Kickstarting Comics: Ed Hilyer’s ‘Romo The Wolf Boy’

Ed Hillyer/Ilya‘s Romo The WolfBoy, as featured here in Webcomics Weekly back in 2023, comes to Kickstarter, for 256 pages of all-ages action-adventure spooky character comedy… a damn fine comic you need to get behind…

As I said in that Webcomics Weekly back in the tail end of 2023, I’ve enjoyed Ilya‘s comics since first seeing his work in The End Of The Century Club. Since then, I’ve followed his work wherever and whenever it’s published, be that in Crisis, Deadline, DC Vertigo, and so many more places. If you haven’t already, go and check out both End of the Century Club and his 2013 SelfMadeHero graphic novel Room For Love.

For the past year and a bit, he’s been writing and drawing Romo The WolfBoy, publishing it through his Substack newsletter (you can sign up for that here – edilya.substack.com). Its full title is Romo the WolfBoy in the Strange Case of Cackle & Hide, giving you an idea of some of the influences he’s playing with for this one.

Romo is complete now, and he’s turned to Kickstarter to publish the finished graphic novel, packed with some of his very best art, all of the looseness and style I’ve always loved in his work.

Here’s how Ilya describes Romo the WolfBoy/ Strange Case of Cackle and Hide…

‘Romo and partner and guardian Francis become formidable investigators of the paranormal. But not yet, for this is only their first adventure – the story of how they meet. When Blimey O’Riley’s Travelling Circus comes to town its newest recruits are stagehand Francis and a strange, wild boy. As the circus suffers repeated acts of sabotage their rivalry slowly turns into a friendship. They must team up to find the mysterious, giggling culprit, becoming a Top Act in the meantime, and a force to be reckoned with. Their ultimate destiny points toward greater things.’

Romo The Wolf Boy is a full colour hardcover graphic novel, 256 pages, described as (and I have no doubt living up to it) as:

“A creative and free-form mix of comic strip, text and illustration. For fans of lunacy, comedy, mystery, magic, words, pictures, words+pictures, comics, manga, gnovels (graphic novels, or posh comic books), Victoriana, slapstick, danger, creepy animated dolls, wolves, witches, traditional folklore, lovely countryside, gypsy caravans, high-wire acrobats, the circus, ringmasters’ hyperbole, fortune-telling chickens, resistance to fat-shaming, the ridiculous, sunrise and sunsets + Whodunnit? All the fun of the circus, and so much more…”

Go and pledge for the Kickstarter here. Obviously, the book is what you want, but there’s plenty of add-ons and stretch goals to be had.

Now, a few of the preview pages to tempt you further…