My first work-for-hire job.*

When you’re just starting out in comics, there’s this fantasy scenario of an editor approaching you and saying, “hey, I liked this thing you did, do you want to write for us?” It’s a nagging daydream that doesn’t go away.

Eventually, you understand that your value as a creative person does not depend on someone else’s perception of you or your work. But that nagging daydream is a real thing, especially at the beginning, and it’s hard not to stew in it when nothing seems to be coming your way.

Whether it’s because it’s your dream job to write for a specific company or you just need to pay your fucking electric bill, in my experience, it really overshadowed my perception of how I thought my own career should look. This is a bad place to operate from because you’ll say yes to opportunities that are dog shit.

It’s important to know that this sort of thing is very common, especially when you’re green and desperate for any scraps you can get. Important context to note is that I was running IGN Comics during this time, so I was already doing a delicate balance of having journalistic integrity covering an industry I was actively trying to work in (this is a future newsletter topic for sure).

“Get your name out there”

My first creator-owned book, FOOTPRINTS with Jonathan Moore, had gotten a modicum of buzz in the indie comics sphere in 2011, partially thanks to a raised online profile because of my job at IGN and placement about the book in USA Today, and partially because we were early adopters of using Kickstarter for comics.

In 2012 I was approached by an editor from Zenescope, a publisher I was familiar with but didn’t generally read. Their primary claim to fame is the GRIMM FAIRY TALES series that reinterprets characters like Red Riding Hood in an urban fantasy/superhero-esque setting with cheesecake character designs and lotsa boobies on their covers. They have a passionate fanbase across the gender spectrum and they’ve been around longer than most indie publishers, so it seems to work for them. No shade to sexy comics, truly.

They asked if I was interested in writing a five-issue “event” series called GRIMM FAIRY TALES: BAD GIRLS, focusing on some of the villainous characters in the universe. Everything was generally conceived by their head honchos (they get “story by” credit on everything, including BAD GIRLS, so far as I can tell), so they already had a thin outline in place. They described it as their INFINITE CRISIS.

I was torn because I wasn’t really a fan, but taking gigs that don’t necessarily light your fire is part of the reality of being a writer-for-hire. You find what’s interesting to you about the characters or property and do the best you can with it, hoping to raise your profile enough to get another project off the ground, ideally something you own. Rinse, repeat. To that end, a colleague suggested getting my name out there in any capacity couldn’t hurt. And it didn’t hurt, but it sure didn’t feel great either.

It paid $10/page. The first script was due five days after getting the offer. For all of these reasons, I should have said no. Tight deadlines are not out of the ordinary in comics (nor are bad page rates, for that matter), and these days, I know what I am capable of and how long it takes for me to turn things around. But it was an OPPORTUNITY and I felt like saying no would be spitting in the face of what I’d been working toward. So I said “of course, no problem” and got to work.

I should add that everyone was very nice and professional in communications, if a little disorganized, but they got me what I needed to get started and paid my pittance on time. I got compliments for hitting their insane deadlines. One thing I didn’t get was a preview PDF before issue #1 went to print, and when I opened the issue, I was a little surprised to see a bunch of dialogue I didn’t write, and, crucially, was not good and seemingly changed arbitrarily. Which happened issue after issue. I thought it was normal, so I didn’t make a fuss. It was my first real gig, so why be difficult to work with? Plus, it’s their book. The $240 they gave me said so!

Later I learned from a highly respected industry professional that it absolutely was not standard practice and they kindly reminded me that my name is on the cover, so be mindful of what I let happen with it. Regardless, I was already in the thick of it, and issue #1 came out around San Diego Comic-Con and they had me sign at their booth and there was a big line of Zenescope readers, and it was genuinely fun! I still occasionally have someone bring me a copy at a signing that I have to remind myself not to scoff at. Also, I used a photo from that signing in the online dating profile in which I met my wife, so it was all worth it.

By the time BAD GIRLS was done, they were talking about me maybe doing something else, but by this time I’d figured out that the vibes weren’t right, even if I didn’t yet have other experiences to compare it to.

Not long after, I quit IGN to pursue making comics full-time. I found out from a former Zenescope employee that I was hired specifically because I worked there, not because of my creator-owned work. They thought they might be able to drum up some free press at IGN, where we didn’t typically cover their books. Needless to say, this pissed me off big time and I haven’t paid attention to anything they’ve done since.

