Ava Snow Battles Death: It starts here!

I was powerless against Ava Snow Battles Death.

Sure, I’m afraid of getting sucked into web series in case all my time disappears down a rabbit hole of awesome content. And yeah, I’m afraid of knowing there are sections of Kickstarter beyond comics in case all my money disappears in a similar way. And so yes, when filmmakers Zack Drisko and Arielle Davidsohn approached me for help publicizing a web series being funded on Kickstarter last fall, I wanted to plug my ears and yell “LA LA LA” so I could not hear them.

But Ava Snow is just too cool!

I’m a sucker for a passion project anyway (witness my affection for Office Ninja), and just look at this description:

“Ava Snow Battles Death” is a fantasy-horror-comedy about a knife-throwing badass named Ava Snow and the overlords from another dimension who want to steal her soul.

She’s also a redhead. So I helped publicize the Kickstarter. (And gave them my allowance.) Fast forward to July, when FINALLY after a hectic few months of traveling I was able to settle down during a quiet evening and watch the three episodes up on YouTube.

My assessment? A little bit campy, a good dose of awesome, and definitely worth the wait. I love Ava’s no-nonsense persona. I’m intrigued by her friend Kylee who seems so different from Ava at first glance. The first three episodes left me wanting more. And I didn’t have to get a babysitter or stay up late.

So I may need to re-think my web series avoidance? In my years reviewing action movies with ass-kicking women (and girls), I have gotten SO tired of making excuses for movies. Even among my favorites, too many big budget films are kind of what I want, or a glimpse of what could have been. There’s a pretty striking contrast between a woman of color Kickstarting a fan-film about Storm and the Days of Future Past story being taken away from Kitty Pryde on the big screen. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places for the stories I really want.

If you haven’t watched Ava Snow Battles Death yet, you should fix that! You can start here:

Once you watch all three episodes, the Ava Snow Battles Death website has a trailer and teaser that show additional scenes. Fingers crossed the series can keep going so we can get those future episodes.

And if you have any webseries to recommend, let me know in the comments!