Cosmic Summer, picked as a Kickstarter “Projects we Love”, is the latest anthology from the Rat Pack Collective – the talented team of comic creators and illustrators who brought you Myths & Lesbians, Faemarket and Autmnal Magic.
As a collective, the team have managed to release an anthology every year since 2018, and there are just a few days left to support their work and reach their target of just under £3000.
Cosmic Summer is a collection of eight beautiful sci-fi comics and illustrations taking place aboard intergalactic cruise ship The Alula! – an anthology full of fun, all-ages stories with a retro space vibe featuring alien hitchhikers, space mercenaries on vacation, robots in love and much more.
“This is our longest anthology so far at 52 pages*, says project co-ordinator Samn Judge, who is also creator of the web comic Where the Wolves Are “printed in glorious full colour and perfect bound.”
Cosmic Summer features strips by a host of talented creators, so why not check it out and get this anthology out in the wild, alongside the Rat Pack Collective’s previous books, all available on GumRoad?
Abbigayle Bircham is an artist from North London with a degree in Film and Moving Image Production. Currently working full time in Post Production, she uses her spare time to illustrate and write comics. She has published work for Faemarket, Myths and Lesbians, Autumnal Magic and Breakthrough: Our Time, and was one of the creators who took part in the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Breakthrough project – that collection available now, of course, from Soaring Penguin.
Anna Bohac is a queer storyboard artist and 2D animator from the historic town of Lewes, Sussex. Currently living in Canada and working full-time in animated TV series, they also write and illustrate the webcomic Monster Corp. alongside attending conventions and creating free storyboard analysis on their Patreon. Despite wearing a lot of black, they have a particular proclivity for neons and pastels, and train in figure skating in the very early mornings.
B Grieveson is a comic artist from rural Suffolk, currently living in Norwich. Since graduating from a BA in Illustration at the Norwich University of The Arts, they’ve been creating comics whenever they can. Their biggest project to date is Gutterspawn, a 48 page horror comic that found success on Kickstarter and printed the autumn of 2020, which they are still gleefully proud of.
Charlie Sparks is a graphic designer who works as a freelancer under the name Charlie Sparks Design. Having graduated from Brunel University, he now enjoys working with a range of clients which allow him to challenge his design ability. Having contributed to “Myths and Lesbians”, Charlie is looking forward to creating his first short comic for Cosmic Summer.
Chief Schubert is an artist from the West Midlands, now living up by the picturesque Yorkshire Moors while studying for an MA in Concept Art with a future interest in the games industry. Despite studying, they still work freelance on character illustrations and designs in order to gain valuable experience in communicating professionally with clients and expanding their artistic repertoire. Their loves are cryptids, gigantic monsters, cute people, and giving most of their characters glowing eyes.
Scottie Jolly is a writer and artist currently working as a purveyor of high quality drivel for bored affluent Americans. Having studied languages both dead and modern, they’re currently obsessively trying to produce stories that make you go “wow! nice!” and then dream about them three days later.
Samn Judge & Soph Price are an artist/writer power couple. Samn is a UK comic artist who likes to draw cowboys and superheroes holding hands. They’ve made a couple of zines and a couple of webcomics and this is their third Rat Pack anthology. This year they’re working hard on taking “no mechs” OFF their commission sheet.
Soph is a writer from the North West, with a Film and Television Production degree under her belt. She was part of Penguin Random House’s WriteNow scheme in 2018, and is currently writing a dark fantasy novel for older children. Proud lover of robots.
Rachel Cush is an illustrator and comic creator working as a full-time freelancer. Her comic, Lycan, an LGBT+ werewolf mystery story, was nominated for a SICBA in 2019 and is all free to read online. She often sells at comic conventions around the UK, though the majority of time she’s a dumb little comic goblin, huddled in blankets at home and hunched over her most recent piece.
Mara C. Moon is really enthusiastic about being part of the project – and that’s what counts! Her previous contributions include lettering and line art, and she has a new found love for creating space art. Mara is an amateur historian, skilled booth assistant and Good Rock collector based in Manchester.
Alongside the beautiful book itself, backers can also grab cool merchandise rewards such as space-age travel postcards, stickers and an embroidered Alula Crew patch so you too can join the crew and venture to the stars!
• Check out Cosmic Summer here on Kickstarter
• Check out the previous anthologies from the Rat Pack Collective, available on Gumroad
• Follow the Rat Pack Collective on Instagram | Twitter
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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