The Comic?

Elevator Pitch: Chaos erupted in a small town in Illinois, but that was 50 years ago.  Life continues.

The Pilotside Chronicle is an anthology of comedic stories set in the fictional and fantastical suburban town of Pilotside, Illinois. It’s a sleepy Victorian town of secrets, lies, monsters, talking animals, and a delivery girl who has a direct line to hell. There’s also a zoo!

Note: While the majority of The Pilotside Chronicle is PG(10+), Glowing Hearts, the currently running comic, is PG-13 for cursing and light sexual content. Glowing Hearts is also much more open about it’s LGBTQA+ content than previous comics, and if you don’t like it you can always try to live in this century for a change.

I try to focus heavily on readability, so if you are confused about the way word bubbles are positioned or how a panel is laid-out, don’t be afraid to ask me to explain! I have my own issues reading more fancifully laid-out work and am not offended by your confusion.


The Author?

Ian “Pen” Merch (they/them/their) is an Atlanta-based artist from the greater Chicago area (note: not that great), who grew up in rural Illinois. That sounds like more places than it is.  They worked in the animation industry in a professional capacity from 2007-2010, and then full-time in the games industry from 2010-2013. Since then they have mostly worked freelance, doing sprite work, animation, illustration, and sometimes things they don’t feel comfortable talking about where their family might find it.

They always wanted to make comics but didn’t know where to start. It turns out you can just make them, and no one will stop you. In July of 2012, they launched this very website, containing their first graphic novel Spry’s Adventure Comic, which was originally a storyboard for an animated movie but honestly that wasn’t happening. Since then they’ve made over 1000 pages of comics, and have told people about over 10 of them.