SPECULATIVE
RELATIONSHIPS: A Sci-Fi Romance Comics Anthology has reached funding
success! (See my previous post about it here.) As of this post, the campaign raised funds beyond its original $9,000
goal. Pretty cool!
I invited project leader Scott Kroll aboard to share more
information about what readers can look forward to in this unique,
visually-rich anthology of romantic SF stories. Plus, feast your eyes on some of the art samples he
provided!
The Galaxy Express: Describe the very
first moment that inspiration hit for SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS.
Scott Kroll: It was a Twitter exchange between Brandon Graham (a comics
artist), Tyrell Cannon (the Co-Editor), and Daniel Warren Johnson (a
contributor). Brandon had an idea for a monthly romance comic series and Tyrell
and Dan put their own spins on the idea. It was at best a brainstorming session
and at worst, a joke. Either way, it got us thinking that this was something we
should actually do.
At first we were just going to do something small, maybe
comic book-sized, but when we saw how excited artists were to work on this, we
decided to do something bigger. Kickstarter seemed the next logical step.
TGE: During your
Kickstarter campaign, you stated that "We think it is about time for a
revival [of romance comics]." What appeals to you about the idea of
reviving the romance genre in comic book form? In other words, why mix romance
and science fiction, as opposed to say, mystery ad science fiction?
SK: I don’t know if I have the space here to go into the long
history of comic book genres, but romance was once the biggest genres in
comics! The American comics market was gotten more and more diverse in recent
decades, but romance hasn’t come back in the same way as say, crime, horror, or
sci-fi comics.
It odd because romance is so universal. Even if a story
isn’t completely about romance, there are almost always romance elements.
As far as why we mixed it with sci-fi, that’s harder to
answer. I think because Tyrell and I are both big sci-fi fans! Also, Sci-fi in
comics is having a huge resurgence now. Books like Prophet, Saga, and Trillium
are some of the most popular books going right now.
TGE: How did you go about
selecting the team of artists?
SK: These were all artists that Tyrell knew that he felt needed
more exposure. They’re all artists we felt were on the cusp of making it big.
We hope that this will give them a big push into the limelight.
TGE: What type of science
fiction settings do the artists explore in their stories?
SK: That’s tough to answer because it’s so varied. We have one
story that takes place purely in the dreams of a space traveler in hyper-sleep,
another that takes place on a futuristic battlefield, another in the core of a
dying planet, and another on the bottom of a frozen alien ocean! And more!
TGE: Some romances have
upbeat endings while others end in tragedy or on a bittersweet note. Without
going into spoilers, what kind of romances can readers expect from the
SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS anthology?
SK: The endings are as varied as the settings. We have sad, to
bittersweet, to hopeful, to funny.
TGE: What type of
characters will readers meet?
SK: We have humans and humanoid aliens. We have cyborgs fighting
for love. Several robots. An obsessive computer program in love. Hermaphrodite
with five genders… Yeah, the trend in this anthology is variety.
TGE: Is there a particular theme that ties all the stories together, or does
each one explore romance and SF in different ways?
SK: We let all the artists run wild
with their stories. We wanted to see each person’s individual vision.
TGE: Tell us about the
various art styles and techniques used by the artists.
SK: All the artists work mostly traditionally (meaning with ink
on paper as opposed to digital). We also insisted that all the artists letter
their story by hand (again, rather than digital). We have nothing against
digital, but we like to see an artist hand in his or her work.
Check out the links to the various artists' individual sites
to get a sense of what they do:
TGE: What's next for you
and the other members of the SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS team? Any chance of a
second sci-fi romance anthology?
SK: We hope that this anthology gives lots of exposure to the
artists and makes them huge comics stars!
But seriously, Daniel Warren Johnson has a comic coming out
from Dark Horse comics called “Ghost Fleet”
Isabelle Rotman will be in future issues of Maple Key Comics
Tyrell Cannon is working on another issue of his series
“Victus”
As far as a second volume, that is a definite possibility.
We have had a lot of great artists approach us wanting to contribute. It would
be a shame to waste all this enthusiasm.
TGE: Where can readers
purchase a copy of SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS? Which formats are available? Is
there a dedicated online site for the anthology?
SK: We’re in the last days of the kickstarter, which is the fastest
way to get the book (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1619738205/speculative-relationships-a-sci-fi-romance-comics).
***
Congratulations to the SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS gang!
As of this post, there's only a few hours left to back this project. Here's a handy link if you're interested!
Joyfully yours,
Heather