Back in April, comic book writer and artist Gene Ha, who is best known for his work with famous comic book publishers including Marvel, DC Comics, and ABC Comics, took to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter with a mission to raise funds for his first ever creator-owned graphic novel, Mae.
This campaign debuted after Ha revealed details about the project at C2E2. The new comic is a story about a girl name Mae who is reunited with her sister Abbie, who ran away years ago and finds that the place she ended up at was a fantastical other world called Cimrterén.
Ha revealed:
“Mae is the story of two sisters from small town Indiana. Eight years ago, the older sister Abbie Fortell disappeared. Mae, the younger sister, finished school, cared for their aging father, and took over the family business. She has no idea what happened to her sister until she gets a last night call from the Sheriff’s office. Abbie is back, with tales of adventures and mad scientists and monsters. Those stories are hard to believe until the monsters start appearing in Indiana.
“The viewpoint character is Mae. Just as the first Middle Earth novel is called The Hobbit instead of Gandalf, this is a tale of an ingénue dragged into an adventure, not the guide.
“Mae will have a much more interesting take on the other world than her sister. Abbie is an action hero, so if she has a problem she just looks for an enemy to attack. Mae has a more nuanced view and more thoughtful solutions. Sometimes that solution will involve kicking an a** but not always. Mae will never stop growing and learning: that’s why Mae is the hero I want to write.”
The project closed in May and received over $75,000 from nearly 1,500 backers. Now nearly two months later, Ha announced that Mae was picked up by Dark Horse Comics. He confirmed to Comic Book Resources:
“I am thrilled to be bringing my book ‘Mae’ to Dark Horse. Now I can focus on what I love doing: craftingthe tale I want to tell. It’s an honor to be backed by the team who gave us Mike Mignola’s ‘Hellboy’ and Eric Powell’s ‘The Goon.’
“I want to thank everyone who backed the Mae Kickstarter and helped show that there’s an audience for this book. As I’ve said before, you’re the ones who made ‘Mae’ real.”
Dark Horse editor Daniel Chabon also shared:
“From Mike Mignola to Eric Powell to Cullen Bunn and now Gene Ha, Dark Horse continues to push and support some of the best creator-owned work in the industry. We are all huge fans of Gene’s work and are very excited to help put out his ‘Mae’ as an ongoing series at Dark Horse.”
Mae is scheduled to be released to backers in October.
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