Remember that the road is long and winding

I look back on BAD GIRLS as a comic and shudder, because it’s not good. (Unless you bought it, then I say, thank you for reading!) It was never mine, yet it still follows me. It’s on all of my author pages on things like Goodreads, League of Comic Book Geeks, Amazon, etc.

Thankfully I’ve gotten more work that I’m proud of under my belt in the last thirteen years that’s pushed it further down on my resume, so it’s not as in-my-face as it once was. And I learned a lot, which is worth more than $10/page.

The hard part is, I’m essentially giving advice that I myself had heard and simply ignored. The indie comics community, in my experience, has always been transparent with one another, at least privately, about certain industry practices and what to look out for. If you ask a colleague about their experience with X,Y, or Z, they’ll tell you.

So this stuff didn’t surprise me, not even then, but I chose to weather it and see if things could shake out differently for me. They didn’t, but at least I gained some lived experience that armed me with some intel for the better things yet to come.

So, if you’re just starting out and reading this, I hope you’ll keep this top of mind. But also know that if you wanna see for yourself how things shake out, I get it. If things go bad, finish what’s contractually obligated and politely move on, but to paraphrase Batman, tell all your friends about them.

I should finish by saying that the week I wrote this newsletter, I got TWO of those daydream emails with editors asking me to work on a specific thing. So just keep going.

Baby steps to the elevator,

-Joey
[email protected]
PO Box 1093, Bath, ME 04530
Buy my comics

*Technically my first published work-for-hire job was a one-page Dig-Dug comic for a defunct company called ShiftyLook. My OTHER first work-for-hire job was a graphic novel for a weird Stan Lee imprint that never came out (and paid less than Zenescope). But BAD GIRLS was my first WFH series that actually hit the stands.

CRITICAL SHIT

Our Zoop crowdfunding campaign for SHITKICKERS #1 and #2 was a success! This was my first experience with Zoop and it was a fun experiment. The benefit is they handle all aspects of the campaign (compared to Kickstarter, where the creator does the heavy lifting or hires a third party). We’re finalizing the back matter for these issues, then it’s on to prepping for a #3 and #4 campaign! I’m experimenting a little here — my hope is to crowdfund single issues in batches on Zoop, release them on GlobalComix, and eventually build toward a collected edition funded on Kickstarter.

You can still read SHITKICKERS #1 free on GlobalComix —and issue #2 will be dropping there once the campaign backers get their rewards.

C2E2 2025 — I am listed as a guest on the C2E2 website, where I was planning on attending but, alas, life happens and I will have to swing by Eleven City Diner for latkes at a later date. Sean Von Gorman (of Comics) will be there, however, to answer any and all PEDESTRIAN questions! I have FOMO already. Artist Alley N-09!

LA STRONG — On sale now! Mad Cave’s charity anthology benefits comic book creators impacted by the wildfires in LA, and Team Pedestrian did a new short story for it, inspired by the Culver City Stairs.

THE PEDESTRIAN VOL. 1 is still available wherever you get your books! You can also grab it in my web store and it’s widely available online. Sean and I will be appearing on a PBS program in April to talk about the book, and a few comic shops across the nation are going to be discussing the book as part of their book clubs in the coming months! So if you shop at Comix Experience in San Francisco (for which we’ll be producing a CE-exclusive signed book plate!), Galactic Comics and Collectibles in Bangor, Maine, or The Geekery in Matawan, New Jersey… be sure to check in with your shop for details!

COOL SHIT

NEWS FROM THE FALLOUT by Chris Condon and Jeffrey Alan Love

I’ve been a fan of Chris Condon since his excellent wrestling noir HELL IS A SQUARED CIRCE and everything he’s done since has been great. It’s been awesome seeing his talents recognized as he forges memorable runs on GREEN ARROW and ULTIMATE WOLVERINE. Also he is very nice. If you’re into THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE OUTER LIMITS, this is one you gotta scope out. Tell your local comic shop or pre-order here! On sale June 25 from Image Comics!

THE FORGOTTEN FIVE by Alex Segura, Sara Century, and Pat Kennedy

Alex is someone I admire as both a writer and a human, and knowing his extreme love for things like LOVE & ROCKETS and Claremont’s time on X-MEN, THE FORGOTTEN FIVE is the inevitable synthesis of all those influences. Even better, Alex and his team are running this on Patreon independently, so for $5/month you can read installments of the book, support the team making it, and hear all about the process. It’s an exciting model that I would be happy to steal at some point! (Alex is also launching the new STAR WARS series, no big deal.)

