Molly Ostertag

The Strong Female Character trope is in some ways as damaging as the Damsel in Distress; an archetype that rejects the feminine, and thus presents new limits to what a woman can be. Alison Green, the actual protagonist of Strong Female Protagonist, is indeed physically strong --- the strongest on Earth --- but she transcends the trope. She’s just a girl, standing in front of a world, asking it to let her live a normal life.

On June 12th, 2016, a gunman entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed forty-nine people, as well as wounding fifty-three more. It was the biggest terror attack on American soil since September 11th, and a purposeful attack on predominantly Latinx gay and bisexual men in what was supposed to be a safe space. This December, DC Comics and IDW are coming together to publish an anthology titled Love Is Love, which sees over one hundred comics creators coming together to contribute stories, with all proceeds going to Equality Florida and the fund to benefit the survivors of the attack.

You may be familiar with the hit Dungeons & Dragons podcast The Adventure Zone, starring Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy and Griffin McElroy of My Brother, My Brother & Me alongside their father, Clint McElroy. The show is a light-hearted and hilarious affair as Griffin plays dungeon master for his family, leading them through perilous adventures and battles. Inspired by the podcast, a host of incredibly talented illustrators and indie comics artists have come together to create The Adventure Zine, a fifty page book of fan art dedicated to the show, and today the campaign to create the book has launched with the aim to raise money for Facing Hunger, a network of food banks based in Huntington, West Virginia.

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more --- but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance has got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, and so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new events, new podcasts, new projects being made --- it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

Lion Forge Comics has been making waves in a big way recently with titles such as Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood's Miami Vice and David Gorden and Gerado Sandoval's Quincredible, highlighting it as a publisher to watch. Some of the best comics right now are coming from its Roar Comics imprint, which is dedicated to all-ages publishing, and Lion Forge has announced an all-new four-issue miniseries by Brian Smith, MK Reed and Molly Ostertag titled The Castoffs, which promises magic, mechs and mayhem this October.

Within hours of Mad Max: Fury Road hitting theaters, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram exploded with fan art featuring the neon wasteland desert and its high octane inhabitants. One character, though, inspired artists like no other --- Imperator Furiosa, the steely warrior of Immortan Joe's army. ComicsAlliance has compiled a collection of our favorites, including a brand-new piece by the talented Greg Ruth, and an exquisite black and white sketch by Jamie McKelvie.

This week, we're taking a look at a handful of comics that were produced with the crowdfunding help of Kickstarter, from magical realism to filthy, filthy porno and more! Did your favorite make it onto the list? Check it out and see!

Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag, creators of the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist, are passion incarnate. They love their readers. They are ecstatic that Top Shelf has decided to distribute the successfully-Kickstarted first print volume of SFP. They are exasperated by the state of women in comics today. And they’re out to do something about it. Through Alison Green, the eponymous strong female protagonist, Mulligan and Ostertag explore a world of stark imbalance—a world where our heroine, once a superhero, is now a disillusioned college student searching for truth in a complex world. Do powers make the woman? Does strength only come in one form? ComicsAlliance sat down with Mulligan and Ostertag to discuss these questions, memories of LARP camp, making sure each and every henchman gets a backstory, and more.

For the past two years, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag's webcomic Strong Female Protagonist has mixed up gender politics, social responsibility, and superheroes into a really compelling package, with excellent art to boot. Now, after a successful Kickstarter, the creators are partnering with Top Shelf to release a 220-page print version of the comic, collecting the first four issues along with bonus material.

If you've never read Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag's Strong Female Protagonist, you are missing out. Originally produced as a twice-weekly webcomic, the story focuses on Alison Green, a teenage superhero who retires from her life of crimefighting in order to go to college, only to find out that her old life isn't quite done with her. It's one of my favorite webcomics, and now, Mulligan a