Jim Zub's Blog, page 139
June 27, 2014
Wayward #2 Solicit
Arriving in September… Please pre-order!
WAYWARD #2
STORY: JIM ZUB
ART: STEVE CUMMINGS & JOHN RAUCH
COVER A: STEVE CUMMINGS & ROSS A. CAMPBELL
COVER B: RILEY ROSSMO
SEPTEMBER 24 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.50
IMAGE COMICS’ NEW SUPERNATURAL SENSATION!
Rori’s uncanny senses lead her to a classmate with a dark secret…one he’s willing to kill to keep hidden.
June 26, 2014
Wayward Interview on The Beat
Matt O’Keefe from The Beat interviewed me all about Wayward. Click on through for new info and a bit about the fear and excitement that comes from launching a new creator-owned series.
Dynamite Comics Humble Bundle for Charity!
Dynamite Comics is celebrating their 10th anniversary and, as part of the festivities, they’ve put together a special pack of over 150 DRM-free digital comics for any price you want, with all proceeds going to support 3 great charities: the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Doctors Without Borders and Make-A-Wish.
Pay what you want and you’ll receive a slew of great digital comics. Pay more than the average and you’ll get even more, including the first story arc of my Pathfinder comic series, based on the high RPG.
Either way, you get a lot of new reading material and 3 charities get a great boost. Please check it out and support if you can!
June 25, 2014
Figment #2 Goes To 2nd Print Before Release!
Whoa! The excitement about FIGMENT #1 selling through and going to second print created a surge of new orders after issue #2 was already printed, so Marvel is heading back to press on it as well before the issue even arrives in stores on July 2nd. Snag a copy when you see it because it looks like they won’t last long!
Here’s the official press release:
FIGMENT #2 Sparks a Second Printing!
Everyone is buzzing about FIGMENT! Hot on the heels of the critically-acclaimed first issue selling out and generating a second printing, Marvel is proud to announce that FIGMENT #2 has also sold out at the distributor level before it’s even released! FIGMENT #2 will head back to press and is available for order immediately.
Fan-favorite writer Jim Zub (Skullkickers), artist Filipe Andrade (Captain Marvel), and colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu continue their journey into imagination that has fans raving as they reveal the never-before-told origins of the enigmatic inventor known as Dreamfinder and his purple dragon companion Figment!
Here’s what critics had to say about the gorgeous first issue:
“Whether you have young readers, are young at heart, or just enjoy well developed characters and great sequential art, you’ll hardly be disappointed with FIGMENT.” – Comicosity.com
“…a delightful romp through the world of imagination that will please audiences both young and old.” – ComicVine.com
“If you’ve never considered yourself a comic book fan, we guarantee that’s about to change.” – D23.com
Don’t miss your chance to see what’s sparked the imagination of readers all over the world and why FIGMENT is perfect for Disney and Marvel fans alike! Catch up on the magic of the acclaimed first issue and snag a copy of FIGMENT #2 when it returns to comic shops later this month!
FIGMENT #2 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (MAY148175)
Written by JIM ZUB
Art by FILIPE ANDRADE
Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Elements based on Figment © Disney
FOC – 07/07/14, On-Sale – 07/30/14
June 24, 2014
Wayward Interview Featured on IGN
Pop culture super site IGN has just posted up a feature interview with me all about Wayward.
Click on through to give it a read and find out new details about my new supernatural comic series launching in August!
If you like what you’re seeing, please consider pre-ordering the first issue now.
June 20, 2014
Figment #1 Sold Out, 2nd Print On The Way!
I’m thrilled to announce that Figment #1 has sold out and is going back to press! Thanks for the support, everyone!
Here’s the official press release that just went out about it:
FIGMENT #1 Second Printing: Your Chance To See What Critics Are Raving About!
Reviewers and readers agree – FIGMENT #1 is a surprise hit! Today, Marvel is proud to announce that the first issue of the newest Disney Kingdoms series has sold out at the distributor level (though copies may still be available at retail) and will immediately head back to press! Rising-star writer Jim Zub (Skullkickers) and fan-favorite artist Filipe Andrade (Captain Marvel) take fans on an action-packed steampunk adventure as they journey into the realms of imagination and reveal the never-before-told origin of Figment and the enigmatic inventor known as Dreamfinder!
Here’s what critics had to say of the gorgeous first issue:
“Zub, Andrade, and Beaulieu perfectly capture what was at the heart of the original Disney attraction, but have created something entirely new.”
