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Mark Poulton Comes Full Circle With Teen Comedy 'Squirt'

Published Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:00:19 -0600

Last updated Sat, 11 Nov 2017 11:32:57 -0600

Mark Poulton writes,

A favorite convention story among my friends in the industry is my brief stay in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Truth be told, I never wanted to be a screenwriter. I wanted to make comics, but I had no idea how one went about it. Back in the 90s', breaking into comics was some guarded secret. It seemed impossible to do. Back then, I once worked up the nerve to ask a professional at a small hotel con how I could break in and he looked at me, saw my awesome hair and sideburns and said, "You look like one of those guys from 90210. You should be an actor." He was on to something, but not quite, because a few years later I started hearing about guys like Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez finding success in Hollywood. They made it sound so easy, so I decided if I couldn't make it in comics; I would just make it in m

ovies and use that as a back door into the industry.

And that's how my journey into Hollywood started. I began writing screenplays, teen comedy screenplays to be exact. I loved teen-comedies. I loved the two Coreys. Who didn't? I began mailing out my scripts to every production company listed in the Hollywood Creative Directory. And guess what? It worked! I optioned a teen-comedy called "Gimme Back My Stuff!," a semi-autobiographical story about a boy who gets dumped by his girlfriend and tries to get back some of his belongings he left at her house (in real life, it was a complete run of Crisis On Infinite Earths).

To make it even sweeter, the producer who optioned it had done the live-action Fist of the Northstar movie. Who cares if it was straight to video? It was a comic book movie! My back door into comics seemed real. Now before anyone tries searching imdb.com to look up Gimme, don't bother. After two years, it never made it out of development and my career in Hollywood was over.

But here's where the story gets good. We were now in the 2000s' and the internet was way more prevalent… and those comic book secrets on how to break into the industry? They weren't so secretive anymore! Hell, publishers had websites with submission guidelines! It was easy. I just had to make comics! And that's what I did. My first comic, Koni Waves, turned into two comics, then three comics. Then a series after that, and another. I just kept making comics. Next thing I know I'm revamping Avengelyne for my hero, Rob Liefeld, at Image Comics. I even got to work at DC Comics with him. Crazy, right?

Now, here we are as I'm about to launch my next project on Kickstarter. And we're back where my writing career started with a teen-comedy. Squirt is a super-hero, teen-comedy about Jason "Squirt" Squires, the smallest kid in high school. One day, he ends up with a mysterious alien orb embedded in his chest that encases him in a super-powered armor with a mind of its own every time he's in trouble. Now, he doesn't become a hero right off the bat. Oh no, with some nudging from his best friend, Kord, he's going after the bully who tormented him for all of those years. It's the Two Coreys meets Power Rangers.

It's a fun, comical story with some great manga and Super Sentai inspired artwork from newcomer, Mark Yoon, which I think you'll dig. We're giving away great rewards too besides the book. You can get trading cards, buttons, commissions, t-shirts and I'm even selling the artwork to the cover that I did which is a nod to some of my favorite Super Sentai shows. Go check it out and keep the dream alive!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1242162132/squirt-heroes-come-in-all-sizes-graphic-novel

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