Geek Syndicate Issue 6 | Page 8

Geek Syndicate
big no-no that the others I’ve discussed did. In all these cases I fear that by giving away your hook to issue one in the pitch, these creators were left with a hollow, less exciting start to a series. So can we do anything about the Pitch Factor? My friend and writer John Lees is someone who managed to prevent himself from falling into this pitfall. John has won the Scottish Independent Comic Book Award for best writer on his series The Standard. Published by Comixtribe, the series sees it’s worldwide launch in February. The thing John managed to do was to intrigue the reader with his pitch but he didn’t give away the cliff-hanger that drags you back for more at the end of issue one. That is what I would say makes a good pitch / first issue combination. Am I worrying over nothing? I think it depends on the way you see the comic business progressing. Many believe it will move into graphic novels and I think this kind of storytelling will only speed this up. These books are not being written for the die-hard fans that buy it in the comic book shops anymore. Instead, the audience seems to be the fan who gets them in the book shop. It will lead to a change in storytelling and it will lead to a change in the stories that are told. I am happy to admit that maybe these comics are not been written for me. I might be a dinosaur that still loves to read his Claremont X-Men and
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as much Silver Age I can muster. They do seem to be attracting an audience I just don’t see how they can continue to draw people in by giving them nothing but what they already knew before opening up issue one.

Luke Halsall

Avoiding the Pitch Factor - John Lees’s The Standard

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