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My First Comic Book Trekked Around The World

Published Sun, 03 Jul 2016 09:00:52 -0500

Dane Styler writes,

From a writer in Los Angeles, to four up-and-coming artists in the Philippines, Istanbul, Croatia, and Dublin, to a letterer in New York, and the finally back to California and the printing press… this is how I am publishing my first comic book.

I'm a freshman screenwriter (In the Life of Music), and like countless others, I grew up on comic books and dreamt of authoring my own some day. Some hypothetical, ostensibly easy yet never quite tangible day.

And also like so many of you, I go to the conventions. I attend those panels led by editors and professionals, and I sit in those packed rooms, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of other creators, all eager to catch their sliver of a chance to "break" into the business. Our numbers are so large, wanting the exact same thing like a school of frenzied fish darting for the same morsel of food, that we've become our own stereotype.

You all know what happens next though; what editors say to writers seemingly every single time. They don't have the time or just simply cannot read our scripts. But what they can do is read a published comic book!

For me as a writer, it felt very much like a Catch-22 situation. In order to get the attention of editors you need to first have experience, yet to get experience you need editors to hire you. Well I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself, stopped waiting for someone else to ask me to write for them, and I decided to make my own damn comic book.

I wrote dozens of story story scripts. I searched the message boards and the group walls in search of artists. I made contact. Some conversations didn't get far; others did. Pages began to come in. Deadlines were missed but then the wait proved to be worth it. I was all at once writer, editor, employer, financer, and publisher… and I loved every second of it.

Suddenly, that "some day" was no longer a dream, but a reality. Styler Stories Presents: Tales of the Extraordinary is live on Kickstarter with only a few days remaining in the campaign. With your help it will be very real, tangible thing in the hands of readers such as yourself.

Putting together a comic book is a lot of work. It consumes your every spare thought, and riddles you with anxiety. And it is worth it. On the chance you are considering making your own comic book, which you should without question, I've begun to chronicle the journey over at my personal website.

But the most fascinating thing about this comic book is by far the artists. They are the real treasure of Tales of the Extraordinary, and their hard work is the reason we even have a book to publish. They are the shining stars and I am extremely fortunate that they said yes. Not only have they blown me away with their pages, convincing me that they will all have great careers in the industry very soon, but not one of the four hails from North America.

From both coasts of the United States, to across Europe and then Southeast Asia, this truly is a comic book from around the world. How awesome is that!

To learn more about these artists and our book, check out our Kickstarter campaign and support us before time runs out! If you help us reach our goal by the end of the holiday weekend (Monday, July 4^th), we will share with Bleeding Cool and all the pledges a bonus digital short story, with a cameo of Rich Johnston himself, as well as other goodies such as desktop wallpapers.

It is because of my collaborative partners that making a comic book stopped being about me trying to get the attention of editors, and became about a group of creators who share a passion for comic books enough coming together to make them.

People who love comic books getting off their asses to make comic books. We could use more of that.

Dare to be Extraordinary.