–TalkingComics.com
“Andrade’s work, with strong painterly colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu, is lovely.”
–ComicBookResources.com
“If you’ve never considered yourself a comic book fan, we guarantee that’s about to change.” – D23.com
“A visually brilliant story that will captivate the reader…this is an incredibly fun ride and I highly recommend it.”
–ComicVine.com
Now is your chance to catch up on the magic and experience the acclaimed first issue when FIGMENT #1 returns to comic shops on 7/23, and be sure not to miss FIGMENT #2 when it hits comic shops and digital devices on 7/2!
FIGMENT #1 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (MAY148098)
Written by JIM ZUB
Art by FILIPE ANDRADE
Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Elements based on Figment © Disney
FOC – 06/30/14, On-Sale – 07/23/14
FIGMENT #2 (MAY148098)
Written by JIM ZUB
Art by FILIPE ANDRADE
Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Elements based on Figment © Disney
FOC – 06/09/14, On-Sale – 07/02/14
June 16, 2014
Pre-Order Time for Wayward!
WAYWARD is coming at the end of August, and I know that seems far away, but it’s really not.
In fact, the next four weeks are an absolutely crucial period that will determine the long term viability of our whole series before even a single issue arrives in stores.
Yup, it’s solicit time.
Comic book retailers receive a spiffy Previews catalogue jam-packed with pictures, information, and order codes aplenty as publishers try to entice them to order strongly on hundreds of different line items, including many from worldwide superhero and media brands. In the thick of that jumbled mass is Wayward #1, the first issue of a brand new creator-owned comic series I’m launching at Image with artist Steve Cummings.
Without a tie-in movie/TV show, toys, video games, or other multimedia branding, one of the only ways to grab attention for a new title like this is for retailers to know that their customer base is interested in it… and the best way to do that is to pre-order the first issue.
• In the mood for a new story?
• Have you enjoyed other comics I’ve written?
• Have you found my tutorials on breaking in or working in comics helpful?
• Do you like the art that’s been teased so far?
• Are you liking the recent surge of creator-owned comics?
• Does teenagers beating the $#@% out of Japanese mythological monsters sound like a good time?
If you answered “YES” to any of the above, please consider pre-ordering WAYWARD #1 now from your local comic shop.
You’ve probably read my blogposts about the economics of creator-owned comics. What those pie charts and percentages should make very clear is this: Your pre-order matters. Pre-ordering and telling other people about creator-owned titles makes a huge difference and will help ensure we can keep Wayward rolling.
Here’s a convenient pre-order form (that includes solicit info and order codes) you can print out and take to your local comic retailer to let ‘em know you’re on board:
Want to find out more about Wayward? Over the next four weeks Steve and I will be doing a circuit of interviews and will be posting teaser artwork at pretty much every major comic news site online. I’ll keep this up to date, but here are ones up so far:
Image Announcement and Press Release
Comic Book Resources Interview
Comics Alliance Interview
And here’s the solicit:
WAYWARD #1
(W) Jim Zub (A) Steven Cummings, John Rauch (CA) Steven Cummings, Ross Campbell
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Rori Lane is trying to start a new life when she reunites with her mother in Japan, but ancient creatures lurking in the shadows of Tokyo sense something hidden deep within her, threatening everything she holds dear. Can Rori unlock the secrets of her power before it’s too late? JIM ZUB (SKULLKICKERS, Samurai Jack), STEVE CUMMINGS (Legends of the Dark Knight, Deadshot), and JOHN RAUCH (INVINCIBLE) team up to create an all-new Image supernatural spectacle that combines the camaraderie and emotion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the action and mystery of Hellboy. Don’t miss it!
Item Code: JUN140487 In Stores: AUGUST 27 / 32 PAGES / Full Color / Mature Readers / $3.50
June 13, 2014
Figment #1 Reviews!
The new Disney/Marvel FIGMENT comic mini-series launched on Wednesday and I’ve been happily bombarded with kind words and photos from readers near and far. Let’s see what reviewers thought…
• Comicosity: 8/10 “Zub and Andrade are going to take us on a magical adventure and I’ll happily be along for the ride.”
• GAMbit Magazine: 9/10 “Not only does it serve as a really strong number 1 issue, but it sets up what looks to be a fantastic adventure through one’s own wild and unfettered imagination.”
• Multiversity: 9/10 “Figment #1 turns an obscure Disney property into an all ages comic masterpiece.”
