Joseph Nassise

by Joe Nassise

Last night the formal announcement was made via press release that Markosia Comics in the UK had acquired the rights to adapt my novel HERETIC into a six issue comic mini-series. As I’ve always been a big comic book lover, this was very exciting news for me (and something that I’ve just been dying to tell people about for the last few months as we worked through the contract details) and I’m psyched that it’s come to fruition. As I was looking over the column I had already prepared for this month, I decided to put that on the back burner and talk about something else.

Specifically, how (and why) I chose to pursue getting HERETIC adapted into comic format.

I’ve been reading comics since I was a kid. I’m not attached to any particular style or character or company – I just peruse the shelves every couple of weeks and grab whatever catches my eye. If I like something, I’ll chase down back issues if necessary or continuing buying the series as it goes along. I’m not much attracted to the big marketing events like Marvel’s Civil War that’s going on right now. I prefer shorter story arcs, along the lines of four to six issue mini series. The last two mainline series I’ve spent time reading have been Wraithborn by Joe Benitez and Marcia Chen and Hunter Killer by Marc Silvestri and Mark Waid. In the last month I’ve also enjoyed series by independent comic producers, like Midnight Kiss by Ryan Stegman and Tony Lee, The Black Coat by Ben Lichius, Adam Cogan, and Francesco Francavilla, and Elsinore by Ken Lillie-Paetz and Brian Denham. My tastes are varied and wide ranging, but I am always looking for strongly told stories with artwork to match.

When it comes to my writing, I work off of the scenes I see unfolding in my head. I “see” them as I write, which gives my writing a certain cinematic quality, according to some of my critics – long on action and excitement and short on character development. While I’m not 100% in agreement with them, I do admit to certain shortcomings in this area and I gave some thought as to how I might use turn those shortcomings into an advantage. Almost immediately the idea of bringing the Templar Chronicles to comic format came to mind – it would allow the cinematic nature of my writing to shine while at the same time mate my text with art that graphically displays the action sequences. The art itself would also help portray some of the character development that is sometimes overshadowed in my writing by the action.

Of course, I knew nothing about comics from the business standpoint. At that point, the sum total of my knowledge was:

– I knew I liked them.

– I knew there were a few major giants in the industry with a lot of independent companies trying to get a date to the dance running at their heels.

– I knew that I’d need an artist.

But that was it. (Oddly enough, I knew even less about writing when I sat down to work on my first novel, so I wasn’t overwhelmed or stressed out at my lack of knowledge, I just knew I needed to expand it significantly. Understanding the market is always an important part of publishing, regardless of the medium you are operating within.)

So I set out to learn as much as I could about the players in the game. I learned very quickly that the majority of the market share is made up of comics produced by the two to four companies, with the biggest being Marvel and DC (oaky, so I knew that already too, but it was interesting to see what the numbers really were saying.) I learned that breaking into these two companies with little to no direct comic experience was going to be tough. It also came to my attention that for most of the companies that were inclined to accept submissions from outsiders, I would need to put together a complete package, including a sample cover, several pages of sequential art, and a full script to go with it.

I figured that my best bet was getting in with some of the up and comers among the independent firms. They were more prone to look at creator owned properties and while the pay wouldn’t be as good I was confident that I could broker a better deal with respect to things like merchandising rights.

I still needed an artist, however. And not just an artist, but more than likely a team consisting of a penciler (who draws the original art), an inker (who adds highlights, emphasis, shadows, etc by inking the art), and a colorist (who adds color to the inked drawing.) I would more than likely also need a letterer (who would add the text to the pages). Not knowing anyone with these skills, I began to build my network. I hang out on comic bulletin boards, looking at samples and listening to the folks in the industry. I began to get an idea of what style of art I wanted to the Chronicles and what kind of deal I could offer those who might be interested. Eventually, after several months, I had put together an excellent team of guys who were good at their individual skills and hungry enough to work with me in putting together a submission package. Not too long after that, we had some excellent character concepts and several pages of penciled, inked, and colored sequential art.

I was really happy with what we put together and so I got to work – presenting it would be my job. I got on the phone and reached out to talk with editors at several comic companies, requesting permission to show them the project while at the San Diego Comic Con in July of 2005. I flew in for two whirlwind days and met with eight to ten editors, from companies ranging from Top Cow to Image to Platinum Studios.

Then I sat back to wait.

(Next month I’ll tell you just how valuable those face to face meetings turned out to be. Like the new Ford commercials say, bold moves sometimes pay off.)