Platinum Studios Inc. today started accepting submissions for The Comic Book Challenge 2008. Aspiring comic book creators can go to www.ComicBookChallenge.com to get their entries in by 11:59 p.m. (PST) on May 31, 2008.
Hopefuls will have one month to submit their original comic book concepts with three pages of artwork. An internal Platinum Studios committee will select the top 50 submissions, and those creators will move on to pitch their ideas to a panel of celebrity and entertainment industry judges on July 24 during the 2008 Comic-Con Int’l in San Diego, Calif. The general public around the world will then get a chance to vote for their favorites online.
The winner will receive a multitude of prizes including the coveted publishing deal with Platinum, which will include print, online and mobile distribution. In addition, the company will help develop the property for film and television. DJ Coffman, who won the inaugural 2006 competition, saw his Hero By Night comic sell out through Diamond Comics Distributors during its first printing. The property is now an ongoing series with a second volume currently unfolding. Jorge Vega’s 2007 winning entry, Gunplay, debuted in stores as a graphic novel this past April.
It’s not just the winners who benefit from the competition. Another 2006 finalist, Megan Rose Gedris, will see her I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space appear at comics retailers this month. In addition, top-50 finalist Axel Medellin has been hired as an artist for Platinum Studios.
Platinum Studios is an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 3,800 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media. Responsible for bringing the blockbuster Men in Black franchise to Sony Pictures, the company has a number of other properties set up at major studios, including Cowboys and Aliens at DreamWorks. Platinum became a publicly traded entity in September of 2007.
