Pittsburgh creator makes 1st fluorescent, black-light comic book
Pittsburgh comic book creator Jim Rugg set out to make a book that would shine — literally.
“Octobriana 1976” will be what he called the world’s first fluorescent, black-light comic book.
Rugg, known for his work on “Street Angel,” “Afrodisiac” and “The PLAIN Janes,” based his comic on Octobriana, a subversive Amazon-like superhero who fights Soviet oppression. The character first came to light in Petr Sadecky’s 1971 book, “Octobriana and the Russian Underground.”
The concept of Rugg’s “Octobriana 1976” is that “underground American cartoonists made their own Octobriana comic book after reading Sadecky’s book. It was an effort to show solidarity with their Russian cartoonist comrades. Robot Stalin’s got a new doomsday bomb! Can the Devil-Woman stop him before he destroys us all? Siberian labor camps, PPP secret orgies, motorcycle gunship train chases — this one has it all! Samizdat gone wild — a cross between 70s psychedelia and Soviet constructivism!”
“She has this sexy ’70s quality which I think lends itself to that kind of underground, black light-style artwork,” Rugg said.
As of Thursday morning, the Kickstarter project had blown past its $5,000 goal, sitting above $28,000.
Rugg and Munhall’s Ed Piskor of “Hip Hop Family Tree” fame created the Cartoonist Kayfabe! Youtube channel and social media accounts, sharing their insights on comic books and the craft.
A video posted Wednesday features a deeper dive into the history of Octobriana.
Mike Palm is a TribLive digital producer who also writes music reviews and features. A Westmoreland County native, he joined the Trib in 2001, where he spent years on the sports copy desk, including serving as night sports editor. He has been with the multimedia staff since 2013. He can be reached at mpalm@triblive.com.
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