First Look At The Hard Sci-Fi Queer Graphic Novel Runaway To The Stars

Posted in: Comics | Tagged: graphic novel, iron circus, Jay Eaton, kickstarter, queer, Runaway To The Stars, sci-fi, slice of life

First look at Hard Sci-Fi, Soft Slice-Of-Life, Very-Queer-Indeed graphic novel Runaway To The Stars by Jay Eaton from Iron Circus

We love Iron Circus at Bleeding Cool, the graphic novel publisher founded by C Spike Trotman that pulled itself up from nothing (and some very entertaining crowdfunders) to become one of the premier grown-up graphic novel publishers in town, demonstrating an audience for queer smut and sci-fi comics that it should have been obvious was always there. It has (so far) raised over five million dollars in crowdfunding to publish its books, making that an art form in and of itself. And now they are looking for more, for the hard sci-fi slice-of-life graphic novel Runaway To The Stars from Jay Eaton.

Runaway To The Stars features Talita, a centaur aerospace engineer and cross-species foster kid, as she befriends a shipwrecked A.I. pirate named Bip who convinces Talita to help it escape the planet of Dirtball, in a universe of communication, accommodation, and everyday life in co-species spaces. There’s nothing quite so queer as Runaway To The Stars… and clearly no better publisher than Iron Circus to be putting it out. It reminded me of what Kelly Thompson was talking about, when writing Absolute Wonder Woman, how when writing sci-fi and fantasy comics, they are all queer, because of the diversity of people, aliens, gods, nymphs, spirits and powers. It’s just harder working on that kind of thing with the likes of DC Comics. Iron Circus does not seem to have that issue, and Runaway To The Stars seems to embrace that spirit. And here’s the bumf:

“Abandoned as an infant on the doorstep of the Nexus Jovia youth foster care facility in a cat carrier, centaur and aerospace engineer Talita has no idea where she came from. She’s spent the vast majority of her life around humans, has very little familiarity with her own species’ cultures, and has always had trouble connecting with anyone — other than sentient AI beings, that is. So when Talita discovers a damaged Centaur spaceship in the Ixion Recycling Plant’s salvage yard with a pirate AI onboard named Bip, she quickly becomes drawn into its plans to escape the planet of Dirtball. But her two human friends, Idrisah and Gillie, aren’t about to let her commit crimes on behalf of a shady AI… not without their help, of course! Because Bip, the pilot of the Runaway, is definitely not telling Talita everything about what happened to the ship’s now-deceased centaur crew, or what mission they might have been on. But despite Bip’s suspiciously shady past, the AI is a charmer and quickly gets the team on board to help. Now all they have to do is secretly repair the ship and get all the clearances needed to file a flight plan… Of course, they just can’t get caught doing it.”

Bleeding Cool has an exclusive preview, and the Kickstarter launch page is right here.

“This story is for everyone who’s ever felt displaced, othered, or unheard — and every reader that loves a good sci-fi story and is intrigued by what secrets a sentient pirate AI might be hiding,” said Iron Circus Publisher C. Spike Trotman. “One of the (many) things that makes RUNAWAY TO THE STARS so great is Jay’s attention to the complexities of communication. We have Gillie, a genetically-modified human who is Deaf, forced to deal with clunky and ineffective tech in her efforts to communicate; Idrisah, a professional xenolinguist who can communicate with double-larynxed alien Avians, but can’t fluently speak in either of her family’s languages; and Talita, whose social anxiety and fear of inconveniencing others gets her taken advantage of, despite her towering height and fearsome appearance. This singular graphic novel is a testament to the fact that our all-too-human faults and anxieties are universal concerns — no matter your point of origin!”

RUNAWAY TO THE STARS’ intricately-built primary story is supplemented with immersive appendices and overflowing with additional context. The campaign will also feature extras such as an exclusive bookplate and a discounted bundle of Iron Circus titles hand-picked by cartoonist Jay Eaton.

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