Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Cluck.
Eric, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been a fan of comics since I was a kid. I can remember walking down to the local 7-11 to buy Spider-Man comics and vividly remember the first series I tried to get all the consecutive issues for, which was a Spider-Man/Iron Man crossover. I thought comics were a great break from reality, the stories were entertaining, and I especially thought the artwork was awesome. I kept up with comics through high school. I was a little too busy to keep up with them in college; however, I’d make an occasional trip to the local comic shop and buy one here and there to keep up with my favorite characters.
One day in college, while studying, of course, a story popped into my head and I was compelled to write it down, so I took a “study break” and began writing. I didn’t write the entire story, but I jotted down what I felt was a pretty good start, and every now and then, I’d pull out the story and add to it. The next thing I knew, I had completed an issue. Over the next several years, I had completed three issues, which I thought was pretty cool. One may ask him or herself. I wonder why it took him so long to write three issues, which is a great question. At the time, I never really thought I’d do anything with them. The writing was a break from the norm, and every now and then, something worthwhile popped into my head, so I’d put it down on paper… or in this case, in a Word doc.
In 2007, I met Bridget Maxwell at a Starbucks. We talked, hit it off pretty well, and started a lifelong friendship. This was also the first time I was introduced to Cystic Fibrosis. You see, Bridget had Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic, a progressive, genetic and deadly disease that is known primarily for attacking the lungs, making it hard to breathe 24/7, 365 days a year. Ultimately, and unless a lung transplant occurs, breathing becomes more labored, the body more stressed, and lung function ceases to exist.
Because she had CF, Bridget had a different outlook on life. She felt anyone in her life was worth keeping around. As a result, she wore her heart on her sleeve, was big into forgiveness, she never met a stranger, and just because there was a breakup in her life, it didn’t mean she was done with you, regardless of who did the breaking up. That person was important, and she was keeping that person around. Bridget ended up being my best friend. I have always had a love for her in my heart, and I will always carry her love with me.
On October 12th, 2014, at nearly 4:00 p.m. on the dot, Bridget passed away due to complications from CF. She was two months from her 40th birthday, and she spent 40 days in the ICU fighting a battle with CF that warriors through the span of time would have been astonished to witness. She displayed a warrior’s desire to fight and to live, and she made CF Warriors past, present, and future proud with her fight against Cystic Fibrosis, especially in her final days.
Her passing was devastating and as I went through a grieving process, an idea came to mind and that idea was to have Bridget live on in infamy, and she was going to live on through the comics I had written. So, I decided to take the three issues I had completed, change them up and integrate Bridget and her superhero persona into the story, which includes her last 40 days in the ICU and her last heroic battle against Cystic Fibrosis.
That was the birth of EchoVerse Comics, a non-profit comic book publisher dedicated to creating awareness about Cystic Fibrosis. I wrote a twelve-issue story arc that introduces my original characters, Guns and Ammo, otherwise known as Ballistic Boyz, and BrazFraz a.k.a Bridget Maxwell, who also has Cystic Fibrosis. They are traditional superhero comics, but they provide a glimpse into the lives of people that have Cystic Fibrosis and we see the battels CF Warriors undergo on a daily basis. Ultimately, our goal is for the reader to feel like they know Bridget (BrazFraz) and to see what it’s like live a day in the life of someone that has CF and who also happens to fight supervillains.
Has it been a smooth road?
As a non-profit, we are always trying to find ways to cut costs to maximize donations that go towards Cystic Fibrosis families and CF research. Navigating the social media platform is tricky, but we continue to work towards being consistent and improving our message of CF awareness.
Character art donations are helpful in cost-cutting, our social media presence, and as award incentives. Pictures of people with Cystic Fibrosis, showing their daily battle with CF, for our “CF Life: Keepin’ it Real” social media CF Awareness project, are great contributions to EchoVerse Comics. And finally, our hope is to bring together people that probably never thought they’d be on the same page with one another… the comic book community and the Cystic Fibrosis community and get them to join forces to create awareness about CF so that one day we can change the meaning of CF from Cystic Fibrosis to Cure Found.
We’d love to hear more about EchoVerse Comics.
EchoVerse Comics is a non-profit comic book publisher. We create traditional, superhero comic books that create awareness about Cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that attacks the lungs and limits the ability to breathe. Our Mission is to create a Cystic Fibrosis awareness comic book and donate the proceeds from the sale of our comic to CF families and research.
In conjunction with our mission, EchoVerse Comics strives to participate, promote, and contribute to Cystic Fibrosis awareness endeavors and events. EchoVerse Comics takes part in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Great Strides walk, which helps raise funds for CF research.
We initiated an online Strawfie Challenge to raise funds for CF families. The Strawfie Challenge consisted of plugging the nose and breathing through a straw to emulate what it is like to breathe with Cystic Fibrosis lungs. We made the challenge progressively tougher by walking and working out, and the USA Atlanta Masters Wrestling Team at Morris Fitness took part in the challenge, as well. Our donations went to Cystic Fibrosis families that were struggling financially.
Most recently, EchoVerse Comics helped to raise donations for a local Atlanta area Cystic Fibrosis student, Sandra Rivas, who received a life-saving lung transplant. Funds were raised to assist with costs and expenses insurance did not cover.
EchoVerse also likes to get its readers and fans involved in the comic. We have a newsletter and additional updates that we email to our fans. We have had several contests from picking color schemes for characters uniforms to a “Give Our Villain A Name” contest, to ask our fans to help us pick the armor they liked best for one of our villains. Each of these had a prize-drawing or award that went to the winner of the contest. EchoVerse wants to be The People’s Comic. If you’d like to join our community, you can opt-in and EVC will send you a 16-page PDF AshCan that contains EchoVerse Comic characters, our Mission, information about EchoVerse, and a sneak peek at Issue 1 of Ballistic Boyz: Featuring BrazFraz – In the Beginning: Pain.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think a trend we are seeing in the comic book industry today, especially with the crowdfunding opportunities that are available to the individual, is the rise of the independent comic book creator. Crowdfunding allows for the creator to produce a comic on his or her timeline and tell the story the way they want it told. Their only obstacles are themselves. The big companies will always be there telling their great stories, but the crowdfunding genre isn’t limited by an editor keeping them within company confines of storytelling, which can make for some very interesting and entertaining stories and artwork.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.echoversecomics.com
- Phone: 678-596-3700
- Email: info@echoversecomics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evc_comics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EchoVerseComics
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EVC_Comics
- Other: https://echoversecomics.com/emailsignup/page.html
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