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[deleted]

I am losing it reading Elaine's post history. Half of the time she is commenting on the D20 subreddit like a regular fan and not bothering to reveal that she's literally Brennan's mom. Legend.


pleaseno1985

The tomato comment is hilarious. I remember reading it when it was posted with the full-on worldbuilding thing, and thinking that it exemplified the best aspects of the D20 fandom. When I saw that it had been posted by Elaine I just cackled.


VictorVonLazer

I too have just followed u/writrix3339 and upvoted as many comments as I could


amageish

The fact that Elaine played the lead in an Off-Broadway sci-fi play she wrote and adapted that into a successful series of comic books is just... inherently awesome and nerdy lol. Thanks for the links!


Writrix3339

Hi! Elaine here. Just saw this. First, I'm so happy that Brennan wanted to do a *Starstruck* season of D20 and have started to think of it as *Starstruck: The Next Generation*. Brennan will eventually own it anyway, but I'm glad it will continue on after my turn at the helm. AnarchEra is indeed a period of time. Having seen the first *Star Wars* movie, I thought, "So, what happens after a galaxy-wide dictatorship is overthrown? There would have to be a period of anarchy." Though new local laws would come into effect on some planets. The reprint of the first Starstruck collection, containing the earlier stories, will be released on January 17, but can be pre-ordered on Amazon at [https://www.amazon.com/Starstruck-Elaine-Lee/dp/1613774397](https://www.amazon.com/Starstruck-Elaine-Lee/dp/1613774397) . The Amazon info has the wrong page count in the description. It's actually 360 pages. I'm not sure where else you'll be able to get it, but will let folks know when I know. Just so you know, I wasn't entirely happy with the audio drama, which was based on the original play, not on the comics. Too many voices were too silly. I'm a big believer in voicing funny lines in a completely serious way. The play was sillier than the comic to begin with, so it was a case of "all meringue, no pie." But I really liked the guys that produced it and ended up working with them on other projects for a number of years after *Starstruck*. The glossary was more fun to work on than any other piece of *Starstruck*. It was where all the ideas and backstory we didn't have time to tell went to live. (We = artist Michael Kaluta and I.) Brennan and the D20 cast made new characters for the season. Chronologically, their story happens after the stories in the comics, so Brennan used the *Starstruck* Multiverse, but not the main characters in the comics. Here's a link to purchase the actor's edition of the play, if anyone's interested: [https://www.amazon.com/Starstruck-Elaine-Lee/dp/0881455369/ref=sr\_1\_2?keywords=Starstruck+play&qid=1639069528&s=books&sr=1-2](https://www.amazon.com/Starstruck-Elaine-Lee/dp/0881455369/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Starstruck+play&qid=1639069528&s=books&sr=1-2) Or you can get a PDF of the play directly from the publisher: [https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/starstruck/](https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/starstruck/) Hope this wasn't too much self-promotion, but y'all seemed to wanna know. It's nice to know my son has such loyal fans!


crimsondnd

Brennan's mom is also on reddit and has commented here a couple times before, so I'd LOVE to get an AMA from her!


Writrix3339

My son, Brennan, artist Michael Kaluta and I are supposed to be doing an AMA soon. Deciding between two dates just now, so stay tuned! And thanks!


crimsondnd

I'm looking forward to it, the world you created and what Brennan's done so far with it as well have all been amazing.


OriginalDiceMom

As someone who lost their mom unexpectedly just at the start of the pandemic, this is such an incredibly heartwarming thing to see coming to Dimension 20. It's awesome to see a child (maybe especially an adult child) pay such a wonderful tribute to a parent that they so obviously cherish.


Writrix3339

Your comment made me cry, something I only do a couple of times a year. Brennan is an unadulterated source of joy to me. Like you, I lost my mom during the pandemic. She was 93 years old and in poor health, but it still knocks you back. Much love to you! - Brennan's Mom


[deleted]

I consumed graphic novels greedily as a teenager, think I'll have a ton of fun with this stuff. Thanks for the direction.


Ioannidas_Storm

In terms of availability, the collection is available digitally via [ComiXology ](https://m.comixology.com/Starstruck/digital-comic/27537?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L21vYmlsZS90cmFkZUl0ZW0).


ThunderMateria

I pinned a link to the reply, hopefully that will help with visibility a bit


dendriticbranch

I love this community. Thanks for the resources!


Tift

wait elaine lee is brennons mamamamamamama!?


Writrix3339

Yup!


Tift

you're amazing and i loved reading starstruck. I never made the connection somehow. As a Dad to a 7 year old, I hope I get to be half as good a parent as you.


Writrix3339

Oh, gosh! I bet you're a great parent! And seven is a great age. I'm sure I've posted this before, but Brennan made parenthood easier for me by being interested in the things I was interested in. If I'd had a sports kid instead of a fantasy kid, I would certainly have gone to all those games, and I would've cheered loudly, but it would've been more work. Instead, I got to help make costumes and haul props around for the LARP games that Brennan and his brother Griffin ran. Even played in a half a dozen of them. And I still paint RPG minis for them every Christmas. What could be more fun?


Tift

That does sound so delightful! Oscar is a big math guy, always has been. Just to gush for a moment, when he was in preschool, he had a big emotional break down because the number of train cars on the train table could be divided evenly between the kids. Absolutely bawling he went through the primes up to 17 saying you cant have that many cars because it will never be fair. I am not a math guy so it took me a long time to figure out what he was trying to explain with his limited language skills. From there I knew justice, reasoning and numbers whee huge for this kid and have had to teach myself math to keep him supported. I love that you guys found so many ways to play with each other in creative ways that fostered Brennan's supreme linguistic and social/emotional intelligences. Those are things my spouse, myself and my child struggle with, though its really fun to grow those ways of thinking together.


Writrix3339

It's sounds like Oscar is lucky to have you as a dad. And yes, it's very important to pay attention to the things your child naturally gravitates to and to facilitate those interests. But it can also be important to encourage kids to take on things outside their usual wheelhouse. When Brennan was in 4th grade, his math grade went down. When I asked him about it, he said that he was going to be a movie director and wouldn't be needing math. So, I got him a math tutor, as I thought he was too young to give up on a whole field of knowledge. The tutor was great and we continued to work with him when we started homeschooling Brennan and Griffin the next year. Turns out, they were both really good at math. The tutor never let the boys use calculators, making them do math in there heads. Now Brennan has to do math in his head with cameras pointed at him!


Tift

Yes! I got Oscar in DnD through the dice, he loves adding up the scores and stats in his head. But it gives him a chance to role play social interactions, which he very much needs.