Negotiating the online dating scene today can be a minefield of potential miscues, missteps, and faux pas, as Joanna, the protagonist of the LINE Webtoon webcomic #Blessed can surely attest. While checking out a dating app, she accidentally swiped right on a whole host of gods and goddesses, all of whom want to claim Joanna to fulfill a prophecy. Chockful of humor and engrossing story arcs, #Blessed follows Joanna as she attempts to cope with her new normal, with deities and dating becoming weirdly and wildly entangled.
Just this week, #Blessed creator M. Victoria Robado, also known online as Shouri, launched a Kickstarter campaign in partnership with Rocketship Entertainment to collect the series volume of the series in print form. Ms. Robado spoke with us recently about the conceit of #Blessed, where we find the characters in Volume 2, the Kickstarter itself, and the evolution of the comic since its inception.
#Blessed is such a joyful, compelling comic, chock full of well-defined characters, both ebullient and multi-layered, with a little something for everyone. If you get the opportunity, do check out the Kickstarter if you’re looking for a smile and fun ride through romance and the divine.
FreakSugar: Where do we find the characters in Volume 2?
M. Victoria Robado: In the end of Volume 1, Joanna is as confused as we are about what happened with the gods and goddesses who have been following her and with whom she has created a strange bond, despite the weirdness of the entire situation. She needs answers and is set to find them, with that desire overriding her self-preservation sense.
FS: You’ve worked on #Blessed for quite some time. Has the series changed since your initial vision?
MVR: #Blessed came to be as I was trying to come up with a third pitch to send to my editor. I had two stories that I had thought about for a long time, but I had this feeling that I had to send in three because that’s a better number, and grabbed a throwaway elevator pitch I had, reworked it a bit and sent it in. Of course, that would be the one picked! Because it wasn’t a story I had thought about for too long, I never had a set-in-stone plot for it.
Originally #Blessed was gonna run for 26 chapters (what ended up being Volume 1), and while I had a strong vision for the first six or so, the rest was a very loose structure. I actually enjoy working like this, because as I’m making the pages I find the characters’ expressions to change how I think things will go, and I am always thinking about the plot as I’m drawing, so new ideas pop up all the time. When it was extended for a second arc, I again drafted a very loose plot for it and as I started working, I got more and more into the characters and their backstories. I knew I wanted to write about that in this second stage, but I didn’t know it would go the way it did. I think having the characters really defined in their personalities and likes makes it easier to do this kind of as-you-go writing.
FS: In that same vein, what has been the most gratifying part of working on the series?
MVR: I think having the freedom of writing whatever I wanted was the best part. It hasn’t been an easy run but every time I finish a chapter I get a sense of accomplishment and I always end up with a lot of new ideas for the rest of the story.
FS: If you had to be a character from the series, who would you choose?
MVR: Maira, definitely. I don’t do veiled self-inserts but we share the same reactions.
From #BLESSED Volume 2; page proof
FS: On to the Kickstarter itself, what can you tell us about the campaign?
MVR: It’s pretty exciting to finally running a second campaign for #Blessed. It has been some bumpy years for the comic itself but after many days and nights of editing and reformatting, volume 2 is finally ready. The book itself if going to have the same great quality that Rocketship always does, we’ll have soft cover and hard cover versions available, and a lot of super cute extras & add-ons all available!
FS: This isn’t the first time you’ve worked with Rocketship Entertainment, either on your own books or contributing to others. What keeps you coming back to work with the publisher?
MVR: I believe in their goals of publishing the stories people want to read. When Rocketship started, there were no Webtoon stories in print done by traditional publishers (I could be wrong, but if there were, it was a very, very small number). It was very difficult to get traditional media to put faith in feminine-leaning stories and art, for some reason there’s a resistance to take a chance on them. I’ve been with Rocketship since the start as I want to help create that space for us.
From #BLESSED Volume 2; page proof
FS: Do you have any other projects coming down the pike you’d like to discuss?
MVR: I’m always thinking of more stories to write and draw. #Blessed on Webtoon will be wrapping up soon (but we still have a lot of books to put out!), and I want to continue making comics cause I can’t live without creating them. I am working on the side on two small self-published comics: Never Ever Done (my autobio) and Bubble Kittea Shoppe (a business-savvy kitty who runs a bubble tea shop), but I am trying to pick what is going to be my next story after #Blessed. Witches? Video games? Teen drama? Aliens? I have a lot of pitches but I haven’t been able to choose yet. In any case, I know it’ll still be a comedy with romance and drama mixed in.
FS: What are you reading right now?
MVR: I read too much. I’m following almost everything on Shonen Jump (One Piece, Sakamoto Days, Ichi the Witch, Akane Banashi, Super Policeman Chojo–I think my list is over 25 series). I also went on a binge of completed series and read (and re-read) all of Bleach, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen–I soak myself in manga. I also ever so often grab an oldie from my bookshelf and re-read it for a refresher. My favs there are Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Heidi, Smurfs, Mi Novia y Yo. If you wanna write and draw comics, you have to consume a lot of it, in several formats.
From #BLESSED Volume 2; page proof
FS: If you had one final pitch for #Blessed Volume 2, what would it be?
MVR: If Volume 1 left you wanting to know more about the deities, this is when we start unveiling their secrets. Also, you might want to pick it up just to prove me wrong over my fear that people won’t read my comics. 😀
As of press time, the Kickstarter for #Blessed Volume 2 has already hit its initial funding goal, with 28 days left in the campaign. Be sure to check out this fun romp full of love and romance, gods and goof-ups!