Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women

Factsheet

Publisher:
TO Comix Press
Based in Toronto, Ontario

Format:
6.75" x 10.25" Perfectbound Softcover

Pages:
220

Contents:
25 stories from 38 female-identifying and gender-nonconforming creators.

Publication date:
Feb 1, 2018

Website:
WaywardSistersAnthology.com

Press / Business contact:
allison@tocomix.com

Social:
WSanthologyWaywardSistersAnthologyWSanthologyWaywardSistersAnthology

Description

From mermaids hunted for their meat to a ghastly beauty pageant, Wayward Sisters celebrates lady and non-binary monsters who are indelicate, impolite, and irrepressible. Inside you’ll find tales of undead motivational speakers, vengeance demons compelled to hunt family, and a gentle T. Rex who just wants to be loved. This collection of full-colour comics stars thirty-eight intersectional creators who identify as women or gender-nonconforming.

With a cover by Alise Gluškova (Abe Sapien, Letter 44) and a foreword from Faith Erin Hicks (The Nameless City, Avatar: The Last Airbender), we’re excited to bring you fresh comics to sink your teeth into!

Press Releases

October 11, 2017 - Kickstarter launches!
"After three wildly successful crowdfunding campaigns, TO Comix Press is launching a new Kickstarter for Wayward Sisters: An Anthology of Monstrous Women. This 220-page book features 25 new stories about monsters from creators who all self-identify as women or gender-nonconforming. " ( cont'd )

History

I’ve loved monsters for as long as I can remember. Monsters can mean and represent so many different things about the human condition; they allow us to explore the parts of our identities that scare us, or that scare society. They can be scary or silly or sad, and that flexibility, as well as their metaphorical potential, has always interested me.

A few years ago, I met M. Blankier, who has a PhD in English Literature with an emphasis on the Gothic, and has worked at Marvel, Kids Can Press, Knopf/Random House Canada, and Tundra Books. We were both bored by monster stories where women are only victims, romantic interests, or sexy monster hunters. The rare lady monsters we did get too often reflected stereotypical images of women: seductresses or crones (non-binary monsters were, and are, next to non-existent). I’d edited 2 volumes of the Toronto Comics Anthology, as well as titles for Chapterhouse Publishing including The Pitiful Human-Lizard and Life, Death & Sorcery. It was time for us to bring a project to life where we could share the monster stories we’d always wanted to read.

When we posted the call for pitches, the response was immediately and overwhelmingly positive. Many other comics fans hungered for more diverse stories, with monsters that reflected a wider range of experiences. Then the pitches started flooding in, and we were astounded by the creativity and talent we had to wade through.

We couldn’t be prouder of the book our creators are putting together. We have horrifying monsters, but also monsters who are kind, and funny, and shy, and melancholy. Monsters who want to be accepted for who they are, to escape societal restrictions, to find a friend or start a family. We hope that you are as excited about this book as we are, and that we’ll be able to bring you more monsters in the future!

- Allison O'Toole