With hope on the horizon for an end to the WGA strike—and the SAG-AFTRA strike, too, fingers crossed—a new comic is here to celebrate the powerful Hollywood labor movement, with some big names attached.
Grant Morrison, Matteo Pizzolo, and Brian Michael Bendis (all WGA members) teamed up with a group of TV writers (also WGA members) to create comics anthology General Strike: Calexit and Other Tales of Fighting the Good Fight. The collection is “dedicated to the struggle for economic equality” and the publisher, Black Mask Studios, “is matching the writers fees with donations to the Entertainment Community Fund.”
The “host” of the anthology is a new heroine, bubblegum-loving labor organiser Gen. Strike. The line-up of authors—all striking guild members—includes Judalina Neira (The Boys, Gen V, The Flash), Rodney Barnes (Winning Time, The Boondocks), Tamara Becher (Doom Patrol, Daredevil), Daniel Dominguez (Seis Manos), Charley Feldman (X-Men 97, Teen Titans Go), Grant Morrison (Happy!, All-Star Superman), and Brian Michael Bendis (creator of Miles Morales and Jessica Jones). Overseeing the project is writer and publisher Matteo Pizzolo (Calexit, Godkiller, Rogue State).
On the art side, the talent is no less impressive. The covers are by artists Tyler Boss (4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, What’s The Furthest Place From Here?), Iolanda Zanfardino (Alice In Leatherland), Ben Templesmith (30 Days Of Night), Ramon Villalobos (America Chavez), Creees Lee (Lab Raider), Elisa Romboli (A Thing Called Truth), Amancay Nahuelpan (Calexit), and Darick Robertson (The Boys). The illustrations are by Antonio Fuso (Something Is Killing The Children: House Of Slaughter), Jamal Igle (BLACK, The Wrong Earth), Butch Mapa (Star Wars Adventures), Tyler Jenkins (Grass Kings), and Josh Hood (We Can Never Go Home).
“With the longest running dual-strikes in Hollywood history reaching a crescendo, this is an amazing moment to celebrate the power and solidarity that got us here and also to keep telling stories that inspire us to fight these good fights,” Pizzolo said in a statement provided to io9. “The WGA and SAG strikes are part of the bigger labor movements growing across the country and around the world, but they’re also unique because they focus on creative artists—the public outpouring of support we’ve seen here hasn’t always been the case with past Hollywood strikes. It’s really inspiring and we’re hoping this project can honor that and also support the workers who are still struggling due to the impact of the strikes.”
Here are a pair of covers (in order, they’re by Creees Lee and Tyler Boss), as well as a look inside the anthology. General Strike: Calexit and Other Tales of Fighting the Good Fight is available for pre-order now on Kickstarter.
