I’m gonna cut right to the chase here: I have a shot at a contract with DC Comics.
This is it. This is what I’ve been waiting to tell you for months now. This is the “secret comics project.” What is it? It’s the story of a old movie theater that not only shows monster movies, but features real monsters. It’s called MONSTERPLEX.
Every month DC Comics (publisher of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc.) pits 10 comics against each other on their webcomics site, Zuda. For a few weeks, people are invited to rank, vote on and praise or damn the comics until one emerges victorious (read: most popular) and the creators of said comic are offered a one year contract to keep making it.
Yes, that means money. Yes, it’s thousands of dollars (not a ton, but enough to keep doing it). More importantly, it means the little boy inside me doing back flips will have his dreams come true. (He’s making me sick. Who knew the spleen was bouncy?)
On Monday, Feb. 1st at Noon Eastern Standard time, my submission, MONSTERPLEX, went live on the Zuda site. You can go check it out right here, right now. Together with artist David Schlotterback (my office mate) and colorist Michael DeVito (Publisher of Th3rd World Studios, the company that publishes my comic, The SuperFogeys), I’ve created what I think is a great comic. I hope you agree.
I hope you agree because this is where you come in. I would like you to join me on TEAM MONSTERPLEX. Between the great work my creative team has done on MONSTERPLEX and the power you hold as one who can access the interweb, I think we can win this thing. We can’t do it without you.
So, how can you help? Lots of ways, actually. First and foremost is going to the Zuda site and giving MONSTERPLEX attention and votes. How do you do that? Let me explain:
1. First of all, go to http://www.zuda.com Pretty cool, right?
2. Hit the “Sign Up!” link in the upper right hand corner. You can’t vote or interact with the site in any meaningful way without registering first (don’t worry, it’s painless and DC Comics won’t spam you afterwards).
3. Follow the instructions to create your Zuda account. If you want to load up an avatar, cool (don’t have to though). We’ve even got some MONSTERPLEX avatars for you to use at the bottom of this post that are all ready to go!
4. Click on the Zuda logo in the upper left corner of the screen to go back to the homepage.
5. Click on “VOTE” to go to the current competition.
6. Scroll down until you see MONSTERPLEX and then click on that!
7. Now, this is the good part. There’s a whole bunch of things you can do to support MONSTERPLEX and they’re all right here:
a. Click the VOTE button!
b. Give MONSTERPLEX a star rating under “Rate This Comic:” (5 is great, but follow your conscience.)
c. Click the red “+” sign to “Add to Your Favorites”
d. Scroll way down on the page and leave a comment!
Yes, all of these things really do matter and are counted by Zuda. Here’s how they put it, from the FAQ:
“HOW DO I HELP A COMIC WIN A COMPETITION?
"There are a number of ways to help your favorite comic win a competition.
“The most direct way is by VOTING for it! The vote button is on the Competition Page and on the Comic Information drop-down on the Comic Page itself.
“You can also help a comic by making it one of your FAVORITES or by giving it a high RATING. The favorites button and a five-star rating scale are in the Comic Information section of the Comic Page. Even VIEWING and COMMENTING helps us determine which comic is ultimately going to be number one!
“Finally, if you're really dedicated, you can download a banner from our Support Page to post on your blog or personal web page. Nothing helps out a comic like bringing in a new audience that can also Read, Favorite, Rate, Comment and especially Vote!”
Let me talk a bit about that last part. There’s no way TEAM MONSTERPLEX can succeed without pulling people in. If you have a blog or a Facebook page or a Twitter account or webcomic or an etc.—you can help! We need to spread the word on this as far and wide as we can if we’re going to win.
That’s the only way this is going to happen.
Now, I know what you’re asking, “What’s in this for me?” Well, I wish I was a rich man. If I was, I’d give everybody truckloads of cash for the support (although I do think that would be against the rules, but still…). So, no, it’s not about money. It’s about supporting a comic you think is cool and the guys who are creating it. It’ about participating in something that’s gonna be a lot of fun. I hope you’ll join us.
Meanwhile, I’m gonna be out there like crazy trying to drum up support. I’ve established a MONSTERPLEX blog where I’ll be posting something new everyday—sketches, commentary, news, links to reviews and interviews. The works. Every day.
Bookmark http://monsterplex.blogspot.com/ to follow along!
You can also find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/brockheasley
Or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/brockheasley
And, of course, the Facebook MONSTERPLEX Fan Page: (Coming Soon!)
And I’ll be all over the comments section of the MONSTERPLEX comic on Zuda: http://zudacomics.com/node/1759
Thanks in advance to everyone who comes out to support us. Feel free to copy this post and paste it in your own blogs and such. I think it’ll be pretty safe to say I’ll owe you all one, and that’s okay.
It all begins now!
Brock
.JPG)
.JPG)
