Avery Hill Launches A Kickstarter For Sara Kenney’s Dark Comedy ‘Acid Box’
by Brendan M. Allen
UK-based publisher Avery Hill is launching a Kickstarter for Acid Box, an ambitious graphic novel from some of the most exciting UK comics creators working today The book features over 200 pages of comics from writer Sara Kenney and artists James Devlin, Emma Vieceli, and Ria Grix, with colors by Sofie Dodgson and lettering by Hassan Otsman-Elhaou.
Jade Nyo just wants to listen to some music and to get wasted. And then, late one night while out clubbing with her brother, Jade meets a mysterious trio of women who call themselves the Liminals, who tell Jade she must help them avert a global disaster. They give Jade an Acid Box, which controls portals through space and time. Only the Acid Box is broken, and when Jade travels back in time to 1994, she discovers that changing history might be too much for just one person to fix. . . .
Like most of the projects run by Kenney’s Wowbagger Productions, there is a participatory arts element to Acid Box. The team worked with twenty young adults from the UK, India, Kenya, and South Africa to explore the history, science themes, and art within the story. The young people who took part in the workshops spoke to Karen Berger, Dr. Tana Joseph, Professor David Nutt, Gemmy, Professor Divya Jindal-Snape, Karrie Fransman, Joe Muggs, Irvine Welsh, Dr Suzi Gage, Shelly Bond, Rhiannon Griffiths MBE, Lucy Sullivan, Professor Stephen Husbands, Katy Porter, Toya Delazy, Jeremy Deller, and many more.
These considerations inspired the young people to create the comics and articles included at the back of Acid Box. From sober raving, time travel, chemistry, and climate change to the use of MDMA for therapeutics, their work showcases a range of stunning creative responses to our conversations.
“Is your happy place a bouncing dance floor?” asks Kenney. “Are you nostalgic for the parties of the ‘90s? Are you determined to have fun even on the brink of disaster? Do messy main characters give you life? Is supporting art communities and youth access to those communities important to you? Do you just love comics? If you answer yes to any of these questions, you will not want to miss Acid Box.”
This dark comic adventure spans space and time and brings club culture into the comic book scene like never before. The Kickstarter pre-launch page is now live, and readers can follow the page here to get an email when the project launches.
