Comic Pitches: for the interested.

[toucanheadman]

So I'm gonna get my shit together and write a comic. I have a couple ideas, they are all going to be web-based but in graphic novel format. If you care enough to read, please offer your opinion on any of these ideas. Criticism is welcome.


PEN PAL (Tentative title): Comedy, Drama, Adventure, Slice of Life, Coming of Age
[spoiler]
A young man around the age of 20 hasn't attended college and is working in a fast food restaurant. He commonly reflects on his youth particularly the only time he came close to a girl personally, through a school pen pal program. One day he flips out at work and quits abruptly, with no job and a pending eviction from his apartment he has decided on one goal: To travel all the way across America to the west coast, to the address of his long-lost pen pal. The style of the story will be not so much directly a coming of age story like SLC Punk or The Wackness but more like the Odyssey or Big Fish.
[/spoiler]


ONWARD: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi / Fantasy
[spoiler]Kidnapped from birth the young boy nicknamed Gnut (his birth name unknown) has been forced to work in a factory his whole life as a assembler. Gnut has long lost his ability to speak due to larynx damage, but has gained an incredible mechanical engineering talent. This talent moves him up in his factory to one of the head Engineers at age 8. 6 years later in the middle of constructing a great weapon, a mercenary faction attacks the large factory hoping to give refuge to its hostages. Gnut is now cast into the vast, mysterious world. Going off a photo he had since he was kidnapped, he decides to find the two people who he believe to be his parents. The setting for this world could probably be compared to Megaman Legends the most, the world has been destroyed (Cause unknown and speculated) and now humanity is rebuilding itself again using the remains of the old world's technology. This is actually the plot to a game my some friends and I are developing, but it was originally a comic idea I had.[/spoiler]


BLACKJACK STORIES: Drama, Film Noir
[spoiler]This is about a group of hit men known as the Blackjack, renowned in the underworld as the finest group of assassins in the world. Many seek their aid, from criminal bosses and even government officials. The actual story is about these hit men at a table playing poker after the weekly group therapy. Each hit man describes a time where they almost quit being an assassin, leading to some deep wounds being reopened. The story is set mostly in flashback, and there isn't a lot of action even though they are assassins. The idea is actually inspired by an episode of Batman TAS "Almost Got 'Im". [/spoiler]


HENCHMAN: Homage, Parody, Comedy
[spoiler]A tale about the misadventures of a dime-a-dozen Henchman going from boss to villain trying to make next week's rent. However conflict arises when his son aspires to become a super villain himself. This is an idea I've been meaning to do for a while, without really developing on it much. [/spoiler]


GOD OF MEN: Suspense Thriller
[spoiler]
A renowned doctor takes a vacation to his roots, a small town in the sticks where he was born and raised. The plan is a week vacation with his father, who is a pastor and respected figure of the town, to take comfort and relax from the harsh day-to-day work of a doctor. However immediately as he enters the town he sees his father on the crest of a church steeple, ranting about the "Promised Land long sought after", and soon falls to his death. Very soon many people in the village begin to show similar symptoms, people hallucinating and talking in particular about a "Promised Land". The village is put under quarantine, and the doctor with his old mentor must collaborate to find the origin and cure for what they believe to be a deadly disease. However with death around the corner the town forgets its kind and gentle front and shows its ugly side.
[/spoiler]


RAMSHACKLE: Comedy, Action, Slice of Life, Magical Girl?
[spoiler]In a modern world between fantasy and reality, an ex-delinquent ignorant to the ways of magic tries to get his life on the right track until his old gang rekindles the rivalry between them and a magic using enemy gang. The rest of gang leaves town, leaving the MC the only remaining member of his gang in the area. After his car is bombed and his workplace ravaged, he loses all hope of living a normal life. However he encounters a little girl claiming to be a powerful witch. She promises to recruit a team of monsters and demons for him if he takes her into his custody. Being at the end of his rope, the MC passively agrees (believing that he won't see tomorrow). However, it turns out she actually is a very powerful magic user, and the two have to go around recruiting demons, mystical creatures,  and such to face off in a turf war against some old rivals. I got the idea from a novel we read in elementary school (can't remember the name of it) and the setting is inspired by Terry Pratchett Discworld novels.[/spoiler]


Those are the ideas I have. The problem is I have a lot of ideas and concepts but no material. Feedback would be awesome. Depending on that feedback might affect my decision of what comic I will write respectively. I just need something to get myself established with. In the end I might just write based on my own decision. WHO NOS WAT CULD HAPPIN LYFE IS SO UNPERDICKTABULL

[rtil]

i like the last one the most

[toucanheadman]

Thanks for the input! That's definitely the one where I tried to think of something more audience-friendly.

[manny]

who went 2 ape con this last fall?

[dilly]

i definitely like the last idea. it very much challenges the idea of a typical magical girl story.

the other story that particularly peaked my interest was the first one. it would be nice to find resolvement for this character by meeting the one person who has helped him in his life.

if you do end up writing these stories, i can always edit them for you too! (it's kind of what field i want to get into)

[harrison2142]

"Blackjack Stories" and "Ramshackle" sound the most interesting to me. I like the idea of a not very action-oriented story, where it focuses more on the personalities and morality of the characters and less on just them killing people.(Something I'm somewhat trying to aim for with my own comic.)

And Ramshackle just sounds pretty neat, turf wars and magic? Consider me interested.