The Book of Mojo started as an "urban fantasy" webcomic, the tale of a young black girl named Creepy who practices street magic and encounters a seven-foot, living artifact named Mojo.
Created by Everett Downing, the webcomic follows Creepy—a runaway who is searching for her father—as she tries to unlock the deeper, more powerful secrets of magic and figure out what Mojo is really is.
After creating the animated teaser above, and hearing enthusiastic feedback, Everett and a larger team of creators and animators (including veterans of Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks) have launched an Indiegogo campaign underway to transform The Book of Mojo into a full animated pilot. They say they've drawn inspiration from of beloved series: "Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Harry Potter and all things Joss Whedon."
We're living in a pretty fantastic time for animation, thanks to shows like Legend of Korra, Gravity Falls, Adventure Time and Steven Universe, which can be enjoyed by both children and adults alike. But women and characters of color continue to be underrepresented in media—particularly in all-ages media—and compelling stories that feature characters like Creepy in starring roles are far and few between. One of the biggest roadblocks to greater diversity in media is the lack of perceived customer or viewer support for it, so if you're into this sort of thing, it's worth putting in your two cents—both literally and figuratively.
"We think stories can change the world," writes the Book of Mojo team on their Indiegogo page. "We're passionate about animation but we feel the current paradigm of American animated series is very limited. We want to tell stories featuring characters that we feel are under-represented in animation. Our cast features a colorful and diverse array of characters that we can't wait to introduce you to."
