Who Wants To Be The Next Bendis, Smith or Straczynski???

[delekkerste]

Check this out:

 

http://www.marvel.com/epic

 

Well, Marvel's announced its submission guidelines for its relaunched Epic line, and there's nothing preventing any one of us from wreaking havoc on the Marvel Universe! You can even use existing Marvel characters (though Jemas says you should stick to 2nd & 3rd tier characters, as if you want to write about Spidey, you have to do it better than Straczynski and Bendis).

 

I know there's a great Brother Voodoo, Rocket Racer or Devil Dinosaur mini-series percolating in somebody's head out there...!

 

Gene

[OldGuy]

"there's nothing preventing any one of us from wreaking havoc on the Marvel Universe"

 

There are a couple of small things stopping me. Most notable are the profound lack of creativity and artistic talent.

 

Now that I think about it though, I might stand a chance of working for DC.

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

As a friend pointed out to me, has no one noticed the requirement that writers sign a Work For Hire contract?

 

Read the fine print.

[Illiterati-migration]

As a friend pointed out to me, has no one noticed the requirement that writers sign a Work For Hire contract?

 

Soooo... yes. That's a bad thing. A very bad thing. (In ten words or less, what is it?)

[OldGuy]

Oh yea, that takes me out of the running then.

[Zonker]

'Work for Hire' means Marvel now owns your story and all characters in your story.

 

Ya get paid once, with maybe a small residual if it is ever reprinted. But if Marvel ever makes a movie out of your Vengeful Varmit creation, ya might get a cameo, but no dollars! (cf. Marv Wolfman, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bill Finger, Stan Lee...)

 

Cheers,

Z.

[blowout]

I thought that the whole premise behind Marvels relaunch of Epic would be that it could handle creator owned projects.

[Zonker]

the fine print (in pdf)

 

summary:

 

They direct you to download and read 2 agreements:

1) the work-for-hire thing;

 

and, if your -script does NOT take place in Marvel Universe and does NOT use Marvel characters, then also

 

2) the creator-owned agreement.

 

Perhaps the instructions with these agreements make things clear. Sounds like an either/or proposition, depending upon what you're bringing to the party.

 

Z.

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

What's weird is that if it's your own creation, they tell you to download the Creator-Owned Agreement IN ADDITION to the Work for Hire document, but then go on to explain that these agreements transfer all ownership of your work to them as work for hire. This is *after* they mention the Creator-Owned agreement as well. Whatever that is, it sounds like it's not an agreement allowing for ownership - maybe it's just a paper stating that you warrant that your creations were not lifted from anyone else or something like that. In any event, it's a nice way to get some exposure but it sounds like in every direction they'll own it.

[blowout]

I can't see too many creators with original ideas/creations being attracted by these kind of terms.

Looks like Marvel wants to have their cake and eat it.

[joe_collector]

It sounds like Marvel is just trolling for new ideas, and likely has no need or intention to hire anyone new.

 

Every once in a while they run a freebie contest to see if one-in-a-thousand ideas is worth its salt, like that "Create an X-Force Character" steal-an-idea fest awhile back.