DC Comics: ZUDA.com competition

[elae]

Does anyone here read the monthly Zuda competition that DC Comics runs? It’s a webcomic competition, with 10 finalists each month, and the people who visit the site vote for which comic will take 1st place and get an ongoing contract from DC.

A few months ago I teamed up with a then-agent-mate (Michael Jasper) and we put together an entry… last week we found out we were chosen to take part in this month’s competition!

If you want to help out, just do the following:
(If you’re confused by the instructions, I put a how-to graphic on my site )

1. Register on ZudaComics.com
2. Verify the account via your email.
3. Sign into ZudaComics.com and select "IN MAPS & LEGENDS"
4. Read the comic!
5. To the right of the comic, please press the VOTE button, rate the comic five stars and 'add as favorite.' The vote is by far the most important of these three things. (You can also add a nice comment if you want~)
6. Have your friends do the same before the end of November.

And that’s it! I can’t say thank you enough if you choose to help us out.

Even if you don’t vote for us, be sure to check out the contest. Zuda puts up some really interesting stories each month, and it’s a great chance to see what’s popular with readers and why. And spread the word! It’s a unique way of getting your work considered by DC.

[myrmidon]

Congratulations! This is awesome - I'm headed over there now!

[elae]

Thank you! And thanks for the comment

The first week's rankings should go up any time now, so I'm nervous as hell. I wish there were a way to know how many votes have been cast!

[Oberon89]

Hey, just curious—

Did you read that Zuda contract when you submitted? I was going to enter that contest, had six pages done, and then I read a clause that looked like DC would own my characters once I submitted it! I might have been reading it wrong—that's entirely possible, even probable—but it scared me off. That was also about a year ago now, so they might have changed their contract.

There's a happy ending, though: I took my comic book idea and wrote a novel instead, and sold it as a series a couple months ago!

Best of luck to you, hope it goes well. I'll head out to the site and check out your work.

[elae]

If you submit and don't come in 1st place in the competition, Zuda owns absolutely NO rights to your comic. If you're a runner up, you can just ask them to take it down from their site and do whatever you want with your entry. *Only* if you win do you sign the full contract.

You can see the contract here.

I made sure that Michael, the writer I'm working with on IN MAPS & LEGENDS, had read this and was okay with it, since before anything else this is his story and his characters.

DC does not "own" the characters. There are specific rights that you share, and there is a paragraph on how rights can be reverted to the creators. I'm sure there are in-depth reviews of the contract out there that you can find.

Here's a bit by the creator of High Moon:

If you sign with any of the DC imprints - be it Vertigo, Zuda, DCU, or Wildstorm - they'll want to have an 'interest'. If you want to work for DC, in any capacity, they will control a portion of your work - like they do for PREACHER, TRANSMET, FABLES, and SANDMAN. They are a media company and a business, they'll want to 'lease' the trademarks - and make their money.

But, as long as DC is making money on HIGH MOON, I am making money on HIGH MOON. That's how the contract is set up.

The contracts for Zuda are some of DC's most liberal contracts.

So it's really up to you, personally. There are pros and there are cons. But congrats on selling it as a novel series! That's probably one of the best outcomes you could have, hehe. Thankfully, in this particular situation I'm the artist, so the worries about them having rights to the characters probably don't hit me as deep as they do Mike.

And I hope you like IN MAPS & LEGENDS! Don't forget to vote, rate, and fav if you haven't. We're struggling to cling to our lead. Fingers crossed!

[Oberon89]

Cool, Elae,
That's all good stuff to know. I figure I won't be heading back into comics just because the novel thing is working out for me, but it's nice to know the rights aren't completely snaked away and everybody gets to make money!

Best of luck!

[jmascia]

Zuda's great. I've actually been trying to get a submission together for it. Congrats on the competition.

[elae]

Thanks! If you're interested for when you get around to submitting, it took us 2 months to hear back from them after we sent IN MAPS & LEGENDS in. We found out we were accepted exactly a week before the November competition started. I figure they do that so no one has a huge amount of time to get an advantage in promoting, but it can be quite a rush to get things together.

Be sure to post here if you get accepted!

[jmascia]

Thanks for the info. Now, you know an artist that might be able to work with me? I saw your post on the other thread. But not being able to pay upfront has been a major issue with me.

You would think that artists would want to get their work out there. So many refuse to work without pay. Unlike us writers who seem to do it all the time.

[elae]

If you're trying to find an artist, you'll have much better luck with Zuda than other opportunities: all of the entries that are chosen to compete (10 each month) get paid $500 for even getting that far. I'm splitting that evenly with the writer of IN MAPS & LEGENDS; other teams have split it differently: 70/30, or even all going to the artist. Be upfront about how much the artist will get of that $500 in your seeking-an-artist posts.

Not to be too blunt, but you have to remember that writing a script for 8 pages takes far, far less time than completely 8 pages of art: pencils, inks, colors and letters. It's not hard to understand why artists aren't willing to do days/weeks' worth of work for no pay. As it is, I worked well below minimum wage for this already, in the hopes of it ultimately paying off.

[elae]

Just wanna say thanks to everyone who's voted/faved so far!

If you haven't had a chance, PLEASE do! We're less than 2 weeks away from the end, and right now things are neck-and-neck. We could really use the support!

Here's some promo art I finished last week:

Thanks guys! What do you think of the competition so far?

[batsofchaos]

Beautiful work. I'm gonna vote for you, as soon as I get home (my work internet doesn't like the image capture pic in the sign-up section).

[elae]

Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it I really appreciate the vote!

[jmascia]

Yeah, I tell artists that when I begin conversing them about the $500. But they don't want to work without payment up front. Which sucks!

[elae]

I know that I've seen "calls for Zuda artists" in which the writer pays the $500 (or $300, etc, that part is up to you) up front, and then just takes the full check to pay himself back if/when they get get accepted.

It can be a bit of a gamble, but it can also help you get responses from professional-grade artists who are skilled enough that you have a good chance of getting in. So it pays off.

[elae]

Just 24 hours left now!

If you haven't voted (and faved!) and still want to, now's the time!

The results will be revealed at noon on Monday, November 30th. We're *so* close now to that contract with DC Comics, we just need to last until the finish line...
Spread the word to any comic fans you know?

[batsofchaos]

Hey, you made 1st place! CONGRATS!!!

[elae]

THANK YOU! And thank you *everyone* who voted, read it, or passed it on! I can't believe we managed to pull through-- it's a dream come true. I think promoting Zuda has been my full time job the past few weeks.

I don't know the details yet, but from past winners, I know that new pages should start rolling out in a few months, after we've worked with editors on where we're going next. The contract is for a "season" of 52 pages, and Zuda renews the successful/popular comics for more seasons on top of that.

Thank you again! We couldn't have done this without the support of readers and voters.

[myrmidon]

AWESOME. Congrats Elae. This is just wonderful news.

[elae]

Thanks Myrmidon! And thanks again for voting.

[BigWords]

Congratulations on winning.

[kellion92]

Congratulations! I voted for you

[elae]

Thank you!

[Art_Sempai]

Good for you.
Keeps us updated on the season.

Hmm....maybe I should enter.