Talking to Outlaw Entertainments Editor-In-Chief Jason Burns |

Editor-In-Chief of Outlaw Entertainment, Jason Burns, recently answered a few questions that we had about the launch of the new company and what comic book fans can expect from the newest publisher on the block.

When we did our Checking in With.. interview you mentioned that you had some very exciting news that you couldn’t share at the time. Obviously, that news was the launch of Outlaw Entertainment. It’s got to be a great feeling to launch something of this magnitude yet scary as hell at the same time. What thoughts are going through your mind as you get closer to releasing your books to the public?

It’s an extremely exciting time, both creatively and from a business standpoint. To be able to be involved in a venture like this from the ground up, it’s very nerve-racking because obviously you want it to succeed, but at the same time you know much of it is out of your hands. All we can do is put out what we believe is quality content, and then from there it’s up to the comic buying audience. I am eagerly awaiting the books being printed and going to stores, but at the same time, I have to not over think things and just continue to focus on our future material/production because even though our first titles are due out in June, we’re working on material that is a year out, so at this stage, it really is out of our hands.

Your business model appears to focus soley on graphic novels. What was the thought process behind Outlaw Entertainment focusing on graphic novels and bypassing the monthly comic?

Unfortunately the business of comic books is not what it used to be, and in order for a company to make money off of a floppy, they have to sell more copies than what the independent industry can even sustain. With graphic novels, we’re able to reach more people, and because it’s collected out of the gates, it has a longer shelf life and is not sent to the back bins after 30 days. As a company, we hope to be around a long time, so in order to do that, we had to introduce our titles in a way that worked for not only us, but for the fans as well. That’s why, even though we’re putting out primarily graphic novels, we’re still making them accessible to people by putting a $7.99 price tag on them.

Down the road, do you see Outlaw venturing into monthly series? Will there be on-goings with your graphic novels or are they strictly one-shots?

We have built 99% of our titles as ongoing series, but whether or not we continue to tell stories based on those characters is up to the fans. If Praetorian connects with people, we’ll make another one. If Hat Trick builds a strong following, we’ll tell another one. It’s entirely up to the comic buying audience whether or not we continue the plotlines within each particular universe, but we certainly have the planning in place to do that should fans ask for them.

Not only are you the Editor-in-Chief but you’re also the scribe behind the first three titles Outlaw is releasing, I’m sure you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for quite awhile now. Care to talk about the first three titles that will be hitting the streets, Hat Trick, Imaginary Friends, and Praetorian?

Praetorian was the first book I worked on with Outlaw Entertainment. I was hired on to write the property, which is created by company co-founder Rick A. Villa, in December 2007. After completing that book, I was eventually brought into the fold in a business capacity, which snowballed into me bringing in a number of my own creator-owned properties into Outlaw Entertainment. Two of those are Imaginary Friends and Hat Trick.
Praetorian is a dark, supernatural mystery that is geared towards older readers, Imaginary Friends is a dark comedy about a group of ragtag imaginary friends that must save the world (think junior high and up in terms of readership), and Hat Trick is an all-ages adventure about a world of magic that lives inside a magician’s top hat. Our goal with the publishing schedule is to put out a diverse library of titles that appeal to multiple demographics and span various genres. We’re not trying to be everything to everyone, but we’re definitely trying to be broad enough so that the company brand can mean one thing to person A and another to person B.
Readers can check out previews of our titles at www.outlaw-entertainment.com.

All three stories are from different genres. What other genres can we expect to see from Outlaw? Super heroes, sci-fi, horror? How about a western, with a name like Outlaw you’ve got to have a western somewhere down the line.

We will be touching on all of these genres in some capacity within our first year of publishing. Our fourth release is a sci-fi thriller called Jenna Blue, and our August release (which we will be premiering at SDCC) is a modern age super hero story about super people without super powers, but who still try to make a significant difference and do some good in the world. We also have a Western (mixed with horror) on the schedule, which will star the character people seen in our logo.

I’m sure you have plans on bringing in additional writers, can you mention any names and possibly give our readers a glimpse of what they can expect to see after your initial release?

We are working with other writers and creators, though many of those releases won’t appear until 2010. We have some great talent from both the comic world, as well as the screenwriting world, stepping in to bring their stories to life, so we are excited to have those on the schedule, but unfortunately they’re too far off for me to talk about publicly. For the time being though, readers can expect a crop of books due out from Outlaw Entertainment throughout 2009, including at least two books a month from June until December. Mini sites, complete with previews of the titles, will be popping up on our Web site as the months roll on.

Speaking of bringing on new writers. This question is for all the starving writers and artist out there. What is Outlaw’s submission policy, if any?

Artists are urged to reach out to us through our Web site, as are writers/creators. We will happily look at pitches, though we prefer that books come to us completed, or at least with the creative team in place. Either way, if someone has something that they want us to look at, they should get a hold of us online and we will walk them through the process.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview! ComicNews wishes you and Outlaw the best of luck! Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

To comic fans and readers, we hope that you’ll give Outlaw Entertainment a chance, and at $7.99 a book, it was our mission to make it affordable for people to read comics again. Hopefully the content will speak for itself, in which case, that leaves me with nothing more to say.
Thanks, ComicNews!