Syracuse-based indie publisher AHOY Comics has made its reputation on witty satires, acclaimed creators, and a commitment to telling bold and risk-taking stories—including the acclaimed Black’s Myth graphic novels by writer Eric Palicki. Now Palicki and AHOY Comics are teaming up once again for DRAGONPROOF, a graphic novel written by Palicki and illustrated by acclaimed artist Giulia Lalli (Eight Limbs). The stand-alone 80-page story is about a directionless twentysomething who unexpectedly finds herself the champion of an endangered population of dragons. The project is now live on Kickstarter.
“Like so much of my other work, DRAGONPROOF is, at its heart, about outsiders finding their people and their purpose,” said writer Eric Palicki. “I tend to wear my influences on my sleeve, and this book is also a love letter to some of the stories that made me the writer I am today. Having partners in Giulia and Gab who were on the same wavelength was pure magic.”
Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest on an ill-fate camping trip, Ashleigh Cole stumbles upon a dying dragon in the woods, its hide peppered with bullet wounds and tattooed with U.S. military markings. Ash returns to her mundane life, convinced her experience in the woods was all just a hallucination—until she begins to display some oddly dragonlike characteristics herself. Compelled by voices in her mind, Ash undertakes a mission to rescue other captive dragons and help the mythical creatures escape—but the shadowy government organization determined to turn them into weapons of mass destruction has other plans. Funny, heartfelt, and action-packed, DRAGONPROOF will appeal to adult readers who grew up on Buffy and Gargoyles and capture the imagination of post-YA readers of The Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, and more.
“Eric is such a natural storyteller. When he came to me with the pitch for DRAGONPROOF, I was all in,” said Senior Editor Sarah Litt. “And Giulia’s art combined with Gabs’s colors…just an absolute stunner of a book from start to finish.”
“When Eric proposed this project to me I was very excited and comfortable, since fantasy has been my ‘war horse’ for many years and I always loved drawing dragons,” said artist Guilia Lalli. “But this time I was more intrigued by the story because it’s actually very different and unique than many other fantasy-based stories. It reminded me very much of Dragonheart, a movie very dear to me from my childhood, with its focus on the social and political side of the events alongside the fantasy elements—not to mention the importance of the bond between dragons and goodhearted humans.”
