Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, fangirl, kickstarter

Fangirling Comic Books

Published Sun, 03 May 2015 20:00:18 -0500

Tom Stillwell – Script. Jessica Lynn – Illustration. Zac Atkinson – Colors. Crank! – Letters. The FANGIRL Kickstarter campaign ends 05/26/15.

When Alice witnesses a murder committed by a corrupt cop she and her friends do the only thing they can think of…hide in plain sight at the world's largest comic book convention!

Tom Stillwell writes,

I'll be perfectly honest; I'm not a woman. Because of this you may be wondering why a forty something man is writing a comic about a teenage fangirl? The short answer is because the comic industry needs more books with strong female characters.

The long answer?

The long answer is because I'm the father of a teenage fangirl.

My daughter is a geek. She spends countless hours playing Sims 4. There is a giant tub of Legos in my living room that still gets hauled out on a regular basis. Today I had to resist the urge to see the new Avengers movie because my daughter would have murdered me in my sleep if I went without her. My daughter cosplayed as Hawkgirl, for crying out loud! As a father of this awesome, amazing, wondrous girl I had to make a comic for her and all girls like her.

When I was a kid you didn't celebrate your geekiness. You hid that light under a bushel. Flash-forward to today and geekdom is celebrated. Now more than ever girls and women are letting their geek flags fly. Fangirl is written for them, to celebrate them. Being a fangirl is about loving something and wanting everyone else to love it too.

Alice, the protagonist of Fangirl, is the character I want my daughter and girls like her to point to and say "Hey, that's me! I do that!" Alice is smart, strong, fearless and cocky. Fangirl is a mash-up of Scooby Doo and Veronica Mars. I'd have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those meddling gamers…

I also wanted to create Fangirl and use it as a vehicle to showcase a new female artist. I'm not a big name in comics. I can't affect massive change in an industry that is stacked against female creators. What I can do is hire a new female artist and give her a good experience. I can treat her with respect and value her creative voice. I can be professional with her and ensure that she's paid fairly. That I can do. I'd want someone to do that for my daughter.

Jessica Lynn is a new artist that you'll be hearing a lot about in the future. Mark my words. The rest of the creative team on Fangirl is top notch as well. Zac Atkinson, the colorist, has worked for just about every big name publisher. Letters are provided by Crank, currently working on projects like the award winning Battlepug and Revival.

Fangirl is a 74 page original graphic novel that is accepting pledges on Kickstarter. Currently Fangirl has reached 37% of its $10,000 funding goal. Pledge rewards include digital & print copies of the book, original pages of art, prints by industry favorites (Yanick Paquette, Colleen Doran, Mike Norton, etc.), having your likeness drawn into the pages of the book and even becoming a major character.

You can find the Fangirl Kickstarter campaign here.

As a welcome to Bleeding Cool readers, if we hit 100 backers over the weekend I'll be giving away digital copies of my Honor Brigade: Honor Brigade TPB to all backers.

Tom Stillwell can be contacted at spinnerrackcomics@gmail.com, followed on Twitter @TomStillwell or found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TomStillwell. Follow Fangirl at www.facebook.com/fangirlcomic.

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