Help Wanted for Super Mario Bros. in Neo Bowser City

Wow, this place has gone far, far longer than I’d like without an update. While I try to get that stuff back on track between everything else I’m working on (the holidays can be a bit rough), here’s a bit about one of those things I’m trying to get started up again.

Anyway, I’m looking for some help on the comic I began a while back, “Super Mario Bros. in Neo Bowser City“. The reason being that the artist for the first two chapters, Mark Kelly, has become too busy to continue with the comic, and I myself have been a bit too busy scrambling for work and doing other things to assemble a properly-worded post about what I’m hoping to do. At least one of those things has now changed for the moment (the latter one).

Basically, I’m looking for a person or persons to help take over the art chores on the comic; in the case of persons, things would be divided up by chapter, unless we find people wanting to contribute in different ways, i.e. lines, inks, colors… all the fun comic stuff.

To be up front about this: The comic is not paid in any way; there is absolutely no money changing hands with this comic, save for my paying for a domain name, SMBNBC.com, out of my own pocket. It’s Nintendo’s toy box, and the last thing I or anyone else wants to incur is their wrath for making a profit off of their properties.

The main reason I’m doing this is for experience, learning to script for comics. This gives me practice at doing that and something I can show off if I ever try for any sort of work doing the real thing, with the only bonus for me personally being that I get to play a part in bringing to life a story I’ve had in my head for quite some time now.

As such, I’m looking for people who wish to benefit similarly, by being able to practice and hone their craft, perhaps even have something to show prospective employers as well.

And as much as I kind of loathe the whole “for exposure” thing, I can at least not only reassure you that I’m not drawing a dime from this, either, but also that we do have the support of the magazine the comic launched in, Nintendo Force. Heck, the magazine still runs comics (just not longer-running serials like this), and you might even be able to get a gig there that does actually pay. No promises there, but this could prove a good start.

About the comic itself: This is not a particularly long-term gig. The story is basically a self-contained mini-series, and while I do have ideas for a potential follow-up/sequel/or whatever, depending on where the winds of fate lead, “Super Mario Bros. in Neo Bowser City” was only meant to run for about two years (NF is a bi-monthly magazine, keep in mind); roughly 12 to 14 chapters, depending on where things fall.

Things such as page count. The first chapter ran about seven pages to kick things off, and the second chapter was five, which is what it was looking at remaining for the duration. Ideally, I would like to get it back up to the seven-to-eight pages per chapter range, to allow a little more breathing room (the second chapter had to be cut short from the original plan). As you might be aware, this is still significantly shorter than the 21 or so pages that Archie’s Sonic and Mega Man titles run with, among other titles in the industry.

Being a Mario comic, I want to keep the characters with a more cartoony style. Some of the realistic depictions of Mario do rock, but in addition to a sense of consistency, the more cartoon-like style helps add a certain gravity to the story which might be lost otherwise as the world around Mario, Luigi, and Toad have changed.

Basically, I’d like it to be as close to the “classic” Mario style as possible, as seen here:

Alternatively, the style seen in the Mario & Luigi games is pretty good and close as well, even if slightly different, and Super Mario Adventures style is great, too.

As for backgrounds, there’s more room to experiment.

If you’re interested in participating, drop me a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net and we can discuss it further. If you’re interested in seeing what’s been done or checking out a script page to try your hand with it, you can find all of that at SMBNBC.com. The first chapter follows a more common style, or at least what Ian Flynn of Archie Comics uses, while the second wound up going for something closer to a more classic Marvel-style. I can work with either as needed, though I’m hoping to do more in the former style (including Chapter 2’s to match), since as far as I know, that seems to be closer to the industry standard now.

Thanks, and I hope some of you will be interested!

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.