Ad Astra Comix is excited to announce an upcoming anthology by Peter Collins, a Canadian artist, AIDS activist and prisoner.
Peter has been imprisoned for more than three decades at various prisons. In that time he has worked as a prison abolitionist, challenging the racism, incompetence and corruption of the prison industrial complex. He has also honed his skills as an artist and produced hundreds if not thousands of comics about Canadian politics, life in prison and social justice.
Recently, a friend reached out to us to see if we would be interested in publishing Peter’s work. After getting a chance to look at his biting commentary that alternates between very dark humor and very human vulnerability, we were happy to say yes. We are glad to be working with Peter as well as some of his friends and supporters to help crowd-fund and publish an anthology of his work to form part of a record of the life of this man.
On a somber note, Peter is currently suffering from an aggressive cancer that has spread from his bladder to his stomach walls, lungs and bones. He is entering the 32rd year of a Life 25 sentence. He has spent the better part of the last 3 decades trying to make amends for the suffering that he caused when he killed Constable David Utman. He has worked to personally transform himself, and to make the world a better place. His risk has been addressed long ago, and CSC refuses to release him because of his political advocacy and critique of the prison system.
We hope that undertaking this project will help raise awareness of Peter’s situation and help push for him to be granted compassionate release. This anthology will be our small part in amplifying the voice of a thoughtful, compassionate man who has overcome incredible obstacles to live a giving, creative life. To keep up to date on the details of Peter’s situation, you can like the Peter Collins Support Committee on Facebook.
To stay up to date on this project, follow Ad Astra Comix on Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t already done so. We will be posting examples of Peter’s work in the lead-up to the crowdfunder. Thanks for taking the time to read – Stay tuned for more details!
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Any update on this? I’d love to see more of Peter’s art.
Thanks for asking! We are slowly assembling the book, ideally to be released for Prisoner Justice Day in August of 2016. We’d love to keep you in the loop about the project, because we will launch a pre-order campaign for the book first, in an effort to raise some funds for the cost of printing. Would you like us to e-mail you this when it gets rolling?
Absolutely, I’d love to be kept in the loop. Thanks for the reply 🙂