Rocket Pirates
August 3rd, 2006 | comics talk
Who wants to be a Rocket Pirate?
Joey Manley talked me into curating a mass webcomics site. I’ve known Joey for getting on for six years now. It’s partly my fault that he got involved with comics at all. I suspect this is his revenge.
People who want to make webcomics are invited to submit their ideas to me for membership in the Rocket Pirates, a webcomics collective which will be housed at http://www.rocketpirates.com.
Rocket Pirates will be the first site to launch with the new Webcomics Nation Collective Edition technology, which will be available as a commercial product for people wanting to quickly and cheaply launch their own multi-creator webcomics portals sometime in the next few months. Because we’re all about being quick and cheap, believe me.
Rocket Pirates will be free to all readers, all the time. This means, of course, that there is no cut of subscription fees to offer to creators. Instead, the system allows each creator the freedom to install Google Ads, Amazon Associates ads, ads for their own products, rate cards for prostitution services or any other damn thing on their comic’s Rocket Pirates page. Also, since we’re not paying, all Rocket Pirates engagements are on a non-exclusive basis, allowing the creators to run their comics on their own websites or any other place that’ll have them.
The non-subscription approach means that I’m also doing this for free, so anyone who wants to send food and clothing c/o Joey Manley at Modern Tales is welcome to do so. I also offer inexpensive adult services.
The submissions system is simply this: email your materials to me at warrenellis@gmail.com. I want to see at least three completed pages and an overview of what you intend to do. No need to be formal — rambly emails talking about the central concepts and what you want to achieve are fine.
I’m open to anything — series, serialised graphic novels, single panels, self-contained shorts, newspaper-style strips — in any style, from manga to clipart to whatever the hell you just invented in your basement. No limits.
I’m open to any kind of content. You’re going to have to work pretty hard to get me to accept a superhero project for the site, but if you’ve got something that knocks me flat, I’ll take it. But, seriously, I want to eventually curate something that takes in a wide breadth of what comics can achieve. Surprise me. Give me something straight out of literary mainstream fiction, give me a warped genre, give me something I’ve never seen before. That’s the “theme” of the site, the glue that holds it together. It is quite simply “stuff Warren really likes.”
The submissions process is open to everybody. I don’t care if you only decided you wanted to try and make a comic ten minutes ago — I’ll look at it. I’ll warn you in advance that the chances of my being able to provide detailed and constructive rejections are slight, but I’ll do my best.
(Also, if the site turns out to be all-male because only guys submitted, I’m going to be very pissed off, and will infect you all with this lung disease my girlfriend seems to have passed to me over the weekend.)
I’d like to be up and running by the end of the month, but I won’t kick the site live until I have enough work of quality. The submissions process will remain permanently open. Unless, you know, I change my mind. I am unpredictable and I drink a lot.
That’s all I’ve got. Please feel free to pass this unedited post on anywhere you like.
– Warren Ellis
(In-depth discussions will probably happen in the dedicated section at THE ENGINE.)
is the award-winning creator of graphic novels such as 
And lo, Internet Jesus did perform another miracle for his faithful.
I have this idea for a comic about a journalist in the future. It’s called ‘Dodecatuplepolitan Ice Cream’, and the guy is always hitting people and smoking.
Why the hell not?
Shit is on its way, mein Ellis.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hammersley/201056819/
[...] Warren Ellis speaks out about his new side project. He’ll be curating a webcomics site called Rocket Pirates. All submissions go through him, which basically means that Internet Jesus will scarcely be sober these days. Who wants to be a Rocket Pirate? [...]
[...] Rocket Pirates.com posted: Thu 3rd Aug, 2006, categories: Arte Seqüencial Who wants to be a Rocket Pirate? [...]
Hmm.. I’ll make an attempt at tomorrow, after I find my Wacom.
Drawing stick figures in Microsoft Paint is soo much easier with a tablet. Even though I mastered the Straight Line tool (those TV ‘learn your computer’ tapes are awesome, only took me an hour!), the Wacom is still better.
I’m torn though.
On the one hand, I have a lot of material in my head for “Terry, Queen of Inter-modal Box Connectors”. The sexually ambiguous adventures of a 40-something gay man who sports a man-purse and long hair. But have you ever seen stick-figure boobs? Hard to be sexually ambiguous when there’s that huge triangular difference between the sexes.
