The First Real Test
I gotta be honest with you friends, I have been struggling.
As much as I love writing comics for all-ages, I have a lot of stories I want to tell and a lot of comics publishers pigeon hole me as “The Princeless Guy” or “The My Little Pony guy” or even “The Unstoppable Wasp” guy, as if a person who writes comics that are accessible to all-ages can’t also write horror, action, westerns, or even a dark meta-fiction that turns years of superhero books on their heads. I’ve been trying to work my way in through this for years.
Now, with this incredible creative time, we’re doing it ourselves
My first crowdfunding effort for my own work is up now. And it’s ambitious. We could have just tried to make one new book, slightly overpriced it, and we might eek out enough money to make it happen. But when I do a crowdfund, I want people backing it to get something they can’t get anywhere else. So, we created a flip book with two first issues of two brand new comics. They’re both for mature audiences, they’re both straight out of my head, and they both feature incredible art teams that’ll blow your socks off.
If that’s all you need to hear, the link is right here: https://zoop.gg/c/slay
But let’s say you wanna learn a bit more
On one side it's the first issue of fantasy-horror-western "SLAY!" with artist Alex Smith, Colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Letterer Taylor Esposito.
Leilah wants to be a monster hunter. She wants to do it so bad, she's pretending to be the notorious monster hunter known as The Scarred Rider in hopes she may meet the legend herself. But when her first hunt turns out to be way more dangerous than she can handle, Leilah may not live long enough to meet the Rider or, worse yet, she just might.
This post-apocalyptic monster-hunting western is the first chapter of an epic about coming of age soaked in blood and monster guts and the dangers of meeting your heroes in the dark woods while you're impersonating them.
If you know and love my work, it probably won’t surprise you to find out that Leilah is an asexual/aromantic lead and that her hero The Scarred Rider is…what’s the phrase? "Not gay as in happy, queer as in f*** you.”
And on the other-side the first issue of a superhero story told from the perspective you've never seen it before. Written by Jeremy Whitley, Illustrated by Luc Nakashoji, Colored by Jamie Noguchi:
"The Girlfriend Survives" follows the story of Delilah Dillon, a barista who wins the heart of local college professor Billy Bright. But what she can't possibly guess is that Billy is the civilian alter ego of the mighty superhero Brightstar! And when Brightstar's greatest foe discovers her connection, she finds herself headed down the same route as a hundred civilian love interests before her - right into the fridge. But Delilah has a secret of her own: she's a survivor and this superhero love story is about to get flipped on its head.
Part super drama, part meta comedy, The Girlfriend Survives is going to flip the refrigerator on its head.
If you see the cover of a superhero’s civilian girlfriend standing on a pile of absolutely trashed fridges and go “Oh, I get it” then you’re the audience for this book. It’s a frustrated scream at a genre that has spent far too much time not knowing any better way to make you care about a woman than to kill her.
The Ask
So, please, even if you only have $10 to buy a digital copy or if you can give a lot more and get other cool prizes that we’ve lined up like variants, art prints, commissions, or even a consultation - now is the time that I need you to chip in and help us make something new. The goal is only $5000 and I think we can do it. Heck, I’d like to do a lot more. I’d like to show that this format where American Comics can give you more stories and better value is viable and something people want.
If you’ve made it this far, then you care enough to read all of this, and we’d love your financial help making the book and your digital help spreading the word! Our campaign is live right now, right here: https://zoop.gg/c/slay
