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Crowdfunding Spotlight: Out There, an new all-ages comic

By John Freeman on May 28, 2024

Hot on the heels of Psycomics‘ Warfighter, writers Laurence and Emily Alison and long-time collaborator, artist David Hitchcock are bringing their newest publication, Out There, to fruition on Kickstarter. The campaign will launch on 1st June 2024.

Out There is an all-ages full colour tale about a teenage girl and her Grandfather, whose consciousness has been downloaded into a series of nanobots, trying to escape from a hideously overpopulated and dystopian near future version of Earth. Seeking to catch them after Lucy and Len escape are the evil ‘Palindrome Organisation’ and theirhitman ‘Herr Trigger’ and his three Kilbots.

The Palindrome 6 are a small, elite but all powerful global governing force with 80% of the wealth of the entire planetbeing shared amongst just six people. Will they catch Lucy and Len? What will they do with Len’s knowledge of Greenenergy? And if Herr Trigger and his Kilbots do bring them back to Earth what will be the punishment for their escape.

As well as being a ripping yarn and interplanetary chase against impossible odds, Lucy and Lens’ story touches on themes of isolation, of the way in which our society principally disenfranchises the young and the old, seeking tocontrol them and if times get hard it’s the young and the old that suffer the worst of it.

Out There (Pig Dog Press, 2024) - Sample Art

Like Warfighter before it, the Alisons, both career psychologists, draw on their knowledge of psychology to explore the impact of social isolation, anxiety disorders, depression, bereavement. But as well as these dark issues they touch on altruism, sacrifice and the value of long-term visionary thinking over short term, corner cutting commercialism. Focusing on the philosophical statement ‘A Society Grows Great when old men plant trees the shade of which they know they shall never sit in’, Out There also focuses on hope and optimism.

David Hithcock (Springheeled Jack, Madame Samurai, Hedrek) goes against type by breaking out the colour palette and has shown his flair for the fantastical, the colourful and the respect he has for both Winsor MacKay and Moebius.The world building is as big and broad as MacKays – from the tiny hexahomes that the global population must live in,to the gardening planet the size of Jupiter, to the evil Palindrome organisations quarters and torture rooms.

The Kickstarter offers electronic versions of the comic, original Hitchcock art and commissions by Alison, Hitchcock and Neil Roche (who also has done some beautiful design work as well as the lettering).

Neil Roche is running the Kickstarter and completing the fulfilment, and it will launch Saturday June 1st.

• Out There is here on Kickstarter – sign up to be notified of launch

• Check out Psycomics’ Warfighter

• Neil Roche’s Pigdog Press is on Comicsy | Facebook | X

John Freeman

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.