Interview: Christopher Sebela For Hire at ECCC

Have you ever wanted your comic dreams to be put on paper, but lacked a way with words? Well, now, for just $10  you can have the story of your dreams, thanks to comics writer Christopher Sebela. Last night, the writer who has worked for Marvel, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios and Monkeybrain comics took to Twitter to declare, that like an artist, during a convention, he, too, is for hire. With the posting of this image, he outlined the rules of just how you too can get your hands on an original script from a bonafide comics writer – specifically, during the upcoming Emerald City Comic Con. I just had to get to the bottom of this.

CHristopher-Sebela-300x300Jessica Boyd: Chris, you’ve written for comics such as Captain Marvel, Ghost, Escape from New York as well as you’re own works such as Dead Letters (which came out this past week) and High Crimes. Now, you are positioning yourself as a commissions writer. The comics world has to ask… good grief, why?

Christopher Sebela: I don’t know that I’m necessarily positioning myself as this. Or anything really.  It just seemed like a fun twist on artist commissions at shows. I’m not the first to do it, I don’t think. Plus it’s a way to make myself write outside of my comfort zone. The additional pressure of having people paying money just helps ensure that I’ll actually go through with it. I need all the shaming and reminders I can get. 

JB: Why do you think more writers do not provide this type of service at conventions? Artist do it all the time, create something within a limited amount of time. How is the challenge different at a convention for a writer compared to an artist?

CS: Because it’s probably a pain in the ass? I dunno. I haven’t done it yet. But it seems like it’s gonna be hard. Artists are the stars of conventions, and rightfully so. You can walk right up and see them drawing something in front of you, you can look at their art and know right away if you love it or not. There’s nothing exciting about a dude scribbling into a composition notebook and there’s no market for someone standing there reading your book in front of you. I’m just trying to make it interesting for myself I guess.

JB: Are you a trendsetter? Is this something writers talk about or contemplate in groups? Will there be a creative flood of writers offering up their services?

CS: Ha. No. The responses on Twitter I got when I was kicking it around said that its been done before. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just trying to keep myself on my toes.  I’ve never talked to other writers about this.

JB: If this is successful do you think you’ll be trying this at future conventions?

CS: It’s an idea I’ve had for a year or so, I was never this proactive about turning it from a joke on my table signage into an actual thing. I doubt it’ll be a huge thing. I’m sure I’ll eventually regret ever doing this, but that’s what excites me about it.

If you’d like to commission a story from Christopher Sebela at Emerald City Comic Con, March 27th-29th, you can check out the information from this handy graphic he provided. Don’t worry, we’ll be checking in to see how it turned out.eccccommissionwriter

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