One of the beautiful things about the comic book community is the support shown for up-and-coming comics and larger-than-life projects that may not fit in with mainstream publishers. In recent years, fans have helped numerous comic projects come to fruition via crowdfunding. Editors Kat Calamia and Phil Falco have made the most of their fans support to create Bi Visibility: A Bisexual Anthology.

During the crowdfunding of Bi Visibility: A Bisexual Anthology, the project reached 1,300 backers and earned $30K. There was a clear demand for more bisexual representation in comics, and fans of the first volume will be pleased to learn they are getting even more with Bi Visibility: Still Bi. In honor of Volume 2's new campaign, CBR spoke with Calamia and Falco about their experience editing the anthology and their plans for the new volume.

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CBR: Can you give us a teaser of some of your favorite stories included in this new volume?

Phil Falco: We had plenty of exciting genre stories in our first volume, but we wanted to crank the variety up to an eleven in this next installment. One of the great things about a "bisexuality" anthology is that the possibilities are literally endless in how writers can explore their unique feelings and experiences -- some more straightforward, some more allegorical.

To tease one of my favorites, we have a story where a part of our protagonist's face is literally erased (like, with the backside of a pencil) when her friends invalidate her bisexuality. It's painfully relatable but still tons of surreal fun!

When it comes to producing a comic anthology of this size, what are some of the challenges you face? How do you work through them?

Falco: Curation is always a challenge. In a perfect world, we'd love to include everybody who submits a story, but unfortunately, for the book to be made we need to keep a realistic budget and ensure a unique and satisfying reader experience. This means that in addition to considering stories by their own merit, we also have to look at the other contending stories to see where overlap (in theme, genre, style, etc.) exists and ask ourselves whether redundancy is an issue. We strive to create the best reading experience possible, and this means ensuring a wide variety in the types of stories and styles that make it into the final comic. We want there to be something for everybody to love!

As for working through this great challenge, test readers are a huge help! Once we'd narrowed down our contenders, we had various test readers go through each script (in the sequence we intended for them to be placed in the final anthology) to ensure that the reader is constantly engaged, challenged, and -- most importantly -- having fun!

What would you like to say to all the fans who've shown you support between these two volumes of Bi Visibility?

Falco: Thank you so much for everything that you've done! This anthology is a huge responsibility, and we're constantly challenging ourselves and our collaborators to ensure that we're representing as many voices as possible. Bisexuals have been clamoring for representation for their unique experiences for the longest time, and it has been an honor and a privilege to create both volumes of this anthology, so thank each of you for your support and for the kind words you've shared with us! You truly make all the hard work worth it!

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When it came to the first volume of Bi Visibility: A Bisexual Comic Book Anthology, how did it feel to reach 1,300 backers and $30K on Kickstarter?

Kat Calamia: Life-changing -- literally! We truly believed in the project, but we couldn't have imagined the absolute outpour of love. Our readers that came for the first Kickstarter truly made Still Bi possible.

What inspired you to produce that first volume of Bi Visibility?

Calamia: As a bisexual creator and just a fan of storytelling, I've seen very little representation of bisexuality growing up. It's a big reason why it took me a little longer to put a label on my sexuality. I knew what bisexuality was, but I didn't know how it felt.

I had thought about making a bisexual anthology for a while, but it was truly Phil and a group of my indie comic book friends that pushed me. It started out as "someday" I'd love to make an anthology, and they said well why can't "someday" be today. The rest was history!

What do you want to accomplish with Bi Visibility: Still Bi that you may not have been able to accomplish with Volume 1?

Calamia: Bi Visibility Volume 1 was our first-ever anthology. We didn't know how successful it would be, so we didn't have as much real estate to play with. But with Still Bi, we had an opportunity to include a plethora of voices in the book. This allowed for more diverse storytelling ranging from representation to genres. I'm proud that we had the opportunity to tell a story from a trans perspective, more male-driven stories, and the range of genres is just awe-inspiring.There are westerns, vampires, superheroes and so much more. I truly believe there's a story for everyone!

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You both have experience with Webtoon. How does your work with online comics compare to your work in print publishing? What are the similarities and differences?

Falco: The biggest differences, in my mind, are the different release models and the immediateness of fan reaction. With print publishing, there's this pronounced delay between the reader purchasing the comic, reading the comic, and any feedback or reaction making its way back to the creator. But on Webtoon, the response is immediate. We usually have our first comments within two minutes of posting an episode! Webtoon very much encourages a frequent posting schedule, so releasing a new episode each week fosters a wonderful community and a frequent back-and-forth between readers and creators.

That said, because you're generally releasing less content at any given time, you often have a less "complete" reaction to the work as a whole since the reader is consuming small chunks of a story at a time. Conversations we have with readers of our longer printed comics tend to be the more involved and intricate conversations. There's always a lot more to talk about and react to since these readers got to read a more complete story in one sitting.

Calamia: To Phil's point, with traditional comics, when it comes to the storytelling, you're working on your current projects in a vacuum of sorts. Compared to Webtoon, where you get comments on a weekly basis about the story beats that you could be exploring further in the very chapter you're currently writing.

When it comes to writing structure, the experience isn't too different. As traditional comic creators write for the trade, we write for the single-issue collections. The only difference is there's a bit more flexibility since we can write four-page or even 16-page chapters about different characters allowing us to explore more of our world. In traditional comics, there's a bit less opportunity to stray away from your central plot.

How does writing your own work compare to editing a compilation of multiple works from different creators?

Calamia: I've been a comic critic for over 10 years, so I'm used to deconstruction. Editing is the same. It's deconstruction, figuring out what works and what doesn't. The key to editing is to not put your own voice in another person's story, but instead to elevate the creator's own voice.

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I would love to know how you found the creators featured in Still Bi.

Calamia: We put out a call for action through a Google submission form. This is where we found a majority of our writers and some of our artists. The other handful of writers came from creators that we respected, that showed interest or that we asked personally to be in the anthology. When it came to the other illustrators, Phil and I keep tabs on artists that we like on Instagram, Twitter, or even Pinterest throughout the year. We looked through that list to see if those artists fit and reached out to them.

So note for any artists who want to be part of an anthology like Bi or our future anthologies: please have an active social media presence with examples of your art. There are plenty of editors like us that look for new talent in the same exact way.

What do you hope a queer reader can take away from an anthology like Bi Visibility?

Calamia: Joy! I hope they're happy with the representation and the diverse ways we showcase bisexuality.

The Kickstarter Campaign for Bi Visibility: Still Bi will launch on June 21.