There was to be some extremely great news coming your way, but things did not pan out as I'd hoped. I had pitched to Marvel over the summer an idea I had called "Captain America: Deployed" that would be a Captain America adventure where he visits troops in Iraq. The unique thing is that it was to be written during my deployment to Iraq. The idea was a hit with Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort, and when he presented it to Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Axel Alonso, he also loved the idea. I worked on and finished a draft of the script while in Iraq to keep the hook to the story intact, that of a deployed military member writing a Captain America story.
When I returned to the States in September, I found out that it fell apart. It had nothing to do with Tom or Axel and everything to do with financing and the difficult state of the industry right now. Despite high level backing, it seemed that Marvel's finance office couldn't figure out a way to monetize the project in a way that would be profitable, and so that ended it. I'm seeing more and more that the Big Two (Marvel and DC) are having to trim any fat off their plate, working only on projects that in their eyes stand the best chance of making the payoff worth the investment.
It was a good experience working the script. After all, no writing is bad writing since it still flexes the mental muscles. And I had the opportunity to meet Axel at the New York Comic Con this Fall, and he was extremely nice and told me that he really did love the idea and wished it had worked out.
In the meantime, I've been hard at work on several independent comics ideas, trying to maximize the numbers of pitches I'm building. I've got a host of pitches in various stages of development. The most imminent will be released soon at www.ComicCritique.com. Keep your eyes open for Redo, one of the most original superhero stories I've ever come up with, and with a hook that I believe everyone will be able to relate to. I'm also developing several new stories including a military story with a science fiction twist called The Chosen and a fairy tale adventure titled The Forgotten.
Some good stuff is on the horizon and I hope you'll check back here to see what's coming next.
Have a great Christmas and happy New Year's. And happy reading.
Matt