Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, kickstarter, kill the freshman

Kill The Freshman! Kill The Freshman! Kill The Freshman! Kill Him Now!

Project title: Kill the Freshman

Creator/Writer: Alex Langley @rocketllama

Producer Prime: Katrina Hill @actionchick

Art Team: Marko Head, Greg Fischer, Nick Langley

Short pitch: In the graphic novel Kill the Freshman, a group of freshman try to survive in a high school filled with super-powered upperclassmen, masked prowlers, and nacho fries.

My name is Alex Langley. I'm a writer by profession, and a writer by passion. Getting paid to write makes me feel like a chocoholic working at Willy Wonka's factory. It's amazing work, and it takes passion, diligence, and a willingness to improve. I have two published books under my belt (The Geek Handbook and Geek Lust), and the thing that keeps my brain joyfully restless at night is writing fiction.

Kill the Freshman was born out of two things. First, Kill the Freshman formed out of my memories of high school— and being in extracurricular activities. When I first arrived as a freshman, high school seemed utterly overwhelming. The sweet freedom of graduation felt so close, and yet so unattainably far away. And the upperclassmen! In my nubile eyes, they were so much bigger, better, and smarter than me that it made me feel like some kind of unevolved subspecies. The Bulbasaur to their Venusaurs, if you will.

With this idea in mind I went in to creating Kill the Freshman, crafting the magical, dangerous world of the Gracewood Academy of Queens and Patriarchs, a school where upperclassmen prey on the younger students and gain their powers, Highlander-style. For most high schoolers, being popular seems like a matter of life and death. At Gracewood, being popular can be the difference between life and death.

Secondly, Kill the Freshman was born out of my desire to see a protagonist other than the strong-jawed white hetero males that dominate popular culture. Yes, we all love Batman, but not every story needs to be about a dude who looks just like Bruce Wayne. I love stories with strong female protagonists, and, while we do get the occasional Frozen or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, tales about women as individuals and women as groups are sadly lacking. And I'll be damned if I don't do my part in rectifying that.

So, after spending many sleepless nights hammering out this story in the glowing embers of my brain furnace, I attempted to publish Kill the Freshman through traditional routes. Which sucked, and sucked hard. I had a few positive interactions with comic publishers, but, as a whole, I was shocked to find out just how myopic their view of comics seems to be. I heard things like, "It's a great looking book, but your female lead doesn't look like the industry standard for women," or "girls don't read comics" and other such ridiculous notions. But, as Neil Gaiman said, "all the old rules are crumbling". The publishing game has changed, which is why I've turned to the magic of Kickstarter.

So, for those beautiful souls who are interested, you can find my Kickstarter here:

You can also reach my via Twitter as @rocketllama, or on tumblr at Kill the Freshman Comic.

AND, as a special bonus, I'm running a promotion to commemorate Bleedin' Cool's generous offer to cover my Kickstarter. If Kill the Freshman can push past $2000 funding by midnight (central time) February 24, I'll make a video of Producer Prime @actionchick Katrina Hill smashing me in the face with a pie. Why a pie? Because tricking freshman into taking a pie to the face is a classic upperclassmen prank, so it seems fitting that I go boldly back into the pie-filled breach.

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