After launching back on June 13th, the Kickstarter campaign for Vault Comics’ SAINTED LOVE came to a close on July 13th with over $41k in funding from 775 backers — blowing past it’s initial $5k goal (in the first 2 hours) and 9 additional stretch goals along the way. With each additional stretch goal passed, backers unlocked additional components including: enhanced book treatments, additional artwork from guest artists, exclusive book memorabilia.

SAINTED LOVE is described by the publisher as a “gay science-fiction adventure comic” and a “sexy time-travel romance too powerful to be contained to a single era!” Backers can expect the Kickstarter edition to begin the fulfillment in 2024, but those who missed out can still pick up the standard edition in their local comic book store once it hits shelves this September!

Steve Orlando, SAINTED LOVE’s writer, was gracious enough to speak with Derby Comics about the campaign’s success, his personal connection to the story, and his excitement for fans to finally get to see what he and artist Giopota have in store!

Derby Comics: Congratulations on the successful Kickstarter! What did it mean to you to have such an emphatic backing for the project and were you shocked at how much support you received?

Steve Orlando: The world? It meant the world--seriously. As more and more forces work to erase queer history, queer storytelling and queer creators, it means more than ever to have such support for a book like SAINTED LOVE. I haven't been part of a crowdfunding campaign since 2015, so I was curious how this one would compare. As you said, our funding goals were blown out of the water, and every stretch goal met -- shocked? Yes. But thankful and humbled as well.

Derby Comics: When you started writing, did you ever expect to be able to write such an unabashedly and unapologetically queer story for a mainstream audience?

Orlando: I'm not sure I expected it, but if I think back--perhaps because I myself always welcomed comics catching up with the times, or even being ahead of them, it always seemed like the natural arc for me. But that being said, the timetable of that arc was something I didn't expect for sure. The strides we've made even since 2015 when MIDNIGHTER debuted are enormous--and I'm lucky to still be in the game as it happens! I think, in the grand arc, we'll continue to see work like this not just when it comes to queer content, but content focusing on any marginalized folks--they'll be bolder, they'll be proud, and they'll be unapologetic. I hesitate to even use that word because it presupposes an apology would ever be necessary.

Derby Comics: In the initial press release for the project, you mentioned that Sainted Love is the book your career has been building to, what made it possible for you to be able to tell/write this story now?

Orlando: Oh, I mean--scheduling? I'm joking, to an extent. But it's not as though SAINTED LOVE wasn't possible before. But so much of publishing is the planets aligning--me as a writer having the time to draft up a concept, while a publisher with the same mindset is looking, and the right artist is available. SAINTED LOVE was cooking on my end for probably 3-4 years, but it wasn't until I had the right opening in my workload, and the right, perfect, supportive publisher to occupy that opening, that things really kicked off. As far as it being the culmination of my career -- I think that's true! It's bold and confident in its characters, it's provocative, it's sexy and it's violent. I'd say those are the building blocks I've been trying to lay for my reputation since we previewed MIDNIGHTER.

Derby Comics: What is it like sharing creative decisions with artists you haven't worked with previously — especially on projects that you may have developed or are extra personal to you?

Orlando: So, for me, that's part of the job. And that's also what makes comics uniquely exciting! Creators are part of a team, at least when everything's working as it should be. And that does mean giving up some control and some agency over the work, but the return on that is having collaborators that feel respected, vital, and excited about the work. As a writer, you hold the baton first, but you are aware that once it comes back around to you, everyone's going to have put their mark on the final book. The way I think of it, personal or not, developed by you or not, if you're not ready to take that small creative risk as a writer and be part of a creative team where everyone gets a say and has the space to do their best work, you might be working in the wrong medium.

Derby Comics: Was your approach to creating Sainted Love different compared to other projects you've worked on, knowing that a portion of the project relied on a crowdfunding campaign? 

Orlando: Honestly? The approach was rather unchanged--but that's good! Because we always need to be trying to tell the best story possible between the pages we're given, absent metatextual considerations. The decision to go to crowdfunding was born OF our approach to the story. We can't do a book about protecting queer history and queer stories with absolute creative freedom when it comes to the content -- and that's what crowdfunding allows us. It's our confidence in and love for these characters that made THIS the right time to return to crowdfunding for me, after almost a decade, to ensure not a single panel of SAINTED LOVE is ever compromised. 

Derby Comics: Do you think the rise in comics being funded via crowdfunding sources will have a lasting impact on the comic industry? If so, how?

Orlando: Oh absolutely -- it's an asset I wish existed when I was trying to break in. Crowdfunding allows voices who may not have the access or privileges others have to tell their story. It helps folks breaking in, who need published work, achieve that in a manageable way without risking financial ruin. And it's more than that -- it's a proving ground, a place where any story can be told if the audience is there, absent projections and theories. Crowdfunding lays bare the fact of an audience's existence, it lets anyone potentially tell their story and be heard. That's disruptive! And disruption is a key to change and progress.