In his post "Hiring Policies At DC," Ryan @ Comics Fodder brings up ther topic of the submissions process and how fear of lawsuits might have curtailled it in the comic book industry:
"For most of my life, it was believed you sent scripts to some submissions department at DC and Marvel, and somebody might read the script and give some talented, lucky kid a shot. Of course, all of that was managed by technology. You had to: (a) write the story (b) get the story on a type writer (which meant typing, which used to be considered a skill) (c) presumably photocopy the script so you'd have a copy and one for the publisher (d) Place it in the mail (e) Hope for a phone call but expect a rejection letter"
Sometime around 2001/2002, somebody at DC Comics discovered that there were literally piles upon piles of unanswered submissions lying around their offices. Many of the editors simply didn't want to or didn't have the time to answer the submissions, so they were stashed, unopened, under desks, in file cabinets, etc.
When they were finally collected, they filled at least one entire large metal dumpster cart. I think that might have been from just one editor's office alone.
A skilled member of DC's staff was chosen to spearhead the clean-up effort and get those months and possibly years of unopened submissions answered. Me.
The unofficial "rejections editor" was instructed to send out one of several form letters rejecting the submissions. There were no "acceptance" letters, just rejections.
All self-addressed stamped envelopes and unused postage of any kind were to be returned to the sender, as well as any original plots or other writing. Why the return of the original writing? So the submitters couldn't sue DC for any similar characters or plotlines that might have been created.
Apparently, some of the DC higher-ups were absolutely furious that those submissions had piled up like they did. As a direct result of the "great submissions shame," DC officially changed their policy to "no outside submissions." This, given the circumstances, seemed fair.
I once found a submission that Cry For Dawn creator Joseph Michael Linsner sent for a possible Batman/Dawn crossover in the unopened submissions pile. After briefly bringing it to the attention of my boss, I took the pinup print that was sent of Dawn & Batman and hung it up on my office wall. It would have been thrown away with all the others if I didn't.
Mike Park, in the late Seventies, visited DC with art samples, including an original page of comic art featuring a character he created named Nemesis. Nemesis was unique for a superhero in that he did not wear a costume, just civilian clothes with a trademark turtleneck. The art director at the time, Vince Colletta, thought Park's art was too "underground" in style for DC, but thought he had a great concept with Nemesis.
In 1980, a character named Nemesis debuted in The Brave and the Bold. He was unique for a superhero in that he did not wear a costume, just civilian clothes with a trademark turtleneck. There were allegedly other similarities in the B&B story to the comic story Park had shown DC, specifically regarding a helicopter, but I couldn't really comment in that unless I both read the comics in question & looked at the art again.
Anyway, when Nemesis hit the stands in 1980, Park immediately recognized it as his character. But he had never thought of bringing it up to DC. "I was just too small a fish," he explained to me. But he dutifully collected every appearance of Nemesis, and to this day quietly considers it "his" character.
Park is digging the Nemesis sample out of storage so I can have another look at it & scan it & post it.
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