Tresson's Top Cow Submissions...

In September of 2012, Top Cow Comics announced that they would be running a talent hunt, looking for two new writers and two new artists. Shortly after, I began researching the characters from the Top Cow universe. I knew very little about the universe, but I had read some of their “Artifacts” series thanks to my days as comic book division manager at Word of The Nerd Online. I decided I’d try to write two scripts as I saw the period of time they gave until the deadline (deadline was and still is 31^st December 2012) as enough time to get two solid script samples produced.

After I did a bit of research, I picked two characters. I chose the two characters based on what potential I thought they had story-wise. It was a tough decision, as all the characters I had to choose from had great potential for stories. Each individual character had their own traits and powers which could be used to great effect in a limited series, but the two I chose I felt had the greatest potential for stories. Stories I felt would be great as standalone series, or as a lead-in for someone to go and make an on-going series from.

The ideas I had for the characters came fairly easily, which surprised me. Not because I consider myself to be lacking in the ideas department, but because I was able to come up with two completely different stories which fit (I think) two characters I knew very little about. With my ideas finalized  I outlined the first couple of pages of script for each story. This is where things got hectic... Both stories are set in real world places, places I've never been to and really have no idea about. So I had to go back and research the places I was using in the stories before I could actually start writing the damn things. The whole time I was doing this, I was thinking to myself, ”someone could be using this setting and have the advantage of actually going to these places as opposed to me, who only has the internet for reference”.  Luckily, Wikipedia and Google were good to me. It was still a massive pain in the arse, mind you. But I still managed to get them done.      

First, the Ian Nottingham/Bloodsword story…

The first story I wrote was an Ian Nottingham story. It was set in New York and had Ian Nottingham as a killer for pay, the assassin you go to if you want someone killed quickly and professionally. In the first issue we see Ian kill a man in a ballroom, as the story progresses, we learn that Ian has been set up by another assassin by the name of Jared Wells. Jared had previously appeared in a single issue of The Darkness, being draw to Jackie Estacado due to his bad energy. The same would have gone in my story, but at this point, Jared is dependent on bad energy. A junkie. Pain is his drug of choice, and who better to feed off than Ian Nottingham? A man who has killed and caused pain to many, and who also has his own personal pain stored up inside of him. He’s set Ian up in the hope that he’ll go crazy and murder everyone in his path to try and escape…

So on and so forth… It had some great stuff in there. I've left the unfinished outline for the complete first issue in the script sample for you to enjoy.     

And on to the Michael Finnegan story.

In my Finnegan story, the premise was much simpler: It was a story about self-acceptance, realising you can make a difference (even if you are different) and learning that not everyone in the world is a bad guy.

It’s that simple.

You can read both of my scripts HERE, and as ever, I appreciate feedback. From this point until September when the other talent hunt starts, I will be looking to work with others on some independent stuff (I have a book full of ideas). If you read my script samples and like them and want to do something, feel free to drop me an email at ctresson@me.com . Maybe we can work together…

Beyond writing, I’m going to be trying my hand at lettering comics this year. I’m not going to stop writing, I just don’t like sitting around doing nothing!

Anyway, that’s enough from me, take care of yourselves.

Chris.