GLAAD Media Award-winning and Eisner and Harvey Awards-nominated publisher Fanbase Press has launch its latest Kickstarter campaign for the collected edition of Shrub, “a Graphic Medicine series exploring grief and connection, featuring all-new contributions from some of the biggest names in entertainment and the field of mental health.”
In this middle grade adventure, readers will join Shrub who is, well… a shrub… for a cross-country road trip to Hollywood! Join Shrub and a grieving brother and sister as they head out in search of connection. On their journey, pit stops, wacky plant enthusiasts, uprooting, and re-routing abound.
Eisner Award-winning writer David F. Walker (Bitter Root, Big Jim and the White Boy) will contribute a new foreword for this edition in which he shares his own personal experiences with grief and loss.
Created and written by Emmy Award nominee Shane Portman (Tumble Leaf, Shape Island), the book is illustrated by Andy Alves (Cosmic Cadets), colored by Sophia Du (Story Bots: Answer Time)and Celia FitzGerald, lettered by Oceano Ransford (Eisner Award-nominated Rikki), and with consultation from comics librarian Moni Barrette.
“In the footsteps of ET or Wall-E, Shrub and their insatiable awe for everything they come in contact with – people, birds, cows, even vending machines – are the open-hearted catalyst of this story,” said Portman. “Their tender connection to each character is a living example of the empathy that we all need and deserve.”
Shrub explores the various ways that we allow grief to take root, inspired by writer Shane Portman’s experience with the loss of his father. The series features “Letting Grief Take Root” essays written by individuals with a personal and/or professional connection to grief who relate Shrub’s story to their own lived experience. Essayists include Shane Portman and his family, as well as grief doula Kat Primeau and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Ariel Landrum (Geek Therapy).Additionally, every issue of the series will include a fold-out page within the story’s narrative.Striving to destigmatize loss and promote understanding of the diverse ways that people of all ages grieve, the expanded print edition will also feature a study guide by literacy advocate Creators, Assemble! Inc., an informational essay by clinical psychologist and media consultant Dr. Drea Letamendi, and much more.
“Given that Shrub explores the various ways that we allow grief to take root, we wanted to offer readers an exciting and tactile way to dig deeper into the story during their reading experience,” said Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief. “By including a fold-out page within every issue, readers will learn more about the characters and the ways that their collective journeys with grief connect them.”
Check out a preview of Shrub below!
