Zuda

[Emperor]

Also worth checking out the ten entries in the competition as it gives you an idea of the standard and I don't think it'd be impossible to come up with something at least as good as those. I especially didn't think much of the current leading entry which has nice art* but the story is exposition heavy, rather clunky and just ends on the eighth page and would have benefited from someone else looking over the script (unless in the future everyone says "drat"). Better were Octane Jungle, Physikon and A Stinking Corpse** - art that complimented the story and a story arc that ended on the last page giving us enough to be interested in to check it out if it continues, which confirms my gut feeling. If I had to vote for one it'd be Octane Jungle as it seemed to work the best (the colouring and sound effects especially stood out) despite the delivery boy in a dystopia has been done before.

Also don't overlook lettering - Cards Kill was really let down by theirs.

The key is clearly promotion - it won't help an awful comic win but it could make a difference - the leading entires have less than 4,000 views so getting enough coverage to interest a few hundred people could be what nudges you into the lead.

*And I suspect it is artists you are always going to do well out of this
** I got a Lee Carter vibe from the art there

[Emperor]

I've signed up over there to nose around the system, so you can befriend (or avoid) me:

http://www.zudacomics.com/user/48921

[Emperor]

For future reference there is thread over on the DC forums where writers and artists can hook up:

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?threadID=2000141032&tstart=30

I suspect a bottleneck might be getting enough artists and so we can keep an eye on that and if there is a solid script I'm sure we can tempt some people. However, looking down the thread it seems to be largely writers looking for artists (and any artists dropping in are like bacon to a pack of hungry dogs) but worth keeping an eye on. someone there suggests www.comicjobz.com and MySpace Comics.

There is also Digital Webbings talent area:
www.digitalwebbing.com/talent/

I think the important thing is to work up your idea.

[Colin YNWA]

Meant to do this last week but what with one thing and another. Anyway here's the other work I did in preparing and planning some other Zuda entries.

Props is a story about obsessive collecting - something many people here should be able to relate to!

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/colin.ynwa/Props#

President Croc (working title) is a tale of a New York sew Crocodile running for the US presidency

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/colin.ynwa/PresCroc#

and my personal favourite, the story that I've been working on for a few years now and even has a demo 22 page comic that I self published (and have a hundred or so copies of sitting in my loft if people really want a copy for free) 'Ape in a Space-suit'. A story of evolutionary biology and fundamental relgion, or just an excuse to have a cool ape run around and fight dinosaurs and stuff...

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/colin.ynwa/ApeInASpacesuit#

My plan was to turn these into scripts. I find being a failed artist I'm best doing my 'writing' using thumbnails like this. I think of stories visually. It then really helps with writing up as it distils what's really important in a panel and so hopefully I could send an artist a script that is not cluttered with detail but rather contains the essential information from which they can have a free hand to tell the story as they see fit.

[Emperor]

Thanks for those. The one that really caught my eye was:

and my personal favourite, the story that I've been working on for a few years now and even has a demo 22 page comic that I self published (and have a hundred or so copies of sitting in my loft if people really want a copy for free) 'Ape in a Space-suit'. A story of evolutionary biology and fundamental relgion, or just an excuse to have a cool ape run around and fight dinosaurs and stuff...

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/colin.ynwa/ApeInASpacesuit#

While we should be wary of apes in comics it certainly looks like you are bringing more to the table than just "look it is a strange ape!!" so it gets my vote.

My plan was to turn these into scripts. I find being a failed artist I'm best doing my 'writing' using thumbnails like this. I think of stories visually. It then really helps with writing up as it distils what's really important in a panel and so hopefully I could send an artist a script that is not cluttered with detail but rather contains the essential information from which they can have a free hand to tell the story as they see fit.

Probably worth dealing with on the writing or art threads, but I wonder if artists would find thumbnails a bit restrictive, but then again as a guide it could also be pretty helpful.

For whatever reason in all but one of the 3 story I planned for Zuda the 8 pages told part of the main characters story from the perspective of a different character (or charcaters in one case). I found it allows you to introduce ideas for the main plot smoothly while telling a self contained story of the lesser character and his or her interaction with the lead. In two of the cases the character you're seeing the story through doesn't make it out the other end. I know I'd just read Nemesis book One before doing this and I really liked the way Pat Mills told self contained stories that build up the picture of what was going, certainly for the first what 5 or 6 episodes. Often with Nemesis off to one side or not there at all. Once he's established the world the main plot takes over and Nemesis is pretty much front and centre. It certainly allows you to put a good hook at the end of each part!

Nice analysis - you can't go too wrong breaking down the storytelling techniques that work. I'm definitely going to keep this in mind (Hell it might break the deadlock on my Zuda idea ).

It is a very good idea - I was explaining the idea of a "mythos" to my dad last night (as you do) and this is a very clever way of doing some serious world building - different people's perspectives building up a larger fictional universe (and it opens the door for you to use the unreliable narrator and also see both sides of the coin, so things needn't be so black and white).

