The Pride follows FabMan as he decides to form a team of all LGBTQ superheroes to stand up to the common misrepresentations and ignorance of the world.

FabMan brings together Bear, Twink, Wolf, Muscle Mary, Frost, Angel and White Trash. The team find themselves standing up to a number of the problems and faulty thinking that the LGBTQ community faces daily, as well as being the only super-team in the world capable of fighting the villainous Reverend and his diabolical master plan.

The Pride is a six issue series, along with sister-project The Pride Adventures which ran for three issues.

This Kickstarter is raising funds for printing a gorgeous, hardcover collection of the whole series printed to date. This includes The Pride #1-6, The Pride Adventures #1-3, which contained short, self-contained tales of the characters to expand on their world, and exclusive material and behind the scenes content to give readers the fullest and most in-depth Pride experience possible.

All the issues are COMPLETE. This campaign is literally just to raise funds to create the collected edition, collecting literally everything – the nine comics, plus behind the scenes material and extras. It will also include the Pride short that was produced as part of the Cardiff Independent Comic Expo Anthology, that has not been reprinted anywhere else!

That’s over 260 pages!

We’ll also be getting a brand new, gorgeous wraparound cover by Ricardo Bessa!

We want to bring The Pride to as big an audience as possible, so we’re aiming for one of our largest print runs to date to get the book into as many hands (and hopefully, as many stores) as possible!

What’s more, if we reach target and pass it, we have stretch goals in mind to include brand new, exclusive Pride stories in the collection, making it bigger, even better value for money, and with even more exclusive content!

The Pride is written by myself, Joe Glass. A Bleeding Cool contributor, The Pride is my first comic series. I also co-write a horror comedy called Stiffs. One of my co-writers from Stiffs, PJ Montgomery, also writes one of The Pride shorts from The Pride Adventures #2.

Letters and design work come from the incredibly talented Mike Stock, and we have had colors done by Kris Carter, Ben Wilsonham, Elizabeth Swann, Nathan Ashworth and Hector Barros.

Art was provided by a cavalcade of incredible artists, really making the project feel like a community working towards the one goal of better representation for the LGBTQ comics audience. We have work from Gavin Mitchell (Stiffs, The Trolltooth Wars), Christian Wildgoose (The Butterfly Gate, Porcelain), Dan Harris (Lou Scannon, Druid Investigations), Denis Medri (Red Hood & Arsenal), Dani Abrams, Martin Kirby (Freelancers)and many, many more.

A full list of the artists involved:-

Gavin Mitchell, JD Faith, Marc Ellerby, Cory Smith, Joe Glass, Dan Harris, Jacopo Camagni, Hector Barros, Jack Lawrence, Samir Barrett, Ryan Cody, Dani Abrams, Denis Medri, Christian Wildgoose, Kendall Goode, Jack Davies, Maxime Garbarini, Martin Kirby and Adam Graphite.

Covers have been done by Kris Anka (Uncanny X-Men, Captain Marvel), Cory Smith (TMNT, Nova), Jack Lawrence (Tinpot Hobo), W. Scott Forbes (Effigy, Silk) and Jamal Campbell (All New Inhumans, The Immortal Nadia Greene).

Along with the collected edition, which will clock in at around 260+ pages, we also have available DRM-free digital PDF copies of the comics, ideally read on small portable devices like phones and tablets.

But that’s not all. For all digital options, you will get to choose your desired format. Either the PDF or a Comixology code, so you can download the book on the Comixology app so you can read the comic on your chosen devices in full Guided View.

We also have two limited edition A3 sized art prints by the amazing Kevin Wada (Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk)and Cory Smith. These large art prints are on 300gsm matte art board.

We are also making a limited edition bookplate which will be available in a limited number of the books, mini-posters based on artwork from the book and more, including ones from Kris Anka and Adam Graphite; and some badge sets too!

I’ve set a fairly high goal because I want to get a large print run for this trade collection, as well as make it as beautiful a piece of art as possible.

This is so I can get the book out to as large an audience as possible, and at as low a price as possible. If we can get the goal amount and print our ideal sized print run, then we will be able to sell the book at an R.R.P. of around 20-25.

This money will go towards printing 1000 copies of the book. I would love to of course make even more, so if we can meet our goals, then we can look at stretch goals to help take us even further and bigger runs.

• 8,575, the majority of the goal amount, is for the cost of the initial print run of 1000 copies.
• 500 is to cover design costs for the book.
• 100 for the limited edition bookplates.
• 391 is to cover the cost of packaging material
• 165 will cover the cost of making the badge packs
• 150 for ISBNs and barcodes
• The remainder will help with the stationary and postage costs for shipping copies out, as well as Kickstarter fees and any other costs that can arise in production.

The Pride #1 was one of the Top 25 Best Selling Comixology Submit Titles of 2014.

“I highly recommend this smart, charming, wonderful book to anyone who likes good comics. It’s absolutely a pleasure to read and a clear labor of love.” – Gail Simone, Batgirl, Leaving Megalopolis, Clean Room

“The Pride manages to deliver a lot of enjoyment with a lot of potential to soothe the queer soul.” –Comicosity

“THE PRIDE. Old-School and Progressive at the same time. Classic, high-energy superhero action that gives the queer community the heroes they’ve always deserved.” – Steve Orlando(Midnighter, Virgil)

“Brilliantly progressive and strikingly relatable – The Pride delivers.” – Mike Garley (The Kill Screen, Samurai Slasher)

“The Pride Adventures comics highlight an important social dynamic, and a relevant social and industry prejudice that needs to be recognised on a wider scale.” – A Place to Hang Your Cape

“A book of acceptance and with a message that still has an action-packed, superhero tale at its core.” – Comics Anonymous

“Above and beyond the main premise of this title, this is at heart a solid superhero team book with the laughs, loves and kooky, crazy threats we have come to expect from our four-coloured fun.” –Olly MacNamee, Bleeding Cool

“Theyre normalizing the LGBTQ community by presenting it as one that is substantive and sincere and as difficult as the rest of the world” – A.V. Club

“It has a polished professional look above many indie comics Ive seen out there.” – The Lost Lighthouse