Artist Is Expanding Story Of Iconic Characters With Graphic Novel Series
Artist Is Expanding Story Of Iconic Characters With Graphic Novel Series
By Tia Carol Jones
Artist Hebru Brantley is looking to expand the Flyboy Universe with a graphic novel series through a Kickstarter campaign.
Brantley first came up with the idea for Flyboy as he was developing his visual style for his paintings and the language around it. In thinking about the history of African Americans and heroism, he landed on the Tuskegee Airmen. It was a lightbulb moment for him. He became entranced with the notion of an all African American military pilots group who fought during World War II.
“What these men were able to do at a time when nobody wanted us to do anything but work for free or be subservient, there was a lot of power in what they were able to do,” he said.
Brantley found a lot of power in what the Tuskegee Airmen accomplished and wanted to do something in his work that reflected that notion. He said that when he came up with FlyBoy and Lil’ Mama, he had no idea that the characters would be as iconic as they are. FlyBoy was only meant to be a concept for a series of paintings and once he finished those paintings he would move on to something else. A large sculpture of FlyBoy can be found outside the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier, and at Fashion Outlets of Chicago, there is a Flyboy installation, titled “Midnight Blue.”
Brantley said the graphic novel series is a new way of telling stories about FlyBoy. While people are only familiar with the characters of FlyBoy and Lil Mama through the Fine Arts space or the collectibles and merchandising, the graphic novel series enables Brantley to expand the narrative and the lore behind the characters. He said he never really shared the narrative and origin story of who FlyBoy was, and with the series, he is able to do that.
“I’ve spent the last seven years working on building out this world, creating more characters, just doing something my 12-year-old self would be extremely excited by,” he said.
Brantley’s Kickstarter Campaign launched in late June with an initial goal of $75,000. In a week, it had doubled that. Those who support the campaign will receive exclusive rewards, including digital and physical copies of FlyBoy merchandise, trading cards and hand-drawn artwork. There are different tiers, which start at $30, and go all the way to $15,000. The series begins with six issues, a complete arc of a story, telling an origin tale. He wants to keep it going in the same way other graphic novels and mangas do. He said there is a story he wants to tell and wants to ensure he has enough runway to do it, with completing the first arc and seeing how people respond to it.
Brantley said he is always surprised when people support whatever he does. While this is his first foray into graphic novels and a project this big, he is grateful for the response. He said the Kickstarter doing as well as it has done already shows that his work is unique, intriguing and engaging enough that it is able to receive the kind of support it is receiving and is able to promote different iterations of it. He added that it means they believe in his creativity enough to come with him on this graphic novel journey.
Brantley acknowledged that the creative space is a tough one to be in for anyone, let alone Black creatives. He said he has been fortunate enough that he has fans and supporters who will follow him along different verticals. He said it is a great feeling knowing that he has that support. Brantley has an art exhibition coming up in September in Los Angeles, as well as other things to come. Right now, he is hyperfocused on making sure the graphic novel series is as stellar as possible. With the graphic novel, Brantley’s goal and intention is for it to be a grounded storytelling that feels fresh and new.
Those interested in the Kickstarter Campaign can visit www.kickstarter.com/projects/hebrubrantley/flyboy?ref=project_build. For more information about Hebru Brantley, visit www.hebrubrantley.com.
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