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.
Death Metal Zombie Cop Issue #1
Creators involved: Felipe Smith
Deadline: Aug. 18
Goal: $22,000
What to know: Smith, who’s previous work includes All-New Ghost Rider for Marvel and Peepo Choo for Kodansha/Vertical, kickstarts his first creator-owned series. He says he’s been working on it for five years. The story revolves around two L.A. police officers, rookie Marco Miranda and his disillusioned training officer, Rhonda Riley. There’s also Death Metal Zombie Cop, “L.A.’s deadliest Urban Legend” who proves to be very real. Smith warns that the book will contain graphic violence and course language.
What’s the deal? The project funds the first issue of what Smith hopes will become an ongoing series. For $10 you can get a digital download of the 24-page issue, while $20 gets you a signed comic plus the download. Higher amounts bring pins, mini-prints, T-shirts, a 50-page art book, sketches and more.
Gothic Tales of Haunted Love: A Comics Anthology
Creators involved: Hope Nicholson and S.M. Beiko edit the anthology, which includes contributions from Amber Noelle and Allison Paige, Cecil Castellucci and Willow Dawson, Katie West and Ray Fawkes, Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris, Xavière Daumarie, Leslie Doyle, Scott Chantler, Rahzzah, David Lafuente, Nika and many more.
Deadline: Sept. 12
Goal: $21,671
What to know: Gothic Tales of Haunted Love is a 200-page, 7.5×10″ full-color anthology “in the vein of 1970s gothic romance comics such as Haunted Love, Ghostly Tales, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love and Gothic Romances.
When reviewing the 150+ fervent submissions we received for this anthology, we selected our table of contents with an eye for not only subverting stereotypes, but reimagining them with claws sunk deep. While you’ll still find swooners and ghosts and sprawling manses in these pages, you’ll also find heroines falling in love with ghostly heiresses, creeping dread in Jamaica, a helpful spirit in 1950s Vietnam, desperation in 1890s gold-rush Yukon, Mexican and Japanese folklore, fashion and murder in 1970s Taiwan, and a clear demonstration that ghostly love isn’t limited to white girls in white dresses and brooding lords in Victorian England.
In addition to the new material, the anthology will also include a reprinted story by Sanho Kim from the 1970s, and prints by Lou Marchetti and James Hill.
What’s the deal? For as little as $5 you can get a digital “sampler” of material from the anthology, or for $15 you can download the whole thing. A print copy costs $30, which comes with a bookplate and a mini-print. Additional levels get you more prints and other books by Bedside Press.
The Owl Tribe
Creators involved: Luke Cartwright
Deadline: Aug. 16
Goal: $3,979
What to know: The Owl Tribe was successfully crowd-funded and published in France, and now is looking to publish an English edition — so the story is written and drawn at this point. It’s set in pre-Columbus America and features “fantastic characters borrowed from the lore of native tribes while also drawing from Norse tales.”
What’s the deal? For AU$11 (about $9 in U.S. currency) you can get the digital edition, while AU$28 (or US$22 ) gets you the physical one. Additional reward tiers offer original artwork and commissions.
Quick hits:
Feeling dangerous? Chris Wisnia’s got a Patreon going for his Doris Danger Giant Monster Adventures comic. “It combines off-beat humor with my love of comics and Jack Kirby, 1950’s horror films, The X-Files and Twilight Zone, Ray Harryhausen, tabloid pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, sci-fi robots, and at least two other things!”
In a post on his Patreon page, Chris Schweizer shares that he wants to do a “car book” — then posts this image of a city on wheels:
