#unversedcomics

Hello friends and mutuals, our Kickstater has finally launched! All the comics have been created and now all we need is your support. We have 19 days to make this awesome collection of comics get published. Please contribute and share if you can. 

:3

So what happens when a group of the Pacific Northest College of Art’s finest cartoonists dive into the unknown? Whether it’s navigating the dating world, learning to be your own person in the shadow of those that have come before you, or the unfolding of a new romance, Unversed is a collection of stories that navigate unfamiliar situations and explore the growth that comes from not knowing.

Unversed is a 150 page, 2 color, softcover comics anthology of stories from 11 emerging cartoonists that navigate unfamiliar situations and explore the growth that comes from not knowing. We recommend this book for mature readers!

We have spent the past four months creating all the art for the book and the only step left is to get it printed. Once we reach our funding goal we are ready to send the file to the printer!

At the $5 level you can get a digital PDF of the book.

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If you back our project at the $20 level you will get one printed copy of Unversed and a digital PDF as well!

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For $30 you will get the printed book, a PDF, 5 printed postcards of alternate cover designs, and a spot on our Thank You page in the back of the book!

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If you want a copy for yourself and a friend you can back us at $35 and get 2 printed books, a PDF, one random postcard and one random sticker from our artists.

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To back us a little more, for $50 you get a printed book, the full set of 11 postcards, 11 exclusive stickers, one from each artists, and a Thank You mention in the back of the book!

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For $100 you get the printed book, a PDF, 5 random postcards, 5 random stickers, and a one-of-a-kind hand drawn sketch card from one of the artists in the book!

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To get an original page of art from the book, back us at the $200 level. You can choose from either Conor Macbride's or Maria Frantz's original pages. This is limited to only 4 slots so act fast!

You’re helping make a great project happen and that’s awesome! We appreciate your support in joining us in bringing this anthology to life.

Risks and challenges

Since we have all of our work for the book completed, the only foreseeable challenge we may encounter are possible printer delays.

Again thank you so much!!

We’ve got a week left to get this funded! A lot of my best buds put some good work into this book, and I wanna see it get printed! Go grab yourself a copy!

<3

Hey friends and mutuals!! We are halfway funded on our project and its thanks to you!! We still have a bit of a way to go though, so the best way to help is by sharing out content as much as you like! We only have 10 DAYS left; so exciting! Again thank you all who have contributed already. It means so much!

 :3

Contribute Here ⬇️

Follow Maria at @mariacfrantz on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr

Check out her website at mariafrantz.net

1. What got you interested in comics? Any cartoonists that you look up to?

Maria: I was always making up stories in my head as a kid, but I didn’t have any way to put them down on paper. I knew that drawing was an important part of that process for me, but I didn’t know how to integrate that into what I was doing. I played around with various sorts of picture books, and eventually settled on comics. It was the quickest and easiest way for me to create these stories when I was just working by myself. As time went by, I learned how to handle the medium better, and I ended up falling in love with it.

As far as cartoonists I look up to - there’s too many to name. Emily Carroll, Kate Beaton, and Michelle Czajkowski are all pretty close to the top of the list.

2. Can you tell us a little about your comic? How does it speak to the theme of the anthology (uncharted territory/unversed)?

Maria: Mellaby and the Infinite Black is about a kid who encounters death for the first time in their life, and the fantasy they create around that event to cope with it. Life, death, and mortality are such a huge ideas for a kid to explore for the first time, that it seemed like a perfect story to tackle for this anthology.

3. What was the inspiration behind your story?

Maria: A lot of this story is autobiographical, and based off of the death of my own grandmother when I was about eight years old. It was the first person I felt close to that I’d lost, and it opened me up to new ideas that took a long time to get comfortable with. I became convinced that nothing happened when you died - that it was just black, forever. I had so much anxiety around that idea that I was afraid to close my eyes, because it meant I’d see that black space. Hence, the title. In the comic, I attempt to capture the process of healing and acceptance that I went through, and how the last words my grandmother said to me would eventually put my fears to rest, years after she passed.

4. What challenges arose during the course of this project? Takeaways?

Maria: Most of the hard stuff was trying to remember what had happened, and what I was feeling during that time. Combing through fuzzy memories from over a decade ago was no easy task, and there were a few gaps that I needed to fill in before I started. So I spent a good amount of time talking to the other people in my family who were there, trying to get a better idea of what had happened, and what head space I seemed to be in.

5. Can we expect more comics beyond this project? Where can we find more of your work?

Maria: Oh my goodness, YES. Like 90% of my existence is comics right now, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. You can take a look at my work at mariafrantz.net, and find me at @mariacfrantz on the various social medias.

Thanks for reading, and please donate to Maria’s Kickstarter in the link below!

Follow Conor on Twitter and Instagram @ cmac_aroni !!

And on his tumblr @conormyface

1. What got you interested in comics? Any cartoonists that you look up to?

Conor: My interest started specifically with comics about Robin from Batman  and various Jurassic Park comics. I have a horde of Jurassic Park comics! Later the television show Heroes got me into the comic artist Tim Sale, and the Final Fantasy video games got me into Yoshitaka Amano. After reading the graphic novel Skim by Jillian Tamaki, I was inspired to create my own comics. I currently draw much inspiration from queer manga artist’s, such as Gengoroh Tagame.  I am always on the look-out for sexy queer comics. 

2. Can you tell us a little about your comic? How does it speak to the theme of the anthology (uncharted territory/unversed)?

Conor: In my comic Torso, the main character is myself. In the comic, I go meet up with someone I met on gay hook-up app/sex app in real life for the first time. The ‘person’ I end up meeting turns out to be literally nothing more than their profile picture. They turn out to be a literal torso; no arms, no legs and no head. Dating itself is always an uncharted territory. No one can ever completely comprehend love. Love is always different and always new.

3. What was the inspiration behind your story?

Conor: The inspiration for my story comes from personal experiences in my gay life. Particularly the inspiration for this story came from a friend very dear to my heart. I hope to make him proud and to be just like him; he knows who he is. 

4. What challenges arose during the course of this project? Takeaways?

Conor: My story is about gay sex. That’s a risk and a problem itself. Queer sex is always taboo and always seen as something explicit and profane or for ‘mature audiences’. Take television for example. On television, (regardless of the context) you can show as much drug-use, murder, explosions, racism, war and violence against women/trans persons/minorities/humans etc as you want! In my case however, showing two men in love and expressing that love is just too much for some people. I hope this comic gets me laid.

5. Can we expect more comics beyond this project? Where can we find more of your work?

Conor: Oh yes! Comics are insufferably too straight for me to stop. There could never be enough queer comics. Expect more comics about dicks, butts, sex and gay penetration faggotry from me. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at @ cmac_aroni. If you see me on Scruff …  I like coffee, beach dates and to have my face sat on. ;3

Thanks for reading and donate to Conor’s Kickstarter at the following link!