“Our Little World” is an example of trans-media storytelling. Through the use of video, audio, comic art and the written word, editor-in-chief Kacey Joslin and graphic designer Pasia Vang built an 8 chapter story about a fictional dome city set in the not-so-distant future.
Inspired by former University of Minnesota dean Athelstan Spilhaus’ 1960s comic series “Our New Age” and his proposal for an experimental city, “Our Little World” follows young Charlotte Foxtrot. She’s lived most of her life in the Minnesotan Innovation City (MIC), benefiting from the goodwill of its founder.
The “shark tank” city is a home for scholars and their families, as they compete yearly for a chance to have their product ideas selected by the MIC council. Years ago, Charlotte’s mother, Miriam, had her dreams come true when her idea for a baby monitoring system was chosen, and has since been adapted into a city-wide surveillance program that anticipates citizens’ needs and protects them from crime.
Unbeknownst to Charlotte, this utopia isn’t a model of perfection. Trouble-making teens, like a mysterious white-haired boy, are being recruited to distract law enforcement from the real mutiny happening inside their very walls.
Does Charlotte remain in her protected bubble of ignorance, or does she learn the truth about the city she’d been taught was a haven?
