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I have never asked for a dime from my readers for anything. About three weeks ago, I received an email message from Stavit Allweis:

Hi Ian,

I’m writing to invite you to view early images from “ISNESS” my epic fotonovela currently in the works.

It is hybrid of cinema, the graphic novel form, and is deeply informed by cult masterpieces of past.

We are in the crucial mid-production phase and reaching out to create a fan base and raise finishing funds.

Naturally, I am hoping that you will find my efforts worthy of an article or link on Ian Summers’ Heartstorming.

It would be an honor to have you glance at the Kickstarter link: http://kck.st/bEKVTm

Sincerely,

Stavit Allweis

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Stevie found Heartstorming while searching for photo novella on the Internet. I am glad she did. She found a couple of my articles about sequential art and a challenge to photographers to create the next great photo novella. I am impressed with the fundraising campaign for a wonderful innovative project. She has been using Kickstarter as a means to raise money to complete her photo novela. She has less than one week to raise the remaining start up costs for ISNESS.  Kickstarter is an all or nothing at all deal. Won’t you take a few minutes to view the video below and donate five dollars or more? Everyone contributing $35 or more will receive a signed copy of the book upon publication.

Still photographers interested in multimedia should check this out. Photo novelas are great examples of sequential art. Learn more about the How Messing with Mr. In-Between May Make Gutter Talk more Interesting.

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THE STORY
ISNESS tells of the story of the last remaining family on earth. The story is set in the remains of the culture of the 1970’s, somewhere in North America.

Over the course of 24 downspiraling hours, one family member after another succumb to powerful forces of evolution run amok in their home. As in mythology, their characters are deeply archetypal and some posses supernatural qualities.
On one level the story is the disturbing tale of a dysfunctional suburban family gone post- apocalyptic. On a deeper level, the story lays out and examines increments along the carnality/spirituality spectrum in the human predicament.

THE NAME
ISNESS, the name of the novel pertains to survival: Either “you IS or you ISN’T”. It is the degree of one’s “isness” that nature trades in: that moment in nature’s cyclical regurgitation of matter that we experience as being alive and which we cling to so desperately.

THE FORM
The final product will be in the form of a graphic novel composed of many sequential photographic images. This genre, though rarely employed by comics artists nowadays, used to thrive in the form of pulp magazines in the 70’s and earlier. It never took off in the United States as it did in Europe and South America.

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Only $431 to go as of August 20th with only 7 days to go. Please help.

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As of this writing $6319 dollars has been raised. Stevie needs only $431 to reach her goal of $6,750. Remember, it’s all or nothing at all. Don’t let this great project get away.

Check out this interview with Stevie Allweis at Williamsburg-Greenpoint News+Arts.

There is even more background information at Stevie’s blog Countercomics.com

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Why you should listen to him:

If not for Scott McCloud, graphic novels and webcomics might be enjoying a more modest Renaissance. The flourishing of cartooning in the ’90s and ’00s, particularly comic-smithing on the web, can be traced back to his major writings on the comics form. The first, Understanding Comics, is translated into 13 languages, and along with Reinventing Comics and Making Comics, its playful and profound investigations are justly revered as something like the Poetics of sequential art.

McCloud coined the term “infinite canvas” — for the new comics medium made possible by web browsers. He’s an avid user of the medium: My Obsession With Chess was widely popular online, as was The Right Number. Back on the printed page, he wrote and illustrated Zot!, a colorful response to then-trendy grimness and gore in comic books. (He describes the book as “a cross between Peter Pan, Buck Rogers and Marshall McLuhan.”)

“With Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics the dialogue on and about what comics are and, more importantly, what comics can be has begun. If you read, write, teach or draw comics; if you want to; or if you simply want to watch a master explainer at work, you must read this book.”

Neil Gaiman

More About Scott McCloud:

Scott’s website

Scott’s Books:

Reinventing Comics
(2000)

Understanding Comics
(1993)

Making Comics
(2006)

Related Links:

Heartstorming Archives: The Graphic Novel

All About Ted

Thanks to Ron Diorio for calling my attention to this video.

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The illustrated novel, or foto-novela, also known as historietas, has recently enjoyed a burst of mainstream popularity in the United States. (Technically, the foto-novela is illustrated with photos while the historieta employs drawings, but the two terms often are used interchangeably.) These “comic books” with complex perspectives and dark imagery have had a long history and far-reaching impact within the Latino and Chicano communities in the U.S., as well as Mexico and Latin America, where they continue to thrive as a mainstay of popular culture.

From an article at Independent Lens

Thanks to Raymundo Garza for providing this link.

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