Last year, J.S. Earls (creator of PISTOLFIST) released the FRAMEWORKS anthology in an effort to expand the Sequential Art form of comics. The critically-acclaimed anthology featured incredibly talented artists and writers from around the globe and became quite popular at [link] and [link]. FRAMEWORKS 2008 is slated to push the envelope even further.

"We’re now accepting submissions for FRAMEWORKS 2008," said Earls. "People are really getting creative with their technique, which is what this is all about. This time, if submissions aren’t doing something new with their technique – they won’t be accepted. This is about creative visual *techniques.” Earls still firmly believes, "the only way 'motionless' comic books can hope to compete with movies and video games is to make full use of our sequential art form. We can do much more than the 'same old, same old'. Comic creators need to – if we want to use this art-form to its fullest potential and offer something unique.”

Interested creators may submit original tales with a length of 2-6 pages. These pieces may be in black & white or color. Since we are trying to inspire young creators, these tales need to be 'family-friendly' (no profanity, nudity or excessive violence/gore). They should also be high quality work and they absolutely, positively MUST use the Sequential Art format in a 'unique' way. Read Scott McCloud’s UNDERSTANDING COMICS. Think outside the box. Turn the page sideways. Use a lot of negative space. Make the art look like stained glass. Use round panels, triangular panels, no panels! We don't care, just be very CREATIVE with your format and your technique!!"

There is no upfront pay, but creators share profits from sales (stores and IndyPlanet) and downloads (Wowio.com). Final submission pages must be saved as 300 dpi TIFF files. Any color files should be flattened and saved in RGB mode with LZW compression. Dimensions are standard American comic size: Full Bleed= 7x10.5, Trimmed= 6.625x10.25 and the Live Area= 6x9.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2008 and they should be e-mailed to J.S. Earls at: pistolfist@gmail.com