My daughter’s love comics. Pretty much all three of them. But it turns out that by and large, 9-12 year old girls aren’t the main target audience for most comics. That in itself is okay except that it also turns out that the target audience for most comics seem to be really into things that my girls don’t like, or that I as their parent don’t think they should be exposing themselves to in excess (ie intense violence, lots of cruelty, women with improbable bodies walking around looking like their working at a strip club).
So it’s always a nice treat to find something that is truly “all ages” – that I can enjoy as a 45 year old adult, and that my daughters can also enjoy in their childhood and preteen years. I wrote about one of my favorite such books a while ago here – but another one that I discovered in the last year or so is Molly Danger by Jamal Igle, published by Action Lab Entertainment.
I met Igle briefly when I went to a comic convention in Connecticut last year and was pleased to be able to get a copy of Molly Danger book one autographed by him, personally addressed to my three daughters (whose names aren’t the easiest to spell).
The story is about an super-powered alien who lands on earth and becomes a champion against monstrous threats to great for normal humans to contend with. Only this superhero looks (and acts) like a 10 year old girl, and has done so for the decades that she’s been on earth. She is also kept fairly isolated, but develops a friendship with one of the soldiers trained to support her, which begins to expose her more fully to the outside world.
Book One was the equivalent of about two issues of standard monthly comic, except that it was printed in a much larger size with a nice hardcover that gives it all a more epic scope. Now Jamal Igle is planning on doing a bi-monthly series that will continue to be collected in formats like the first one, two issues per book. It’s a fun series that seems to be out to do some pretty cool stuff from a storytelling point of view, doing what the best all-ages work does which is pull it’s readers up rather than talking down to them.
Igle is attempting to fund the thing on Kickstarter and he’s close to his goals but still too far off from achieving them for comfort, with the campaign less than a day to go. I have no illusions that posting on my meagerly-trafficked blog will make much difference, but I enjoyed this project enough to feel like I ought to put something up here. If you are inclined to support a high-quality action and drama oriented all-ages comic book project, then go check it out here.
UPDATED:
And it’s done, with four hours to spare! I think this post got one page view since I put it up, so I don’t think it had anything to do with me. But we gave our bit and I think my daughters will be happy to get a signed copy of Book Two as a result, even if they do have to wait until the middle of next year.
Blue Towel Productions 