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Leia Weathington, Marco Aidala, Vanessa Gillings, Kelly McLellan, Konstantin Pogorelov, Liz Conley, Jason Thompson, Brinson Thieme,
The Legend of Bold Riley
by: Leia Weathington, Marco Aidala, Vanessa Gillings, Kelly McLellan, Konstantin Pogorelov, Liz Conley, Jason Thompson, Brinson Thieme,Leia Weathington’s sword-and-sorcery epic The Legend of Bold Riley is illustrated by Leia and a host of talented artists. “Who is Bold Riley?” you might ask. She has hunted the wildest game and dallied with countless beautiful girls, but still longs to know the world beyond the city walls. Princess Rilavashana SanParite, called Bold Riley, leaves behind her station and sets out to travel through distant lands and find forgotten ruins, fearsome enemies, inscrutable gods and tragic love.
$9.99
Leia Weathington’s sword-and-sorcery epic The Legend of Bold Riley is illustrated by Leia and a host of talented artists.
“Who is Bold Riley?” you might ask. She has hunted the wildest game and dallied with countless beautiful girls, but still longs to know the world beyond the city walls. Princess Rilavashana SanParite, called Bold Riley, leaves behind her station and sets out to travel through distant lands and find forgotten ruins, fearsome enemies, inscrutable gods and tragic love.
She’s as capable with a sword as she is with her wits—man, does she carve things up when the need arises—and is a strong, beautiful, confident woman who doesn’t wear a bikini into battle. And she always gets the girl!
Created by Leia Weathington, with art by Weathington, Marco Aidala, Vanessa Gillings, Kelly McClellan, Konstantin Pogorelov, Liz Conley, and Jason Thompson. Cover artwork by Brinson Thieme. 232 pages. 7″x10″. Full-color with metallic ink cover.
Retailers! Download a Bold Riley Promotional Display that highlights the foreword by fan-favorite writer Jane Espenson and helps encourage customers to check out the book.
PREVIEWS:
You can download a 67-page preview of the book in PDF or EPUB (iPad-only) format right here on the site. The preview includes excerpts from four of the stories in the book, bonus artwork and more.
Additionally, there’s a ZIP file of preview images available for use in reviews and articles. Download it here. (11MB ZIP file.)
INTERVIEWS:
Feature on Panel Patter by Rob McMonigal — “Ms. Weathington, working with a variety of other artists, has created a fantasy world ripe for exploration, with our guide being Bold Riley, a young woman with royal (but restless) blood. It’s great to see the ‘Uncharted Fantasy World’ idea given a new twist by having a protagonist that’s not only female, but queer as well.”
Feature on Portland Comic Books Examiner by Christian Lipski — “Author Leia Weathington is releasing Bold Riley, her first book, at the end of June, and spoke with the Portland Comic Books Examiner about her own journey.”
Interview on Portland Comics by Doug Dorr — “I worked with 5 other artists for Bold Riley and made the mistake at first of trying to really tightly control the visuals of the comic. That was something I learned to back off from pretty fast. If you are working with artists you probably decided to get into a collaboration with them for a reason. SO TRUST YOUR ARTIST! What I’ve started doing is making model sheets characters, objects and places that must look a certain way to maintain continuity in the story, after that I send photo references, script and descriptions of mood and setting and turn the artist loose to have fun with it.”
Interview on The Hathor Legacy by Maria Velazquez — “Like many creators I started writing the kind of story I always wanted to see. Like most women I was raised with fairy tales and the complex feelings that go with them. Sure they focus primarily on female leads, but those leads tend to be passive objects. The women are what things happen TO not people who make things happen themselves.”
Interview on Sequential Tart by Lee Atchison — “We like the anti-hero right now. And with reason. Things are shit, we’re all pretty jaded. How can you not be when at the click of a button you can see the latest string of atrocities played out before your eyes. I like the anti-hero, but somewhere amid all of the horror and the skepticism, I wanted to place a story about a hero who, while not beyond reproach, is good and wants to do good and tries her hardest.”
ISBN: 9780984594054
Publisher: Northwest Press
Publish Date: 2012
Page Count: 232
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The Power Within $2.99 – $4.99
A comic book tackling the subject of teen bullying and suicide, written by Charles “Zan” Christensen and drawn by Mark Brill.
Shannon gets picked on a lot; his dad and teachers think he should just “fit in” more, but that doesn’t help. So Shannon escapes into a super-powered alter-ego whenever he’s in a bad situation. But will the power within be enough to save him?
