SLAY! / The Girlfriend Survives - Double First Issue 56-page comic Flip Book

SLAY! / The Girlfriend Survives - Double First Issue 56-page comic  Flip Book

(review of SLAY! coming soon) 

 

 by Jeremy Whitley & Alex Smith & Luc Nakashoji

On one side it's the first issue of fantasy-horror-western SLAY! by Writer Jeremy Whitley, Artist Alex Smith, Colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick and Letterer Taylor Esposito, and on the other-side the The Girlfriend Survives is the first issue of a superhero story told from a perspective you've never seen before, written by Jeremy Whitley, Illustrated by Luc Nakashoji and Colored by Jamie Noguchi.

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https://zoop.gg/c/slay 

"SLAY!"
Leilah wants to be a monster hunter. She wants to do it so bad, she's pretending to be the notorious monster hunter known as The Scarred Rider in hopes she may meet the legend herself. But when her first hunt turns out to be way more dangerous than she can handle, Leilah may not live long enough to meet the Rider or, worse yet, she just might.

This post-apocalyptic monster-hunting western is the first chapter of an epic about coming of age soaked in blood and monster guts and the dangers of meeting your heroes in the dark woods while you're impersonating them.

"The Girlfriend Survives" follows the story of Delilah Dillon, a barista who wins the heart of local college professor Billy Bright. But what she can't possibly guess is that Billy is the civilian alter ego of the mighty superhero Brightstar! And when Brightstar's greatest foe discovers her connection, she finds herself headed down the same route as a hundred civilian love interests before her - right into the fridge. But Delilah has a secret of her own: she's a survivor and this superhero love story is about to get flipped on its head.

 

New Release: School for Extraterrestrial Girls Vol 2: Girls Take Flight

 Papercutz is pleased to announce:

School for Extraterrestrial Girls Vol 2: Girls Take Flight
Authors: Jeremy Whitley (writer) and Jamie Noguchi (Artist)
Genre: children's comics, graphic novel, girl's issues, school issues
Format: 6x9 inches
Page Count: 132 pages
Hardcover Price: $19.99
Paperback Price: $12.99
ISBN for Paperback: 9781545806968
ISBN for Hardcover: 9781545806951
Age Range: 7-12 the students of the School for Extraterrestrial Girls have met their match when they collide with the School For Extraterrestrial Boys!

The extraterrestrial girls are back! With their former school compromised, exposing Tara, Misako, Summer, and Kat, to possible danger from unknown alien forces, they all must relocate to a new hidden school--The School for Extraterrestrial Boys! Located on a hidden island in the arctic north, the new campus has a mysteriously warm summer climate, a beautiful lake, and dozens of sinister mysteries! The girls are staying in what appears to be summer cabins on the lake while going to school in the mysterious castle where the boys stay. This is all under the watchful eye of the boys' headmaster, Headmaster Stokes—an arrogant man with an unknown agenda and an obsession with Tara's people. They may still be in school, but this will be a semester full of blossoming romances, learning to love themselves, and trying to survive the mysteries of both this terrifying island and boys! Romance, magic, and near-death experiences are all part of a regular school day at the School for Extraterrestrial Girls.

● Barnes & Noble
● Amazon
● Bookshop

 

Writer Jeremy Whitley weighed in on the second book in the series:

“School for Extraterrestrial Girls, for us, was an opportunity to play in this fun space of BIG sci-fi (aliens, different worlds, different species) and at the same time ground it in very real feelings of coming of age. Tara is a kid who's had her whole life set out for her by her parents and has done what they said without question. She's bookish, studious, and ambitious. However, when she spontaneously combusts in the middle of class one day, her whole world is turned upside down as she learns that her parents aren't really her parents and they've been hiding from her the fact that she's actually an alien her whole life. She's given the choice of being sent back to her people's homeworld or learning how to be "a good earthling" at the School for Extraterrestrial Girls. For Tara, that isn't even really a choice. She's lived her whole life on Earth and has no idea what would await her on her home planet, so she has to join the school.

Obviously, in a lot of ways this is not so different from choices that real kids face about their lives all the time, it's just on a way way bigger scale. She also begins developing these relationships with her classmates that are strained by who they are and where they come from, but all the more intense because of where and how they're forming them. Not unlike normal high school, they're incredibly different people pushed into this high pressure situation and trying to make relationships with others while they're still figuring out who they are. Added with Jamie's fun, colorful, Tokusatsu (“Tokusastu" is a Japanese term for a live action show or film that uses practical special effects. Godzilla, Power Rangers, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider are all examples of tokusatsu that influenced Book 2) influenced art, I think it's a fun and light read that will really stick with the people who need it.

