Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, HRL

The Dragon, the Goat and the Thyme Bandit…

Published Sat, 09 Dec 2017 18:00:38 -0600

Adam Fotos writes:

I'm in the final week of my first Kickstarter, and as of Friday night the project is 85% funded to print The Thyme Bandit, the 9th book in my all-ages comic series Dragon and Goat. I've been making Dragon and Goat for 14 years, starting it as a daily comic strip that ran five days a week for six years in university papers before I took their adventures into full-page, full-color comics.

As an independent artist, I try to craft my worlds with all the care and attention to detail that I loved reading in comics growing up like Bone, Groo, and Calvin and Hobbes. I show a lot in the Chicago land area (C2E2 and occasionally Wizard World), and one of my most memorable moments was when a kid came up to my table screaming about how she and her friend played an elaborate Dragon and Goat on the playground she and her friends had invented after reading a D&G book. That's the kind of experience I want my readers to have, whether they're kids or adults.

The newest book The Thyme Bandit takes place in Chicago, and when Goat's rutabagas are burgled from the community garden, Detective Dragon takes the case. Dragon, Goat, and their robotic dog Magnet stake out the garden. But their cyber-canine goes missing, so D&G dive into a subterranean maze to stop the thief — only to discover a more sinister villain taking root beneath the city.

The comic series is about two unlikely friends who have been mismatched best buds since childhood, although now, Dragon sets Goat on fire a lot less. Kid-friendly and also fun for older readers, the comic takes us along with Dragon and Goat on their wild adventures from seeking pi-rat treasure to spelunking holes in Space-Time. Dragon's curiosity and impatience are the perfect kindling for misadventure while Goat is left stitching back together their robotic dog Magnet (and sometimes the universe).
All the books are self-contained, so you don't have to read them in order. This would be a great starting point for the series. Be sure to stop by my Kickstarter to check out the newest project and the swag in addition to the books. I'm really looking forward to getting the enamel pins myself!

Though I've been making comics for a while, I've also been teaching comics for a number of years. I'm a full-time lecturer at Chicago State University and part-time faculty at the College of DuPage where I teach a regular sequential art course while also getting in other comics projects in other classes. I'm really big into sharing the comics process with as many people as possible — not just to get people into big name publishers, but to give them the tools they need to build their worlds and get them out to other people.

Next weekend I'll be doing a free comics making workshop at Pocket Con at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Washington St,) in downtown Chicago at 1:30 p.m. while tabling with a great group of other artists from 12 p.m.-6 p.m. By then, my Kickstarter will hopefully be funded and I can relax, enjoy my last con of the year, and start working on the next projects!

This weekend, if I hit the funding goal of $3000, everyone who checks off the "Bleeding Cool" box on the survey once the project closes will get a special Bleeding Cool Dragon and Goat sticker with their pledge. If you want to find out more about Dragon and Goat and my other comics, check them out right here.