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Ella, The All-Ages Graphic Novel On Kickstarter

Published Sat, 17 Nov 2018 09:00:43 -0600

Alex Giles writes,

I have been saying for years now I would never run a Kickstarter because I didn't want to seem like I was begging for your money and yet here I am, along my buddy Ammar with a lice Kickstarter but why now, and why for this book?

To be totally honest if we want to finish this book anytime soon then we have too, Ammar and I are busy right now with books that are paid work where this is a labour of love for us both and we haven't been able to spend anywhere near as much time on it as we would have liked, the Kickstarter is so we can take a little time and focus our full attention to get it over the finish line and out to people as soon as possible.

The book as well is one we desperately want to put out because our last projects we have done Ammar = aXmaniac & Wart and me = Betty 'The Slayer' Mitchell & The Odd Lot were all aimed more at an adult readership whereas Ella Is for everyone to read and enjoy.

Ella is a book we are both immensely proud of which originated from a 4-page short I had originally wrote for a competition that Black Hearted Press Comics ran at the first ever Granite City Comic Con here in Aberdeen but the artist had to cancel last minute so I was left with the script that I loved, over the following months I started expanding it to a full blown story and around the time Ammar and myself were both involved in separate stories on the Kayfabe Anthology, him as artist and me as writer and letterer. We became friends during the making of the book and as it turned out he was looking for an all-ages story to work on, I sent him Ella and he loved it so we went from there.

The characters, story and what was originally issue #1 and the pitch for publishers came about pretty quickly, the book was then picked up by an American publisher but also a few months in both Ammar and myself started paid work, myself as a letterer and Ammar as a self-employed graphic designer and artist. Obviously the non-paid work slowed down for us both and we couldn't spend the time we wanted on the book.

The Kickstarter will genuinely enable us to put the head down, focus and get it over the finished line.

As for the book, Ella is an all-ages graphic novel of 88 pages that the whole family can enjoy.

If you can imagine the Pixar film 'Brave' mixed with 'My Neighbour Totoro' with a touch of 'The Goonies' thrown in and you have an idea of what this kids action adventure book is about.

We follow Ella and Ezra in a battle between good and bad.

"When a young girl's life changes… Forever."

When Ella's Great Grandma passes away and she is left as a gift, her world turns upside down. Instead of watching Netflix and going out with her friends, this twelve-year-old is now the legacy holder of the 'Amulet of Sharzim' which grants her the ability of anthropomorphism and sends her on an adventure with talking animals of both good and bad which culminates in a battle of Ella and 'The Good' against the mean animals of 'The Villainous'.

We are trying to reach the goal of £3, 000 which is not a lot compared to many other Kickstarter's and that of for the FULL graphic novel.

If you have any questions or just want to say hello you can get us both on the interwebs at the following places, all help will receive much love from us both, and if you do back us after reading this on Bleeding Cool say so in the comments and if funded we will possibly have a BC only gift of a print.

Ella Facebook page HERE & Kickstarter HERE.

Alex on the internet at the following places Twitter Website Instagram Facebook

Ammar on the internet at the following places Twitter Website Instagram Facebook

Thank you in advance you lovely people.