This series is really important to us, because we get to do the best of both worlds. We get to have the high drama of high school right alongside the giant aliens and monsters. And that, I think, captures the feeling of what it's like to be in high school better than the real thing. At some point in their time in high school, everybody feels like an alien."

 

School for Extraterrestrial Girls #1: Girl on Fire
Tara Smith’s parents are super strict with all their rules and routines, and Tara is a dutiful daughter. Rule #1: No friends her own age. Rule #2: keep her bracelet on, or else. But when she breaks her routine—and then loses her bracelet—she’s in trouble.

Now outed as an extraterrestrial after wielding fire and losing her humanoid form, Tara is captured by the government. She’s given two options: get shipped far away where she won’t be a danger to anyone or stay on Earth and join a school for other extraterrestrial girls like her. Things at the school aren’t easy—especially for the girl whose only friends were textbooks. But Tara’s goal to learn how to control her powers is soon sidelined by the discovery that the people she’s called Mom and Dad all these years aren’t her parents.

The Hal Clement Notable Young Adult Books 2021 List

JEREMY WHITLEY is best-known for his Middle Grade series PRINCELESS published through ActionLab, which was twice nominated for Eisner awards and a three time Glyph award winner. He also has had successful runs on "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," "Courage the Cowardly Dog," and Marvel's "The Unstoppable Wasp." 

JAMIE NOGUCHI is an illustrator from the DC metro area. He has had a successful career as colorist for UDON, Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image. He provided the art for Erfworld, which landed on Time Magazine's Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007.

About Papercutz:
website
Papercutz is dedicated to publishing great graphic novels for all ages. Popular with reluctant readers and gifted readers alike, Papercutz graphic novels for kids, tweens, and teens include a wide range of genres, including humor, action adventure, mystery, horror, and favorite characters. We work every day to introduce young readers to the imaginative wonders waiting to be discovered in comics. To find out more visit http://www.papercutz.com.

About Mad Cave Studios: Driven by madness and committed to quality. Mad Cave Studios provides quality entertainment with a fresh take on an array of genres. From fantasy and action to sci-fi and horror, Mad Cave publishes stories that resonate with unapologetic and authentic audiences.

Interview: Jeremy Whitley (The Dog Knight graphic novel)

Give a big Sheep welcome to The Dog Knight writer Jeremy Whitley!

Do you have a dog?

I do! Though, fun fact, I’m a little bit allergic and didn’t want to get a dog. My daughters, on the other hand, wanted nothing more. They talked us into going out to the local rescue and finding a dog and I just accepted that I was going to need to take allergy medicine pretty regularly.

However, once we got there, the girls were running around playing with every dog on the little farm they had. Meanwhile, this big old hound dog came up to me and gently but insistently pushed his haunches up against me and quietly demanded to be scratched. He was so funny and silly and…a little bit dumb. I fell in love with that big oaf. We named him Ace and he mostly lives on our couch these days.

Ace

How did the idea of The Dog Knight come to you? Characters first or story first?
This one was pretty unusual in that it came together concept first. Dogs are so weird and they do so many little things that don’t seem to make sense. The idea that they were quietly fighting some secret war to protect humans was where it started. But I liked the idea of there being one human character that got a look into this world and help dogs do the things that dogs can’t.

Once I had that idea locked in, the question became “what kind of person would dogs choose? What sort of things would dogs look for in a champion? Frankie as a character was born from that question along with the question of what sort of person could need the sort of absolute and unquestioning love that dogs provide.

How did you find a publisher interested in The Dog Knight?
Well, all credit here goes to my agent Moe Ferrara. As soon as I brought the concept to her, she said “I know who will love this book” and she was right. It was the really basic concept and a few plot points when Holly West at Feiwel and Friends saw it, but she saw the potential in it right away. From there it was just a question of chipping away at the marble until we had the full picture. The full picture being of course a non-binary drummer kid wearing a helmet with big fluffy ears on it.

As a cis-white male (if I’m wrong, please correct me) why did you choose a Black non-binary character like Frankie?

Well, as a cis white male, there is not a shortage of heroes out there that look like me. There’s a superhero movie about one coming out almost every month this year. I think it’s much more important to tell stories about people who are under-represented in these types of stories.

When I started making comics, I wanted to make sure that my daughters could see themselves represented in comics the same way I had been able to. 

