I see comic book writers on absolutewrite get offended when I say it's better to complete your comic yourself. Story and Art. I don't get why that is. Because here's the reality check. - Comic book writers who don't make their own art,which I hear is most of them, are extremely unlikely to get an artist to work for free. - They're going to have to spend alot for decent art. Money they're not likely to get back. It typically costs $50 per page for an amateur artist to just pencil your work. Double that if you want a professional to do it. Again, are you really going to make a profit on that? Especially if it's a graphic novel or a comic series! multiply that by 200. Ten grand just for pencils from an amateur? In this economy. Your story had better be damn good ey. - DC and marvel etc are very insular with who they hire. They have few positions available and won't hire someone unpublished. - Some companies accept just scripts, but they get so many submissions, (comics scripts are so much easier to produce than full novels, prose or graphic) that even if you did stand out, you're going to get a much smaller sum and the comic is not likely to sell. To my best knowledge, you don't get an advance like with prose writers. With rare exception, they're sold in fringe comic book shops, not mainstream supermarkets + book stores, like novels. If you do it just because you love it, (like me) then you may as well make your own art. If you're out to make money....how are you going to do that exactly?
If I was out to make money, I wouldn't make comic books. Or write, come to that. I imagine they mostly see it as a professionalism thing. I'd guess most people who do their own art to save money aren't actually that good at it. Just like with novels, a fraction of people genuinely can edit their own work, but 99% of people are rubbish at it.
But then you have marketing costs to add to the expense of production. All in all they''re probably going to have to sell a thousand copies to break even.
