On Friday one of the founders of Image Comics, artist Erik Larsen (of Amazing Spider-Man and Savage Dragon fame), answered a fan question wondering what was the best way to pitch a comic to a publisher. Larsen said that a pitch should be, “As brief as humanly possible. Ideally your introductory letter could fit in a single Tweet.”
This prompted a handful of comic pros to respond with their shortest pitches which have gotten approved, and perhaps the most succinct and impactful was writer Kurt Busiek‘s pitch for Thunderbolts, a comic that shocked fans by revealing this new team of superheroes were really the Masters of Evil in disguise, led by Baron Zemo.
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The series pitch I sold the fastest:
“All of Marvel’s most reassuring heroes vanished in Onslaught, and the public is scared. So when a new team arises, people are relieved and grateful. But they’re really the Masters of Evil in disguise, and they’re out to take over the world.” https://t.co/8vJzSeUHbo
— Kurt Busiek Resists (@KurtBusiek) May 25, 2018
“All of Marvel’s most reassuring heroes vanished in Onslaught, and the public is scared,” Busiek said. “So when a new team arises, people are relieved and grateful. But they’re really the Masters of Evil in disguise, and they’re out to take over the world.”
Outside of its first iteration, the team essentially functions as Marvel’s version of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad: incarcerated villains that must participate in a strike force for heroic missions as a part of their rehabilitation. While relaunching a handful of times with new teams and high profile leaders such as Luke Cage, Norman Osborn, Red Hulk and the Winter Soldier, Thunderbolts has managed to be a series that fans always turn to as having one of the best twists in superhero comics history.