cutting and running immediately.

Heh. So you don't get hit by a lightsaber and reduced to a pile of soiled clothing?

Holy shit, MC's a comic book writer?

Now you tell me!

Dear friends at the RKMB! If you follow the online comic press, you may have heard that there are some sweeping changes in store for Marvel Epic, and I just wanted to confirm that Northwood Saga will not be part of them.

This is what I was hinting at a couple posts ago. I was asked by the Powers That Be not to discuss the changes, and, like a good little robot, that's just what I did. But now that the official announcement has been made, I wanted to make my first public statement here, among friends!

You guys have been...

(1) Incredibly welcoming of a newbie
(2) Incredibly supportive of my work
(3) Incredibly fun to talk to
(4) Fantastically good in bed

I have no plans of leaving RKMB, closing this thread, or ditching comics in general or Northwood in particular. I don't have any announcements to make about the future of Northwood just yet, but I'm workin' on it.

Here follows my official response to Marvel's announcement...

I'm confirming that Northwood Saga will not be published by Marvel Epic. The reason I received from Marvel is that, in light of recent changes, this is not the type of story that Marvel wants to do under the Epic imprint.

Northwood Saga is an epic fantasy, featuring a rotating cast of elves, dwarfs, trolls, wizards, and tragic heroes and heroines. The villains of the story are the humans, who wage neverending war against what they call "monsters," and the book explores some of the consequences of this. It's a creator-owned project with all-original characters, and it was not set to take place in the Marvel Universe.

Northwood Saga was originally announced by Marvel at this year's Wizard World Chicago. The book was never officially scheduled, but there was talk of it coming out in 2004.

With regard to Marvel's decision, I'm disappointed, obviously, but this sort of thing has been known to happen in the publishing world. It has happened to me before in computer books, and I'm sure it will happen again. It just comes with the territory. On the whole, I think Epic was a good experience, and I'm grateful for the time and energy that Marvel invested in my work.

As for the future of Northwood Saga, I don't have anything to announce at present, but I'm not out of tricks just yet.

Shit! I was quite interested in at least looking this over at a shop. That's really gay of Marvel to do that to you.

It's like Bill Jemas' last fucking stand! Because he was demoted, all his plans get shafted.

Amazing as it may sound... Jemas being demoted had a negative effect!

man...thats really shitty. I'm pissed for you. Shop it around. Since Marvel originally accepted it and plans were made to solicit it, maybe DC would pick it up for Vertigo, or Top Cow will publish it.

Damn that sucks. I was looking foward to Norwood Saga. Damn it.

Sorry to hear your project is running into problems Marc.

On the other hand, it is nice to know you're still around.

I hope things are good otherwise.

James

That sucks, Marc.

you aint sposed to suck Marc!

Uh-oh!

Bad luck, Marc. All the best in finding an alternative publisher.

You'd think they'd think about these things before announcing a forthcoming story.

Damn.

Right! Thanks, all, for speaking out, and a special "Hey, man!" to my old buddy from DC Online, James Schee! How's it going, Jimmy?!

I must have been a saint in a prior life to be getting such good karma from you guys. But this ain't a funeral. May business at usual resume at RKMB.

But...there isn't any business here, except for "the business"...

poopy?

Speedy is gone. We are safe here.

Speedy is the Patrick Swayze of our rap video.

OK, update time. Here's what I've done so far in placing Northwood elsewhere.

I made a couple calls to my old pals at DC. These calls have not been returned. Hmm...

I have an "in" at Image Comics. No guarantee here, but I feel pretty good about the prospects. I've been debating about whether to do this, though. Image is very much like self-publishing, in that, if the book doesn't earn at least two or three grand above the break-even point, you end up paying them. Many comics don't break even, and most just barely break even.(This holds true in book publishing, by the way. The Stephen Kings and Anne Rices help to pay for the Marc Campbells among us. Only one of my six computer books has earned back royalties after the advance, although I think all of them have at least broken even for the publisher.) If I was going to self-publish, I wouldn't need Image to help me lose money. I can do that all by myself.

I sent the script blind to Dark Horse last week.

I bugged some contacts at indy publishers Avatar and IDW. No word back yet from either.

I sent an email to AiT/PlanetLar, asking if I could send a pitch. A few days later, I ran into an interview with the Lar of PlanetLar (Larry, whose last name escapes me at present), in which it was said that it was common knowledge that Larry doesn't take pitches. So I wasn't surprised when, a few days after that, I got a brief but polite email in the resounding negatory.

And that's where I am at present.

An Image publication would look good on your CV.

True, Image gives you a certain legitimacy that you don't necessarily get if you publish yourself under your own label. Also, it would help me to build a readership for whatever else I might choose to do in the future.

I could achieve similar effects through one of the highter-profile indies, so I might try to exhaust those options before making a decision on Image.

ADDENDUM: I just found out that the Epic book Phantom Jack has been released from contract by Marvel and is moving to Image, beyond all reason and precedent. Even if I wanted to move Northwood to Image, I'd be very reluctant to follow in Phantom Jack's footsteps. I take this as the universe's way of telling me not to go with Image.

What's that about? Not that I'm gonna buy it...

It's about a reporter who can turn invisible.

He beats up "muggers" in the park. Then he goes to Iraq, and at one point evidently he was going to assassinate Saddam Hussein.

Larry Young.

Yeah, that's Lar from PlanetLar. Thanks.

I think my chances are still the same, as in pretty good. It's more of a perception thing. I don't want to be the "me, too" guy. Desperate Times is at Image, and now Phantom Jack...it just feels like old news. Of course, nobody would probably care except for me, so maybe I'm looking at it wrong.

It could turn out that the time isn't right for Northwood. I may have to go through a period of paying dues on superhero comics. This has come up as a possible option for me at Marvel. I'm not crazy about the idea (I can hear some of you shouting at the screen, "What is he saying?!"), but I think I'll give it a shot.

It isn't Power Pack is it? Bring back Damage Control! Or Peter Porker! Ooh, ROM!

TK, if only. They will only let me touch things they don't think I'll screw up too badly. So they'll tell me what they want me to do, and there will be plenty of editorial handholding along the way.