A talented young actress becomes fatally ensnared in London’s mysterious and glittery drug culture of the early 20th century.
Trina Robbins is an inspiration to many. Through her work as an advocate and historian, she has become a positive force of education and enlightenment in the contemporary comics landscape. But she is also a brilliant storyteller and illustrator (even though she has been unable to draw for several years now), and her body of work is as diverse as it is prolific. She began as an active member of science fiction fandom in the 1950s, creating illustrations for science fiction fanzines. In 1969, Robbins designed the costume for Vampirella for Warren Publishing. Around this time, Robbins left New York for San Francisco, and spent the 1970s becoming an early and influential participant (and one of the few female artists) in what was then the fledgling underground comix movement. During the early 80s, Robbins created comic book adaptations of Tanith Lee’s THE SILVER METAL LOVER, and the story we are attempting to crowdfund with this Kickstarter, Sax Rohmer’s DOPE. She then went on to become the first woman to draw a WONDER WOMAN comic book for DC Comics. In addition to her comics work, Robbins is the author of several important nonfiction books on the history of women in comics. Trina Robbins has won an Inkpot Award, and was only the fourth woman to ever be inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. There is no denying the impact she has had, and continues to have, in the comic book industry, and beyond!
If this Kickstarter campaign is successful, we will publish the first ever collection of Trina Robbin’s comic book adaptation of Sax Rohmer’s sensational 1919 novel DOPE. The story centers around a talented young actress, who becomes fatally ensnared in London’s mysterious and glittery drug culture of the early 20th century. DOPE was both the first novel to speak openly about the world’s international drug trade, and the first story to center around the death of a celebrity by drug overdose. Robbin’s comic book adaptation was first published in 1981, serialized within the pages of ECLIPSE MAGAZINE (and later, ECLIPSE MONTHLY). The story started out in a black and white magazine, and finished up in color comic book. Since its initial publication, it has never been collected in any form. With the success of this Kickstarter campaign, we will produce the first ever complete collection of DOPE, in glorious black and white, on glossy 105 lb paper, at 8.25″ x 11″, the way it was first intended by the creator. We can’t wait to share this beautiful collection with all of you!
We are asking for $10k to produce a 96 page trade paperback graphic novel. A chunk of this money goes towards an advance for the creator. The next chunk goes towards the printing of the book (the book will have a beautiful matte cover, and thick 105lb glossy interior stock). Another large chunk goes to the pre-press artist, who must scan in all the pages from those original copies of ECLIPSE MAGAZINE and ECLIPSE MONTHLY, and clean them up. They must also remove the colors from those last few chapters, and resize them to fit with the beginning chapters, so that our final product is a seamless 8.25 x 11 sized publication. They will also be helping with the overall design of the book itself. And…we will need funds to compensate Harvey Award nominated creator and publishing dynamo C. Spike Trotman to write the foreword, and Eisner Award winning creator of A DISTANT SOIL, Colleen Doran, to write the afterword. As with all our campaigns, we will also be spending a certain amount on the promotion of this Kickstarter campaign itself. In the end, I am confident that for the amount we are asking for will be enough to produce the first ever collection of this incredible story, for your reading pleasure!
For the last two years, I have been busy acquiring, editing and (working closely with production and marketing) bringing over 30 graphic novel reprint collections to market through another American publisher. One of those collections was even nominated for an Eisner award, THE PUMA BLUES by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli.
Recently, I decided to leave my position at that publisher, and launch my own publishing imprint…IT’S ALIVE! I recently finished a successful Kickstarter campaign for RED RANGE by Joe R. Lansdale & Sam Glanzman, making DOPE by Trina Robbins the second book to be published under the IT’S ALIVE! imprint.
Thank you so much for checking out this campaign to publish Trina Robbins’ DOPE. For this book to be published, and for my new imprint to continue it’s vital mission of saving lost and forgotten comic books and graphic novels, I truly need your support! Please consider pledging, and you can also help us tremendously by telling everyone you know about the exciting stuff we are hoping to accomplish. Let’s work together to publish DOPE, and keep the history of comics ALIVE!
BELOW ARE THE FIVE ORIGINAL PAGES OF DOPE ARTWORK BY TRINA ROBBINS, WHICH ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE “EARLY BIRD SPECIAL” OF ONLY $200 EACH! THESE WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE FOR A FEW MORE DAYS, AT WHICH POINT THE PRICE WILL GO UP TO $300 EACH FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE CAMPAIGN. IF YOU WANT ONE PLEASE ACT QUICKLY! THANK YOU!
I am going into this with the experience of having brought a couple dozen collections to print. Beyond that, I am lucky enough to know several really talented people, who can help out with any bumps in the road.