LGBTQ Comics
Tales From The Dispatch Community Vote
SnowyWorks LLC and the Indie Comix DIspatch are honored to present the entries in the 2021 Tales From The Dispatch anthology contest! This has been a 3-month process of soliciting entries for SnowyWorks and ICD, and countless hours of writing and drawing for creators. And now, we’re finally here. The community vote! We are excited to announce that all 12 entries will be published in either Volume 1 or Volume 2 of Tales From The Dispatch! We are also hosting a community vote to decide the top three fan-favorite entries. The winners of the community vote will receive:
- Special recognition within Tales From The Dispatch
- Invited to be a guest on a special episode of Broadcasts From The Dispatch
- A print copy of both volumes of Tales From The Dispatch
- Some exclusive ICD swag
So, without further ado! Here are the entries! We’ve posted a summary of the story, the first two pages, and the creator’s bio. Pick your favorite and submit your pick in the poll at the bottom of the page! The top three vote receivers will win!
Vote in the poll at the bottom of this page!
Baby Laser
By Jake Bostain
Description:
This is the end of the world. But how did it get there? Was it political conflict? Was it war? Was it a nuclear disaster? Was it climate change? No matter, the option, it comes down to the same cause. Ourselves. Follow news broadcasts as they lead through the events that led to Earth’s destruction while you will simultaneously follow a man, who had his hand in its destruction, attempt to try to save it. The world’s first sign of hope for salvation is…a baby laser?
Creator bio:
Jake Bostain is an aspiring comic artist from North Mississippi who has loved to create geek-related art since he was a wee lad. Jake has done many unique commissions and pieces non-related to comics such as merchandise designs for shows such as All gas No Brakes. He is currently working on his own expanded universe in the form of comics. Jake’s work can be found on Instagram @Jokerbostain
Color of Hate
By Maxwell Bristol & Eric Young
Description:
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Either we learn to live together or we all shall perish apart. The color of hate explores these principles In a tale about a child’s hope for peace and happiness. Join Keisha as she takes a journey through the dark depths of the hearts of men.
Creator Bios:
Eric Young has a passion for creating fun immersive stories that can be enjoyed by all. As a child, he could always be found playing with his action figures, drawing, reading comics, or making movies. When asked at a young age, “What do you want to do when you grow up,” there was only one answer: “I want to make cartoons!”
Maxwell Bristol is from Brooklyn New York by way of Guyana. He came here at the age of five and has been living in Brooklyn ever since. He fell in love with comic books and animation at an early age; however he didn’t pursue his passion of being a comic book creator until 2020 when he started his own media company Bristol Media Group Inc. Bristol Media Group is launching their first comic book and children’s book this year. Better late than never.
Defenders In The Dark
By Paul Richards, Iván Espinoza, and Giorgio Rosasco
Description:
Our story follows the journey of a horrifically disfigured young man as he seeks out answers about his origins. This tale is part of a larger world, in which the monsters we were taught to fear as children may very well be protecting us from an even greater threat. Operating in the shadows, they monitor supernatural phenomena across the globe, turning back the tide of evil, as it ebbs closer and closer to overtaking humanity.
Creator Bios:
Paul Richards has been dreaming about making comics nearly his whole life. But it didn’t become a reality until 2020 when he launched Blackmoss Comics, and started producing work with a series of talented artists. Never able to illustrate himself, Paul enjoyed a professional career in hospitality and business management, before deciding to pursue his passion of writing/creating. When not making comics, the father of two and his wife, who live in the Pacific Northwest enjoys getting in/on the ocean and adventuring with their two big dogs.
Iván Espinoza is an Mexican artist of 18 years, lover of monsters and lover of strange stuff.
Giorgio Rosasco graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Italy, specializing in comics. He works mainly in digital, making the lines and colors for comics and illustrations. He has made projects and collaborations for an Italian publisher and an Italian company operating in the graphic and printing sector.
Just Wait
By Shaun Evans
Desciption:
“JUST WAIT” follows a child named James and his parents, who have just moved to escape the prejudice directed toward them due to their interracial relationship. The move lands James in an even stranger circumstance that does not bode well for the family.
Creator:
Written and illustrated by Shaun Evans a comic artist and enthusiast. You can follow him @sevansart on Instagram.
