The thing about a graphic novel

The thing about a graphic novel is that it really requires graphics. If you’re going to write one you need to come to terms with your words taking a backseat. Much like writing a screenplay I suppose - where pretty people wind up saying the words that smart people wrote for them. And the director is hailed a genius.

I only mention this because it didn’t even occur to me that this would be a sticking point. How hard could it be to get a graphic artist to come onboard? I was so naïve. Fortunately I had previously written a book and had soon discovered that the writing was the easiest part. Putting out a graphic is similar.

Our search began with the local college here in Ottawa, Algonquin. Ucreate has a relationship with Algonquin that allowed them to put a competition in place. The premise was that the winner would get the gig and $10,000.00. Really a double bonus pack; good money (for a college kid) and resume material. Seemed fool proof. It was not.

The competition was started, the flood gates were opened, and poof – a dry popcorn fart of interest. Give it time. The more time it got the more it sort of just festered. There was some minimal interest, but we had clearly been hornswoggled by the generation gap. We had thought that what would have interested us twenty (plus and then a little more) years ago would interest the college crowd today. Clearly – we had thought wrong. If Red Goddess had been an “App” or a Facebook game I expect we’d have been off to the races.

So utterly incapable of coming to terms with our inability to motivate this crowd to action were we that we just waited and waited, stupefied and undaunted by the actual non-event before us. The rocket just sat on the launch pad relentlessly fizzling and we continued to watch – childlike in our hope.   You can only stare at fizzle for so long before reality dawns on you. After several months an executive decision was made – let’s acknowledge the obvious.

What lesson did we extract from this? Nothing really, but the whole affair did serve as a reference point when it began to happen, in a manner of speaking, again. And, a graphic artist nearly ruined me for all others.