Zuda: DC wants your Web comics, will pay

Zuda is a new Web site from DC Comics, makers of big comic franchises like Superman and Batman. Come October, Zuda will be opening its doors to aspiring comic book creators to submit their work for a chance to make it big, or at least get their work hosted and published on DC's dime.

Zuda is giving users two ways to reach potential fame. The first is by keeping an eye out for particularly impressive submissions and offering the artist work at DC. The other is a public system that lets Zuda users vote and rate submitted comics after a select group of 10 has been picked out by Zuda editors. This is a monthly process, whose winner gets a one-year contract with DC to produce a weekly Web comic.

DC has come up with a specific format it wants all its submissions to be in, a 4:3 rectangle that it claims to be "industry standard." Creators must build their comic entirely within the box. To me this seems a little silly, as many popular Web comics tend to run the gamut in width and height. While this works for some comics like Family Circus and Ziggy, it seems somewhat limiting in the long run.

Zuda will continue to add more information about how to submit and present work. For now, it's limited to a set of forums and a sign-up to be alerted when the site goes live.

See also: DrunkDuck