Epic Jam: Anthology Comic for the Homeless

This blog originated from a project I've been cooking up for a couple months now. Seeing as I have a finalized script for one of the stories, I thought I'd officially announce it here.

I've been struggling for years with the knowledge that while I am living pretty darn comfortably, there are people all over the world suffering. Compared to a large percentage of the world, I'm stinking RICH. But I just kept on doing my thing, playing video games, reading comics, and creating comics for fun. Those things aren't bad by themselves, but I was letting them become the throne of my life. I've been wanting to do more for a while, and I think I now know what that might be:

2-3 weeks ago, the family and I were in Washington DC, and my daughter Halle saw her first homeless person. We were following someone in busy traffic, and Halle saw him on the street holding a sign. She starting crying, yelling "Daddy, we have to HELP him!!". I couldn't stop, or we'd get lost in DC, but the sheer innocence of her reaction really got to me. I promised her, right then and there, that we'd figure out something we could do to help once we get home.

Since then, I thought "I don't know how to help the homeless. There are people that do. I, however, am really good at drawing and telling a story. How can I help the homeless with that?" So I talked to Halle, and we'd like to, under the banner "Creative Compassion", start a comics anthology, from which the profits go towards a homeless charity. I'm not sure which one yet. We're thinking maybe a local shelter. We could even interview the shelter and, via the comic, provide information on who people can help the homeless more. It would be a comic full of fun short stories, not necessarily super heroes.

So far I have the first script. It's co-written with my good friend Moses Garcia. It's called "Flowerhead", and you've already seen lots of the character sketches for that script. My daughter is slowly working on "Sungirl", and we should have one or two more treats up our sleeves. Most or all of the art will be by your truly. Hopefully this will at LEAST be an annual title, which will be a good 32 pages or so.

Right now I THINK we have everything we need for issue #1, but if anyone else is interested in submitting stories for the anthology, we always have issue #2. I'd love to give them a look. One thing I'll try and be up front about, and try not to sound like an elitist jerk, is I'm looking to have quality stories in the book, so I might be picky with submissions. I know it's for a good cause, but I want to make sure the stories are good. Also, we're shooting for all ages in tone. Anything from 1-12 pages. Afraid this is still a work in progress, so I don't know exactly what I might need yet.

I also am currently learning how much art I can produce, and how quickly. I might need some art in the future as well.

Also, anyone who is interested in helping with the comic project in other ways, I also could use interviews with shelters or the homeless.

Hope this project is a success, and everyone digs it.

Oh, and I'm thinking of calling the anthology "Epic Jam". Thoughts?