LAURA KINNEY: WOLVERINE by Erica Shultz and Giada Belviso

My comics sister, Erica Shultz, has been crushing it for a long time, both in the creator-owned space with fine works like THE DEADLIEST BOUQUET and also over at Marvel writing so many titles I don’t know how she possibly does it. But one of her latest, WOLVERINE starring the former X-23 Laura Kinney, has been truly a blast. The first trade paperback collects issues 1-5 and will be out in August, but you can pre-order now, or head to your comic shop to snag the issues!

SUPERGUY #1 by Anthony “Tony Nacho” Iannaccio and Joey Murphy

Tony Nacho is co-host of COMICS AND CHRONIC, a podcast I’ve been on a couple times to talk about THE PEDESTRIAN and SHITKICKERS, and is one of the most ardent supporters of indie comics anywhere. Plus, he holds the distinction of being the first-ever PEDESTRIAN cosplayer. At NYCC he gave me an ashcan of his comic SUPERGUY, which is about the laziest superhero of all time and is a ton of fun. They’re crowdfunding for the full first issue with a bunch of sweet covers, including one by Sean Von Gorman (above). Check it out on Kickstarter!

OTHER SHIT I’M WORKING ON

PROJECT GOLDEN AXE — This is a new work-for-hire comic that I’m having a blast tinkering with, one of the aforementioned daydream emails. Pitches are due next week as I write this, so the phase I’m in right now is one of my favorite stages of a WFH gig. I’m just reading a lot, watching a lot, jotting down ideas as they come to me. I tend to start with the thing itself and then crawl outwards to things of a similar genre, vibe, or something that it influenced or was influenced by. I haven’t officially put pen to paper, but the editor thought I was the right person for the job and I gotta say, I agree!

PROJECT HELMET — Also a very recent development and the other one of those daydream emails. This is one of those bucket list items you just hope you don’t fuck up. Fingers crossed, no pressure. Will be moving onto this one full-time once I send off the Project Golden Axe pitches.

PROJECT PUKE — Tony Gregori just wrapped our pitch pages (they are AWESOME) and has already shared a color version of what I showed in this newsletter last month — so here it is! We also got a cover back from the mighty James Stokoe for this, which I desperately want to show off but will resist for now. Hopefully you see it on your local comic shop’s shelf sooner rather than later.

SHITKICKERS — Andrea and I talk regularly and he’s in the weeds on drawing #6, the final issue (for now?). Issue #6 was a great example of why I love making comics with talented people. I wrote a scene one way, but when we talked about it, Andrea presented a different way to do the same thing I was trying to accomplish, and we wound up with something that wouldn’t have existed if we weren’t working together. That’s magic, dude.

MADAM — No huge updates here, but colorist Ed Ryzowski is cranking away on pages and I’m hopeful we’ll start putting chapters for this horror OGN out digitally before launching a crowdfunding campaign sometime down the line.

THE PEDESTRIAN  — The new Pedestrian story in Mad Cave’s LA STRONG charity anthology came out last week. It’s full of heartfelt stories about Los Angeles and some stunning art. It delighted me to hear some readers picked up this charity book specifically for more PEDESTRIAN. We’re still sorting out the next phase of the story and awaiting the elusive green light, but we’ve been having a lot of fun working with a TV writer friend on a pilot.

PROJECT SALT — Felipe Cunha and I were stoked to welcome Dearbhla Kelly aboard to color this one for us, and what a lovely job they’ve done. Unfortunately, the cover artist who agreed to do something for us ghosted, which is a bummer, but as a result we’ve brought in another fantastic artist AND a punk rock legend to do some covers and I couldn’t be more stoked.

PROJECT LAUPER — This is the work-for-hire inventory issue I mentioned last time, for which I’ve since done the lettering draft and am looking forward to seeing the finished book come back. A lettering draft, by the way, is the stage after the art is done but before it goes to the letterer. This is where the writer should be making adjustments necessitated by the art. For example: the artist managed to condense two panels into one, but now you’ve got to tweak your dialogue so it fits. Or: Character A speaks first in the script but Character B is on the left side of the panel, which would make for a messy criss-crossing of balloon tails. I love this stage, because it’s the first real look at how an issue will actually read in practice rather than the version in your head. It’s a fun puzzle.

Thanks for hanging out. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].