THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE SPEKTRAVERSE

I – Thou shalt not create characters who lack depth or motivation. 

Characters should be treated as though they are living, breathing creatures with their own histories, motivations, etc. Their origin and ethnicity should be set before they’re first drawn into the panel. Any character who lacks depth and motivation should never make it onto the page. This also implies that their genders, ethnicities, and other factors will not change for the sake of “diversity” or “political correctness.” They are what they are, and every aspect of their being matters.

II – Thou shalt not bring characters back from the dead.

With the exception of zombies, no character will ever be brought back from the dead. We do not kill characters for publicity or profit, nor do we bring them back for the same reasons. Bringing back a character from the dead cheapens the significance of their death.

III – Thou shalt not ret-con established history unless it was planned from the very beginning. 

Anything that happens in the "Spektraverse" is established as historical canon. If it was stupid in hindsight, so be it. Live with the consequences of poor writing and plotting and don’t punish the reader with your terrible decision-making.

IV – Thou shalt age thy characters realistically. 

Nobody wants to see your character stay in the fourth grade for thirty years. Characters don’t need to age day to day, but time should visibly pass in the Spektraverse. That means old characters will eventually die, even if very popular, and new characters will arise.

V – Thou shalt not put out stories for the sake of having a product to sell, instead of a story to tell. 

This is how you end up with confusing, lazy sagas about clones. The Spektraverse is under no obligation to sell ongoing books. Products will only live so long as they have something to say. This will break the endless launch/cancel/relaunch/re-cancel cycle so common in the industry.

VI – Thou shalt not publish in any medium if the story and the art do not deserve one another. 

There are too many instances of beautiful art accompanying awful plots and stories, and wonderful plots and stories accompanied by atrocious art. Exceptional Press will never publish a product where the writing and the art don’t aspire to high standards. This is a visual and a written medium, and both will be catered to for the sake of the reader.

VII – Thou shalt not publish non-cannon stories in any medium. 

Any appearance by any character in any medium, be it comic book, coloring book, prose, cartoon, live action film, or video game, will be treated as historical canon for that character and for the Exceptionalverse as a whole. That means that a child saved in a coloring book will actually have a spot on the master Exceptionalverse timeline.

VIII – Thou shalt not hesitate to publish stories of a violent, sexual, or otherwise controversial nature. 

Political correctness is for idiots.

IX – Thou shalt not use violence, sex, or controversial topics for their shock value. 

While violence, sex, and controversial topics can be shocking, they should not be used to shock the audience. It’s something we see all the time in movies and even TV these days. If sex is to be shown instead of implied, there should be a reason for it. If violence is shown, it should further the story or be used to develop characters.

X – Thou shalt not kill characters as a publicity stunt.

Treat characters as if they are living, breathing creatures, because for some people they will feel that way. Every character who dies should do so only to further a story’s plot in a meaningful way. Any character whose death was meaningless wasn’t worth writing in the first place.