Getting Your Graphic Novel Together

For Fusco, funding a comic book himself would also send the message to an executive that tells them he believes in his material. "It takes years for people to validate your talent, years and years to get a film made," he said. "Just because the studios haven't come forward and made your story doesn't make it illegitimate in any way; it just hasn't been noticed yet."

After mulling it over, Fusco was finally convinced to make "Soldiers of the Dead" into a comic book and get his story noticed. Now what? Where would he find the artists? How could he put it all together? How much would it all cost?

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"I looked for a lot of comic book artists on the Web," Fusco continued. "And a lot of them are pretty expensive. A lot of these guys pencil for Marvel and can be anywhere from $250-500 a page, just for the pencils. Inkings can be another $200. It can get up there a lot higher than I can afford."

Enter Atlantis Studios. The comic book company, run by James Watson, is a custom comic publisher that will make your comic to order at a reasonable price while guiding you through the entire process. Fusco saw an ad for Atlantis flipping through Creative Screenwriting Magazine and got in touch with the company. Watson liked the "Soldiers" pitch, and decided to take it on.

Fusco saved up $2,300 and got an artist based in Argentina named Ulises Carpintero to illustrate "Soldiers," and Watson mentored Fusco all the way. About six months later, Fusco had a finished comic book. A 24-page preview edition was released last September and is now available through the Atlantis Studios Website and from Diamond distributors. The full 96-page graphic novel for "Soldiers of the Dead" will be released later this year.