Mind the Gap | ✔️

December 31 @ 9:44 A.M.: Iris

What better way to start a New Year than a contract with Marvel, Iris? See you at dad's office at ten o'clock' sharp. Got a champagne bottle 🍾 on my hands! She's ready to pop! 🥂😉😚

I stared at Jayden's text, mouth wide open, still in disbelief. The train chugged on relentlessly, pushing me forward in space and time, getting me closer to one of the most important decisions of my life.

His dad had friggin' finally gotten me that contract.

The signing was today, and I was heading there right now. Jayden was doing me this favor as a friend only. He had promised.

He understood we would not be getting back together.

Hopefully.

Should I have refused?

I cracked my knuckles.

I mean, that's crazy talk. Who refuses Marvel? 

Marvel was... Marvel, after all.

It was Work for Hire.

I would draw, write, letter, ink, or color for them on demand.

It meant— no ownership of the comics I'd create.

But...

It also meant a lot of money. 

I scrolled up the WhatsApp conversation with Jayden.

It's a solid income! One of his snippets said.

Yes, yes it was.

But what about Fairy Tails? a little voice sneaked into my ear canal. What about the Magical Hair Porn Elf?

And don't forget Jack Kirby, co-creator of Thor, The Hulk, The Iron Man... He never signed off his rights to Marvel.

Oh my God.

This decision was the decision. The ultimate decision about my future.

A diadem of sweat pearls adorned my forehead.

Yes, Iris. And your decision-making skills resemble those of a squirrel crossing the street!

"You only have to choose two things right in your life, Iris," I heard my Dad say in my mind. "A job you love, and the person you love."

"Why, Daddy?" A lil' ole me asked.

He laughed, heartily. "Why, she says? It's easy, pumpkin! You first spend eight hours with one. Then you go home to spend eight hours with the other. And then... Well then, you sleep! And for forty or so more years, like that! You don't want to be sad 16 hours a day, do you?"

With that, my dad had ruffled my hair—the hair of his seven-year-old daughter.

Back then, I must have been about the same age as Mr. Ruffles' daughter—the girl with the sweet smile.

What was her name?

Would she win in a gummy worm slurping contest against me?

I clicked on the Gmail app and stared at Image Comics' reply I had gotten three days ago.

After having examined your entire script including your Fairy Tails graphical novel plot accompanied by your original art, we would love to launch an offer of representation.

Your work would perfectly fit our Imagine! series, and we could exhibit it at the ComicCon event in six months' time. 

However, as you will glean from the enclosed documentation, any contribution to the series needs to have at least 150 pages, and your present work is at 47. So, before we can enter a contract, you would have to expand the Fairy Tails. The present date we are aiming for is the end of April of the following year.