With the Kickstarter campaign live for Aces and Aros: An Asexual and Aromantic Comics Anthology, we are delighted to be joined by writer and editor Jeremy Whitley.
Hi Jeremy, it is so lovely to have you here with us.
Thank you, it’s lovely to be here!
Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi! My name is Jeremy Whitley. I am a comic book writer from Durham, North Carolina. You may have read my work in Marvel’s The Unstoppable Wasp, Future Foundation, and Gwenpool. You may also know me from my creator owned projects like Princeless, School for Extraterrestrial Girls, Navigating with You, The Dog Knight, and The Cold Ever After. Oh, and I also wrote sixty issues of My Little Pony comics!
More important in this respect, is that I am one of three editors on “Aces and Aros: An Asexual and Aromantic Comics Anthology” which is currently funding on Kickstarter!
Could you tell us about the origins of Aces and Aros Vol. 1?
Absolutely! My friends Kat Calamia and Phil Falco make up a group known as Lifeline Comics which began a few years back producing anthologies focused on marginalized identities. This began with Bi-Visibility and most recently has included Hairology and Transphoria.
Meanwhile, I came out as demisexual (part of the asexual umbrella) a few years back and had the honor of writing a story for Gwenpool in Marvel comics where she came out as Asexual. We did that book with an all ace team and it was one of the most wonderful experiences in my career of making comics.
Well, Kat and Phil were looking at making an anthology focused on Asexual and Aromantic creators and stories. When they asked if I’d be interested in being a co-editor, I was thrilled. So we set to work soliciting submissions and trying to figure out what form we wanted the anthology to take.
As a comic creator, do you feel it is important to have comics on the shelves that cover topics such as asexuality and aromanticity?
Oh, absolutely! I think, along with trans folks, ace and aro people are some of the most misunderstood people in the world. People often don’t empathize with other groups of queer folks, but at least they seem to understand more or less what the terminology means. Asexuality is something people are still learning about. People need to hear from ace folks and we need a chance to tell our own stories. This anthology is the first opportunity a lot of writers and illustrators have had to put osmeone like them on the page.
Could you tell us about the creators involved with Aces and Aros Vol. 1?
Well, it’s quite a variety! The anthology has 21 stories from a wide range of creators! There are people like myself, Baillie Rosenlund (Avengers Academy), Kelly Fitzpatrick (Gwenpool), and Emily Martin (Princeless) who have been at this for years and have done all sorts of work. Then there are a number of people for whom this is their first published comics work.
However, I am blown away by the universal level of talent here. Your worst nightmare when you open submissions for something like this is that you won’t have enough submissions to fill an anthology. We had the opposite problem. We had to turn away some incredibly talented folks because this anthology is packed to the gills with talent!
What has it been like working with Kat Calamia & Phil Falco?
Kat and Phil are wonderful! I’ve known Kat for years, all the way back before she was writing comics and was mostly doing reviews. She’s always had a great eye for great comics and that hasn’t changed as a writer and editor. Phil I’ve gotten to know a lot more as the anthology has gone on. Phil especially has a real talent for keeping all the trains on time. They provide that sort of confident and organized presence to the job that just lets you know that if you need to take a breather or you’re running a little behind, things are still going to be taken care of. Their experience with Kickstarter alone has been extremely valuable. There are so many moving parts to a kickstarter or any crowdfunding that the idea of running one fills me with dread. But knowing they’re on top of it has made the whole project a breeze.
What can you tell us about your story for Aces and Aros Vol. 1?
I gave a lot of thought about what I wanted my story to be in here. Obviously, I love writing big fantasy and sci-fi stories, but there were already some great ones in this anthology. It dawned on me that the story I had to tell that nobody else did yet, was the story of working on an all Ace team to create a comics story and learning about yourself through sharing these big moments with others. So, my story with Bailie and Kelly is a story that three of us share, what it was like to make our Gwenpool story. We get to dip into our own origin stories a bit as well and we do some of the work of explaining ace and aro terminology to people. Fittingly, our story is titled “Introduction”
You are an editor and a writer for Aces and Aros Vol. 1; what has that been like for you?
Intimidating! I’m used to being the writer and having the editor there as a safety net for me. This time it was my job to be a safety net for a bunch of writers and that’s not the sort of thing you get a chance to go back and fix in a second draft.
Luckily for me, this group has been extremely easy to work with. They’ve been great at taking my suggestions and running with them, even when what I have to tell them is something like “we need to cut a page from this story’s length”.
Can you tell us about the stories in Aces and Aros Vol. 1?
Now that’s a hard one to answer! Each one is different. Each contains stories of ace characters, but they run the gamut from autobiography, to sci-fi, to fantasy, to a historical romance (yes, ace romance!). The only real way to get a feel for the scope of them is to read it!
As you are crowdfunding Aces and Aros Vol. 1 and dealing directly with consumers, does that make Aces and Aros Vol. 1 special for you?
Absolutely! the outpouring of support from our community has meant the world. We may be selling to a few retailer, but the vast majority of the people backing our book are just normal people excited to see stories from a marginalized and often misunderstood community. You can’t beam knowing you have this sort of support before the book is even on the shelves!
How would you describe Aces and Aros Vol. 1?
Ambitious! Big! Original! Unusual! Like nothing else! Beautiful!
Can you tell us what else you are working on?
Well, as many folks know, I have sequels to both my Dog Knight and School for Extraterrestrial Girls series coming up! I also have a book I cowrote with my podcast cohost Ben Kahn called “The Dashing School for Wayward Princes” which is all about a school that teaches princes toxic masculinity. There’s a lot more coming that I can’t talk about, so people should keep an eye out!
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
Thank you so much for your support! We hope you check out the kickstarter and that I get to see you out in the world during this convention season!
We would like to say a big thank you to Jeremy for chatting with us and wish him and everyone involved with Aces and Aros: An Asexual and Aromantic Comics Anthology the best of luck with the campaign.
Feel free to check out the Aces and Aros: An Asexual and Aromantic Comics Anthology campaign on Kickstarter.
