Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, kickstarter

Home Is Where This Comic Is

Published Sat, 31 Oct 2015 18:00:48 -0500

By Joe D. McFee

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz said it best, "There is no place like home." We all know the well known phase of Home is where the heart is. A little known creator from the Mid west, Todd Black, is taking comic fans on the journey to explore this very concept in his new miniseries called Home.

Why did Todd pick this concept to develop into comic series? Well in his eyes, people spend most of their lives looking for a place of their own, a station in society that a person can feel safe and secure, or in essence a home. He wanted to explore the idea of "where is your home?" through the eyes of some very interesting characters in a sci-fi'ish type fantasy.

In Home, readers will delve deep into the life of Elysia, a young woman who is stuck in life. Her parents have passed, she has no friends, and she is constantly tormented by people because she was born with natural blue hair. These looks and comments about her hair have beaten her down throughout her life, and yet, she loves who she is, she just wishes for something better, something different.

That's when she sees "The Code", a living computer code, that Elysia can use to manipulate certain parts of her environment. "So, Elysia now has superpowers?" Not quite. The Code isn't everywhere, and she can't choose when it shows up, or what it does. This becomes truly evident when she accidentally opens up a portal to another dimension, and then gets pulled inside. Elysia finds herself in the realm of Altaria, a dimension filled with feral monsters, futuristic knights, and the origins of The Code.

Now in a place totally different than her own world, Elysia must adapt on the fly, help out the mysterious people of Altaria, and try and find a way back home…if there is a way home.

Todd hopes that exploring this concept that he is able to reach readers in the same way that Spider-man has when looking at being the odd person out. When asked about why he developed the comic series home in this fashion, he stated the following:

As the creator of Home, I really wanted to do something I thought was both visual engaging, while also very personal, something that many people could relate to. Visually, between The Code, the Knights of Altaria, the look of Altaria (which I think will surprise people), and how we're going to show off our monsters The Schrief, there's a lot of cool fantasy elements.

But what grounds this story in reality is Elysia. Blue hair aside, she's as "normal" as normal can be. She has dealt with a lot of the struggles people her age have gone through, and more. Elysia I see as a representation of what people sometimes go through in life, and yet she powers on. She's constantly looked upon as an outcast cause of her hair, yet she loves who she is. She has to work a dead-end job that she actually had to "push along" to get, yet she does the job to the best of her abilities, cause she knows she needs it in order to live. A lot of people have been through that, I have been through it, and in some ways still am. After hearing her story in the beginning of Home #1, I feel you will not only connect with Elysia, but you'll root for her throughout the miniseries. Especially once things start getting crazy as she arrives in Altaria.

I love character stories, I do those with my current ongoing superhero series Guardians, and I'm going to do that with Home, and I hope you'll join me as this tale unfolds.

Like all comic projects, this is not a solo endeavor for Todd. He is working with a team of talented artists on Home. Dinh Nguyen, Bethany Varni, and Zakk Saam are all working on this series. Dinh has worked as a graphic artist for a few video games for a company in Japan. He is will be responsible for the pencils and inks on this series. Bethany is known for her coloring work on indie comics like Marked, Home, Luchadoras, INFECTED!, and Dust Bowl Dancer. Zakk is known for his lettering talents for several publications from Wayward Raven Media and Avatar Press to name a few. Todd has great respect and love for his team to make Home a reality.

Currently, Home is entering the final week of the kickstarter campaign. Todd notes that there are very special rewards for pledging to the Kickstarter. Such as famous cosplayer AZ Powergirl doing a variant cover for Home #1, and, she did a cosplay of Elysia. The prints of which are part of the $25 and $50 reward tier. This is in addition the other great rewards for donating which range from getting drawn into the comic, to being drawn on a special cover, to becoming a recurring character as one of the Knights of Altaria!

Todd hopes that his series will be a worthwhile fantasy for all to experience. Just like Dorothy's journey down the yellow brick road, Todd hopes that comic fans will follow Elysia on her journey. Let us hope that this comic find safe passage from its Munchin land of development to it Emerald City of being in readers. Only you can play the role of Glenda and be the "Guardians" watch over this comic so that Elysia can find her way "Home".

Bleeding Cool Goal: Hi! Todd Black here, if we hit our funding goal by the end of Sunday because of you BC readers, I'll do a special thank you video for the KS thanking each and every one of you! And…I might do some karaoke…we'll see how much we make!

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