That’s what led me to create Princeless. I continue to let that desire to build characters that might represent and inspire young readers in ways they’ve never experienced in fiction drive the kind of characters I write. Right now, non-binary and trans kids are being made to feel wrong and excluded throughout the United States and other countries, but particularly here in the south. I have the amazing luck of knowing a number of incredible non-binary people in my life and I wanted kids and other readers who might not have that same luck to be able to see it in fiction. This story called for someone who is themselves even when it’s difficult and Frankie was the perfect fit.

How did you find your artist, Bre Indigo?
When I first brought the book to Feiwel and Friends, one of their conditions for picking it up was that they got to approve the artist/art style we used for it. I was fine with that under the condition that we find an artist who was non-binary. I wanted to make sure we had somebody who understood the importance of that aspect of Frankie as well as or better than me and could check me on mistakes I might not even realize I was making.

To their credit, F&F was very amicable to this request and brought me art from several different non-binary artists that they liked for the project. When I saw Bre’s art, I was sold immediately. I knew they were the perfect choice for this book and I was so excited when it turned out they were available to do it. I literally haven’t had a second thought about it since then. I think Bre is the secret sauce that takes this book from something I thought was good to something that’s extraordinary. Every time I get new art for the book, I have to do a little happy dance. They’re so good!

How much creative license did Bre have to illustrate your story? As a Black queer person, did Bre share some insight you might not have thought about?
That insight was actually something I was excited to receive. I told Bre from the get-go that if there was ever anything in the story that they thought didn’t work or needed to change, to let me know. As long as fixing it didn’t break some other part of the story, I’m prepared to change it on their say-so. I always want artists I work with to feel like a book is collaborative and not just some case where they’ve been hired as employees to realize my perfect artistic vision. But I think with this book that was even more true than usual. I can confident in saying that his book would not be the book it is without Bre.

Do you have a favorite dog in The Dog Knight?

This is a harder question than you would think because it often changes depending on the dog I’m writing at the time, but I think the truth is, once the art comes back, it has to be The Yorkshire Terror.

Just writing the Batman-esque dialog that comes from the Champion of Justice makes me chuckle, but seeing this tiny little Yorkie deliver the lines in Bre’s style never fails to tickle me. I may never come up with another concept as purely funny as “a yorkie with the attitude of Batman”

Do you have a personal playlist for The Dog Knight? What music would play during the gremlin battles? What music would Frankie listen to?
You know, I have specific playlists for some other projects but not really for The Dog Knight. I honestly write a lot of film scores and orchestral music. I spent a lot of the writing of this series listening to my playlist full of John Williams music.

As for Frankie, I think they choose a lot of the stuff they love based on the drums. They like a good mix of rock, pop, r&b and rap, but really like songs with a great beat that they can try and figure out on their snare and play along with.

What is Frankie’s favorite meal?

You know, I think Frankie is the kind of kid who will try just about anything once but ultimately prefers old favorites like mac and cheese.

What is your favorite meal?
I’m a sucker for a nice big bowl of Ramen. Especially Tonkatsu, but really any warm bowl of broth and noodles with a ramen egg will do it for me. I’ve become the sort of old man who’s a big fan of things in the soup family at the ripe old age of thirty-eight.

Chapter 9: The Trial of Smell was my favorite (Chapter 8 Trial of Justice was a close second!) Do you have a favorite chapter? And Why?
That’s a tough question, but I think I’m with you on this one. The Trial of Smell is a rare and wonderful example of, when I was outlining, only having a very vague idea of what I was going to do and then really finding it in the moment as I was writing. I don’t want to pay myself on the back too hard, but I think a lot of this is Bre’s doing as well. It could have easily been the worst or least engaging test, but on the page, it just clicks. I love both the chapter and the two characters who are introduced in it.

The Dog Knight (The Dog Knight, 1)
by Jeremy Whitley (Author), Bre Indigo (Illustrator), Melissa Capriglione (colorist)
May 16, 2023
Genre: graphic novel, middle-grade, fantasy, superhero, Children's Animal Comics , Children's Fantasy Comics, comics

Publisher: Macmillian
A nonbinary middle schooler saves a dog from bullies and is offered the chance to become the Dog Knight, protector of a magical pact between humans and dogs, in the first book of this humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel series from Jeremy Whitely, author of Princeless, and Bre Indigo, illustrator of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel.

Frankie knows who they are. They’re a drummer, they’re nonbinary, and they’re… the Dog Knight?

One day Frankie is a relatively normal middle schooler, with relatively normal challenges, like finding the perfect outfit to wear during their drum solo during the upcoming band concert. The next, they save a friendly golden retriever from bullies and suddenly find themselves in a giant magical doghouse, with a funny looking helmet, talking to a group of dog superheroes called the Pawtheon about a job offer.