On the other, “My Parents Basement” is likely to be a close subject to home for the webcomics audience, lots of empathy with the characters, and my preferred art style (uber-awesome stick figures!) are well matched to the subject. The downside to that is that it’s too autobiographical.
Any input?
[...] Interesante iniciativa la del inquieto Warren Ellis. Desde su blog, el británico ha anunciado que inaugura un portal de webcomics que serán seleccionados personalmente por él mismo. Al parecer un colega le ha convencido para involucrarse en Rocket Pirates, que asà se llama la página. La página será totalmente gratuita, utilizará un sistema de tecnologÃa llamado Webcomics Nation Collective Edition. Los autores que participen en la página pueden utilizar cualquier formtao (serie, tira, novela gráfica), aunque Ellis pretende que esta página amplÃe las posibilidades del medio, es decir, que el material sera audaz y creativo. Los autores no recibirán pago alguno pero tendrán total libertad para añadir cosas como google ads y tal en sus webcomics y, por supuesto, no gtendrán ningún tipo de exclusividad con Rocket Pirates. Si alguien se anima, sólo tiene que enviar un e-mail al propio guionista a la dirección warrenellis@gmail.com . [...]
Ah, an artist! My kingdom for an artist!
ACK! alas, my current comic is ending and my next comic won’t start until January! I hope submissions will be open then too! :D
[...] Warren Ellis has updated about a new site he is helping out with called Rocket Pirates. [...]
Ah, an artist! My kingdom for an artist (who won’t charge for subpar McGuinness cloning)!
Rocket Pirates
nice..
Ahhh. Yes.
[starts furiously drawing sketches of multi-tentacled penises and labia detata, fighting in spandex]
You’re going to have to work pretty hard to get me to accept a superhero project
Oh. Well.
[erases spandex]
A question from the techno-enfeebled: May I assume submissions go to you via the normal online address that you prefer?
Or is there somewhere else specific for those to go that’s wholly obvious and I’m entirely missing?
People who cannot read the post are, of course, immediately disqualified.
If you’re looking for an artist, unless you’re a highly polished professional writer yourself, don’t expect to find highly polished professional artists. Especially ones who will be working for little to no money. The first project you do is always a learning experience for all involved.
[...] Xeni Jardin: Famed graphic novel creator Warren Ellis will curate a free, mass webcomics site called “Rocket Pirates”. He is now accepting submissions, and the criteria is “stuff Warren really likes.” Link [...]
Prepare for a slashdotting.
SlashDot entry…
I’ve got an idea for the first page of a comic that anyone is free to steal:
Camera is flying over a dystopian cityscape that’s packed with dark skyscrapers, columns of flame, etc. like the beginning of Blade Runner or The Crow or some shit.
Then a little subtitle appears at the bottom: TOPEKA, 2078
Sheeit. It basically writes itself after that. Just light up a smoke and feel guilty about how easy it is.
Please, sir. Allow me to be part of the scurvy scalawags.
I’m interested in trying my hand at this, so if any of you writers are looking for an “artist”, you can find my work at http://van.vox.com . You’ll notice there are no sequentials there, or even any particularly good work at all. I’m no professional, and this would be my first attempt at a sequential comic. Keep that in mind if you’re considering talking to me. And just as your interest in me is dependant on my skill as an artist and my style, my interest in working with you will rely on your story idea, your writing skills, and your ability to work as a team.
Right on.
Hi!
I like the Rocketpirates concept. That’s cool. :-) Here’s a wish:
I’d like to be able to translate web comics (for “community rank points”?), so that readers from other countries can read comics in their native language. :-)
-Günther
I have a project that’s been stewing for about five years. This past month I’ve been working on collecting all the scattered fragments into something coherent. To my surprise, it actually holds together, and is still a story I feel I really need to tell.
That done, I’ve gotten distracted by day-to-day life. Rocket Pirates might be the kick in the pants to get me moving again. Thanks.
[...] Also, via Uncle Warren, comes Rocket Pirates. [...]
how about a series of single panel maybe semiautobiographical moments that are Not Always About Relationships?
and no superheroes, not even sad ones.
[...] Xeni Jardin: Famed graphic novel creator Warren Ellis will curate a free, mass webcomics site called “Rocket Pirates”. He is now accepting submissions, and the criteria is “stuff Warren really likes.” Link [...]
Will not be very sober for the next week or two in your honour.