A new comic to benefit kids
I'm writing today in regards to a crowdfunding effort I'm currently putting forth on behalf of myself and my co-creator, Brenda Lopez for an all-ages children's book which is probably the most personal thing I've ever done.
The book is called The Zipper Club. It's my first real foray into the world of "all-ages" comics and it's based on a fourteen year period in my life where I was a camp counselor for a summer camp catered towards children growing up with Congenital Heart Defects. Over the last four decades, we're seeing more and more children surviving their various forms of CHD due to massive advances in medical science and prevention, whereas around all that time ago, children with defects would just quickly die off. I myself am a 30 year old survivor of CHD and have grown from my family being told I would be dead at an early age, to becoming an almost completely unhindered and normal-functioning adult. The book's synopsis reads...
At age 8, Cliffy Goldfarb was the recipient of an emergency heart
transplant. At age 9, Cliffy is now struggling to cope with the
limitations his still recovering body is undergoing, and the fact that
because of this, he has trouble relating to his peers. When his mom
suggests spending his summer at Camp Bravehearts, a place for kids
living with heart defects like his own, he has some trepidations about
going this camp for “special” kids, but soon learns his worries were
all over nothing when he meets a young girl named Rosie who introduces
him to a group of new friends who encourage him by showing off their
surgical scars to one another and inducting Cliffy into “The Zipper
Club”.
Essentially, this is the kind of book I wish I had for myself while I was growing up with my condition. Navigating a life of illness can be daunting when you're that young, and your odds of meeting kids who are growing up and seeing things same way is slim.
Brenda and I first began doing The Zipper Club as a series of short stories for Grayhaven Comics' anthology series, The Gathering. This book plans to collect the first six of those shorts (27 pages total) and add an extra 13 to make the book an even 40. (Prologue, epilogue, and a few scenes in between to help transitions between the different shorts and make the whole experience a bit more of a complete read). This book would be the first of an intended FIVE annuals, one representing a single summer in the lives of our five core cast members, Cliffy, Rosie, Ernie, Chester, and Michael. Each year will focus centrally on a different cast member's story as the group returns to Camp Bravehearts from the ages of 8 up to 13. We get to see them grow and progress with their conditions and if Brenda and I do our jobs right, it'll give the real summer camp experience of the reader returning the same time every year to see how their old friends have grown.
I foresee a lot of people asking me one question. "Why IndieGoGo?" and my answer is simple. As much as I love and contribute to Kickstarter, they don't allow bulk lots, and I really wanted that option, not just from a standpoint of being able to sell to retailers, but I'd like to get the book into the hands of doctors and pediatric cardiologists as well. My dream would be to walk into a pediatric cardiology office and see a copy of The Zipper Club sitting on the waiting room table, awaiting some little boy or girl who's been through a lot of unheard of things, have them pick up the book, and hopefully learn for themselves that they're not totally alone in what they're going through. The Zipper Club is about turning our perceived weaknesses into profound strength. I think that message alone is something that can appeal to everyone, not just kids suffering from CHD, or any other physical or mental affliction for that matter. If we do our jobs right, that message should become the universal theme. Plus, we get to have some fun with the kids and their stories along the way. That's a win-win.
Crowdfunding campaigns are typically fought hard on the opening 48 hours of their run. It's said that the likelihood of a campaign raising its goal increases exponentially if it gains 30% of it's number in 48 hours, so in an effort to raise said 30%, I'm offering a "Day One Special". For anyone who donates at the 20 dollar level today, I will personally draw them a complimentary sketch, gratis. The campaign has a spot where I'm selling sketches for double that, but it's limited to 30 sketches and costs $40. This is a special offer good only until approximately 9:20 PM (EST) tonight, and I'm putting no limit on how many sketches I give out before that deadline. Even if it breaks my hand, I'll do it, so please, I beg you, BREAK MY HAND!
So that's it, then. If you're still reading this, I hope you guys will check it out, and if you like what you see, I encourage you to donate. If you don't have the money, giving the campaign a shout out on your Twitters, Facebooks, Tumblrs... Heck, I'll even take MySpace, LinkedIn, and carrier pigeon. I'm not picky. If you work for or run a comic news site, blog, or podcast and would be interested in covering the campaign or even doing interviews, Brenda and I are very open to the idea as well. I've left the campaign link below, so anyone curious, feel free to look it over. If you still have any questions after that, please don't hesitate to let me know. Every little bit helps and I think if ever there was a worthy cause for me to stand behind, it would be The Zipper Club. I
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/welcome-to-the-zipper-club/x/2095190
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Thanks,
Len N. Wallace
Writer of LOVE BUZZ from Oni Press
Solicit info and 22 page preview here! - http://www.onipress.com/titles/h/378
http://wallaceswastedspace.blogspot.com/