• Comic Vine: 4/5 “…a delightful romp through the world of imagination that will please audiences both young and old.”
• Laughing Place: ” This is writer Jim Zub’s first Marvel work, but I hope it’s not his last. He gracefully creates emotion while somehow easily explaining ideas that may not be straightforward.”
• Inside the Magic: “It’s clearly just the beginning of the adventure, a definite page-turner that ends leaving readers immediately wanting more.”
• D23.com: “A read through the comic and you’ll agree it’s just asking for a film adaptation.”
• Newsarama: 9/10 “While Zub certainly creates an interesting backstory for this licensed property, his greatest success lies in his and Andrade’s ability to tell a story that does not depend on the dialogue to understand what’s going on.”
• Comic Book Therapy: 4/5 “Charming and beautifully illustrated, Figment #1 is a lot of fun even if you haven’t been on the ride.”
• Dole Whip Daily: “I highly recommend this series to everyone who loves Disney and comics.”
• Talking Comics: “Zub, Andrade, and Beaulieu perfectly capture what was at the heart of the original Disney attraction, but have created something entirely new.”
• Pop Culture Network: 4/5 “When all is said and done, I found myself pleasantly surprised with how well the comic had pulled me into the narrative and made me long for the next instalment of the series.”
• First Impressions: 9.5/10 “Definitely my favorite book this week.”
• Pop Culture Maven: “Zub is crafting a really wonderful origin tale but is not falling in the trap of a first issue so-so story.”
• Between Disney: “…a well-written, beautifully illustrated tale that I felt achieved exactly what it wanted, part one of a heroic adventure of discovery.”
June 11, 2014
Figment #1 Now In Stores!
Today’s the day! FIGMENT #1 arrives in comic shops around the world.
It’s my first Disney writing project, first Marvel comic, and a big step forward in my writing career. Everyone on the team has worked incredibly hard to create a whimsical and enjoyable story for readers young and old in the style of classic fairytale stories like The Wizard of Oz or modern graphic novel adventures like Amulet.
Filipe Andrade and Jean-Francois Beaulieu have pulled out all the stops on artwork for the series, taking my script and breathing incredible vibrant life into it. The people and places are energetic, atmospheric, and wondrous.
John Tyler Christopher‘s eye-catching cover set the tone right off the bat for our story and I can’t wait for people to see the rest of the illustrations he’s done for the other chapters.
Joe Caramagna‘s lettering really puts the button on the storytelling with great flow from panel to panel and perfectly chosen sound effects to enrich the art.
Jim Clark, Brian Crosby, Josh Shipley, and the rest of the Disney Imagineering team have been incredibly supportive, helping me bring new ideas and characters to Dreamfinder’s legacy while ensuring that the story fit in well with the classic Disney World attraction.
Bill Rosemann and Mark Basso at Marvel brought me on board and have shepherded the series through each stage of development with enthusiasm and excitement. Their comic expertise and advice helped refine my core ideas into something special.
It’s a real team effort and I’m proud to be a part of it. I really do hope you give the first issue a read and let me know what you think of it.
Thanks!
Find your local comic shop to buy a printed copy: http://comicshoplocator.com
Buy Figment #1 digitally on comiXology here: http://www.comixology.com/Figment-1-of-5/digital-comic/102647
Comic Story Critique
One of my students from Seneca College (where I teach Animation courses) sent me two finished comic scripts for feedback. I don’t normally have time for this kind of critique, but we’ve talked quite a bit in the class about his desire to create comics and I wanted to encourage him to continue and push him to dig deeper. Here’s the feedback I sent, since I think a lot of the critique I write applies to new writers just starting out.
(Please do NOT send me your pitches/scripts for feedback. I really don’t have the time to review them. I did this as a personal favour for someone I know. I can’t spend all my time critiquing the work of strangers, especially with my insane work schedule right now).
—
Hi (name removed),
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this.
First off, congrats! Writing stories is tough and creating something new for yourself, especially the first few times, is always an intense uphill battle. You’ve finished a draft and that’s worthy of praise.
I read through both scripts and have quite a few thoughts, but I want you to know that I’m giving critique because I want your skills to improve and feel you’re capable of learning from the feedback rather than taking it personally. Tastes vary and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another, but getting feedback and deciding what criticism is valid for yourself is key.
