We Hit a Low Point, but PACK Is Coming Back!

A Low Point for the PACK…

It was around this time last year—June 2020. Dark days. We were in quarantine at Oneshi Press HQ, hiding from the worldwide pandemic. We were also planning the Kickstarter for the next issue of PACK, our comic series follows vigilante dogs in Brooklyn.

While we were planning the launch of issue #3, we were stunned and excited as America erupted into massive protests over familiar issues. Our intent with PACK was always to touch on important but potentially divisive topics—gentrification, political corruption, police accountability, and systemic racism. Many of the challenges our heroes face are driven by these very real problems. Although they were just as prevalent then as they are now, when we conceptualized PACK in the early 2010s, these topics were underrepresented in the media, even considered taboo. 

So we outlined PACK’s seven issues carefully, building complexity and gently touching on some of these matters. Suddenly, protests and the conversations they inspired swept through mainstream media, shining a spotlight on topics PACK cautiously explored. 

To Give Up or Forge Ahead?

At Oneshi Press, we were thrilled to see progress toward a better America. At the same time, it occurred to us that our careful approach in PACK could now seem cowardly. And we started to worry. We could really screw this up. Perhaps these subjects were too hot. Maybe we should avoid upsetting anybody and just…give up on the series.

“Do you love dogs and hate crime?” The hook was so simple. We’d always thought PACK would be our easiest project. But now, we had never been so scared of publishing something we’d made. Still, we were attached to the series, story, and characters. So was the small but growing and loyal audience who read it. We didn’t want to disappoint them—or ourselves. 

After some hard conversations, we realized that we simply couldn’t abandon our six stray dogs and their stray man. We recognized that the details woven into this gritty action comic were in fact the point of the series. These topics needed to be talked about, and here we had a platform to do just that. We know they’re too big for us to solve, but by joining the conversation, we’re fostering awareness that could lead to real solutions. 

If we wanted to do this at all, we had to do it right. So, we went back to what we’d already made, edited the script, added to the art, and got feedback from a diverse group of friends, colleagues, and sensitivity readers. Now, we’re nearly ready to Kickstart PACK #3: Temperance. It’s bolder than we’d originally planned, and it’s nearly ready to go.