This looks promising: A Kickstarter campaign launched for a project called SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: A Sci-fi Romance Comics Anthology. I had recently done a search on “scifiromance” on Twitter and the project’s handle popped up (SciFiRomanceCom).
As far as I could determine, the romance side of the stories could end on a variety of notes--upbeat, tragic, or somewhere in-between. So it might help to approach this anthology as romantic SF rather than from a romance genre convention angle.
I’m looking forward to checking out the stories and the art looks very cool. If this venture inspired a greater expansion of SFR into the comics medium, that'd be nothing short of super!
As of this post, the campaign reached over half of its funding. Here’s the press release so you can learn more about it:
Speculative Relationships: Reviving Romance Comics
with a Science Fiction Twist
Six Artists breathe life into the Romance Comic Genre; Launch Anthology on Kickstarter
Chicago, IL (May 8, 2014) - In the mid-twentieth century, romance was the most popular genre in comics. Comic publishers produced dozens of titles throughout the 1950s and 60s, and many of the medium’s top artistic talents such as Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Frank Frazetta worked in romance comics. However, by the 1970s, the once-dominant genre of romance comics all but died out.
The artists featured in the new Speculative Relationships anthology are ready to start the revival.
Speculative Relationships editors Tyrell Cannon and Scott Kroll are both fans and creators of science fiction comics, but wanted to try something different. They decided to infuse romance with a science fiction, and the new idea quickly attracted a group of talented comic artists.
Speculative Relationships features up-and-coming artists creating brand-new science fiction romance comics:
The eight stories in the anthology include a cyborg fighting alien hordes for love, a computer AI in love with a sleeping interstellar voyager, two robots that were literally made for each other, and so much more!
The team behind Speculative Relationships is reaching out to fans directly through an exciting new Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is now live and will run until June 4th, 2014.
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Ghost Volta shared the news of this project, and I had to chuckle at a couple of the lines:
“Speculative Relationships is an anthology featuring original short stories within the long dead science fiction romance genre.” [emphasis mine]
“Long dead”? Hmm...guess all the advocates and authors of SFR since the mid-1980s didn’t get the memo… :P
“If this seems weird or niche, it’s actually not.”
I know, right?!!!!! Glad to hear that stories mixing SF and romance have a sizeable following!
Related:
Joyfully yours,
Heather