Friday, November 2, 2007

Submissions: Can I Write For You? part 1

Okay, I get a lot of e-mails about Flashback Universe, but far and away the most popular one is Can I Write For You?

The simple answer is yes, but to be honest, unless you understand the core concepts behind Flashback Universe, you will probably not be able to send me a story I'll want to publish. Here are some simple guidelines:

1) The story must be self-contained.
Every FBU comic on the site might be a visitors first exposure to the Flashback Universe, so it's critical that the story is a done-in-one. People don't download things in sequential order. They just don't. They download based on what appeals to them. And that's how it should be. If you send me an idea for a 6 part Lady Nemo story, you will get a rejection.

2) The story must have that Bronze Age feel to it.
I'm sorry to say this concept is a little tougher for people who are not familiar with Bronze Age comics to grasp. Still, this doesn't mean you have to be born in the 60's to understand them. Chris Sims is one of my youngest writers, and he TOTALLY gets what the Bronze Age stories are all about.

4 comments:

Variance Shift said...

Cool, that gives one SOME hope...

Wikipedia says:
The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age, with brightly colored superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However darker plot elements and more mature storylines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.

Chris Sims said...

Then again, Jim, I've read a heck of a lot of Bronze Age comics, most of which I've come to in the past five years. But we're lucky enough to live in a time where so much of that stuff's available (and relatively cheaply, too) thanks to Marvel's Essential line and DC's Showcase Presents books, not to mention the Dark Horse reprints of Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith's Conan.

Obviously, reading that stuff isn't going to turn you into a comics writer overnight, but it does do a pretty great job of entertaining you and fostering a love of good old-fashioned super-hero action.

Jim Shelley said...

Caine,

That wiki quote is a pretty good summation of the bronze age. I think a lot of it boils down to in the Silver Age, Green Arrow was this lame Batman wannabe, but in the Bronze age he became more of a champion for the poor and downtrodden. In the Silver Age, the source of his angst (if he had any) was that he couldn't catch Clock King. In the Bronze Age the source of his angst was that his partner was now a drug addict.

Basically, the comics started using internal character conflicts to juice up the stories.

Jim Shelley said...

Chris,

Yes, you have read a lot of Bronze Age comic, but I think your are possessed with a preternatural appreciation for such stories. I don't think a majority of todays younger readers, with their obsession with Powergirl's boobs and Sentry vs Vulcan power battles would see as much charm in the works of Bob Haney and Bill Mantlo that you do.

If you give 1000 Marvel Two-In-Ones to 1000 Newsarama posters, I'm not sure you'd ever get another Project Pegasus. :D

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