Stargazer - An Original All-Ages Graphic Novel Series: Volume 1: Three young friends are suddenly transported by a mysterious object to a far off magi
Synopsis: Marni is a young girl dealing with the recent death of her grandmother, which has left her emotionally devastated and struggling to cope. Granny Hitchins was a wonderfully curious woman, responsible for giving her granddaughter a rich sense of imagination and adventure, as well as an old and mysterious "Artifact." Granny Hitchins found the Artifact when she was herself a child and, with origins unknown, it provided a lifetime of adventure, speculation, and storytelling for herself, her son, and finally, her granddaughter. While not a replacement, the Artifact is nonetheless a treasured memento for Marni after her grandmother's death. With the love and support of her two best friends, Sophie and Elora, and the magic of the Artifact to comfort her, Marni is just beginning to cope with the loss of her beloved grandmother when her life takes an abrupt and strange turn. While the girls are examining the Artifact on a backyard camping trip, the object suddenly takes on a life of its own, transporting the three friends and their tent to a strange and distant world. After exploring the tent and their immediate surroundings, the girls discover that the Artifact has vanished, leaving them alone and afraid under a very alien sky. After summoning their courage, Marni, Sophie and Elora venture out to explore their alien surroundings, where they find a surreal world containing a robot, a mysterious far-off tower, and an illusive yet terrifying monster. Scared, yet buoyed by the stories and songs that they've heard while growing up, the three girls gather their meagre supplies and head out into the wilderness, determined to find a way home. A magical tale with the most unlikeliest of heroes, STARGAZER is an exploration of friendship, loss, and hope. By turns terrifying, poignant, and humorous, STARGAZER is part fairytale, part science fiction, and part adventure story. Anyone who has ever opened a book, looked up at the stars, or dreamed will love this story....and wish they'd been the one to find the Artifact.
Author Biography: Von Allan was born red-headed and freckled in Arnprior, Ontario, just in time for STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE. The single child of two loving but troubled parents, Von split most of his childhood between their two homes and, consequently, spent a lot of time in the worlds of comics and wrestling. He managed an independent bookstore in Ottawa for a number of years, all the while working on story ideas in his spare time. Eventually, he decided to make the leap to a creative life.
Von currently lives in Ottawa, Canada, with his writer/editor geek wife, Moggy, and their rescue husky dog, Corbin.
Von was recently featured in the documentary film I AM STILL YOUR CHILD written and directed by Megan Durnford (http: //iamstillyourchild.com). His artwork was also featured in a CBC Arts video profile at http: //www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/as-a-kid-his-mother-s-illness-scared-him-now-he-s-using-comics-to-come-to-terms-1.4281356
Von is the winner of a 2019 CBC Trailblazer award, star of a CBC Arts Exhibitionists short, recipient of the 2014 Corel Endowment for the Arts Awards, and artist/writer of the road to god knows...
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"Stargazer Volume One is a black-and-white graphic novel following three girls stranded on a faraway alien world. Young Marni has recently lost her grandmother, with whom she was very close. Her grandmother had also bequeathed a mysterious "Artifact" upon her - and it is this object that transports Marni and her friends, Sophie and Elora, far away from any home they have ever known. The three girls must pool their courage and resources to learn more about this unreal new world, and the strange things within it - a robot, a faraway tower, and an unknown monster hidden in shadows. Stargazer is a story of wonder, exploration, determination, and inward as well as outward challenge, and is highly recommended for readers of all ages." --Midwest Book Review
"While this is only Volume One, this is a rather sizable book unto itself, loaded as well with pages and pages of bonus content, from detailed notes describing Von's writing process, to character designs and sketch pages, even extra pin-ups and the like. Really, it all serves as a painful teaser of the many places the story of Stargazer might deign to lead. This is a fun story at that, with colorful characters, even in light of the darkness implied therein to their respective backstories. One of those books that is not so easily compared to others, Stargazer will make the ideal book for drawing in new readers to the medium, and will easily and competently do so while entertaining those of us older readers desperate for something original and knowing. Layered writing, when done well, writes down to nobody. And Von Allan has instilled his Stargazer with enough layers to appeal to anyone who gives it a chance. So please, give it a chance and be so appealed." --Zedura Magazine
"This book is definitely something that should be on the radar of parents out there that are looking for something innocuous. The book isn't just for kids, though. When read, it took me back to the days of my youth when everything including life itself was much more simplistic. Definitely give Von Allan's Stargazer a look for yourself, or anyone needing a great gift for the holidays! Again, kudos to Von Allan and his smooth style of writing a simple story in a world where it seems everything is interweaving like a spiderweb and sometimes too hard to follow. Let's face it, a story doesn't need to span a lifetime or contain forty different characters to be good." --Comic Attack
