A social network for independent comics creators
Looking in the right places.
When I began to realize I needed help in developing my skills as a comics creator, I first turned to the resources I knew. admittedly this was limited to deviantART.Com which I have been a member for a number of years and was fairly familiar with how fickle some of its community members could be with sharing their time & talent with others on certain projects.
I was about to give up on my search after dA failed me and google turned up the same 2 or three options for how-tos on getting talent for your comics projects. I happened to come across an article that was only related in the sense that I was seeking out a means to gain assistance via social networks. It brought up crowd sourcing and mentioned Zeros2Heroes.Com as an example of a crowd sourcing social network for comics.
I went and checked it out, a skeptic doing due diligence.
The People’s Publisher
Whoa what’s this about being a “People’s Publisher”? The front page teases you with past winners of open contests that have received assistance in getting a property published, as well as tastes of other properties in development by the site’s membership. It’s impressive enough to overlook the fact that this site is still in beta, indicating that it can be even better. A trip to the site’s FAQ page turns up a nice and neat definition of what it is you’d be getting into.
Q: What is Zeros 2 Heroes?
A: Zeros 2 Heroes is an online social network that connects creators, producers
and fans of genre entertainment… particularly comics. We hope this
creates a new online resource for the comic community that allows
people to come together around great new content by undiscovered
creators
You can use this network to find new works, buy and
sell comics, figurines and other collectibles, track down rides to
local conventions, and help entertainment studios shape their ideas.
It’s a big proposition, but we’re here for the long haul.
It’s definitely interesting enough at this point to register but the dreaded “yeeeeaaaaah, but…” rears its ugly head upon some digging. The content under Comics Creation Nation, namely the FAQ section does a little wind up before punching you in the gut.
The not so well fleshed out answers reveal that the contests for now seemed to be based in Canada for Canadians despite the site holding an international membership. It does say that this is not the permanent case, but it is a downer to discover.
Well why be there if I’m not going to get published?
Comics can be a real Pitch...
Knowledge, my friend. They’re the Canadian “People’s Publisher” for the time being but that does not remove the fact that there are members of the site that are friendly and helpful and can hip you to things you may not have known about the industry. Truthfully I had learned more about how to produce comics in my first week there than I did all of the previous months before.
When they recommend (and trust me, they will) that you take a look at the pitches of other members, do so! These are great insights int what it takes to develop your property realistically, as if you were preparing to shop it out to a publisher. Tell me if that’s not some of the coolest free information you can receive.
It gets better. You’ll discover the pitch doctor, a flash based system set up to help you develop your own story pitch to share with the community [after reading over and agreeing to the disclosure legalese which basically states, that while it's your property, any mutual feedback is open game]. The site gives you the option of keeping the pitch private or opening it up to the public , which can easily be reversed later on if necessary.
Other features
The rest admittedly is nothing to call home about, the forums are empty, the blogs while active are limited, the classifieds bare, but if youa re patient you should be able to come across the people and information you’d need to get going.
I’m there, under Inkwest.
Final verdict
Sign up, for what’s there under the beta network, it’s pretty neat and it’ll get you on your way. I promise you it’s got more push than the bloated likes of deviantART.
