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More wordless panels for you, plus a shout to MTV Exit for sticking a link to our Borderland Comics site on their Facebook page. Also, be sure to check out daily developments on my upcoming Knight Journalism Fellowship via the Knight Project tab above. Plus you can now access individual comics via a handy drop-down menu by hovering over the said tabs – checkout the US Foreign Policy one to see what I’m talking about. Eagle-eyed Archcomix visitors will notice the new newsletter field on the left – add your email address and stay abreast of all future Archcomix rumblings. Big thanks to the tireless work of Stanford CS Senior Alex Easton for his help in making the said changes.
New here? Go to the start of the wordless comic above here. You can order a copy of my latest comic on human trafficking here – now at 18% of our total goal, so dig deep in those pockets and help us raise awareness of the plight of human trafficking victims. Thanks to those who already have.
As the Borderland comics kickstarter fund (see right) chugs along, we’re getting contacted by NGOs around the world who want to share and coordinate efforts to combat human trafficking. One of these was Oasis Global, who are behind the Stop the Traffik campaign. Click here to watch their intro video and learn how human trafficking might even affect how your favourite chocolate bar was made – apparently almost half the world’s chocolate is grown in Cote D’Ivoire. In the words of Steve Chalke, Stop the Traffik’s Founder and UN Special Advisor for Community Action against Human Trafficking:
“When Cadbury’s and Hershey and Mars and Lindt and Nestle and all of the others produce chocolate that is traffic-free, you can be sure that they will be the first to put a little mark on those bars telling us that. If a chocolate bar doesn’t say it’s traffic-free, it’s just not – it’s as simple as that”
In other news, the sketchbook studies on my Flickr page continue, this time with a Hardhats focus as I gear up for some enormous crowd scenes in Part 2 of my upcoming graphic novel, Hardhats. More on the Hardhats page here.
Today’s stories: a new page to the site to chronicle my upcoming Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford, featuring a CGI Polish history trailer and a plan to resurrect editorial cartoons for the 21st century. As I get back into drawing after a mini hiatus spent focused on stopmotion, I’ve cracked the spine on a new sketchbook and will be posting the results (however hit or miss) to my flickr account. If you’re on flickr, then add me as a contact. If you’re not, and can’t bring yourself to click that link, then scrolling down the right hand sidebar is enough to give you a thumbnailed idea of what my scrawls look like. To watch the fruit of my claymation labours, then check out my youtube channel.
New here? Go to the start of the wordless comic above here. You can order a copy of my latest comic on human trafficking here – now at 14% of our total goal, so dig deep in those pockets and help us raise awareness of the plight of human trafficking victims. Thanks to those who already have.
New here? Go to the start of the comic here. You can order a copy of my latest comic on human trafficking here. Scroll down for an update on what’s new in the Archcomix universe below the fold.
My human trafficking comics journalism project is now live on Kickstarter. For more info and to see our video pitch, visit the link or check out the new “Trafficking” page I’ve added to Archcomix.com. Most importantly, please pre-order our comic through Kickstarter so we can meet our fundraising goal and get it printed and distributed here in the US to raise awareness about human trafficking.
Featuring artwork from one of the victims interviewed, part of one of the many anonymous surveys we drew our research from, as well as statistics from the IOM, I think this idea has more visual impact and sums up the aims of the comic (both educational and emotional) better than the other options you could have voted for. Please leave feedback below!
Thank you to all who voted in the Borderland cover design poll: I’m pleased to say that my preferred design, number 8, won with 24% of the vote, closely followed in a dual tie by numbers 1 and 6 with 18%. The final cover artwork is about 90% finished now and I’m really happy with it, so be sure to check back in later on this week when I’ll post a low-res version for your comments. If you’re late to the poll or don’t know what I’m talking about, go here for the designs and here for an introduction to the project. It’ll have its own page soon.
I’ve been making more back-end changes to the site, adding comics here and there from the archcomix archive as well as adding various widgets: check out my flickr stream below on the right as well as new comics (AIPAC in its entirety on the US politics page) and reviews (perma-link to my recent Comics Journal review on the revamped “About” page).
As I near the end of putting Borderland together (my human trafficking comic, for those of you new around here), I’ve been debating various different cover designs, some of which I’ve pencilled at full size only to find that they lack the impact (emotional or visual) I’m looking for. So in keeping with the Honduran coup comic, I’m throwing it open to you: peruse the options below and choose your favourite in the poll underneath. I’ll reveal the winner in a few days, as the cover is due by the middle of next week.
1. Half realistic portrait of one of the victims, the other half filled in with a map of Eastern Europe/Ukraine against a black background.
Cover 2: Similar to the Honduran Coup cover: reflections of imminent danger in the close-up eye of one of the victims
Cover 3: Understated. Assorted items presumably belonging to a victim - passport, identity papers, etc with "Borderland" rubber-stamped on top
Cover 4: Scattered ID papers belonging to the 7 different victims whose stories comprise the comic. A bit cluttered perhaps.
Cover 5: The victims walking towards us down a typical Ukraine high street with Kiev landmarks in the background. Subtle nods to the locations mentioned in the stories (nightclub signs, bakery etc).
Cover 6: The victims in the foreground, overshadowed by the different buildings that constitute their homes/work/prisons in the comic
cover 7: A beaten-up, weathered Ukrainian passport (in dark blue), which you open up to see the contents laid out like a passport (photo ID, DOB etc) Cons: Passport cover design alone not enough to grab a reader's attention.
cover 8: my favourite (no bias). The black is a Ukrainian passport, with assorted mocked-up papers/ID photo stapled over the top, as if we were the case worker for one of the victims.
More from my upcoming non-fiction project on human trafficking in Eastern Europe. Stick “Borderland” in the apture search bar at the top of the page for more info, or hit previous twice to go back to the start of the story.
As promised, the story continues. Hit “previous” for the start of the story, or stick “Borderland” in the Apture search bar at the top of the page for the full lowdown on the project, new page to be updated soon.
Russian lettering to be inserted into the roadside sign in the the first panel. Also, check out a over at the Comics Journal.
