WRITERS SUBMISSIONS
Keep stories short and original. I can't stress that enough: "SHORT and ORIGINAL". Do not send me your 100 page graphic novel, your ongoing series, or ideas for a 'universe' that you've created. For DECAY and Retro Sci-Fi Tales we only want one-off self-contained short stories with non-recurring characters, and the shorter the better. Even as short as 2 pages for DECAY, or 3 pages for Retro Sci-Fi Tales. Certainly nothing longer than 8 pages. And you must not use any characters that you do not own the rights to. This includes no: parodies, send-ups, mock-ups, tributes, homages, parallels, imitations, copies, plagiarism, etc. Be original and be as creative as you can be.
DECAY is primarily a horror comic and so all stories should contain elements of horror. That doesn't mean that there has to be a monster in every story, but perhaps a horrific or disturbing event. People doing bad things to each other, like a brutally violent scene, can be quite horrific. Stories in DECAY can also contain science fiction and/or fantasy elements, but still with elements of horror. In general no silly or funny stories are published in DECAY. Our aim is for a serious horror comic-book, although some elements of humour, preferably dark humour, do creep in from time to time.
Try to keep the action flowing. Make every page as interesting as possible, not just the last page with a twist. Try to keep every page as visually gripping as possible, with lashings of violence, gore, death, mutilations, etc. Don't make the story into an essay with too much dialogue, but don't put in so little dialogue that readers are finished almost as soon as they began. There should be a reason for everything, every action, every word spoken, otherwise try deleting it and condensing the story. Can your 10 page story be made into a fantastic gripping 6 page story, or 4 pages?
I also encourage people to write Zombie horror stories, as long as they fit into the "Oz Zombie" universe. For a list of 'rules' for the "Oz Zombie" universe please visit the "Oz Zombie" page of this website. I also encourage people to write stories about the "Sisters". They are three beautiful young Vampire sisters, and also have their own page with a list of 'rules', on this website. Being immortal means that stories can be set in different times and places. "Sisters" stories do not always have to include all three of the sisters, they may focus on just one or two of them.
In Retro Sci-Fi Tales all stories must be an odd number of pages in the comic (3 or 5 or 7 pages long). And the stories MUST suit the 'Retro' theme. Think 'old school' science fiction. Imagine you're living in the late 1800's or the early 1900's and writing science fiction.
Once you have your foot in the door as a short story writer then we may look at your ideas for longer material, as DARK OZ does want to release other comic-book titles in the future. However, this mainly relies on the amount of sales of our existing products. So keep spreading the word and get as many people as you can to buy DARK OZ titles, so that we can all support Aussie creators and an Australian comic-book industry. DARK OZ supports all Aussie creators, and you'll be supporting them too when you buy DECAY and Retro Sci-Fi Tales.