International comic anthology featuring 10 mini-comics about life behind the comic shop counter, from 18 female/non-binary creators!
Just over a year ago, on September 15th, 2015, Zoe posted an idea in the Valkyries forum, a place for women/nonbinary folks working in comic shops:
“Hey, I noticed that a lot of us here are cartoonists. Would we want to do something with that?”
50-something likes and comments, and one year later, They Have Issues, a 67-page anthology with 18 contributors from around the world, home to 10 different minicomics, has emerged.
ZOE N. SUGG is the creator of this project. She’s a cartoonist and proud Valkyrie at Critical Threat, with one successful comic anthology (Screwing with You), a webcomic (Re:Bomb!), and a half-dozen or so minor projects under her belt. You can view her work at ZuzuCartoons
KATY REX is the writer for Black Mask’s Jade Street Protection Services, the editor of BM’s Kim & Kim, and the writer behind the graphic novel, Strange Wit.
JESSI JORDAN is a comic/ freelance illustration artist who hails from Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore. She specializes in figural work, fanart and gallery-worthy pictures of cats. Her work can be found here or on instagram @jezzacat.
JAMI JONES, social media extraordinaire @jmeninja, handles a huge chunk of They Have Issues’ social media from behind the counter of her shop, Galactic Quest.
Nicole Andelfinger – Writer for Munchkin with BOOM! Studios making her big splash into anthologies with They Have Issues.
Haley Boros – Contributor to charity zine Fat Mermaids and proprietor of Haley Draws Daily. She can be found @thatradhaley.
Catrina Brighton – An aspiring cartoonist making her grand entrance on the scene with this anthology. Find her @autumnvillecat.
Amy Chase – Comic Book News Editor at The Geek Initiative and comic book journalist. This is her comic writing debut! Find her @ifshebeworthy.
Megan Christopher – Writer and creator of the Ace Adventures webcomic. She can be found @MegDChristopher.
Ashley Nicole D’Annunzio– Writer on This Side Up, Ashley manages The Pop Culture Company and has a number of funny stories. Find her @lilmiztink.
Kaitlin Edlund – Multi-talented creator of the webcomic Weretrucker. Find her on tumblr here or@KiltyKid.
Tini Howard – Writer of Black Mask Studios’ The Skeptics, as well as a host of other productions from Boom! and Top Cow, she’s @TiniHoward.
Samedi Johnson – a nonbinary illustrator/animator based in Arizona who loves creating cartoons, comics, and animation! Find them on their twitter or on tumblr here.
Heather Kenealy – Winner of the Stan Lee Presents the Seekers contest and USAToday top selling author, she can be found on tumblr here.
Kara Leopard – Designer of our fantastic cover! With experience in indie projects and with Boom! Studios, Kara currently works behind the webcomic Mr.Hare & Mr.Bear. Find her@DoctorKara or on tumblr.
Maria C. Ludwig – Poet and editor of Image’s upcoming Black Cloud, she resides on social media as @solusandra.
Shannon O’Connor – Arizona-based illustrator and Valhallan, her work can be found@Shannwhich.
Special Edition PDFs:
With this tier, you’ll receive the PDF of the regular graphic novel, PLUS a special-edition PDF for printing out- this includes a Make-Your-Own-LCS-Worker Paper Dolls, mazes, word searches, and other fun coloring-book activities! (LCS= Local Comic Store, for the uninitiated.)
Enamel Pins:
This is the design for the enamel pins, which are already in production with Night Owl Print Shop!
Alright, time for the good stuff!
$4,552: Shiny UV Spot Cover!
With a surprisingly low amount of extra money, we can afford to make the title and mascot all shiny and awesome-looking! You wanna have the most awesomest version available, right?
$5,352: Video Email Recommendations!
Now, our custom recommendations email will include one short video! Multi-task instead of going through the awful process of reading things! (Wait… comics involve reading…)
$6,352: Extended Print Run and Stickers for All!
MOAR books for everyone! Give one to your mom, and buy twelve for your local comic book shop! Also, one 3″ sticker of our mascot will be included with each book in this print run!
$10,852: Feed the Artists!
This is what turns this project into something SERIOUSLY LEGIT: If we hit this stretch goal, we’re able to actually charge a page rate of $50/page per contribution to the artists and writers- for an independent project, that’s not bad at all! Professional rates hover at about $100/page.
Is this a Valkyries project?
NO! No no no, nope not at ALL. The admins of the Valkyries have graciously stood by and let us organize all of this, but it is NOT an officially-sponsored project. The big-name creators in the Admins team were too busy doing their career jobs to be able to sit on the board and coordinate us all, so we’re a fun side project for a ton of people who HAPPEN to be Valks :)
Are the contributors being paid?
They are! Though this began as a labor of love, we’ve had enough enthusiastic supporters to warrant us making an official page rate; the goal is $50/page, but with enough of your love (and by that we mean COLD HARD CASH), we’ll clear the $100/page professional level! Achievement unlocked!
Thanks for checking us out!
(Video credit: Music by Harmonic Defiance- “Bloom”)
– Welp… Zoe’s mailing all of it. For the most part, it’s easiest to hold accountability to just the one person/owner. That *DOES* mean all the books are coming from just one person’s place, but that’s what the friends, free pizza and shipping parties are for. She’s pretty confident that she’ll be able to get it all out on time, and budgeted for a few extra weeks past shipping, just in case things get delayed in transit.