Comic books often feature superheroes battling super-foes. But what if those arch enemies were named Ignorance, Stupidity, or Intolerance?
A new comic book anthology, called You Are Not Alone, hopes to feature 40 and 50 stories to help young readers combat the forces of evil in their worlds – namely gun violence, bullying, homophobia, racism, depression, abuse, body issues and other problems. Think of the project as a comic book version of The ABC Afterschool Special, the TV anthology series that brought thorny and hard to face issues into the lives of kids in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
The idea for You Are Not Alone was born, partly, from the Sandy Hook school shootings.
>"Maybe a story in here will touch a nerve with someone who committed these acts and cause them to think twice before doing something horrible."
"When the Sandy Hook tragedy occurred I spent a lot of time 'talking it out' with the other editors," said Drew Goletz of GrayHaven Comics, the publisher of the anthology, in an email. "It affected all of us, whether we were parents or not. As I spent the week transfixed by the stories of those innocent victims and the pain that would remain for those left behind, I wanted to use the experience we had publishing comics and put it to good use."
Goletz, who is the anthology's project manager, editor, marketer and writer of one of the stories, said "several ideas were knocked around" but that he didn't want to limit the anthology to just gun violence, for fears of capitalizing on the mass shooting tragedy. He and his fellow editors decided to "open it up" as a book to include comics about kids dealing with a variety of tough issues. And to show young readers "that they weren't alone."
The stories in You Are Not Alone are inspired by reality, but not always based on real life events. Goletz said he did not require his writers to tell 'true' stores, but many submissions were based on his writers' own experiences.
You Are Not Alone will feature the work of nearly 100 indie, small press and professional comic book creators, such as Raven Gregory, Dirk Manning, Patrick Shand, Gail Simone and Len Wallace. The project has already hit its initial fundraising goal on Kickstarter. Now, Goletz has launched phase two of the fund drive, with the hopes of increasing the page count (from 150 pages to 160-200 pages), adding more stories (from 30-35 stories to 40-50 stories), bumping up the print run and adding variant covers.
Junior high kids are Goletz's target audience – those he said who are "reaching puberty, coming out of their parent's shadow and seeking independence and aren't necessarily telling adults what's really going on in their lives." But he hopes that kids, teens, parents and even those who might commit these acts of inhumanity might read the anthology.
"It isn't just for the victims of these abuses, either. It could be a friend of someone who reads it and suddenly something in the story clicks with them," Goletz added. "Maybe a story in here will touch a nerve with someone who committed these acts and cause them to think twice before doing something horrible." Between each story will be chapter breaks with information where people can get help and information, as well as tools for victims, those who have seen abuses and those who have noticed warning signs in friends and family members.
Comics make an especially good medium for carrying difficult messages about complicated subject matter, particularly to young people. Without the huge budgets of TV shows or movies to worry about, artists and writers can get as creative as they want. They also don't need to please censors or some lowest common denominator. The content can be direct, even risky. "There are no actors, so scenes depicted that may come off as 'preachy' if it was told in live action will be more subtle on the printed page," Goletz said. "In a comic book format, I'm hoping that the younger demographic we want to help may be more likely to check out and enjoy the work."
More information on You Are Not Alone and the Kickstarter can be found here.
