Iron Circus has launched its latest Kickstarter campaign for RUNAWAY TO THE STARS, a hard sci-fi slice-of-life graphic novel by cartoonist Jay Eaton. The campaign is now live, with the publisher continuing its track record of crowdfunding-driven releases.
As part of the launch, Anime Corner can share an exclusive preview of the graphic novel ahead of its full release.
RUNAWAY TO THE STARS – Exclusive Preview
Official synopsis:
Abandoned as an infant on the doorstep of the Nexus Jovia youth foster care facility in a cat carrier, centaur and aerospace engineer Talita has no idea where she came from. She’s spent the vast majority of her life around humans, has very little familiarity with her own species’ cultures, and has always had trouble connecting with anyone — other than sentient AI beings, that is. So when Talita discovers a damaged Centaur spaceship in the Ixion Recycling Plant’s salvage yard with a pirate AI onboard named Bip, she quickly becomes drawn into its plans to escape the planet of Dirtball. But her two human friends, Idrisah and Gillie, aren’t about to let her commit crimes on behalf of a shady AI… not without their help, of course! Because Bip, the pilot of the Runaway, is definitely not telling Talita everything about what happened to the ship’s now-deceased centaur crew, or what mission they might have been on. But despite Bip’s suspiciously shady past, the AI is a charmer and quickly gets the team on board to help. Now all they have to do is secretly repair the ship and get all the clearances needed to file a flight plan… Of course, they just can’t get caught doing it.
The project is described as a culmination of over a decade of development. Eaton commented:
“This book is the culmination of over a decade of chipping away at a science fiction setting and the interesting people living there, and I’m very excited to finally be able to share this labor of love with the world and introduce everyone to these characters. It continually delights me how many different people have seen their lives reflected in the fictional struggles and triumphs of Talita and her friends. Whether you’re a 3-meter tall alien woman, a GMO catgirl, a sapient quantum computer, or a human being, I think there is something to find of yourself in RUNAWAY TO THE STARS.”
Publisher Iron Circus Comics’s founder C. Spike Trotman also highlighted the story’s themes:
“This story is for everyone who’s ever felt displaced, othered, or unheard — and every reader that loves a good sci-fi story and is intrigued by what secrets a sentient pirate AI might be hiding. One of the (many) things that makes RUNAWAY TO THE STARS so great is Jay’s attention to the complexities of communication. We have Gillie, a genetically-modified human who is Deaf, forced to deal with clunky and ineffective tech in her efforts to communicate; Idrisah, a professional xenolinguist who can communicate with double-larynxed alien Avians, but can’t fluently speak in either of her family’s languages; and Talita, whose social anxiety and fear of inconveniencing others gets her taken advantage of, despite her towering height and fearsome appearance. This singular graphic novel is a testament to the fact that our all-too-human faults and anxieties are universal concerns — no matter your point of origin!”
RUNAWAY TO THE STARS is currently available to support via Kickstarter. The campaign includes additional materials such as in-universe appendices, bonus content, and collector-focused extras.
Source: Press Release
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