Where We Live: the Las Vegas benefit anthology

Where We Live is an important new anthology from Image Comics to benefit the victims and survivors of the Las Vegas massacre on 1st October 2017.

The brainchild of Las Vegas resident and writer/artist extraordinaire J H Williams III, it’s a 256-page full colour trade paperback featuring over 150 creators, and I’m extremely proud to be counted among the contributors.

Some of the phenomenal talents enlisted include Mike Allred, Brian Michael Bendis, Kurt Busiek, Amy Chu, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Neil Gaiman, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Mike Mignola, Mark Millar, James Robinson, Gail Simone, Brandon Graham, Rob Williams, Geof Darrow, Tess Fowler, Joelle Jones, Jeff Lemire. Sean Phillips, Bill Sienkiewicz, JH Williams III himself and way too many more to mention here (full list at the bottom of this post).

I’ve always had a morbid fascination with the apparent American obsession with guns, the NRA and the gun lobby, the Second Amendment and all the statistics, and I was particularly moved by the Las Vegas shooting last October.

A gunman opened fire from a hotel room on to the audience at the Route 91 Harvest music festival taking place on the famous Las Vegas Strip. The casualties from the single shooter’s actions numbered fifty-eight dead and 851 injured (422 by gunfire), which to be frank, are numbers more comparable to a warzone.

So, when J H Williams III invited me to contribute to this noble project, I didn’t hesitate. My own humble contribution is a six-page strip called “The Watershed” which I’ve written, illustrated, coloured and lettered. Not easy subject matter to tackle for sure, and it’s a tragedy that this book needs to exist at all, but I’m sure like everyone else involved, I poured my heart into it.

Here’s a glimpse of my art process for one of the panels in my story.

My grateful thanks go to JHW3 for giving me this opportunity and for all his valuable advice, as well as the inestimable Will Dennis for his editorial skills and my conduit to Image central, Michael Perlman.

Where We Live is released on 30 May, but I’d highly recommend that you pre-order it from your local comics retailer right now to secure your copy. You can quote them the Diamond distributor code: MAR180600.

One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to an existing GoFundMe campaign for the survivors in Las Vegas.

You can read Image’s official solicitation here, and follow the project on twitter: @WhereWeLive_LV

The full list of contributors:

Michael Allred & Laura Allred
Henry Barajas, Isaac Goodhart & Kelly Fitzpatrick
Jennifer Battisti, Geof Darrow, Dave Stewart & Bernardo Brice
Jennifer Battisti & J.H. Williams III
Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Oeming, Taki Soma & Bernardo Brice
Haden Blackman & Richard Pace
Haden Blackman, J.H. Williams III & Todd Klein
Jeff Boison & Tyler Boss
Ivan Brandon, Paul Azaceta & Bernardo Brice
Ryan Burton, Tony Parker, Dee Cunniffe & Bernardo Brice
Kurt Busiek, Andrew Maclean, Lee Loughridge & JG Roshell (at Comicraft)
Amy Chu, Gabriel Hernandez Walta & Alexander Chang
Rachel Crosby, J.H. Williams III & Bernardo Brice
Al Davison
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Joelle Jones, Dave Stewart & Bernardo Brice
J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Cavallaro
Gustavo Duarte
Aaron Duran, Joe Mulvey, Jules Rivera & Bernardo Brice
Joshua Dysart, Pere Perez & Bernardo Brice
Pierce Elliott & Monica Gallagher
Joshua Ellis, Jeff Lemire & Bernardo Brice
Lucia Fasano, Tess Fowler & Bernardo Brice
Ray Fawkes
Joshua Hale Fialkov, Noel Tuazon & Bernardo Brice
Neil Gaiman, J.H. Williams III & Todd Klein
Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Dee Cunniffe & Clayton Cowles
Brandon Graham
Justin Gray & John Broglia
Lela Gwenn & Matthew Dow Smith
Matt Hawkins, Aaron Campbell, Dee Cunniffe & Bernardo Brice
Daniel Hernandez, Moritat & Casey Silver
Talia Hershewe, Jock & Bernardo Brice
David Hine, Brian Haberlin & Geirrod Van Dyke
Joe Illidge, Ray-Anthony Height, Andrew Dalhouse & Deron Bennet
Van Jensen, Eric Kim, Chris O’Halloran & Bernardo Brice
Scott David Johnson, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Mark Englert & Bernardo Brice
Justin Jordan, Tom Fowler & Taylor Esposito
Jarret Keene, Craig Cermak, Marissa Louise & Taylor Esposito
Neil Kleid & Nick Pitarra
Greg Lockard, Tim Fish, Michael J DiMotta & Sal Cipriano
Ollie Masters, Jason Harris, Sina Grace & Shaun Steven Struble
Mariah McCourt, Ariela Kristantina, Bryan Valenza & Bernardo Brice
Mike Mignola & Dave Stewart
Mark Millar, Alex Sheikman, Marissa Louise & Bernardo Brice
Gary Spencer Millidge
Fabio Moon
B. Clay Moore, Kelly Williams & Chas! Pangburn
Greg Pak, Triona Farrell & Simon Bowland
Alex Paknadel, Chris Wildgoose, Triona Farrell & Aditya Bidikar
Curt Pires, Matt Lesniewski & Alex Petretich
Christina Rice, Richard Pace & Bernardo Brice
Darick Robertson, R. Eric Lieb & Christopher Crank
James Robinson, Dean Kotz, Stefano Gaudiano & Casey Silver
Robert Rose & Matt Strackbein
Chris Ryall, Gabriel Rodriguez, Nelson Daniel & Bernardo Brice
Rafael Scavone, Rafael Albuquerque, Patricia Mulvihill & Bernardo Brice
Erica Schultz, Liana Kangas & Cardinal Rae
Alex Segura, Marco Finnegan, Kelsey Shannon & Janice Chiang
Gail Simone, Ryan Kelly, Giulia Brusco & Bernardo Brice
Matthew Dow Smith & Michael Gaydos
Matt Sorvillo & Sean Phillips
Jason Starr, Andrea Mutti, Vladimir Popov & Bernardo Brice
Cameron Stewart
Larime Taylor & Sylv Taylor
Paul Tobin, Dustin Weaver & Bernardo Brice
David Walker, Damon Smith & Motherboxx Studios
Malachi Ward
Rob Williams & Javier Pulido
Scott Bryan Wilson & Cliff Chiang
Chris Wisnia, Bill Sienkiewicz & Jeromy Cox
Wendy Wright-Williams, J.H. Williams III & Todd Klein
Warren Wucinich