In the aftermath of Charlton I sent a copy of “Rocket Rabbit!” to DC, and a copy to Marvel, along with a cover letter to each making my pitch. As before, I mentioned the gap left in the marketplace left by the departure of Gold Key, and probably added the argument that without kid comics on the market, there would be no replenishing of the readership to provide a market for comics aimed at older readers.
As I waited for a response from each company, those two Wacko Waddler one-pagers got printed in the Buyer's Guide, one in TBG #388, and the other shortly thereafter. And Dennis Budd printed “Surfin' Neanderthals!” in what turned out to be the final issue Surf City Comics & Stories. I'm not sure whether I did “Surfin' Neanderthals before “Rocket Rabbit!” or whether I did it after. But it got printed after.
I did “Surfin' Neanderthals!” in an exact opposite approach of how I did “Rocket Rabbit!” This time, I started with a panel near the middle—the large panel at the top of the last page—the panel where the characters evolve. Then I worked backwards, panel-to-panel, to the beginning of the story, then worked forward, panel-to-panel, to the ending.
The story was reprinted six years later by Fantagraphics in Critters #13.
I had a Chapter Two planned for the
fictional History of Surfin'--the discovery of inland surfing by
Surfo Boone using a birchbark surfboard and a bit of Indian magic to
create waves on rivers and creeks. But that got put aside as Dennis sold his comic shop and stopped publishing Surf City, and as a new opportunity for publication came up.
Coming up next in this series--the responses I got from DC and Marvel after they had a look at “Rocket Rabbit!”
No comments:
Post a Comment