Check that out below, along with an exclusive preview ofMoonstruck#1.
The issue hits stores Wednesday.
In my second year, I got paired with Grace.
Credit: Image Comics
We worked together really well, our humor matched and Graces style of writing worked with my art.
Laurenn is the professor of the class.
She saw the story had potential and pitched it to Image.
Image Comics
Its important that creators have that chemistry.
I saw that, Wow this is a whole world that has so much potential to be more.
So I helped them put together the pitch.
Image Comics
GRACE ELLIS: Theres always so much luck involved in comics.
In this case, it was just really so much good luck all in a row.
Theres a lot going on inMoonstruck, blending fantasy elements with diverse characters.
Image Comics
I have a hard time explaining the tone.
It all came out of the first five pages.
I needed a twist and then a second twist within five pages.
Image Comics
So it starts out seeming like theyre human, but then no theyre not oh my god!
But at the same time, I am an idiot and I love to make dumb puns.
Thats generally how we got to where we are.
Image Comics
And then youve got Chet, who just absolutely loves being a centaur.
They are someone who doesnt morph.
They are just that way all the time.
Image Comics
I love that we get an interlude inside Julies belovedPleasant Mountainstories.
What is something I can do in this comic that I could only do in a comic?
One answer is a story-within-story that is also a comic.
Image Comics
ThePleasant Mountainbooks are not a very subtle homage toThe Babysitters Club, something readers will probably be familiar with.
The story that is in thePleasant Mountainpages is a reflection of the main story and reflects whats happening elsewhere.
MCCUBBIN: LikeWatchmenand Tales of the Black Freighter!
Lets do it anyway.
MCCUBBIN: For each arc of the story, were gonna have a different artist do thePleasant Mountainpages.
For the first arc, its Kate Leth, whose style just fit it perfectly.
Im not going to spoil who the second artist is, but its gonna be awesome!
Although theyre different, something in this resembles Graces previous work onLumberjanes.
Maybe its the characters being comfortable with themselves and the general positive vibe.
What would you say is the influence onMoonstruck, if any?ELLIS: I agree with you.
Im glad that you agree.
The biggest thing I learned working onLumberjaneswas the importance of planning ahead.
If you go back and read the first volume ofLumberjanes, it is not what I would call coherent.
Its fun, but not very coherent.Moonstruckis extremely well thought-out.
It feels a little older because I am older and Im a better writer now.
But theres still the same kind of fun, its the same bang out of hijinks.
MCCUBBIN:Moonstruckis still a very all-ages book.
Its getting called YA.
It can reach middle school through high school and college, and grown-ups.
These characters are comfortable in their identities and have a life outside of that.
MCCUBBIN: I wholeheartedly agree.
Thats the only way audiences ever experience queer characters.
The idea that we have to hear over and over about coming-out stories or getting beat up is silly.
There are other aspects of queer characters lives, like just going to a cafe.
Its nice to have something thats sincere and warm added to the LGBTQ canon.
