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I’m wondering if an Australian comic, one set in Australia, will ever sell in the real world, which is code for the States? My series that I am working on pitching soon, Ego, is set in Australia, and I really want that because I want another view of the superhero genre. Australia is a very different country to the rest of the world, and we are very different people, and I think our culture is different in a lot of respects. My lead character is not throwing prawns (who calls them shrimp, here?) on the barbie, or getting around in a corked hat, but he does have a lot of my voice, and my voice is Australian no matter how much American culture invades and infiltrates everything I come across.

There aren’t any major Australian comic characters that I can think of, and there are no titles set in Australia, well, at least none that I know of. I know there is Down Under and Ma B by Local Act Comics, but I’m thinking a much bigger scale. I’m thinking Vertigo needs to get behind something like this, or Image.

Alan Moore made it cool to write in the UK. Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis and Mark Millar all make the British Isles a fine place to pit a story. Hellblazer being one large series set in England, and The Filth and The Invisibles being examples of set series’ taking place there. The UK is fine to write in, and America is even better. But Australia…

I cannot think of one major title that takes place in Australia. Worse, I cannot seem to think of any major, or minor, characters that come from Australia. There was that Aussie G.I. Joe guy, can’t even remember his name. Um…that’s about it. Shit, that really sucks. We have a wicked history here, and some very cool people, and we don’t seem to be getting tapped for any gigs.

Just thinking of Aussie writers or artists in the field can be a little tough. Ben Templesmith and Steven Griffin come to mind with their work on 30 Days of Night and Hawaiian Dick, amongst other things. I cannot think of a writer, and I am not going to google for one because that defeats the purpose, I want to be able to automatically know the guys name…and I cannot think of one. That sucks. That sucks fucking balls. Aussies can sell music, direct movies, star in blockbusters. We can be Wolverine, the Joker and Bruce Banner, but we can’t write any of those characters. I don’t think I am asking too much.

So, I’m trying to crack the market with some creator owned series’, am I shooting myself in the knee by setting some in Australia? I am happy to write some American locales as well. The Daredevil mini would obviously be USA, the Hail HYDRA! series is actually set in Denmark but very Yank in tone. The Atlantis story obviously falls underwater, but the Fate mini is very American. I’m making notes on a Space story that would be very international, if not just flat out made up societies and cultures. But Ego is Australian, and I really want it to have that perspective to it, something that hasn’t been done before. We are a smaller nation, we are unique and bloody interesting. I think a comic here, with our characters and our ways of doing things would kick ass, but will any buyers think this as well?

I am taking down notes on a new story and I want it to be Australian as well. A different Australia, one where our political history unfolded quite differently and the modern day that this character comes into is filled with drugs, brainwashed armies and mysteries aplenty. But all still with that typical Australian laziness and apathy. It’s an Australia on the verge of a civil war, but just too lazy and good natured to actually get it off the ground. Forget what you might think, we are not the nation of the giant boot and bad accents.

Think of the, real, Aussie stars like Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana and Heath Ledger who are all just really nice guys. Russell Crowe does not count as he is from New Zealand, ha ha!

Should I be playing for, and setting myself in, an American market, maybe even at least at first? Or, when push comes to shove, is it the merits of the story being good that will get it out there? I think, and hope, the latter, but I will keep my eyes open and see what happens.
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In other news, the artist that I am liaising with for the Ego story has just sent six pages through to me. I really dig his style and he did something that I was very hesitant about, he split some of my pages into more, but he completely made it work. He still ends the pages on great beats and I like the feel of it all. He just has to colour them and then get them back to me, but the art and lettering really gives the pages a true feel to them. Like this is all really happening. It’s like the first time you go on a date with a girl, you get home and stop smiling politely and think, damn that’s done and it was fun. Well, seeing this guy nail some of my pages is very fucking fun!

Posted on May 19th, 2008 by ryan
Filed under: Writing, comics, life