Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead
Monday, 11th January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the US. To participate, a number of comics creators including Heroes Inc. creator Scott Austin, writer Peter David and X-Men artist J.K. Woodward – formed the Comic Creator’s Alliance – a group of over 80 comic book creators (both web and print) who volunteered their artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause.
While Ex Astris creative team is produced in Britain, trafficking is a global issue – plus, we know several of the creators who’ve got together for this cause personally. So we’re naturally more than happy to promote it here.You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide – more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year.
Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. So it won’t end until awareness is raised, and people need to take a stand.
So here’s what the comic creators – all listed here – did: each of them contributed an original drawing of one of their own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image. The preview featured above is just a small snippet of a simply gorgeous montage intended to raise money and awareness for an important cause.
The wallpaper features characters from The Phoenix Requiem, Girls with Slingshots, Earthsong, Looking for Group, Shadowgirls, Marsh Rocket, The Uniques and three IDW Publishing titles: Fallen Angel, The Dreamland Chronicles and The Dreamer, and lots, lots more.
To get hold of a copy, all you need to do is donate to the cause via the CCA website and download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from 11th – 24th January and all proceeds will be split evenly between Love146 and Gracehaven House – two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
• To learn more about the Comic Creator’s Alliance visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com.
• To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Be warned: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)
