Marry Me (comic)
"Marry Me" is a online comic/graphic novel that was started by Bobby Crosby and Remy Mokhtar on February 14, 2007 AbOUT a fictional pop idol named Stasia and appears to parody the obsessive response to the private lives of pop idols such as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. The central conceit of "Marry Me" involves Stasia impulsively marrying a stranger during a concert who himself isn't actually a fan. "Marry Me" is an ongoing project that currently exists as an online comic presented in the format of a printed comic book or graphic novel. As a work in ProgresS, "Marry Me" receives an abundance of ongoing feedback from its readers as each page as it is produced. "Marry Me" is also being intentionally developed with the possibility in mind of adapting the story to film .
Creators
"Marry Me" is written by Bobby Crosby (the creator of Pupkin); although despite having developed a visual comic style of his own, "Marry Me" is entirely illustrated by Remy "Eisu" Mokhtar. "Marry Me" represents an example of a trend among some KeenSpot artists to separate the tasks of writing and illustration and thereby increase total creative output.
For instance, Crosby also writes for a comic called "Last Blood," and Remy "Eisu" Mokhtar himself runs a comic strip called "No Pink Ponies."
Plot
The strip revolves around a fictional pop star by the name of Stasia (short for Anastasia), who is revealed to have a history of doing impulsive and often ill-advised things both on and off stage. The central plot feature of the comic is by far the most crazy stunt to date. On the last concert of her tour Stasia decides that she wants to skip dating and boyfriends entirely, and that she is willing to marry pretty much anyone. In the front row of the audience, she sees a man holding a sign that says "Marry Me" and she pulls the concert goer, named Guy from the audience and, with the help of a minister who also happens to be in the audience, marries him on stage in front of thousands of fans. Guy, who is largely unaware of Stasia's history, and who is only holding sign for his Stasia-obsessed friend Parker, goes along with the stunt without realizing that there will be serious consequences.
The comic is intended for most audiences, with the only profane word used being the word "piss" in one of the early comics.
Cast
Major characters
In order of appearance:
- Tyler, Anastasia - Stasia (short for Anastasia) is a semi-crazy blonde pop idol with a penchant for going over the top and doing irrational things. Nearly 5 years ago (minus a few months) she made a claim at the Grammy awards that she would cure cancer within 5 years. Her most crazy stunt performed recently was to marry a stranger named Guy from the crowd of her last concert of the year, which expectedly launched her into the tabloids, media, and other sources of information, with people slamming her right and left for being either insane or possibly just clueless. While she does have a craziness about her, she does have a kind and generous nature, and donates 97% of all revenue generated from her concerts and events to charities and wild life foundations (with the exception of a foundation for monkeys after an incident at a zoo).
- Tyler, Janny - The redheaded sister of Stasia, and the logical counter-weight in her life style. Janny is intelligent, caring, and pregnant. One night she senses her sister's intentions to do something over the top, and asks her to refrain. However, this comment causes Stasia to get angry (which purportedly fuels her need to do crazy things), and out of spite, or maybe just not thinking clearly causes her to marry a stranger in the crowd. In the bathroom at the time, Janny hears about the marriage, and quickly moves in to perform damage report in order to help mitigate the news media, although unable to PReVENT their father from jumping on the first plane from Japan.
- Cooper, Guy - Guy is a high school guidance counselor and best friend of Parker Webber, an obsessed fan whom he was holding a sign for to get autographed when she was going to the bathroom. Unexpected by Guy, however, the sign (which read Marry Me) attracted the attention of Stasia, and she pulled him up onto the stage, where she then asked for the aid of a priest who married them on the spot. In order to not embarrass her in front of the thousands of people present (and to avoid being thought of as gay), Guy agrees to marry her despite having almost no former knowledge of her. Guy has learned most of what he knows about Stasia through her autobiography, which she states is mostly accurate.
- Webber, Parker - Parker is an over-obsessed fan whom Guy states is a lesbian, and she seems to be head over heels in love with Stasia, knowing all of her songs, and even the names of her stage crew and entourage members, down to even a lowly wire-technician by the name of Gary. She unknowingly sets her best friend Guy up to be married to Stasia when she hands him her sign and asks him to get her autograph, so she can go to the bathroom (something she'd been too excited to do since a few days earlier in the week-or even the previous week), and is shocked to see Stasia getting married to Guy on a TV screen as she uses the bathroom, which results in her urinating in her pants.
- Mr Tyler - The father of Anastasia, and her career manager, as soon as he hears that she's married a stranger, he is on a plane back to America to perform damage assessment and control. Not a patient or calm man, according to Anastasia, "he doesn't give advice, he gives orders."
Supporting characters
- Denny - Denny is a member of Stasia's entourage and her personal bodyguard. He's a very large African American who seems possibly brutally honest, and at the very least ill-tempered. His very appearance is more than enough to scare the press into making a lane in a crowd in order to allow him to escort Stasia and her companions by. (He was named by ThatOneChick, a fan of the comic.)
- Gary - Gary is part of Stasia's special effects crew. Specifically, he controls the wires that hold her up when she "flies" over the stage.
- Stanley - Stanley is the guy who makes sure the show runs smoothly. (He was named by a fan of the comic, Namsab, as a gift from Bobby Crosby.)
Published works
The first issue of Marry Me was released in print around June 14, 2007 and featured the first 24 pages of the comic in full color. The authors are currently selling autographed copies on the site at a cost of $5 per book plus shipping and handling. The issues are printed by Blatant Comics.
"Marry Me" has received more than 5000 unique page hits on average per day since the site opened (over the course of February to Present), and with their unique page visits per day in recent months being anywhere between 5,000 and 16,000 people per day.