Does your body ever make a sound and you just think, I don’t think that part of my body is supposed to make that kind of sound? My elbow joint did that to me yesterday. It was a crunch that had some real depth to it. It was layered and multi-faceted. Much like the rest of my problems in my life, I’m going to ignore it until it becomes a massive issue.

Thankfully I’ve got three crowdfunding projects to help keep my mind off of my body’s slow but inevitable decline. Today we’re looking at the latest quarterly from IDW, a graphic novel about gender and breast reduction surgery called It’s All For the Breast, and Wash Day by Jamila Rowser.

1. Full Bleed Vol 2: Deep Cuts

From IDW Publishing comes the second volume of their print only quarterly. At 200 pages, it’s jam-packed full of comics, interviews, stories and other goodies.

Here’s a peak at the cover:

Here’s how the team behind Full Bleed describes what the quarterly is all about:

By merging the best in comics, fiction, non-fiction, deep dive interviews, opinion, history, think-pieces and more, FULL BLEED will be a reading experience like no other, and a beautiful artisan addition to any bookshelf. Looking through an international lens, but filtered through the unique perspective of the IDW:PDX satellite office in Portland Oregon, FULL BLEED will tackle all aspects of the creative culture, and beyond — comics, music, film, tv, fine art, photography, design, politics and more. FULL BLEED seeks total diversity: diversity in content, diversity in creator and contributor, diversity in genre. Every page turned will reveal a surprise.

Some of the planned content includes interviews with famed artist Walter Simonson, creators of Love and Rockets, the Hernandez Brothers, Kevin Eastman (TMNT), and the creators of the comic Archival Quality  Christina “Steenz” Stewart and Jen Vaughn. You’ll also find some new stories, travel logs, and never before seen content.

Here’s a look at the stories you’ll find in Full Bleed Vol 2:

• Afrofuturista! The Fantastical Adventures of Nnedi Okorafor by Abdulkareem Baba Aminu

• A long political rant by Minimum Wage creator, Bob Fingerman President Stable Genius: A political rant with spot illustrations

• An autobiographical comic from Dirk Wood and Gideon Kendall called Bastards of Young.

There’s a helluva lot else planned for the quarterly including a travel log about Iceland by Jarrett Melendez and new comic strips from the creator of Too Much Coffee Man and Sh*t My President Says, Shannon Wheeler.

IDW has some retailer tier options for those backers who hold Diamond accounts and for the rest of us peons we can choose to contribute $25 which will snag us the hardcover edition of Full Bleed as well as a copy of Las Vegas Repo #1 by Shaun Harris and Miguel Ruano. 

The reward tiers for Full Bleed allow you to subscribe to a full year of the quarterly and access to additional content. This Kickstarter will continue to fund through May 3, 2018 and is seeking $10,000 to help publish, print, and ship this quarterly. The team has already surpassed this goal and is working to add on some stretch features, so stay tuned.

2. Wash Day by Jamila Rowser

I adore slice of life comics and Jamila Rowswer is delivering with Wash Day. This comic follows the story of a 26-year-old-woman Kimana living in the Bronx. We join Kimana as she goes through her normal Sunday rituals like caring for her hair, getting coffee, paying the rent and hanging out with her friends.

Jamila Rowser is a writer and co-creator of the international meet-up group Geek Girl Brunch. She decided to write this comic after wanting more media out there about women of color by women of color. Using her own wash day rituals as inspiration, Rowser is bringing us a loving and thoughtful look at the lives of Black women popular media rarely portrays or captures.

To bring this story to life, Rowser was joined by artist Robyn Smith. Smith is a Jamaican cartoonist, currently based in rural Vermont. Her work has been highlighted in The Comics Journal and Pen America, specifically her mini comic, The Saddest Angriest Black Girl in Town. Smith decided to join Rowser in bringing Wash Day to life because, “There’s something radical about a story of a Black woman taking time for herself and taking care of herself in ways extremely specific to Blackness.”

The story and script of Wash Day is edited by J.A. Micheline (JAM). JAM’s work has been featured on websites like A.V. Club and Vice (among others). She says this project was a joy to work on because it “conveyed the physical effort of this self-identity and self-love and taking it hand in hand with the quiet parts of many Black women’s lives.”

There are far too few stories and comics that depict women of color simply living their lives. To depict this, to tell this story is a radical act and one I believe should be supported. These stories matter. Showing women living out their lives not in service of or through the lens of whiteness is an essential part of achieving greater representation in comics publishing.

Rewards for this comic include sticker sheets, art prints and color commissions, which are available at the higher-end reward tiers. Wash Day is hoping to raise $5,000 to help publish and print their comic. They’ve already surpassed their goal and I say great, go further. Go forth and create this comic and please make some more. Funding for this project will continue through May 4, 2018.

It’s All for the Breast by Alexis Sugden

Alexis Sugden is creating the first print-run of her webcomic It’s All for the Breast. It’s an autobiographical look at gender, body image and breast-reduction surgery. Sugden based the story off of the breast reduction surgery she had at 18 and while the story deals with some pretty heavy topics, it’s told using humor.

Here’s a peak at some pages from Sugden’s webcomic, which will also be included in the print-run:

 

I really enjoy Sugden’s sense of humor and I have an inkling you might as well and to prove that I’ve included another panel from her webcomic.

It’s a pretty low-risk backing situation as she has already produced the material for the print-run of the comic. Available rewards include: the physical book, artist sketches, a digital copy of the book, physical copies of my other works and original artwork. Sugden is hoping to raise $743 to bring this book to life, she’s recently surpassed her Kickstarter goal but I don’t see where you can go wrong in picking up the print edition of this comic. Funding for this project will continue through April 21.

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Wow, I did all that and didn’t even feel the dull ache of my elbow. As always, a thank you to all the creators out there who share your lives with us and who make us feel a little less broken and alone.