News

Comic book history tells harrowing, inspiring and tragic stories of Helene

By Lightning Reports, Published: July 7, 2025

The Appalachia Comics Project announced today that it has raised more than $17,000 in three weeks to fund the writing, illustration and printing of "Islands in the Sky," a book-length comic book history of the Hurricane Helene disaster, co-created by Western North Carolina survivors and well-known comic creators. 

Based in Edneyville, the Appalachia Comics Project is seeking to raise another $7,000 to fund the remaining art and cover printing costs for copies to be donated to local schools and libraries through the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. Go here to make pledges to pre-order copies of ‘Islands in the Sky’ and make donations for schools and libraries.

‘ISLANDS IN THE SKY’

When Hurricane Helene devastated Southern Appalachia in the fall of 2024, it left both the landscape and communities forever changed. But in the aftermath, something remarkable emerged: stories of survival, solidarity and strength.

Islands in the Sky brings those stories to life—pairing real survivors with award-winning comics creators like Brian Michael Bendis, Gene Luen Yang, Matt Fraction, Nate Powell, June Kim, Greg Pak, Steve Orlando, Alex Segura, Thien Pham, Briana Loewinsohn, Valentine De Landro, Aster D’Amico, Josh Adams, Anthony Del Col, and more—to preserve what happened and help the region recover. 

When you pledge, you’re doing more than funding a book. You’re helping us pay survivors to tell their own stories, getting this history into schools and libraries, and providing income and visibility for a region still rebuilding. The project is part record, part resistance and part recovery. The project is spearheaded by Andrew Aydin, a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author who created and co-authored the graphic memoir series, MARCH, which chronicles the life of Congressman John Lewis and tells the story of his civil rights leadership.

Local and national creators include:

• Writer Matt Fraction and Artist Aster D'Amico, with Jessica E. of Hendersonville.
• Writer Anthony Del Col (artist TBA) with Suzanne P. of Bat Cave. 
• Writer/Survivor Andrew Aydin, of Edneyville, and Artist Valentine De Landro.

Other writer/survivors are based in Asheville, Swannanoa, Maggie Valley, Clyde and Arden.

So far, the Appalachia Comics Project has paired more than a dozen local survivors with renowned comic creators like Brian Michael Bendis, Gene Luen Yang, Matt Fraction, and others to create "Islands in the Sky" as a monument to the storm that changed everything. Harrowing, inspiring, humorous and tragic, the history is being brought to life in comics to create a first-hand account of what really happened by those who lived it.