Last Dream
By A.L. Peterson
Description:
By day, her minimum wage job and absent husband leave her little to look forward to now that her daughter has left for college. But by night, her only limit is her imagination as she is able to share the same dreamlands as her lover. But everyone must wake from a dream, and there may only be a short time left in their shared fantasy landscape.
Creator Bio:
Graduating from the University of MN Twin Cities in 2010, Peterson started with an interest in visual storytelling working on writing screenplays. During this time, she discovered she preferred storyboards as a visual medium, and spent the next several years transferring gradually from writing screenplays, to storyboards, and eventually landing on her preferred medium of comics. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband Graham and cat Toothless, the latter of whom will sit on the keyboard to indicate that he feels a particular piece is in need of revision.
Plasticity
By Edward Ficklin
Description:
As civilizations outgrow their planetary bounds and take to the stars, they leave behind them a wake of cast-off junk–and people. But the objects cast-off are not necessarily useless, nor the people hopeless.
In the vastness of the cosmos, new life can coalesce where you least expect it. When it does, will you recognize it?
Creator Bio:
Writer and artist Edward Ficklin (he/him) focuses on illustration and visual storytelling using traditional media. He loves exploring the many facets of queer identity and representation in his stories and images.
He’s also written for the stage. His major works include Antinous and Hadrian (music by Clint Borzoni), an opera about the ill-fated love affair of a Roman emperor and unknown youth from the stix and The Context of Love Lives, a music-theater work based on the lives and writings of Elizabeth Bishop and Oscar Wilde.
Shave & A Haircut
By Catherine Broxton and Dan Yell
Description:
After closing time, John Davies is taken on a trip around his barbershop by a sinister knock he can’t place. When he returns to the front, he realises that it’s the first 5 parts of the ‘Shave and a Haircut’ knock and finishes it, summoning a devil who singled him out for his poor treatment of his son while in disguise as a customer earlier. Hands emerge from a shop wall and drag him through as punishment.
Creator Bios:
Catherine Broxton is a lifelong student of the comic form hailing from the United Kingdom. From the newspaper strip to the graphic novel, she draws on as much inspiration as she can when writing. Her credits include ‘Way Out of Here’ in the Swingin’ Sixties Charity Anthology (soon to be released) and her new literature-centered blog ‘Pile of Scraps’ on Tumblr.
Dan Yell is a part time cartoonist in New York. He writes and draws newspaper style gag strips about cats, academia and anything else that occurs to him.
The Arborist
By Ben O’Grady, David Monk, and DC Alonso
Description
An 8-year-old girl (Eliza) and her father visit Washington D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival in the present day. The father explains the history of the cherry trees while they walk the Tidal Basin. Jump forward 100 years, Eliza is now an A.I. controlling all Park Services mechs and has been caring for the trees for the past century. A group of zombies attacks NAMA-151, one of the arborist mechs under Eliza’s control. She fights the zombies off and makes a remarkable discovery.
Creator Bios:
Ben is a lifelong comics reader and has been variously a freelance sports and copy writer for many years. This is one of his first comic scripts. Ben lives and works in Orlando, Florida, and has a very mischievous black cat named Magic.
Based in Bilbao, Spain, David is the author of the five issues of Menagerie, a successfully crowdfounded indie comic. He is also the illustrator for Laugar Brewery.
The Canopy
By Wilson Lee Jr. & Tory Anderson
Description:
The Canopy, Illustrated by Tory Anderson is beautifully rendered. Undertake the emotionally charged journey of a scurry made refugees through no fault of their own. It is a deeply human introspection delivered through an anthropomorphic narrative. This one is bound to make you ask serious questions of yourself. Join the struggle of Maloy and his homeless scurry as they put each other first, and find a way to continue even if there may not be any reason to.
Creator Bios:
Wilson Lee Jr is the founder and CEO of Crump-N-Sons LLC, CnS Comics, and CnS Publishing. He is a lifetime student of literature, and has always had a passion for the written word. After pursuing his undergraduate degree in English and Pedagogy, Wilson chose to forgo classroom teaching for a life of adventure. After obtaining his Master’s degree in Business Administration, Wilson began laying the foundations of what would be Crump-N-Sons LLC.
