The third time is a charm… hopefully

As mentioned in an earlier post, Cutter’s Reward was accepted by Hamtramck Idea Men for publication in an upcoming edition of If-X. There was a stipulation: The font used for one of the character’s dialogue had to be changed. Artist S.T. Smith (aka Steve Smith) had used a stylized font for the dialogue, which was a great idea used to great effect, but the selected font was thought to be difficult to read in parts.

Steve was nice enough to make the changes. I sent the revised pages to the Idea Men last week. The response was quick. The changes didn’t make the cut. Michael Marcus of the Idea Men provided detailed feedback this time, including an attachment showing a revision he made to one of the pages to better illustrate what he was looking for.

Steve made the revisions. The latest pages came to me this evening and I promptly zipped them up and shipped them to Michael via yousendit.com. I have my fingers crossed.

The original lettering used in Cutter's Reward.	Steve's revised font. Looks to me like he changed the font type.
Michael Marcus provided this example.	Steve's latest revision. He stuck to the font he used in the second submission, but increased its size.

As you read this you might think this is a lot of effort for six measly pages of comics, but I disagree. What this process has shown is the Idea Men take their publication seriously. Here are two guys (I think there are just the two of them running the show) who are organizing, contributing to, producing and printing a themed comics anthology on a set schedule. These guys are professionals. These are the kind of guys and this is the kind of publication with which I want to be associated.

Accepted

Michael Marcus of the Hamtramck Idea Men got in touch to let me know Cutter’s Reward has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of IF-X. He said he liked the “artistic style” and the “spooky feel”. Kudos to artist Steve Smith for doing such a great job on bringing my comic script to life. He nailed the atmosphere I had hoped to create.

The acceptance comes with one provision: We need to change the font used for one of the character’s dialogue. Mr. Marcus found it difficult to read at times. I have contacted Steve Smith to let him know the good news and to ask him to make the lettering change. He is in the midst of a move but I am confident he will find the time to make the changes.

Submission to IF-X

Cutter’s Reward was packaged and sent to the Hamtramck Idea Men on Wednesday this week. Artist Steve Smith and I hope they feel our six-page comic will make a good addition to the Halloween 2009 edition of IF-X. Keep your fingers crossed for us, folks. I will let you know regardless of the outcome.

Cutter’s Reward

Rough sketch by Steve Smith for Cutter's Reward

Cutter’s Reward  is a five-page comic script I wrote for a script writing contest on penciljack.com a couple years ago. I won the contest with the script. It has been available on my blog as an example of my script writing for almost a year, and it had been about that long since I had read it. In going through some computer files recently I came across the script, gave it a read and really enjoyed it. I immediately went to digitalwebbing.com and posted an ad, looking for an artist interested in drawing the tale.

I narrowed the responding artists down to three candidates: Steve Smith, Wes Bernick and Adam Sward. It was a tough decision but I offered the gig to Steve Smith because his style best matched what I had envisioned for the tale. This was in April 2009.

Yesterday, he sent me finished artwork for Cutter’s Reward, which we expanded to six pages to make for a more visually dramatic ending. I sent him my feedback today, the majority of which was about changes to the lettering and not the artwork. I suspect within a week or less this short tale will be finished and ready to send out to the publisher I have in mind: Hamtramck Idea Men. They publish a themed collection of comic stories every second month. I think Cutter’s Reward would be a good addition to their Halloween 2009 issue, which is published in October.

I will keep you informed of our progress.