TITLE: I’ve been told by several people that titling a story something negative can create a subconscious negative impression of the story itself. I know what you’re going for with that title and it’s okay, but I thought I’d mention that right out the gate.
FORMAT: Many of your panel descriptions are too brief and far too generic. You don’t have to create flowery prose for a comic script, but you do need to have enough material in there for the artist (unless you’re drawing it yourself?) to draw inspiration from. Using terms like “the city”, “the bank”, “the police station” doesn’t give us a sense of the place or atmosphere. What kind of city is this? What impression do these places give? Rich, poor, modern, historic – what do we need to know about these places to help us visualize them?
Always impart relevant information the very first time it’s required. You have several pages mentioning the crowd of people at the start of the story before you include information on the fact that there are mutants mixed in with that crowd. You also don’t mention that the main hero guy is wearing tech on his wrist until later when he uses it.
Remember that ‘page turns’ happen on even page numbers. You have several surprise/big reveal moments happening on odd page numbers, which means that if this was a printed comic the reader would already have seen the big moment with their peripheral vision as they read along.
PLOT: Your core story (cops investigating a superhero murder, a lesser hero murdering the #1 hero they’re jealous of) is really, really well worn cliché ground that’s been done many times before. Every twist and reveal is exactly what I expected it would be as I was reading. There’s nothing new here that hasn’t been done in other places.
One of the toughest things about creating new stories and being inspired by all kinds of different sources is that your earliest stories tend to be Frankenstein monsters of all your influences as you learn about form and storytelling methods. In that way, that’s exactly what you’ve done here. It’s competent, follows narrative logic and all wraps up cleanly. I think you’ve learned a lot just by writing this… BUT, it doesn’t have anything new/different/unexpected to say about superheroes, murder, or police work. The tropes are locked in place and a reader who knows the genres you’re taking from enough to want to read this will also see nothing here to excite them.
RESEARCH: After reading the story I don’t get the impression that you’ve done any research at all in to how actual murder investigations are conducted. Go beyond base level clichés and easy 1 note solutions. Even if you don’t use 90% of the research you do on actual police work, you can enrich the story with a 10% extra dose of reality by doing the legwork and finding out about the real thing. Everything goes too smoothly for your loser cops. They stumble across evidence and solve everything without breaking a sweat. They don’t follow any kind of protocol and just sort of stumble along and have it all go their way.
Same thing with the technology. Everything comes across as generic and too simple. They don’t give a sense of high-tech/future tech or any kind of specific reality. They’re just sci-fi-style shortcuts without anything new/unexpected.
DIALOGUE: If the entire story played out in a generic way but the characters were unique and witty the story could still be entertaining. What really hurts it for me is that your dialogue is just as cliché as the plot. Every character says the expected thing in the blandest way possible to move the plot forward. Everyone’s dialogue is interchangeable. There’s no personality coming through in the way they speak or their attitudes. They spout plot facts and move to the next scene.
This is where research can really come into it. Enrich the characters with facts about their lives, the city the story takes place in, the things that are happening before the story ever began. How did they end up where they are in the police force? What do they do when they’re not working? Who are they and why should we care?
Read the dialogue out loud. Get into character and say it differently for each person. How can you make the characters more distinctive sounding? How can you strengthen their personalities through the way they speak?
Again, I get that you’re playing with clichés, but would it kill you to have a woman (multiple women) in this story anywhere? Two superheroes, multiple bank robbers, cops, the police chief… they’re all guys. Don’t fall into the toxic head space that guys are protagonists and women are background material. It’s bullshit.
THEME: What is the theme of the story? What are you trying to say above and beyond the basic sequence of events? Not every story will be deep and meaningful, but finding a message/theme can be a helpful way of pushing yourself with bigger ideas to help drive the story.
I’m not saying you have to force a ‘deep’ moral core into it by any means, all kinds of fun stories can be built on silly/slight premises, but right now there’s absolutely nothing beyond the sequence of events and those events are generic.
Say something you believe in, not just what you think the audience wants to hear.
I know the above may come across as harsh, but I really do want to reinforce that you’ve done a good thing by completing these scripts. The only way to really learn storytelling is to do it. Reading tutorials and how-to books can’t replace the work itself. These scripts are the building blocks towards your improvement and you should be proud of that, even when I’m cutting deep with my criticism. I hear far too many people tell me they want to write stories and create things and then lament that they never have the time or make other excuses. You’re doing it and that is worthy. Keep doing. Keep building, self analysing, and improving.
