John Jack
Hey folks and welcome to yet another Small Press Saturday this week I’m joined by my friend Frankee White to talk about his book currently in crowdfunding project starless daydream, which you can find here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankeewhite/project-starless-daydream?ref=android_project_share without any further ado here’s Frankee!
Q: Tell me about yourself
A: My name’s Frankee White. I’ve been writing comics for about 5 years now. I like to play around with genre and make sad stories about characters who face the consequences of their actions!
Q: What can you tell me about Project Starless Daydream? What inspired you to write it?
A: It’s what I’m calling a “Mech Narrative Zine” basically over 30 comics creators have come together to tell the finale of a mech anime that never existed. It’s one cohesive narrative with tons of different art in the form of sequential pages, pin-ups, double page spreads, journal entries, and character profiles. It started based on a 2 page short that opens the zine. When we started working on it something about the character resonated with me and I had an insatiable desire to just keep running with it. 6 months later…we’re already fully funded on Kickstarter!
Q: Please tell me about the decision to take on such an ambitious jam piece, it’s brilliant.
A: The jam/zine element is totally driven by the fact that I want to work with as many different artists as I can. Teaming with an artist on a standard comic is a long term relationship and while I’ve loved doing that on 20 Fists and Broken Bear, there’s so many talented creators out there that I wanted to work with.
Cover by Sachi Ediweera, AHG Color and logo by DC Hopkins
Art by Minerva Fox
Art by Benjamin Sawyer
Pages 3 and 4 by Simone Ragazzoni, all pages lettered by DC Hopkins
Q: Your campaign seems to be going great, funded in a few short hours, what is some advice you might give someone looking to start a kickstarter or other crowdfunded book of their own
A: I haven’t cracked the code to creating a successful Kickstarter outside of “make something people want” but I have learned that if you take the time to plan out your KS well in advance with a long runway time, allowing yourself to talk about your project as its in development you can garner interest in it as opposed to just suddenly announcing it if you’re a larger creator with a dedicated fanbase. Another thing would be to support other creators Kickstarters! The comics community is a small group and it very much is the old mantra of “a rising tide lifts all boats” so if we all help each other out it makes it easier for all of us, whether that is via backing or just sharing.
Q: Tell me about your past projects
Earlier this year I self-published 20 FISTS which is a “rough and tumble romance” following two women who are falling out of love and are in opposing crews in an underground fist fight league. Featuring art by Kat Baumann and lettered by DC Hopkins. I’m immensely proud of that book and am happy we sold out of our b/w first print run. Prior to that, BROKEN BEAR was released via Caliber Comics which is a dark fantasy about a young squire who takes a Faustian deal for expanded physical strength and prowess. She’s thrust on a dark path of trying to figure out what her life can become after such a dark deal.
Q: The profits from Project Starless Daydream are going to charity, what can you tell me about the charity?
A: The net proceeds for this Kickstarter are going to The Trevor Project which does crisis intervention and suicide prevention work for LGBTQ+ youth. The work they do ties into one of the core themes of the book which is: believing in your own worth and the possiblities of the future even if the current world isn’t working in your best interest. Project: Starless Daydream is such a radical project and I’m truly making it for myself that I wanted to do something good and different with the leftover funds. I’m hoping we’ll be able to donate a sizable amount when it’s all said and done.
Q: What is your favorite part of making comics?
A: That’s a tough question because I love almost all of it (except marketing myself). My favorite part is defintely when I open my email and see new pages have come in. That’s like opening presents every single time.
Q: What is your dream character or characters you want to work on?
A: Well, I’d love to be able to work on BROKEN BEAR for a very long time. I have a very long story planned for Selm (the lead character) so ideally I’d like to do at least five books to tell her whole story and even 5 feels like I’d be selling it short. Now that PROJECT: STARLESS DAYDREAM is seeing some early success on Kickstarter too I’d like to re-visit that world. There’s a lot on the peripheral of the book that I could write more about.
If I can’t choose my own projects, then I’d love to somehow write an actual Mobile Suit Gundam story (even if it was just a short), or Two-Face for DC. I think I could do something really cool for Harvey and give him a bit of a spotlight that I think the character deserves.
Project Starless Daydream is funded and will ship soon, but that’s no excuse not to pledge to a great project for a worthy cause, here’s that link again https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankeewhite/project-starless-daydream?ref=android_project_share back this book today and thanks for visiting Frankee!
