#The Story
Don’t Call Me Sidekick! is an exciting new fantasy/adventure series from creator Brenda Hickey (My Little Pony, Aggretsuko)! Through the partnership of the human child Kailee and her animal sidekick friend Ary, this story explores the power dynamic of the magical girl trope and questions a system built off of exploiting magical creatures as a way to gain power. The series begins with book 1: The Contract, and introduces us to a new generation of students beginning their journey to becoming part of the Phantom Guard and the fallout that takes place when Ary refuses to obediently take on her role as sidekick.
Don’t Call Me Sidekick! aims towards readers 12 and up and is perfect for fans of magical girl anime and the fun animal sidekicks of Disney. With your help we can achieve our goal of producing this first entry of the 3 book graphic novel series into a beautiful print format.
#Preview







#Bio
BRENDA HICKEY is a graphic novelist from Prince Edward Island, Canada. She's illustrated comics for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (IDW Publishing), written/illustrated two graphic novels for Netflix/Sanrio's series Aggretsuko (Oni Press), and has upcoming work with Zag’s Miraculous Chibi graphic novels, releasing in 2025 (Papercutz).
Brenda is married to fellow comic creator and all around wonderful human Troy Little and together they began Pegamoose Press, an independent publishing imprint for their creator owned books. Halls of the Turnip King was Brenda's debut graphic novel through the imprint, earning her Sequential Magazine’s Best Cartoonist award in 2020.

#Stretch Goals
$10,000 - Unlock exclusive print for all backers (of physical items)
$15,000 - Jazz up the book with upgraded features! ie: Spot Gloss/Foil
$20,000 - Don’t Call Me Sidekick! Bonus Zine for all backers (of physical items)
#Timeline
Currently the full 84 interior story pages of the graphic novel are at the inks stage and 37 of those pages have been fully rendered in colour and lettered. The bonus Zoop exclusive back matter is still to be assembled and the two versions of the book cover - one for the Zoop exclusive and one for the mass market - are to be designed and illustrated.
All final artwork for the book is to be fully completed by February 2025, and from there we will begin prepress for overseas printing. Campaign fulfillment is estimated to begin Summer 2025.