After completing the Tales of the Stars script in novel form, Wilson determined that his true vision for the work was to transform it into a comic book. Decided to take the leap and invest in his dream, Wilson set out to build a team to make his comic vision a reality. In 2019, Crump-N-Sons LLC went from a dream written down in ink, to a fully functioning business that is empowering readers and creators around the globe.
Tory Anderson is a young artist from Alaska who specializes in character art and is working towards being a comic illustrator, The Canopy being her first step. She’s held a deep appreciation for comics and their ability to tell stories like no other medium. Starting her hobby seven years ago for the sole purpose of making her own comic one day. She is more than happy to help others bring their own comics to life and tell their stories to the world.
The Northwoods
By Jared Prestwidge, Francesco Iaquinta, Mariam Yasser, and Lucas Gattoni
Description:
Six teenagers struggle to decide on a suitable scary story to commemorate their first night out camping in the woods. But when one of the group members – the mysterious, mild-mannered new kid – volunteers to recount the tale of a cannibalistic beast from folklore, it proves so vivid they begin to think there may be some deadly truth behind his words.
Creator Bios:
Jared Prestwidge is an indie writer from Australia. Having just started out on his comics creator journey, he self-published his first short story For the Love of the Game in early 2021. Jared has since been afflicted with a dangerous case of the comics bug, and is working on several projects he plans to inflict on anyone within the general vicinity.
Francesco Iaquinta is an artist from Italy whose work has been published in Alterna Comics, Action Lab, A Brave Blue World and Afterlight Comics. He is a 2016 Ghastly Award winner, 2018 ComicxCentral People’s Choice award winner and 2020 Horror News Network’s Best Horror Miniseries award winner. Francesco is currently hard at work on a new project to be published by Source Point Press in 2021.
Mariam Yasser is a colorist and illustrator from Egypt. She boasts two years experience coloring comics, and five years as a digital illustrator for children’s books. Her most recent works include Ignis Quadrant, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2021, and the sci-fi psychological thriller For the Love of the Game.
Lucas Gattoni is now a fully fledged comic book letterer, carrying over fifteen years as a graphic designer and typesetter and a lifetime passion for storytelling. He served as letterer on the GLAAD Media Awards nominated Liebestrasse for ComiXology Originals and the Spanish version of Sonic the Hedgehog for IDW, among several indie comics for creators all over the world. He lives in his home country of Argentina with his husband and their three unnamed goldfish (oops, make that two now).
The Shadow
By AZ Comics
Description:
Joseph Johnson aka “The shadow” returns to his city after a long journey with a bigger purpose: to redeem his city. However, a power struggle is coming in forces to King’s ground. Will The Shadow save his city? Let’s find out!
Creator Bio:
AZ comics is a comic book publisher created back in mid-2020, it consists of a very young ambitious team of creators and artists coming from every corner of the world. As our name says (A-Z) AZ comics specializes in bringing the beauty of diversity in comics with many genres and unique stories! AZ comics debuts in 2021 with “The Shadow”!
The SWP
By LMCP
Description:
Growing up in Australia’s greatest city, Sergeant Boyce loved Sydney, and always wanted to be a cop. He swore an oath to himself to clean up the biggest enemy of Sydney’s CBD- slow walkers- whether it’s within the laws or not. If you walk those mean streets and don’t abide by his unwritten rules, then The SWP are coming for you.
From the writer of Joe and the Abhorrence, The SWP is a black comedy that looks beneath the surface of the Emerald City at the bizarre fabric of eccentrics and lunatics that hold Sydney together.
Creator Bio:
LMCP is the pseudonym for a mid-forties bloke originally from Greater Manchester, England, but happily residing in Sydney, Australia. He’d secretly like to be famous but doesn’t want to explain to his wife’s friends and colleagues why he spends so much time drawing comics.
He spent his teenage years reading anything by Dennis O’Neill and Alan Moore and listening to David Bowie, before wasting twenty years developing a moderately-paying career that will provide a lower-middle-class existence until the day he retires. Comics are his way of redressing the balance.
He enjoys writing scripts and storyboarding, but uses Clip Studio paint with the same proficiency that a monkey flies a spaceship, and would love to collaborate with an artist on one of his many script ideas, from subversive children’s books to 12- issue dystopian action miniseries.
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