In addition to the main story, the book contains bonus pages by a collection of comics industry heavyweights, including Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey), Phil Jimenez (New X-Men, Wonder Woman), Greg Rucka (Detective Comics, Gotham Central), Matthew Clark (Outsiders, Wonder Woman), Stephen Sadowski (JSA, Warlord of Mars), Dan Parent (Archie, Kevin Keller), Donna Barr (The Desert Peach), Andy Mangels (Gay Comics, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor) and Carla Speed McNeil (FINDER).
Copies of The Power Within are available free of charge to youth services organizations and teachers’ groups. Please contact us by email to request copies. The book contains discussion questions so that the book can be used as a tool to start a conversation about issues of bullying and harassment.
PREVIEW:
Read the first part of the story right now!
INTERVIEWS:
Review at Gay.com by Jase Peeples — “Moved by the rash of suicides committed by bullied LGBT teens last year, Christensen and Brill took it upon themselves to create a story they hope will reach others in a way only comics can.”
Interview on Tacoma KOMO — “Imagine a world in which bullied teens are protected by muscled superheroes. It sounds fantastic, but this is exactly the world Zan Christensen and Mark Brill have created in a new comic intended to help teens cope with bullying and harassment in school.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCXzxJ-qDA4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCGaSZfBpqM
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Al Qaeda’s Super Secret Weapon X-Mas Card $2.00 – $12.00
Send Mahmoud, the star of Al Qaeda’s Super Secret Weapon, to your friends and family to wish them a happy and joyous holiday season.
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Sale!The Mark of Aeacus #2 $2.99 – $4.99
Jack’s adventure as the Bearer of The Mark of Aeacus continues. A mysterious stranger appears at the foot of Jack’s bed, tells him the secrets of the mark of power that he bears, then tells him he must die. Can Jack’s mysterious new powers save him… or would we all be better off if they didn’t?
The digital edition of this book adds 25 bonus pages, including Mark Brill’s original pencil artwork and a bonus pinup by Briar Hollow artist Terry Blas!
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The Legend of Bold Riley #2 $2.99
Bold Riley, still reeling from a tragic loss, continues southward with no real destination or purpose. On the desolate Broken Head Moors, she’s rescued from a terrible storm by an aged weaver whose fantastic tapestries may foretell the shape of what’s to come.
Written by Leia Weathington with art by Zack Giallongo and Liz Conley, a pinup by Victoria Grace Elliott, and a cover by Terry Blas.
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Transposes $6.99
Dylan Edwards’ Transposes separates gender from sexuality and illustrates six fascinating true stories of transgender men who also happen to be gay or bisexual. The result is laugh-out-loud funny, heartbreaking, challenging, inventive, informative, and invites the reader to explore what truly makes a man a man.
Written and illustrated by Dylan Edwards, with a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Are You My Mother?). 120 pages. 7″x10″. Black-and-white.Finalist for the 2012 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction!
PREVIEWS:
You can download a 37-page preview of the book in PDF or EPUB (iPad-only) format right here on the site. The preview includes the introduction and a full chapter of the book.
Okazu –
“I was brought up on Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. They were so stereotypical—fierce, strong, heavily muscular barbarian swordsman, confronting evil priests and bizarre monsters and bedding wenches of all kinds, that kind of thing. I loved ‘that kind of thing’. I have basically been waiting my entire adult life for someone to write ‘that kind of thing’ starring a lesbian Princess who leaves her home to find adventure, because she can’t stop herself, and who confronts gods, creatures, demons and the like. And, of course, beds wenches. Leia Weathington’s The Legend of Bold Riley, is, at last, that story.” Read Erica Friedman’s review on Okazu.
Fanboys of the Universe –
“What Weathington has done in creating postmodern folklore is no easy feat. Her narration and dialogue are impressively consistent, with just the right amount of floral language (and a hint of academic translation) to recreate and reinvent the familiar text of these kinds of tales. Weathington doesn’t waste a single word, which makes the text infinitely readable, especially out loud (which I recommend).” Read Chance Whitmire’s review on Fanboys of the Universe.
GayLeague.com –
“Bold Riley is what a Disney princess story could be if the company had the courage and interest (and subtlety) to push beyond the outer edges of the heteronormative envelope to create an adventure featuring a young, lesbian swashbuckling hero.” Read Joe Palmer’s review on GayLeague.com.
Portland Mercury –
“The Legend of Bold Riley is a goofy and enjoyable Arabian Nights-style collection that never makes a hullabaloo that its strong sword-brandishing hero and righter of wrongs is a woman (a woman who loves the ladies, no less), because, duh, why the fuck wouldn’t she be?” Read Courtney Ferguson’s review on Portland Mercury.
cxPulp –
“She’s the kind of heroine that comics doesn’t have enough of, and needs more of. Hell, it’s not only comics that need a heroine of this kind.” Read Andrea Speed’s review on cxPulp.
