In April of 2015, Star Prichard published the first page of a webcomic that would go on to change hundreds of lives, including my own. Her beautiful writing, jaw-dropping artwork, and wonderful world and characters certainly makes a mark in the depths of the souls of anyone who reads. It didn’t start off super popular, of course, and it’s not exactly Superman in terms of popularity, but it’s on the road to coming of age.
Castoff is an ongoing fantasy adventure comic following a lonely inhuman teenager named Vector in his quest to get back home after being kidnapped and magically transported to another country. He must seek the aid of many wonderful and yet mysterious characters, including his own kidnapper. The lovable cast of characters must overcome many dangerous obstacles, including bandits, killer robots, and an unjust law enforcement on their journey through a high-fantasy setting, as well as many conflicts within their own team and selves. Along the journey, they find comfort in their newly-formed found family. All of the characters face struggles both internally and externally, facing their fears of the past as well as their present predicaments.
As well as approaching 800 pages, Castoff has amassed 64.3k Webtoon subscribers, 20.1k Tapas subscribers, 1.3k members to the author’s Patreon, and 2.4k members to the Castoff Chatroom on Discord. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder that Prichard was able to quit her day job.
A large percentage of Star’s profits would come from her Patreon, where she offers early Castoff pages, bonus comics, sketches, and even monthly stickers and prints of Castoff’s wonderful cast of characters, in exchange for a monthly payment ranging from $2 to $35 (depending on the tier in which you choose). The other large percentage of money she gets would be from her YouTube channel, where she makes videos drawing for the mail club.
While Castoff originated as a webcomic, it’s on its way to becoming a physical book. On May 17th, the Kickstarter for Castoff Volume One was released, and it ended up reaching 1,175 backers and over $54,000. Not only that, but more things are coming out to be available for Castoff fans. A fundraiser campaign for a plushie of the main character, Vector, was released not too long ago. It ended up reaching 145% of its goal, with a total of 291 supporters. Many fans are thrilled to have a soft, huggable version of the character they’ve been continuously complaining about not being able to give hugs, estimated to be launched on December 7th.
The author and artist is not exactly new to the webcomic industry. Prichard has been making comics since middle school, and has only been improving her skills. Even since the release of the first Castoff page, her art has improved by a large margin. She even released a guidebook that was later improved upon in 2023, “How to Webcomic.” The guidebook, put simply, taught aspiring and practicing webcomic artists alike how to make their comic dreams reality, based on Star’s own experiences.
Now that I’ve mentioned all the wonderful things that are happening in the fandom, it would be cruel of me to neglect to tell you how to actually read it. Castoff can be read on comic sites like
Webtoon and Tapas, but it also has its own site that you can find via any of Star Prichard’s social media profiles (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc) under TheStarFishFace. Now that you know all there is to know to dive deep into the world and story of Castoff, I’d implore anyone who is a fan of tropes such as magic, adventure, found family, and a lot of glowy things (because trust me, there’s a lot of glowy things) to read it. Better hop on the bandwagon before it gets too crowded!
“These past few days have been intense, but…sticking together through intense stuff is what friends do, right?” -Castoff, 2019
