By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/2/2015
This is the first in a planned series of articles about the “Image Effect.” Over the past 20+ years Image Comics has grown from a vanity publisher for the top talents of the 90s into a trendsetter and home to a diverse range of popular titles and creators. How did they accomplish that? Image’s well-known […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/21/2014
More comics! More properties! More to read! IDW has just packed with Comics Experience, LLC, the online comics school run by former IDW editor Andy Schmidt to publish a line of mini-series by new talent. According to PR, the material will be “creator owned.” IDW editor Bobby Curnow will also work on the project. The line-up:
• Drones by Chris Lewis and Bruno Oliveira, the story of two Predator drone operators on a bizarre journey that will take them to a terrorism-themed hotel in Las Vegas, in a war where terror and entertainment have begun to blur.
• Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit by Rob Anderson and Fernando Melek, about animal control officers in a near-future city who must deal with patchwork, hybrid animals, from gator-snakes to panda dogs.
• Gutter Magic by Rich Douek and Brett Barkley, set in a world where World War II was fought with magic, and the heir to a powerful magical dynasty can’t cast a spell to save his life.
• Tet by Paul Allor and Paul Tucker, is a story of hard-boiled crime and star-crossed romance, set at the height of the Vietnam War and the decades that followed.
While this looks like a win/win for all—Schmidt gets to help students of his online courses; the creators get publishers and IDW gets more books by potential future stars (and market share) but is it really that simple? Schmidt explains more at Multiversity:
How did this partnership come about? Was part of the Comics Experience plan to always publish the work of its participants?
AS: My priority at first was to help people find their own path. That meant focusing on the courses and then the Creators Workshop. Now that we’ve grown and many of our alumni and Workshop members are actively working in the industry, publishing was the next logical step.
But it wasn’t always the next logical step. Something started to shift in the comics industry and I noticed it maybe two years back or so. The opportunities for new talent were becoming fewer and further between—and it wasn’t for lack of great talent. So I started rethinking my stance on publishing now that I saw a need for it. It seemed more important to our mission to give that extra push for creators, and frankly, to the industry.
Once I started looking for a partner for this, IDW made a lot of sense. Chris Ryall and Greg Goldstein were really supportive of the idea. There was an instant recognition of the need for something like this and so we were all working together to find the right deal that could work for everyone. And I think Ted Adams at IDW had already shown his support of creator-owned books. That’s what the company started with, and they still are working with folks like Ashley Wood and Steve Niles. It’s a good fit. And, it’s really awesome to have creator-owned books by new talent that are in the front of the Previews catalog. Maximizing exposure is important to new creators–getting their names and their work out there and seen by as many people as possible.
By: Maryann Yin,
on 10/23/2011
Former Marvel Comics editor Andy Schmidt moderated a New York Comic Con panel on writing and story structure earlier this month.
The group of panelists included writers Jimmy Palmiotti, Daniel Way and David Hine. Based on the discussion, we created a list of do’s and don’ts for story structure.
Do create an outline for your story.
Don’t treat your outline as a strict, controlling template. These tools are meant to enhance, not stifle, creativity.
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This is a great peek behind the curtain, thank you for this.
To work totally editor free is an awesome experience, to do whatever you want feels nice….. and scary.
the truth is I like working with editors, I learned a LOT working with them, When I was in Image, even Jim Valentino and Erik Larsen gave us great advice. Then with Scott Allie I learned (and keep doing so) great things and made me a better storyteller.
Having that outside eye is really important, and making changes are not a bad thing at all, we creators sometimes are so in love with what we’re doing that we cannot separate ourselves from our work to find the flaws, and an editor definitely can.
I think Editors will stay for as long as there are comics.
Editors thriving?
Hahahaha! Oh good one.
Good editors are often like good bartenders, to be friends and confidants, sounding boards and in some cases uncredited co-writers. Every creative team and project is different. Approach on a corporate owned project is completely different to a creator owned one. So many variables and you have to be able to handle all of them.
Like the big publishing houses, the comics editors have been viewed as not integral to the end product by the bean counters like Ike Perlmutter. Many traffic managers have been allowed to assume the ‘Editor’ title in lieu of a pay rise.
DC’s best editors were Archie Goodwin and Andy Helfer. Marvel had people like Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson. Image don’t have any editors but they do have some great production people who read most of what they handle and pass on any mistakes they just happen to catch.
That’s not to say good editors aren’t at these companies but they’re usually overworked, underpaid, and told not to upset the talent by interfering.
Rewrite someone’s script? Most creators used to get the opportunity to rewrite their own unless they were unwilling to do what the publisher wanted or went awol (it happens), but if you don’t get the approval or acknowledgment of the creator good luck surviving the next month on social media.
Then there were the Marvel years where artists would get plots and then drew whatever they felt like drawing. Writer gets three or four issue ahead before he sees pencils to dialogue and can’t find his story in there beyond page three. Realizes his other scripts are now useless.
Ah, editors. Last out the office, first to be shit on.
What Dave Elliott said. Exactly.
Editors definitely seem to be underappreciated, which I explained in the article. But they’re increasingly in-demand amongst creators at publishers like Image, so in creator-owned comics at least I think they’re being viewed as increasingly important.
This post is terrible.
Dustin, be prepared to support your answer!
Reading article it seams that that today’s editors are simply focusing on production and financial matters rather than on the actual editing.
“Over the past 20+ years Image Comics has grown from a vanity publisher for the top talents of the 90s into a trendsetter and home to a diverse range of popular titles and creators. ”
I don’t think Vanity Publisher is an apt description of Image at it’s outset, unless of course you’re John Byrne. They’ve also been trendsetters, for better and worse, for most of the time since their inception.
Heidi this post needed… an editor. Backing up the “editorial interference is often overstated” subhead with a scoffing Nick Lowe tweet is not exactly digging into a topic. Nor is the rest of the post, which seems more like a long commercial for whatever Andy Schmidt is selling. Whatever the role of or possible need for editors might be in today’s comics landscape, I know exactly 0% more than I did when I started reading this, but I do know a ton more about Andy Schmidt. Andy Schmidt. Andy Schmidt!