You Are Not Alone was GrayHaven Comics‘ most ambitious project to date, bringing together an overwhelming amount of creators to take on issues like homophobia, racism and violence and tell people everywhere they were not alone.

Launched on Kickstarter, the project met its goal and them some, recently being released and making its way to various organizations dealing with those issues as well as its backers.

GrayHaven has recently launched You Are Not Alone 2, the follow up volume. What good is having the ability to reach people with our stories if we can’t put that to use in a beneficial way? There were so many stories that needed to be told and wouldn’t fit into the first volume.

We got to chat with one of the people behind the project Drew Goletz, the Publisher, Editor in Chief and President of GrayHaven Comics

Graphic Policy: Can you walk us through how You Are Not Alone came together?

Drew Goletz: When the tragedy at Sandy Hook occurred I was glued to the television. So many reports were coming out from social media and the news and as a father…as a human being, it was difficult to watch but I couldn’t turn away. All the reports. The personal stories. It all stayed with me. I was depressed and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Talking about it with some of the other editors was therapeutic in a way and I wanted to do something to honor the memory of the victims. Initially I thought of doing some sort of tribute book or a comic to raise money for families but after thinking about it for a few days it felt like it’d be trying to piggy bank a horrible, tragic event for a creative endeavor. No matter what the intent it rang as opportunistic for me to associate a project with Sandy Hook that soon.

But we still wanted to do something. We had put out a lot of comics and had a lot of talent on board. We decided to do something that could benefit people, particularly younger people before it was too late. Focus on bullying and racism and violence and depression and things that affect kids every day and give them stories with a positive message along with maybe some public service information on where people could go to get the help they need.

I also wanted it to be available for free to those that needed it. Economically, as the project got bigger and bigger that became less of a reality. Though a successful Kickstart we were able to raise enough money where I could offset a lot of costs and make the book available to those schools or youth organizations that wanted it and once the rewards were given away and run through we would make the book for sale for anyone else interested in getting a copy, which is where we are now.

GP: Over 60 creators participated in the release, how many submissions from folks interested to help out did you receive?

DG: Probably twice as many if not more. I was expecting it to touch a nerve but I wasn’t prepared for that type of interest. We are used to ‘open submission’ time being just crazy but this was a book that had soooo much interest early on and the hard part was that most of them were just wonderful. We didn’t want to cut them and the Kickstarter helped us expand from what was initially a 40-50 page comic to a 180 page volume. Unfortunately we still couldn’t accept every story.

GP: Part of the project was to get the book not just too comic fans and backers, but also schools, libraries or youth organizations. Have there been any that have taken you up on that yet?

DG: It was slow going on that front but yes finally there has been some movement there. In the middle of the actual campaign and immediately after there was interest, particularly from schools wanting us to come and speak about the project but I wanted to wait for the book to come out. Now it’s a matter of getting back in touch with people and arranging things. But we have heard from a number of places including non profits and schools who are interested and some libraries and we continue to spread the word and encourage those organizations to contact me to get a copy of the book.

GP: Have you looked at partnering with non-profits that deal with these issues?

DG: We have tried to put the word out to places, particularly anti bullying organizations that just envelop everything the book was about. There have been some stumbling blocks. I’ve been publishing for awhile but I’m less familiar with the ins and outs of non profits and organizations like that so making connections is starting from square one. Some places outright told me that they do their own thing and weren’t interested. Others were a wait and see. The best resource so far has been from readers who’ve gotten their copies and have spoken to people on my behalf and now connections are starting to be made.

GP: The topics covered in this include bullying, depression, homophobia, racism, and violence. What can we as comic fans do to help with these issues?

DG: I think it can start easily in how we treat one another online. We’ve given up hanging around the comic shop to talk about whether Superman could beat the Hulk to posting on Message Boards and Social Media to routinely call creators and fans names, threaten them, call them stupid or just generally bully them from behind the safety of a keyboard. If you see it happening, call people out on it. If you’re at a comic convention, and are a fan of a certain cosplayer or character maybe ask them politely for a picture and be respectful instead of wolf whistling at them or calling them names. Most of us got into comic books because we were fans of these wonderful super hero characters with awesome powers and costumes doing great things. Ask yourself before you post or run your mouth off to make someone feel less than human, ‘what would Superman do?’.

GP: There’s lots of call for more diversity when it comes to creators and characters in the comic industry. What do you think publishers can do, to help foster that beyond just hiring or creating characters?

