The following is an interview with Ray Chou regarding the upcoming Kickstarter campaign launch for the post-apocalyptic techno-fantasy series, Glow. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Chou about returning to the series for its seventh issue, why crowdfunding has been such a valuable resource for independent creators, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming Kickstarter campaign launch for issue #7 of Glow! For those who may be new to the series, what can you share with us about the story’s overall premise?
Ray Chou: Thank you! Glow is a coming-of-age story set in a world devastated by magic. A long time ago, an ancient civilization called the Nymeran Empire mastered the art of magic and created massive towers to impose their will over everything – the people, environment, and even the natural laws of the universe. But, one day the towers fell.
Our story follows two siblings, Caszy and Koken, as they traverse through this broken world, chased because of their extraordinary abilities. Koken can fix the ancient magical technology of Nymera, and Caszy can survive in the Wastes as a huntress. We pick up in Issue #7 with the pair headed to the free city of Arkadai to find allies to help liberate their home of Shoddai.
BD: What can you tell us about your shared creative process in bringing this story to life on the page, and do you feel that you and the team have found a creative “shorthand” for giving voice to the world and characters?
RC: I created Glow with my partner, Vincenzo Ferriero. We’ve known each other for over fifteen years now and have been creative partners for coming on eleven – in that time we’ve collaborated creatively through every known means. We’ve written on the same page, passed notes back and forth, done passes and handed it to the other person – you name it, we’ve tried it. These days our collaboration looks more like showing drafts to each other when we’ve completed milestones, and then spending a good couple of hours talking about the finer points of the story. Vince is really good with action and blocking, whereas I think my strength is in finding the voice for our characters.
For everything we write, the most important thing, I think, is to justify the motivations of the characters. This involves knowing who they are, what they want, and what they’re feeling at the current moment. Whenever we get lost or stuck with the story, that’s how we check in. Actually, for Glow, I had a really long extended bout of writer’s block, hence not releasing a new issue last year! I found myself in a bit of a plot corner and having to really think about who these characters were and where I wanted them to go, but I think we got past that hump as it were with this issue and especially the next, issue #8.
BD: You are no stranger to crowdfunding, having successfully run several campaigns for various projects. Why do you feel that crowdfunding has been such a valuable resource to ensuring the success of today’s comic book creators?
RC: Comics overall have a really strange and somewhat broken model of distribution. I’m sure everyone reading knows that Diamond just went bankrupt and is currently being bought out. It’s always been hard to break into this industry, but crowdfunding offers a way for creators to look for an audience directly, and to hopefully fund the creation of their stories. For me, it’s been everything. I wouldn’t be making comics today if it weren’t for crowdfunding. That said, I do see the landscape changing slightly and I do think it’s more difficult to create an original work of comic today in 2025 than it was in 2014. I also see a lot of other new ways where creators can find an audience, like Tik Tok, that didn’t exist in 2014. The landscape is constantly changing, and it always seems to be bad news! That said, a comic creator friend of mine once said to me that comics are the “cockroaches” of the entertainment industry. No matter how many times you try to kill them, they just keep coming back!
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that the refugees’ story may connect with and impact readers?
RC: Yeah, in a lot of ways Glow is a retelling of the Atlantis myth, but very intentionally we leaned into the remnants, those left behind after the cataclysm. The story is a thinly veiled allegory for our own world and use (abuse?) of technology and the environment. I think, with the rise of AI, and how much energy that uses, it’s even clearer to me today the links between those themes and those presented in Glow. It seems even though our world is becoming ever more interconnected, we are becoming ever more disconnected.
I hope that, in a broad way, Glow helps us reconnect with one another, and teaches lessons of empathy, forgiveness, and acceptance. There are some things beyond our control, but it’s always within our power to love one another and to give more than we take.
BD: In light of the crowdfunding campaign, are there any particular backer rewards or tiers that you would like to highlight for our readers?
RC: Yes! We’re really hoping to bring new readers in with this campaign and have a lot of really cool catch-up reward tiers to do just that, with all sorts of combinations of hardcover trade, single issue comics, and even a fancy collector’s box to collect all of the issues. If you love stories like Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Final Fantasy, or Avatar: The Last Airbender, they’ll love Glow!
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – on which you are working that you would like to share with readers?
RC: After Glow #7 we’re going to launch the third issue of our suburban dog fairy tale, Sansha & Blanco, about a pair of strays and the destruction of their home. I’m hoping to wrap up all of the issues for that (There are four total.) by next year, along with finishing the next volume of Glow (#5-8). Those are my current focuses when it comes to writing and comics, but, of course, there are always things simmering behind the scenes 🙂
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell readers who want to learn more about the Glow campaign and your other work?
RC: A couple of places!
The actual Glow campaign can be found here.
I also blog about the process of writing over on Substack.
And finally, you can find everything that we make and publish over on our main website.
