Another week under the spotlight and we’ve found an amazing Kickstarter project. Virgil is a graphic novel that tells the story of a gay Jamaican police officer ( the title character) who, along with his lover, is beaten, and banished. Virgil decides to take revenge against those that did this to him.
It is no mystery that Jamaica isn’t the most tolerant place when it comes to homosexuality. So imagine my surprise when I found the kickstarter page for Steve Orlando’s graphic novel. It seems like an interesting idea. Steve Orlando, the head writer for Virgil, states on their page,:
“Believe it or not, VIRGIL began with the announcement of Archie’s Kevin Keller. Here was a classic genre (what’s more dogmatic a book than Archie, unchanged for decades!), infused with a queer storyline. Its nonchalance was powerful. This wasn’t a fetishized lifestyle, it was daring in its normalcy, the ultimate lack of taboo. As Django was a blaxploitation throwback, this would be exploitation for the LGBTQ community. With the anti-gay violence in Jamaica largely unknown, I knew where to set my book- a place commonly thought of as a vacation paradise, with an unexplored underbelly.”
The team behind Virgil have years upon years of experience working within graphic novels and comic books. Steve Orlando has had an extensive career writing for Image Comics and DC Comics/Vertigo, working on titles such as Mystery from Space ( for DC) and Outlaw Territory 1 & 3 ( for image). Colourist Chris Beckett has worked with DC comics providing amazing pages for their Smallville series as well as Cartoon Network Action Pack Comic. Artist JD Faith and Designer/Letterer Victor Ochua completes the Main team.
Like other Crowdfunded projects, There are a lot of perks that come with backing them: from getting an Annotated scripts of the Virgil Novel to the complete printed Edition, backers are well rewarded for their help. The Team is asking for a pledge of $15,000 and with 2 weeks left they already have over 150 backers for the project.
If you are interested in helping or if you are just curious about the graphic novel, pay a visit to their Kickstarter Page.
‘Virgil’ header Created by TheSteveOrlando