DG: I think they’re getting better. I believe indie and small press offer more diversity because a lot of times these are creator owned passion projects that come from the heart. They aren’t necessarily trying to meet a bottom line and aren’t as afraid to take chances. DC’s Batwoman and Batwing and Marvel’s X-Men and Ms. Marvel and Mighty Avengers are good examples of them trying to shake up the status quo a bit but maybe offer those books at a lower price point to sway the readers who only buy Batman, Wolverine and Avengers titles to give something new a shot.

I think it’s a shame that the newsstand market has been basically ignored. I get the reasons why but a lot of comic fans discovered this industry through impulse buys at the grocery store or corner market. It’s up to comic companies to get a bit more aggressive in finding an audience. Do something with schools and show off this diverse array of characters that they have outside of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Batman and Superman.

And of course a lot of the responsibility also falls on the fans. For all the complaining that is done about too many Avengers or Batman or ‘Event’ books those are always selling and the titles that go outside the box a little tend to launch soft and quickly slide off the sales chart. You can’t say you want more diversity and then ignore books that come out that offer something different.

GP: The project was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. What lessons did you learn from running it? Any advice for folks looking to start their own?

DG: You have to have a project that interests people and this certainly had that and you need to be able to deliver on that project. We’ve run a few Kickstarts to varying degrees of success. I think this one was our best yet not just in terms of the amount of people involved but how I handled things on my end, lessons learned from previous mistakes. The size of the book forced us into delays and we were off target by about 4 months but I was constantly communicating with backers as to progress so they weren’t in the dark and when the books finally came in I took time off of my day job to ensure that those books went out immediately. I didn’t want anyone who pledged to not get their books or PDFs or whatever. I can still do things better but I think really it comes down to communication. Let people know what’s going on.

GP: To you personally, how does it feel getting this project out there? What has been the response so far?

DG: It feels so good. I’ve said from day one it’s the most important project we’ve ever done. Last Fall I was awarded ‘Comic Book Creator of the Year’ by the Philly Geek Awards for the work on You Are Not Alone.  We missed our deadline by a few months but as soon as the PDF was ready and we posted it for backers it was great to hear the response from people. It was such a great feeling to see this ridiculous amount of boxes arrive and hold the hard copy in my hands, the culmination of over a year of work from so many people. It was even better than the first time I ever saw my name in the credits of a comic.

The response has been amazing. I showed some emails to my other editors and told them that these things are so personal that even though it’d probably help ‘sell’ the book I don’t feel right posting them. People telling me how this book and even working on the project helped their lives in a profound way. I know all the hard work was worth it, now.

GP: You’ve mentioned working on a “working on a follow up book” as “demand warrants.” Are you planning on doing more focused releases on one topic, or keep it mixed like this?

DG: We’re in the process of doing You Are Not Alone 2. It’s a similar anthology covering many of the same themes but a bit smaller. We also have included some of the stories that didn’t make it into the first book.  I think even if there was no overwhelming demand for it we’d still all be on board for doing the project just because of what it is. I think there is a need for these types of stories to be out there and available.

And yeah we have discussed doing more focused themes in the same subject as we think it may be more beneficial to individual needs. If an upcoming Kickstart we’re doing proves to be successful we may actually announce and launch those in the midst of it. Stay tuned!

GP: What can we expect from you and GrayHaven Comics next?

DG: We’ve fine-tuned things internally. We all love putting out great comics and offering opportunities to indie talent but we need the resources to make it happen so we’ve rearranged some stuff and gotten more help so we can keep up with demand. More importantly I’ve fine tuned the ordering. There were some issues where people were waiting way too long for orders and that’s unacceptable so I’ve changed some things in the process and now the turnaround time has been less than a week since December.

The big news is we’ve announced the new themes for our Gathering anthology and Limitless books which coincides with Open Submission time for new writers. It’s always an exciting and busy time and we love seeing the new people submit ideas for the first time as well as returning favorites. Themes this time around will include Kaiju, Redemption, Time Travel, Terrible Jobs, High Seas (On the Water) and Magic.

We’ve also launched a new Kickstarter to help with the You Are Not Alone 2 project and other books in the works.

We’re hoping that this year will finally see the debut of Titanium Star, a sci fi western mini from Victor Gischler and Sam Tung. The first issue is completely done but we want to get a little ahead on the book so there are no delays once it starts rolling.

We also have something planned for our big 5^th anniversary extravaganza. The project won’t be released until 2015 but we’ll announce what it’s all about at the end of this year and it’s big. A game changer for GrayHaven.