The Gay Comics List –
“Bold Riley is not a stereotyped character, to say the least. She’s also a character who still has a long journey in front of her, both physically and psychologically. Leia Weathington has already announced that she has plenty of Bold Riley’s stories to tell. I’ll gladly travel with her.” Read François Peneaud’s review on The Gay Comics List.
Gay People’s Chronicle –
“Weathington tells a great story, and her graphic novel, out on Northwest Press next month, will be loved by adults and teens alike.” Read Anthony Glassman’s review on Gay People’s Chronicle.
PopDose –
“What with all the talk lately about finding a strong female action hero to presumably interest that elusive female reader, here’s one of the best I’ve seen in years. Everything about her is intriguing—her bravery, her motivations, her sexuality, her fighting skill, as well as the milieu she is in, with its aura of high adventure, folklore and magic… and yet, Bold Riley flies under most of fandom’s radar, and that’s a pity. This series deserves more attention than it’s gotten, and hopefully it will find its audience.” Read Johnny Bacardi’s review on PopDose.
Megan Rosalarian Gedris –
“…I would fight a mecha-shark if it would get me a second volume by tomorrow.” Read what Megan has to say about The Legend of Bold Riley on her tumblr.
The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society –
“It’s a gorgeous full color book that would spruce up any library.” Read Ginger Mayerson’s review on The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society.
OutSmart –
“Fans of fantasy, manga, and adventure alike will enjoy the world of Bold Riley, as illustrated by seven different artists. However, the most likely reader to gain from these tales of courage, seduction, and morality are young adult readers, since Riley’s story is ultimately one of personal growth and the broadening of mind while the young heroine grows into a powerful and wise woman.” Read Chip Babbin’s review on OutSmart.
City Book Review –
“This is the kind of princess we need more of.” Read the review on City Book Review.
Witches & Pagans –
“I love the world Weathington has created.” Read Rebecca Buchanan’s review on Witches & Pagans.
6’7″ and Green –
“I loved The Legend of Bold Riley. Weathington creates a wonderful new mythology and an entire world. Not to mention the vast majority of the art is gorgeous. I’m a little in love with it, and I hope there are more issues coming out in the future.” Read Erica McGillivray’s review on 6’7″ and Green: A Comic Book Review Blog.
Complex –
“When we flip through the pages, brought to life with dark and leafy greens, splashes of gold and crimson, the colors allow us to settle within this ancient culture.” Read the review on OtakuElite.
Amy Dallen Talkin’ Comics –
“It is everything you want in an adventure story.” Watch the review on Amy Dallen Talkin’ Comics , about 5.5 minutes in).
Autostraddle –
“These genuinely seem like retellings of stories that have been passed down through the generations. Except that they star a queer woman of color, and because of that they’re the kind of tales that I would want to tell my children at night.” Read the review on Autostraddle.
CreativeFluff Magazine –
“Well, if the author set out to create a storybook legend, then Weathington has absolutely achieved that. Everything about the first issue of Bold Riley, from the style of narration to the warm, earth-toned colours used in the illustration lends to this.” Read Zola Paulse’s review on CreativeFluff Magazine.
Girls Like Comics –
“The world of the book is refreshing for two reasons: One, Weathington has envisioned a culture that is remarkably un-steeped in patriarchy. Bold Riley’s gender and sexuality are no big deal, just a normal part of being a swashbuckling noble warrior. She spends most of her time traveling around, slaying things that are troubling villages, and bedding village women whenever that happens to come up.” Read Anne Bean’s review on Girls Like Comics.
Experiments in Manga –
“The Legend of Bold Riley, while something new and refreshing, somehow also feels very familiar. It’s a collection of heroic tales, some ending in triumph and others ending in heartbreak. Because of its episodic nature there’s not a lot of character development, but Riley is such a great character to begin with that the work is still very satisfying. I thoroughly enjoyed The Legend of Bold Riley and look forward to reading more of Riley’s adventures in the future.” Read Ash Brown’s review on Experiments in Manga.
The Two Page Spread –
“Weathington’s writing is excellent and the variety of art in the book is beautiful. Every story has the feel of 1001 Nights, and is as immersive and interesting as a legend. This book is a perfect example of how to do representation, both for LGBT+ and POC.” Read the review on The Two Page Spread.
Unshelved –
“I agree with what Jane Espenson says in her forward: ‘Has there really been no Legend of Bold Riley before this? The story feels like a classic…’ Her adventures recall some of my favorite myths and legends as Riley uses her wits to defeat the monstrous (and seemingly mythical) Morishaksa trying to prey on the goats she’s defending, comes face-to-face with Prakkalore’s patron god, and calls out a creature that has made its nest in the guts of a good man, turning him wicked.” Read Gene Ambaum’s review on Unshelved.