Broken Soul Press has always offered quality stories and solid art. And, publisher Curtis Lawson is at it again. Broken Soul’s latest offering is an anthology of Golden Age heroes. Curtis chatted with CBI’s John Michael Helmer about the new project…
JMH: Talk about Broken Soul Press and 2012…
CURTIS: For 2012 I’m going to be focusing on continuing with our Curse of The Black Terror webcomic, and I hope to completely revamp the BSP website. There’s a number of things I’m not happy with on there and I’d like to focus the site on the digital comic end of our business. Curse of The Black Terror may move to its own site, just to make the comic easier to navigate and so the comic can be the real star of the site.
Also in regards to Curse of The Black Terror, I have a lot of talented artists lined up. Stephen Holcomb II, who I did the webcomic Divis Morte with, is slated to draw three chapters. That will make him the first repeat artist on Curse of The Black Terror. I will also be introducing an incredibly fun new villain to the comic.
As for the digital comic end of things at Broken Soul Press, I’m putting together an Anthology called Tarnished and may release some of the short horror comics I’ve done in a kind of “Tales from the Crypt” style format.
JMH: One of your current projects is Tarnished Anthology. What is the anthology about?
CURTIS: Tarnished is an anthology of short comics, 5-12 pages, where a golden age hero that falls in the public domain is re-imagined in a fresh, modern way. This idea was inspired by the success I’ve had with Curse of The Black Terror. Mostly I’m looking for darker stories that kind of fit with gritty style of work that we publish. The tag line is going to be something like “the golden age has never looked so dark”.
What I want to see is interesting variations on costumes and identity that still keep some measure of the original character intact. I want the reader to be able to look at the golden age character standing next to the tarnished character and be able to see a sensible evolution.
JMH: With so many intellectual properties in existence, how do you as an editor verify that a character is in the public domain?
CURTIS: If a submission catches my attention I’ll do the research online about the character. There’s a fairly comprehensive website about public domain super heroes that I’ve been spending a lot of time at. http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes
If I can’t verify that the character is in the public domain I will ask the creator to provide verification.
JMH: In what formats will the anthology be released?
CURTIS: Only digital to start off. I’ll put it up on Drive Thru Comics and Graphicly, as well as sell it as a CBRfile through Broken Soul Press. If it does well maybe I’ll be in a position to do a print run at some point.
JMH: Will you have an entry?
CURTIS: I do have an entry based around a character called the Green Ghost. He’s an occult investigator type of character. I had originally put the story together for another company’s anthology that fell apart.
I’d also like to put in an original Black Terror story, though I haven’t written one for this just yet.
JMH: What are the submission guidelines?
CURTIS: Submissions are now open for our TARNISHED anthology!
What is TARNISHED?
Tarnished is going to be an anthology of 5-12 page comics re-imagining golden age super heroes or villains that now fall in the public domain. It will be published digitally through Drive-Thru comics and Graphicly. Maybe we will do some print down the road if things go well.
What we are looking for…
Re-imaginings should be original, interesting takes on classic heroes (or villains) that somehow keep a measure of the original character’s spirit intact. We are mostly interested in stories that take a darker tone, but more light-hearted material will be considered if executed extremely well.
Submissions which re-imagine a particularly lame character in a bad ass way will get special attention. (ever read that issue of Ultimate Spidey where Bendis explored Shocker’s history?)
All submissions must be complete (Pencils, inks, colors, letters). Submissions must be in full color unless Black & White works exceptionally well for stylistic reasons.
Submissions must range from 5-12 pages.
Submissions must be a complete story with a clear beginning, middle and end. No slice of life. No single chapter from your webcomic.
We will NOT accept submissions on any characters which are still protected by copyright laws. Don’t send us your Ultimate Green Lantern fan fic.
All artists and writers must be credited in the submission.
We are not in a position to offer any pay, but we will give you a free full page ad.
-No nudity or graphic sex scenes (I like it but Graphicly doesn’t.)
-No comics with an obvious political agenda.
-Swearing is fine
-Violence is fine
Submission period ends May 15th, 2012
Send submissions or questions to
JMH: How do creators contact you for submissions?
Send an email to curtis@brokensoulpress.com
JMH: Anything else you’d like to mention that we haven’t covered yet?
I have another mini-series coming out from QEW publishing, hopefully by the ned of this year, called Blackstone. It’s a modern western loosely based on the old movie Bad Day at Black Rock. Keep an eye out for it!
Also, I’m always taking artistic submission on Curse of The Black Terror, so if anyone is interested in drawing a chapter or a cover, hit me up. FYI: There’s no pay because I’m broke as hell.
Check out the Black Terror website at:
JMH: Curtis, CBI appreciates your time. ALL the best!
CURTIS: Well, thanks to you and your readers for the interest and support! I love to hear from people if they like or hate what I’m doing, so drop me some love or hate mail, folks!
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About the interviewer –
John Michael Helmer is the Publisher and CEO of Red Leaf Media, LLC. Red Leaf Media operates: www.ComicBookInterviews.com & www.RedLeafComics.com.
John’s creator-owned properties include: The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero, Sky Watcher, G.I.s versus Zombies, McSorly, RCMP, The Armor Guardians, The Huskie, Dune, Master Spy!, and many others.
John can be reached at: jhelmer@comicbookinterviews.com and redleafcomics@gmail.com