If Frankie can prove that they possess the six dog virtues of loyalty, kindness, honesty, justice, stubbornness, and smell, they will be named the Dog Knight and be given the power to fight alongside the Pawtheon and save the world from the forces of chaos.

Maybe there is more to Frankie than they thought?

Amazon-Goodreads-B&N-WalMart

About the Author

website-Twitter-Goodreads

A writer of comic books, books, podcasts, and more living in Durham, North Carolina. He is the creator of the Eisner Nominated and Glyph award winning series "Princeless" as well as it spin-off "Raven the Pirate Princess" and "The School for Extraterrestrial Girls." He has also written several books and comics for Marvel Comics including the critically-acclaimed "The Unstoppable Wasp", "The Future Foundation", "Champions", and "Avengers". He has also written over fifty issues of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" comic book series.

Comic Review: The Dog Knight (The Dog Knight, 1) by Jeremy Whitley (Author), Bre Indigo (Illustrator)

The Dog Knight (The Dog Knight, 1)
by Jeremy Whitley (Author), Bre Indigo (Illustrator), Melissa Capriglione (colorist)
May 16, 2023
Genre: graphic novel, middle-grade, fantasy, superhero, Children's Animal Comics , Children's Fantasy Comics, comics

Publisher: Macmillian
A nonbinary middle schooler saves a dog from bullies and is offered the chance to become the Dog Knight, protector of a magical pact between humans and dogs, in the first book of this humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel series from Jeremy Whitely, author of Princeless, and Bre Indigo, illustrator of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel.

Frankie knows who they are. They’re a drummer, they’re nonbinary, and they’re… the Dog Knight?

One day Frankie is a relatively normal middle schooler, with relatively normal challenges, like finding the perfect outfit to wear during their drum solo during the upcoming band concert. The next, they save a friendly golden retriever from bullies and suddenly find themselves in a giant magical doghouse, with a funny looking helmet, talking to a group of dog superheroes called the Pawtheon about a job offer.

If Frankie can prove that they possess the six dog virtues of loyalty, kindness, honesty, justice, stubbornness, and smell, they will be named the Dog Knight and be given the power to fight alongside the Pawtheon and save the world from the forces of chaos.

Maybe there is more to Frankie than they thought?

Amazon-Goodreads-B&N-WalMart

The Dog Knight is charming, meaningful and fun! Jeremy Whitley's young adult comics can be appreciated by kids and adults. He writes about wonderfully diverse characters and their journeys of self-discovery, standing up for what is right, and having compassion for others. The Dog Knight is all of this and more.

I'll first talk about what I thought while reading The Dog Knight.  This is a feel-good action/adventure story that had me rooting for Frankie to complete the trials and become the Dog Knight and the best version of Frankie they could be! As a mom, it was nice to see a story with a parent that supports and respects their kid's choices. 

Next, I will talk about why this story is important. In today's climate...where people are trying to erase the LGBTQ+ community from schools, we need more stories like this.

Frankie is a middle-school non-binary character. Just like every middle schooler, they are trying to figure out how to fit into a world where adults want to divide everyone into "this" or "that." But for Frankie, it is a little more complicated. For example, they don't feel comfortable in traditional "boy" clothes or "girl" clothes but those seem to be the only choices. Until they find out who they are, how can they begin to explain to others around them what being non-binary means? Whitley shows how important a supportive parent and a good friend are for any kid that doesn't fit in yet.

The use of dogs is the perfect symbol of how to be a good person. A group of superhero dogs protects mankind from the minions of chaos by using traits that dogkind values most: Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, Stubbornness, Justice, and Smell (this one is explained in the story). Frankie must pass a trial for each trait to become the Dog Knight (without their mom, who has a dog allergy, finding out!) But it isn't easy. Could you show kindness or justice to people who have bullied you?

The artist Bre Indigo has a style that is a natural match for this story and its target audience. I've been following Bre's young adult LGBTQ+ webcomic, Jamie, for a long time. She has a wonderful ability to tell a story in comic form. Her art is comfortable and cheerful. As a black queer person, like Frankie, I think Bre was able to bring a lot to The Dog Knight. 

The Dog Knight is a must for any library. It is the type of representation that can help queer kids and their non-queer peers understand what being non-binary is about in a humorous and genuine way that can open the door for some positive discussion.

