As crowdfunding continues to be a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors and connect directly with fans, comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. Here’s a look at a few recent campaigns that caught our eyes.
Sistah Shark #1 The Hunter and the Hunted
Creators involved: Christopher Caravalho
Deadline: Aug. 1
Goal: $6,000
What to know: Caravalho founded Mana Comics in 2014, and has since published several comics featuring superheroes from Hawaii — including Mana Double Feature, which featured Sistah Shark. Now he’s hoping to bring another solo adventure for her to life.
What’s the deal? $10 gets you a print copy of the first issue, while for just a $1 you can get a PDF of Sistah Shark’s origin story. He’s also offering shirts, hats, visors, art prints and much more.
100 Demon Dialogues: Book & Plushie
Creators involved: Adventure cartoonist Lucy Bellwood
Deadline: July 31
Goal: $25,000 (funded!)
What to know: For 100 days Bellwood created comics featuring an annoying but cute demon who plays off her self-doubt and anxiety. “Sharing these illustrations induced a particular kind of catharsis: it turned out most everyone I knew was struggling with feelings of imposter syndrome and anxiety. Externalizing these conversations and giving them a humorous twist often enabled me to overcome my self-doubt and get on with the exciting business of Making Good Art—and it seemed to help other people do the same,” she said on the Kickstarter project’s page. They’re all available online, but now she’s looking to bring them to print.
What’s the deal? $8 gets you an ebook, while $15 gets you a softcover version. $25 will get you the ebook + a plushie version of the demon, suitable for hugging or maybe tossing into the wall when needed.
Girls Night Out
Creators involved: Amy Chu
Deadline: July 31
Goal: $10,000
What to know: This is another Kickstarter Gold project, where the popular crowdfunding site is bringing back successful projects for another run. Chu originally published Girls Night Out as a three-issue series, and this project will remaster and collect them into a trade paperback.
What’s the deal? $10 gets you a digital copy, while $28 gets you the print edition. Other reward levels offer some of her other comics, as well as coffee!
Quick hits:
The good folks at the Process Party Podcast have a Patreon going, where they offer supporters sketches, behind-the-scenes info and a “Patreon only” podcast feed with additional information from guests.
Felipe Smith, who reinvented Ghost Rider for Marvel, has a new project he plans to kickstart before Comic-Con International starts. Watch his Tumblr for more info.