Megan Rose Gedris gives us the scoop on her lesbian web comics.rr
Megan Rose Gedris, a 22-year-old graphic designer from Michigan, is the writer-artist of the web comics Yu+Me and I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space. Yu+Me is a very sweet, dreamy, manga-style teenage romance about a young woman who is finding her way and her sexuality in a series of overbearing environments. I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space is set in the 1950s, and has a Lichtenstein-esque feel. It is a ribald adventure in space, with many familiar comic book themes throughout. Gedris feels that Lesbian Pirates is different from anything she has experienced, but she would sure love to live it.
What are your influences and favorite art styles?
I like mixed-media art. For me, the art isn’t just about what I’m drawing, but how I draw it.
What about your writing?
I like writing that’s funny. If it takes itself too seriously, I’m going to lose interest fast.
The material in Yu+Me is reflective of a Catholic upbringing.
People assume I went to Catholic school. I didn’t. It comes from my dad and aunt telling stories of their Catholic-school upbringing. When I came out to my aunt and told her about the comics, she was tickled that Fiona’s school experience was just like hers. Some of Yu+Me is my own experiences.
You received $1,000 from Prism comics for publishing copies of Yu+Me, while Lesbian Pirates is being published through a deal by Platinum Studios. Care to elaborate?
I got both the Platinum deal and the Prism grant within a couple months of each other. I went from “Oh, I’m a web-comic artist who would like to be published, but I’ll have to spend a lot of my own money to do it, so I’ll do it in five years when I’m better off…” to “Oh, I have money for printing comics now.” I’ve just accomplished my five-year plan in less than five months. What am I going to do for the next five years? The next five years will get spent making more comics. What these two deals did was get me the funds to start my own self-publishing endeavor, and get me into the industry on a semi-professional level.
Ever thought about having Lesbian Pirates as a cartoon or a movie?
I always thought it would be neat to have a cartoon on Adult Swim. To me, it seems like they’ve given up trying to get gay characters into the mainstream. I want nothing less than to see Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space up there after The Venture Bros. If I did this, it wouldn’t be done halfway. I wouldn’t settle for anything less than total awesomeness.