- Tuskers
- Available in digital & hard copy (3 versions!) here
- Written by MARC GAFFEN & JAVIER BARRIOS
- Illustrated by DANIEL GOVAR
- Edited by GREG TUMBARELLO
Having read Tuskers, I can say that it’s a beautifully illustrated, gorgeously written story of trust, hope, & redemption. It’s often gut-wrenching but can only be described as important, with the graphic nature of the violence meant to educate about the real tragedy that’s driving elephants to extinction. For some more info, please read on for info & images taken from the book’s Indiegogo page.
(From the indiegogo page…)
Tuskers is a beautiful 130-page graphic novel about a herd of orphaned African elephants that must escape a vicious poaching militia in South Sudan to the safety of an animal sanctuary hundreds of miles away in Kenya. Guiding them on this journey is a group of wildlife rangers who are risking their own lives to help a cause that’s bigger than themselves. This thrilling story is told from both the human and elephant’s perspective that only the visual format of a graphic novel can provide.
Tuskers is a passion project about the devastating affects poaching has on the African elephant population and the true-life superheroes who choose to protect them.
Through this thrilling adventure story you will learn that elephants are so much more than the sum of their parts.
Who’s who in Tuskers…
ELEPHANTS
(Our main elephants are orphans that find one another after their families are poached for ivory.)
Detroit — Orphaned by the brutal killing of her family, Detroit is our main narrator and protagonist. (Her name has specific meaning and will be revealed in the book.) Not easily accepted into the new herd at the orphanage, she soon befriends another broken soul, Sgt. Elias Delgado, and together they’ll learn to overcome their personal trauma.
Esampu — Future matriarch in training, Esampu loves being around people and other members of the herd.
Roi — Playful jokester with a reputation for always finding a way to steal food.
Daphne — Matriarch of the orphanage herd. She grew up in Zuri’s camp after a brutal leg snare left her for dead.
HUMANS
Dr. Zuri Erivo — The caretaker of the elephant orphanage who has spent her life protecting wildlife in her homeland of South Sudan.
Sgt. Elias Delgado — A disgraced Army Ranger who is seeking redemption after the brutal ambush of his troops in Afghanistan.
EcoGuards — Led by locals Joseph and Rafi, they are members of a conservationist group who risk their lives by protecting and leading the elephants to safety.
Abdalla Katumba — A vicious war-lord who wants to sell the elephant’s ivory tusks to pay for weapons and power. He leads his own private army that views the elephants as commodities to be bought and killed for profit.
A subject I feel dearly about. Sounds like not only a good read but also a get the message out.
Thanks, Ma…