5 "doggie hat" Sheep

SharonS

About the Authors

Jeremy Whitley 

website-Twitter-Goodreads

A writer of comic books, books, podcasts, and more living in Durham, North Carolina. He is the creator of the Eisner Nominated and Glyph award winning series "Princeless" as well as it spin-off "Raven the Pirate Princess" and "The School for Extraterrestrial Girls." He has also written several books and comics for Marvel Comics including the critically-acclaimed "The Unstoppable Wasp", "The Future Foundation", "Champions", and "Avengers". He has also written over fifty issues of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" comic book series.

Bre Indigo

Website-Twitter-Instagram

Patreon-Tapas

An illustrator of the graphic novel Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and the online web-comic Jamie, is a black, queer, freelance artist and illustrator based in Orange County, California.

Comics writer Jeremy Whitley's insightful twitter post about buying comics for your kids

Jeremy Whitley recently posted on twitter his observations about comics and young boys and girls. I thought it was worth sharing.

https://twitter.com/jrome58/status/1069063909380890624

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58

Hey comics twitter, can we talk a moment? I do a lot of talking about how much the comics world has changed in the time I've been doing Princeless and how many excited girls I have come to my table. But there is one deeply screwed up thing that hasn't changed: how you treat boys

7:01 PM - 1 Dec 2018

• 1,867 Retweets
• 3,890 Likes
• 

71 replies1,867 retweets3,890 likes

1. 
   
   
   Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1
   
   I am much more likely to get a supportive parent (mother or father) that picks up Princeless and gets it for their daughter than I am a parent that gets one for their son. At one point, I thought this was not big deal, but then it started to become a patter with books I write
   1 reply42 retweets742 likes
   
   
   k

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

Princeless, Raven, Wasp, and oh my god does this happen with My Little Ponies. Rather than parents listening to what the son wants, they push their sons toward super hero stuff. Male led punching oriented superhero stuff. Not that this stuff is bad, Hulk vs Thor is on my table

5 replies55 retweets801 likes

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

But I frequently have boys come to my table, pick up a copy of Princeless or Wasp or Raven and flip through the thing, ask me questions, and then bring back a parent. Some parents go for it, but a surprising number of parents react negatively to the idea of a boy with a girl book

6 replies88 retweets868 likes

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

Best case, they gently nudge them toward the thing they think he "should" be reading. If it doesn't work, then they relent and buy what he wants. But I have regularly had parents take or push books out of kids hands, put them down and walk off because of the type of book

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

I understand that it's a con and you can't buy everything kids want, but I'm talking about parents who are on board until they see the girls in action on the front of these books. I regularly have parents point at pony stuff on the table and mock kids about whether they like it

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

And that shit is harmful in ways that are obvious and ways that aren't. You're pushing your sons into boxes that are just as closed as the ones that some of you recognize are bad for your daughters - that goes both ways, but the insidious thing is actually this:

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

When boys don't read stories with strong, smart, or otherwise incredibly women, it seeps into their brains that these women don't exist. When they are not taught that they can look up to women, they don't. This is poisonous to society.

6 replies537 retweets1,978 likes

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

Just like we want girls and children of color to see themselves and know that they can be anything the want, we need those boys to know that girls can be heroes too - so that they can recognize that potential in real women.

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

Not being able to see girls as equals starts at a really young age and when you don't make sure that your son has books with female protagonists and heroes, you are affecting how they see the gender of heroics.

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

White boys aren't born only seeing white boys as equals, that's a thing this racist society reinforces in them every day in subtle ways. So if your son wants to read a book about a black princess or girl scientist or a freaking purple unicorn, don't tell them its not for them.

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

Diverse stories are for everyone and everyone benefits when they're shared widely. So maybe buy your son a princess, it'll be good for them.

Jeremy Whitley‏ @jrome58 Dec 1

If you're reading this thread and you don't know what Princeless is, who I am, or you now need a comic with a black princess to buy your son: here's your next thing to check out:

Princeless: Book 1 - Save Yourself (Princeless Vol. 1)
by Jeremy Whitley (Author), M. Goodwin (illustrator)
May 16, 2012
Collects Princeless #1-4:
128 pages
Publisher: Action Lab
Collects Princeless #1-4:
Collecting the first storyline of the critically acclaimed series, follow the adventures of Princess Adrienne, a princess who's tired of waiting to be rescued. Along with her guardian dragon, Sparky, they begin their own quest in an all-ages action adventure designed specifically for those who are tired of waiting to be rescued -- and who are ready to save themselves.

About the Creator:
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About A WRITER OF COMIC BOOKS AND OTHER MEDIA.
He is the writer/co-creator of the original series “Princeless", “The Order of Dagonet", and “Illegal". He has also done work for hire for companies such as IDW Publishing on the properties “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", “My Little Pony: Friends Forever" and “Courage the Cowardly Dog".