Last year DC Comics started a new program titled, DC Talent Development Workshop, to train new artists into the company to maintain a competitive edge within the industry. Following the results of last year’s workshop, DC will be holding both an artist and writer’s workshop to build on what might be the newest method of cultivating new talent into the industry. This will focus on the DC Writer’s Workshop, since this is the newer of the two programs.
On DC’s news page, DC’s Co-Publisher, Jim Lee, said “Our goal is to identify and foster fresh, new voices, the new DC Talent Development Workshops will play a vital role in discovering and developing the next generation of comic talent.”
Among those who teaching these seminars include big names in DC’s employ, including Scott Snyder, Geoff Johns, and others. So those looking to get into the program will be given tutelage by some of the best writers in the field.
One of the key reasons for these new programs is to bring in voices that has not always been represented in DC’s brand of comic books. Efforts have been made to curb this problem and these programs have the potential to further what DC is doing in order to retain a competitive edge in the industry.
Of course with every opportunity there are many questions and concerns to consider as well:
- How many slots are available for the program?
- Will my stories be considered DC material?
- How much artistic freedom will I be allowed during the seminars and even after potential employment?
- Now many truly unknowns will be cultivated into the DC family?
- How many in the program will have had previous connections to those already working at DC?
And possibly the most dreaded of fears:
- How much will this cost me to just be in the program?
DC Writer’s Workshop obviously has a lot of sincerity in its mission and eventual goals, and so far there hasn’t been any blow back from anyone who has gone through the seminars for artists, successfully or other. Hopefully if anyone does put in their application to the workshop, the only true downside is the waiting period between their submission and the final decision.
