Guess I'll tip my hand.
Pitch Sheet: Ben’s Book of Banned Beasts
Characters:
Ben Vasquez: Cowardly, paranoid, and an insomniac… and he’s only eight years old to boot. The world is a scary place when you’re 8, but for Ben, it’s amazing he doesn’t have a heart attack on a daily basis while taking on the various ghouls, beasts and monsters of the ancient book.
Erin Simmons: Erin is the toughest girl in the world, and Ben’s best friend and won’t hesitate to beat up any creatures from the book. She has a rather thorny personality and has an addiction to hair metal. She also may have a crush on Ben.
Karma Chameleon: One of several residents in the book, Karma assists Ben and Erin in rounding up the missing pages. However much to his chagrin, the kid’s behavior influences his appearance, form and shape.
Naturally, there are other characters, such as Ben’s older Goth brother and Erin’s Secret Government Agent Father who is trying to uncover the source of all these creatures.
Concept: A magic book of Banned Beasts falls from the sky and nearly crushes Ben who is out playing with his friend Erin. Ben decides to keep the book to prop up a table in his room, but it turns out the book is “leaking†and that monsters and mythical creatures are escaping from it, the first being the Karma Chameleon. He reveals that Ben is now the owner of the book and is responsible for getting the creatures back into it, and offers to help in exchange for not being forced to go back in himself.
The remainder of the series focuses on Ben and Erin’s attempts at putting the creatures back, while keeping the book secret. Making that difficult is Ben’s terrifying Goth brother, and Erin’s Secret-Agent Father who is investigating these paranormal activities in the town. Further complicating this goal is the nature and variety of the creatures, ranging from supernatural beasts to legendary creatures and even deities.
Unfortunately for Karma, he is tied into the behavior of the children, so when they are bad, he tends to take on a more menacing form, his form of transformation is often tied into certain aspects of their behavior as well, such as gluttony, if one of the children exhibits this, he begins to gain weight and a bad attitude as a result. As a result he acts as a guide to the children as well as a tool in regards to restoring the creatures of the book.
Storylines would often reflect the acquisition of a certain creature, or the trio’s attempts at keeping these things a secret, and often showcase the larger effect of the beasts in the town. Some of the monsters range from Japanese Kappa, to a gigantic Cyclopes, a Cthuluoid sewer-lurker and even friendly Unicorns and the majestic Roc. Much of the humor is the result of these children trying to capture, outsmart or beat up these rather intimidating beasts, or even use these creatures for their own childlike purposes, such as intimidating the school-bully with a hoard of Goblins, or getting out of school by faking a fever using a dragon to project heat.
Character lineup.
A page I sent. The giant monster in question is actually based on Ainu folklore, I forgot it's name however.
Various doodles of Karma.
Ideally, if I did win, this series would be kid-friendly, but not dumbed down like most kid-friendly comics out there, and would have several stories per issue. It would also be a bit educational because I would use different mythologies and folk-lore for plot-points.
So how about you guys?