Isis Graphic Novel Progress Report

A long time ago in a ghetto far, far away I wanted to be a comic book writer. And  I’m getting closer to achieving that goal.

For the last couple of months I’ve been working off and on on an Isis graphic novel adaptation of the upcoming Isis: All That Glitters. And I’m just about finished putting together the script for that book. The feedback I’ve been getting on the firstten pages of the Isis: All That Glitters script has been extremely positive. So I’m pondering going from a script to developing it into the first comic of the SJS DIRECT Imprint.

Isis was originally supposed to be a comic book. But because the comic book industry was impossible to break into back in 1999 when I created the character, I wound up turning it into a series of Superhero Prose/Fantasy/YA books. With the books growing a following in paperback and Kindle, I thought it was time to take that next step into making Isis into the comic book it was originally planned to be.

It was a lot of WORK writing Isis: All that Glitters. Comic writing is NOTHING like novel writing or screenwriting. Comic writing is a very unique skill set; each part of the story has to be told with a series static images that have to be dynamic enough the reader can see them move. And translating words from a story into pictures an artist can see through a series of shots was a challenge. I had to pick just the right shots and use just the right words to describe a panel to move the story forward.

With Isis: All that Glitters I had to make several changes from the book to make the comic book version of the storywork. Some scenes from the original book were cut, and others changed to fit the story model. But I did my best to remain true to the original story I wrote.

I’ve always wanted to do comics. And I learned a LOT about writing comics working with comic artists like Bill Walko and Mike Williams designing covers for Isis and E’steem series books and books like The Legendary Mad Matilda and John Haynes: A Conversation With Death. And I used all those skills to work towards putting together a pair of comic scripts for the first Isis Graphic Novel.

The Isis Graphic Novel I’m planning will be about 64 Pages and feature two stories, The Isis All That Glitters feature and an adaptation of E’steem: No Good Deed and maybe a pinup or two of the Goddess next door and Hell’s aspiring Angel. Right now I’m working out the logistics of how much things will cost before I start contacting artists and lay out plans for an indiegogo. If I can get a great artist to work with me on the project I’d love to raise funds for an indiegogo and once that’s done eventually sell the book on Amazon on Kindle in eBook and Paperback formats. 

If I can get the indiegogo to be a success I’d love to do a John Haynes: A Conversration With Death Adaptation with a Spinsterella and the Spooky Girl Back up feature. While I’d love to do Graphic Novel adaptations of all the Isis and E’steem series books I’m taking baby steps here. There’s a lot I still need to learn about comic book publishing before I dive into that part of the book business.

Right now I’m working out the logistics of publishing Isis: All That Glitters. I know that in addition to the artist I have to hire a colorist and a letterer if I put this project together. Comic publishing has a LOT of components and I have to figure out how they work before I launch any sort of crowdfunding so that all those costs are covered.

While I’ve still got a long way to go on this project, I’m happy to have made this much progress. I’m getting closer to achieving my lifelong dream and I’m hoping to finally have a comic book version of Isis in everyone’s hands sooner rather than later.