What I’m really here to post about today is the Comic Creators Alliance! To better explain what it’s all about, here are some words from the project’s founder, Lora Innes:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Tuesday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In honor of the event, I teamed up with the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over 100 comic book creators (both web and print!) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. It won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.

So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single image! This year’s theme was “The Brady Bunch.” There is so much going on in this image–you can look at the wallpaper for a long time and still find something new! All of the artists included in the drive are amazing and some of the fan favorites are: Scott Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), Adam Hughes (Star Wars, Wonder Woman), Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch), Bryan Glass & Victor Santos (Mice Templar), Beau Smith (Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars), Billy Tucci (Shi), Mookie (Dominic Deegan), Crystal Yates (Earthsong), Lora Innes (The Dreamer), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), and Alison Action (Bear Nuts). View the full listing of contributors here: http://comicalliance.weebly.com/the-people.html.

Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. Or, this year you can buy a print! The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love 146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.

To learn more about the CCA and to donate visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)

Lora Innes
The Dreamer
Nominated for two Harvey Awards: Best New Series and Best New Talent
Adventure. Romance. War. 1776 is back.
www.thedreamercomic.com

Please consider donating to this awesome cause! All donations should go through Comic Creators Alliance, not me. If you donate to the CCA, forward a copy of your Paypal confirmation to bug@messenger-comic.com (you can blank out your last name and personal information if you want) and I’ll email you a copy of the Messenger winter wallpaper as an extra thanks for participating in the CCA drive this year! ♥

Donating any amount via the Paypal button in the sidebar will allow you to download the large-size wallpaper! (Without the text on it, don’t worry.) You will also receive the wallpaper upon checkout from any purchases in the shop or when paying for a commission, so everybody wins!

Remember, all donations/shop sales/commissions this month go toward extra pages!

* It’s nearing the end of January, which means that a whole new month of voting is about to begin! If you have a second or two, I’d really appreciate a vote! Voting takes two clicks and helps expose the comic to new readers! Help me out! <3 There's even a new drawing there if you click all the way through. I have plans for new February incentives, as well!

* The Story Guide has been updated to include the conclusion of Chapter Six and the start of Chapter Seven. This is just a running synopsis of the story chapter by chapter for anyone who wants to check up on something without having to re-read the ENTIRE thing. Not that it’s that long. Although I am coming up on 200 pages. :o

* You can now subscribe to Messenger updates via e-mail in addition to RSS. Signing up for updates will send along the latest new stuff from the site. (Also, because I like to know this stuff when I sign up for things, your e-mail is only used for this subscription and won’t be resold or passed on to anyone else.)

* In other miscellany, I’ve been working on adding more useful tags to each comic page for quick reference, as well as transcriptions to make it more searchable. I’m trying to prepare for the day when I have a huge archive to flip through. One day! ;o;

* I’ve taken down the fall donation wallpaper, so if you missed out on it, sorry! I plan on doing another one eventually. Maybe this spring.

In short, there will be a new page Sunday night/Monday morning, because that’s all anyone really cares about, anyway. :B

In news this week, I’m trying to promote the forums at the request of several fans. As I mentioned in my previous post, the forums have never quite built back up to what they used to be before the comic site was hacked a few years ago, so I’m working on that. I’ve added a new section that’s only available to registered members where I plan on adding sketches, page previews, and other “behind the scenes” extras. As we speak, I’m preparing sketches for chapter seven to upload this week, as well as one-panel-previews for upcoming pages. Come join in! :)

There’s a new vote incentive up this week, the second in a series of new coloring styles I’ve been trying out for work on Chapter Seven. I’m also willing to take ideas or requests for future vote incentive drawings, so if you have any characters or ideas in mind, leave a comment or post on the forum!

After looking through the script I’ve got going, and some of the pages I’ve got together, it looks like I’m running short on materials for working on Chapter Seven – specifically, Chio-colored markers. I’ve been using the same set of markers for the past six years, and they’re finally burning out on me. I work as a freelance designer, and business has been slow this past month, plus I’m getting ready to move to a new house which has an assortment of related costs. To try and alleviate the cost of picking up the new colors I need, I’ve added a special donation wallpaper to the sidebar. If you donate any amount, you can download a copy in your choice of two large sizes. Picking up a copy of the book would also help out (there’s a coupon code once again this month, use GREATBOOK when checking out from lulu.com to get 10% off your order. I also have an extra copy on hand that I’m willing to let go for $12 + shipping which I’ll sign and draw in just for you!) and I’m also planning on putting some of my original drawings up for sale, since all they do is sit around and take up space in my drawer, anyway.

I’ve been thinking about doing a little side story thing in addition to the regular comic, just for fun. I’ve drawn so far ahead that I literally feel like I have nothing to do other than a little write up for the new pages as they go up. Being prepared is almost boring!

That’s all for now!

Vote if you get a chance!