And the idea of the unreliable narrator did indeed break the deadlock - still a long way to go but it gave me the structure (the beginning and end) which just needs filling out.

[Jim_Campbell]

Also don't overlook lettering - Cards Kill was really let down by theirs.

I'm not working at full capacity at present and -- barring any unexpected offers of work -- won't be until the next Classical Comics job comes in some time during September, so I may be able to help out if anyone has strip work that they think would benefit from a lettering assist.

Cheers

Jim

[Emperor]

Good stuff - as has been said elsewhere it is the often overlooked aspect of comics creation even though poor lettering can really spoil the overall feel of the story, while good lettering can help pull everything together into a much slicker package.


Anyway the August batch have been interviewed over on CBR so if you are researching things it might be of some interest to see what they say:

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/08/zudist-colony-talking-to-the-august-zuda-contestants/

[Emperor]

Just a couple of quick thoughts:

• If you see an artist in the small press you think might fit your ideas then I'd imagine there are folks here with the contacts to get a note passed on to them. Of course, if you know of anyone who is interested then point them here (or at the Down the Tubes thread if they don't like the smell)
• Don't be shy about asking for help - we cna probably rummage up people who can help with most things. I am happy to read through any scripts, Jim has volunteered for lettering if he isn't too busy and I'm sure we can find more.

[Emperor]

A new round has started. Absolute Magnitude won the last one and while I didn't fall for it as a five page story I'm sure it'll develop nicely.

This months are a very strong batch and with an impressive range of art, although I've not had a chance to read them all through properly. I've stumbled across Goldilock before as it has been in preparation for an awful long time and it shows. Dunno how they can keep that up if they win but it'll be interesting to see what happens.

[Emperor]

Damn I seem to have missed voting on the previous round. I must try harder.

Anyway Tony Lee is in this round and has given Rich Johnston some thoughts on the contest:
www.bleedingcool.com/2009/10/09/where-evils-dare-to-vote/

[Emperor]

Anyway I've had a chance to sit down and read this month's entries (strike while the iron is hot is clearly the way to go or I'll just forget) and it isn't as strong a field as last month's (and it also had Goldilock which has been building momentum for a while and was pretty much guaranteed to carpet bomb the opposition, which it did) but there are some solid entries.

I voted for Doc Monster, as it was the only one I'd be interested in seeking out in comic book form (it might be one of my favourites so far), I wouldn't bother reading most of the other entries again, even if they won.

[Emperor]

A list of 30 tips for a Zuda entry:

http://mpd57.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/zuda-thirty-golden-rules/

Of course, quite a few of them apply to all comics.

Again lettering comes up (#10 and 12) and looking through the current entries there are always a few that seem to let themselves down on that front.


Oh and there seems to be a lot more... "politics" simmering away behind the scenes. It is apparently frowned on in some quarters if you have a slow visible build-up (as it is claimed you are building support ahead of time). It seems a few people have sent Tony emails about him overstepping on this front, even though it doesn't seem he did:

And for those already dropping the snide comments to my email and a couple of off-site forums, at no point before 12pm EST yesterday did I mention Zuda or Where Evils Dare, instead speaking about '666 Platoon' - I hinted at something big happening at the time and day. After seeing the crap that Goldilocks got last month for talking about submitting to Zuda months before it actually happened (and therefore according to some 'building an instant fanbase when others didn't')... I decided to take the safer option :-) Did it hurt me? I know a couple of the others spoke openly about their submissions beforehand, when they were talking about submitting but remember - none of knew when or where we'd be up, and NOT ONE OF THEM spoke about it AFTER they were greenlit for the competition. so let's stop the name calling before it really starts. ;-)

posted on October 6, 2009 - 4:53am

So something to keep in mind, perhaps launch any kind of production blog after the competition goes live.

[Emperor]

A list of 30 tips for a Zuda entry:

http://mpd57.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/zuda-thirty-golden-rules/

Of course, quite a few of them apply to all comics.

Again lettering comes up (#10 and 12) and looking through the current entries there are always a few that seem to let themselves down on that front.

Worth noting that he also reviews the entries and while pulling no punches he often parallels my thinking on a lot of them (also I think he is British so you get a perspective from this sound of the Pond too - with extra marks for a Noggin the Nog reference):

http://mpd57.wordpress.com/tag/zuda/

[Jim_Campbell]

Hmm ... Tony Lee: persecuted genius or drama queen? Let's get the votes from Luxembourg ...

Cheers!

Jim

[Emperor]

Hmm ... Tony Lee: persecuted genius or drama queen? Let's get the votes from Luxembourg ...

Orrrrrrrrr drama genius? Huh? Huh? OK perhaps it is persecuted queen, but let's not go there.

He is threatening to kill a puppy if he doesn't win. So you decide!!