Marc Andreyko Previews DC Comics 'Love is Love' Anthology Benefitting Orlando Victims

Writer Marc Andreyko reacted to the shooting at The Pulse (a gay nightclub in Orlando) by gathering several other writers and artists and putting together a comic anthology to benefit the victims, CBR reports. The 144 page Love is Love anthology will be published by DC Comics in partnership with IDW Comics. The comic will be available for $9.99 on December 21 and proceeds will be donated to Equality Florida.

250 writers and artists are contributing to the anthology. Contributors include Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming, Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Cecil Castellucci, Mirka Adolfo, Paul Dini, Mark Millar, Cat Staggs, Amanda Diebert, Brad Meltzer, Kieron Gillen, Phil Jimenez, Patton Oswalt, Damon Lindelof and Andreyko himself. The director of the Wonder Woman movie, Patty Jenkins, wrote an introduction for the comic.

Andreyko talked with CBR a bit about how the comic came about. He stated that the shooting made him feel "physically ill" and he put a suggestion that he and his fellow creators should do a comic book out on Facebook.

Andreyko said, "I also posted, "I need to go to gay pride this year." I'm not a big fan of that, I'm too old for it, as a gay man, but I said, "I need to go be seen and not be afraid." Paul Dini [creator on Batman: The Animated Series and various DC Comics] and his wife Misty were at my house in 20 minutes, and said, "We're going with you." They were wonderful. Then I got home that afternoon, like at 5 o'clock, and there were 75 messages in my mailbox, from different creators, publicists, actors, who said, "We're in."

Andreyko described the book further, saying "It's called "Love is Love" — the tagline I'm using, that I stole from someone else on the Internet, is, "It doesn't matter who you love, just love somebody." Some of the stories are very powerful and very specific to Orlando, a couple people who lost friends and family have done pieces for the book; people that live in Orlando have done pieces for the book. Some people have done pieces that aren't Orlando-specific, but they're about love; there are one and two-page stories, there are pin-ups, there are illustrated poems. DC is letting us use their characters in the book."

The Orlando shooting happened nearly six months ago, but Andreyko stressed that this does not diminish the importance of the book. "The news cycle is so fast. Some random person said on Facebook, "The book's coming out six months later, are people going to care?" I said to myself, "First of all, you're a horrible person. Second of all, that's why we're doing it." For me, I grew up a child of "We Are the World," and Live Aid, and all that stuff, where, if you have a skill set in the arts, and you can do something and create something, not only is it helping us do our own therapy, it's giving people something to remember, and their donation is being seen as a tangible thing."

Andreyko stated, "It's 144 pages for 10 bucks, which is less than half of what a 144 page graphic novel would be. Every penny, 100 percent of it, is going to Equality Florida, specifically earmarked for the survivors, the 53 people that were injured whose lives have changed."

I encourage people to buy this book if you can, it's for a very good cause and there's some great talent involve. Times are more perilous for LGBT people than ever in the wake of this shooting and we'd really appreciate the support. I'm deeply impressed with the scope of this anthology and Andreyko's dedication to it.

Here's preview of some of the comics that will be in the anthology, courtesy of CBR: