The People’s Publisher

Hi everyone.

This week on Gustav Hayes we are slowing down from showing glitzy previews of the actual artwork to go behind the curtain a touch further. To begin. I had asked Morgan Jeske to give his insight into the process of building Gustav Hayes up to date. I thought this would appeal to those pitching and writing scripts - to hear the process from the writers perspective. Yes it is an easy blog post on my part. If I am feeling up to it (bloody head cold) than I might do a follow-up post else I will continue further upon this and more Gustav Hayes news next week. For now, take it away Morgan…

The Beta Book Editorial Process- Writers’ POV

The information was beamed to our respective brains from satellites the government doesn’t want us to know about, in the form of pink laser beams. It hurt…real hard. But seriously.

As I remember it, a series of introductory emails were exchanged between Robert (my editor) and myself, wherein we compared taste in comics, film, music etc. to get a sense of one another (it’s not what your like that matters, it’s what you like, silly) Quickly we dispensed with the pleasantries and got down to brass tax, reviewing the “script”(I think I wrote the original draft in crayon).

In my case, I had already formatted the script in one of many possible comic script templates. Panel description/action-Dialogue etc. So we had a leg up in that regard. Robert reviewed the script and sent back very detailed and constructive notes, suggesting changes in pacing and panel arrangement. Based on these brilliant notes, I took my baby (script) and cut off its arms (extraneous fat). You see without arms, it will fly out of the cannon faster. I developed the story in a way that allowed me to not get attached to any one aspect, very common law you might say, allowing the process to run very smoothly. I made changes, for the better, and we both approved the finalized script!

Robert (editor extraordinaire) hunkered down for what I can assume was a weekend filled with vodka and smelling salts, and thumb nailed the entire script for my leisurely viewing pleasure. Over at the dashboard, Robert and myself discussed the thumbnails compared to the script, also on the dashboard, and worked out any kinks in the story flow.

Parallel with our discussions of thumbnails, Robert and myself compiled what we refer to as a Vision Document. In this “bible” we crammed all of the influences for the story, be it images or links to similar comics. Also included were the aesthetic choices, such as, color palette, penciling style etc. In my case, I had already produced a story bible prior to the book getting picked up, so it was like a double whammy of culture. The purpose of the Document is to get the editors and the entire art team on the same page with regard to the overall tone and direction of the book. When all of the materials were combined, Robert and I reviewed and approved the Vision Document.

The next step was to choose our art team. This was the moment I had been dreaming about, on the nights I wasn’t dreaming about being the lizard the Kirk fights to the death on ‘Trek”, oh, to be blasted by the mighty rock shooting gun that Spock built(?!). Robert presented me with an artist whose style matched exactly what I described in the Vision Document (it’s really important see!) The Vision Document and the script were sent to the artist, and a series of character sketches were done and loaded onto the Dashboard for review by Robert and myself. After we settled on the art that worked, an official Pin-up to promote the book was requested of the artist. Once it came in we reviewed and approved it. On to Page X!

This is where the magical part of being a comic’s writer comes in. A page was chosen from the script, which represents the overall tone of the book, a page that contains within it, all the awesome the book has to offer. The artist penciled the page, we reviewed, requested revisions and approved. The penciled page was then sent to the inker, who inked (obviously), we reviewed and approved. Next the page was sent to colorist (who also happens to be the inker on ‘Hayes’, BONUS!!) We reviewed, requested changes and requested a few more, then finally approved. Last but not least, the letterer got his shot and turned in the “words” I wrote. Approved! This brings me to why this is so totally and completely awesome, I wrote some trite derivative story, and some really talented people took what I saw in my head and ran with it. In the case of Hayes, the pages that came in were interpreted in totally unique ways, beyond my expectations.

So there you have it, the process as I remember it. If I’ve left anyone or anything out and you’re reading this, and are enraged by my ignorance, please feel free to set your Bowel Disruptors to Pro-lapse and fire away.

I love you Comic Books!

Morgan Jeske
Gustav Hayes- writer