Happy April! After a full 13 months of half-lockdown, the United States is finally on its way to getting folks vaccinated and, perhaps, in a position where we can see our friends in person without being afraid of causing a biological incident. I’m planning on using the few remaining months I have of not having to buy a MetroCard to stock up on indie comics… so let’s get into this month’s Kickstarters!
Our Stories Have Carried Us Here
Green Card Voices
Ends April 18
Our Stories Have Carried Us Here is an anthology of first-person stories by immigrants and refugees living in the US. The organizers, Green Card Voices, have paired storytellers with illustrators from similar linguistic, cultural, and regional backgrounds—ensuring that the storytellers’ words are interpreted and represented by someone who shares their heritage. It’s clear that the organizers have kept the importance of place and transition at the forefront of their minds while building this collection, and I’m excited to see how that comes through in the finished stories.
Servant of the Black Dog
Meredith McClaren
Ends April 24
I love when Meredith McClaren launches Kickstarters, because they tend to be tight and specific and delightful… and Servant of the Black Dog is no exception. This short horror story is already finished (with the exception of a proofread and printing), and will clock in at about 71 pages of full-color, tensely paced comic. McClaren’s artwork is always a treat for me—there’s a stained glass quality to her rendering that makes my brain happy, and her pleasingly-muted color palettes are incredible—so I can’t wait to immerse myself in it for 70 creepy pages.
The Greatest Hits: A Comic Mixtape
Level Ground Comics
Ends April 30
I know we’ve all seen comic mixtapes before (or at least, I certainly have, after several years of roundups), but The Greatest Hits is doing something new to me: using the anthology as a vehicle to get new editors some experience, as well as new creators. The anthology’s 16 stories are split across 10 editors, each relatively new to the practice. Level Ground Comics has used the same formula before in A Taste of Home, and they’re reapplying it to The Greatest Hits, right down to the four-page comics and black-and-white interiors! I missed A Taste of Home, so I’m super curious to see how an anthology from double-digit editors can feel.
And more!
Dumbing of Age, Volume 10. Ends April 27. Some of us at WWAC have been following Dumbing of Age for years!
Fatty; A self-love comic. Ends April 30.
Urban Tails. Ends May 3.
Young Offenders #1–3. Ends May 5. Writer Mark O. Stack is a frequent name around these parts!
