Starrytellers KS Looks to be a Star


Long-time Panel Patter readers know that I'm a huge proponent of bringing the attention of our primarily US/Canada/UK audience to the amazing work being done by creators in Australia and New Zealand. That's why I was so happy when my friend Taneka pointed this Kickstarter out to me.

Starrytellers is a 96-page anthology featuring 10 star-themed stories by 11 Australian women. Why stars? Well, here's what they have to say about it:
Why stars? Stars are great! As a theme, it's broad, offering up mythology, history, science fiction, you name it.
I know very little about the creators involved on this one, other than browsing the links to the women who are working on the project. What I can tell you is that I came away extremely impressed. Alisha Jade's watercolor work is truly spectacular, for example. Lee Lai has multiple short comics on her Tumblr, and they really show great character interplay and soft linework. Alexis Sugden's art reminds me a lot of the CCS folks here in the United States.

Art by Lesley Vamos


What I like best, though is the variety that I saw in the work of these artists, which gives me a lot of hope for a strong, multi-perspective anthology that has stories that work well within the theme but don't repeat themselves over and over again.

This project has fortunately already funded (yay), but there's still time to help push it past their initial goal. It's great that this anthology, following the new standard that I look for, has already paid the creators involved. That's huge in an era where creators continue to be used as fodder. Now it's time to use these funds to increase their page rates, as stated by the Kickstarter. And there's little worry about not getting your comics--the book is 95% completed already. No "we'll get this to you some day"--the editors of the book plan for delivery close to the end of the year.

In terms of rewards, this one has the usual tiers. $8 gets you a digital copy of the book. For $19 (plus shipping) you can get a hard copy along with your digital edition. A nifty, holiday-themed reward is two copies of the book--one for you, one for your comics-loving friend. Higher tiers include illustrated book plates, plush toys, and even a chance to have YOUR comic idea illustrated. (I think that's a great reward for comics anthologies, by the way.)

Art by Mamath

I'm really looking forward to reading this one. It's a great chance to find more international creators for a small investment (this will cost you less than two single-issue comics at the digital tier, and you'll have over 3 times as much content), has a really fun theme for sci-fi fans like me (and maybe you?), and I really hope you'll take a moment to review their project and consider backing it.

You can find the Starrytellers KS here. But hurry, there's less than two days to go!