Will Caligan recently lost his most recent job with Short Fuse Media Group after expressing his conservative beliefs on social media.
Caligan, who is not only a comic book artist, but also a Gulf War veteran who attained the rank of Specialist, told us his loss of job “hurt [him] financially.” He even had to “stop producing books, due to not have (sp) a publisher, which in turn hurt the folks working for [him].”
However, the comic book community is rallying around Will. He is currently planning to work on a brand new project with Bane creator and comic book veteran Chuck Dixon. The two are currently raising money for the project which now sits just shy of $19,000 on the first day.
Dixon and Caligan will team up for an Arkhaven production that will be decided by the donors. There are a number of novels, donors will vote on to adapt into graphic novel form. Those novels include The End of the World as We Knew It by Nick Cole, Rocky Mountain Retribution by Peter Grant, The Lawdog Files by Lawdog, The Stars Came Back by Rolf Nelson, Flashpoint: Titan by Kai Wai Cheah, Sword and Flower by Rawle Nyanzi, and Swan Knight’s Son by John C. Wright.
Dixon will provide the script for the adaptation while Caligan will provide his top-notch art work.
Chuck Dixon is excited to work with Will. He told us, “there’s an energy and charm to Will’s work that I look forward to tapping into.”
He also told us why he took on the project, “I wanted to help out a fellow creator who’s being discriminated against because of his personal, PERSONAL, beliefs. The people calling for his firing only serve to further prove the very real challenges every creator faces if they do not walk in lockstep with the ideology of the left.”
Will Caligan has already been humbled by the response, but is also excited to work with Chuck Dixon. He told us, “I just want to thank God and everyone who is helping. It has made a dream come true. I get to work with Chuck Dixon. Yay.”
The graphic novel will most likely be around 132 pages total, but it could fluctuate depending on which novel is selected for adaptation. The comic “will be published in a series of 22-page comics and as a single graphic novel, in black-and-white format with a full color cover. A color interior is one of the stretch goals.”
In fact, the stretch goal for the colored interior has already being reached. The coloring will be done by Arklight Studios.
Other stretch goals for the campaign include a second book by drawn by Will Caligan in black and white with a full-color cover as well as a fully colorized second book.
In addition to the fundraising effort, Arkhaven will give “50 percent of the revenues derived from any subsequent sales of the comics and graphic novels will go to Will and the direct contributors to producing the comic.”
The comic book community is rallying around Will Caligan and are letting their wallets do the talking.