Mindy Indy’s AER HEAD Kickstarts Surfing on Mars

Mindy Indy sprinkled actual dirt on a watercolor to make Mars look like Mars. Then she gave it a pink sky, because she can. That's her whole AER HEAD philosophy: every page hand-made and crammed to the margins, because the creativity and the creation is most of the fun. On the 73rd episode of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Factory, host Mookie catches the Brooklyn comics creator fresh off New York Comic Con, where she worked the floor in a beanie with a QR-code sandwich board strapped to it. Her comic follows Aereo "Aer" Zephyr, a teen surfer and lifeguard in futuristic New San Diego who dreams the future, spots a planet-killing solar flare, and drags his gang off Earth. Issue two is surfers in space. Issue three sends the surfers to Mars. Add telepathy, migraines, a plant-growing twin, a wind-bending twin, a Jetsons-meets-anime world, a dad whose coffee machine goes nuts, and an Archie-style love triangle, and you get fifty pages per issue of pure zing. Mindy opens the vault on ten years of doing it the hard way: a sketchbook lost four sketchbooks ago, digital inks in Clip Studio, hand-painted watercolor backgrounds, and a Kickstarter to pay for a letterer, a colorist, and a trade paperback of issues one through three. Publishers once shrugged at her anime-flavored portfolio. Now they sniff around, which proves her theory: do your own thing, and your people find you. Mookie brings his Horton Hears a Who theory of being an artist: climb the tallest building in Whoville, grab the megaphone, and yell "We are here." Mindy lives it. She sketches on the subway, posts to Instagram above ground, and wears the QR-code hat to the cons. Along the way, she plots a superpowered memoir about New York, admits she can't casually do laundry during Comic Con week, and vows to finish the series before she dies. Join her Kickstarter while it's still hot!  The Guest Mindy Indy is an independent comic writer and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York, and the creator of Aer Head, a sci-fi comedy series about a teen surfer and lifeguard who sees the future in his dreams. A Michigan native and former graphic designer, she now freelances, teaches art, designs for nonprofits, and has illustrated five children's books. Her work has hung in Atlantic Gallery in Manhattan and Honey Badger Motel Art Gallery in Brooklyn. She draws AER HEAD by hand, inks digitally in Clip Studio, paints her backgrounds in watercolor, and funds each issue through Kickstarter. Contribute to her Kickstarter. Visit her website. Want to be on the show? Have feedback? Send Mookie a text! Support the show