Fund Me Monday: ‘Trekker,’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and more

Check out new projects from Ron Randall, Birdcage Bottom Books, Ballot Box Comics and more.

As crowdfunding continue to become a viable method for creators to fund their creative endeavors, comic-related projects flourish on sites like Kickstarter, Patreon and IndieGoGo. The internet also allows creators to sell their projects direct to fans, through sites like Gumroad, Etsy and of course their own websites. If you’re looking to buy something from or support a creator directly, you’ve come to the right place.

Here’s a look at a few recent projects that fall into those buckets that caught my eye. Send any suggestions of your own to jkparkin@yahoo.com.

TREKKER: THE COMPLETE JOURNEY Vol I

Creators involved: Ron Randall
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Randall has been telling the story of Mercy St. Clair, a bounty hunter in the 23rd century, since the 1980s. This collection will include 470 pages of her adventures, about 200 of which were previously only available in black and white, first published by Dark Horse. He also has plans for new stories after the release of this hardcover.

What’s the deal? $25 gets you the digital version, while $50 gets you the hardcover. Hurry, though; the campaign ends Feb. 20.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & the Freshman Force: Collected

Creators involved: Ballot Box Comics
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Ballot Box Comics is the new political imprint from Devil’s Due, and this is the book that was probably the genesis of the new imprint. It collects the fictionalized stories of freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other political figures, by creators like Tim Seeley, Jill Thompson, Dean Haspiel and more.

What’s the deal? $10 gets you the digital collection, while $20 gets you a print copy.

Birdcage Bottom Books 2020 publications

Creators involved: J.T. Yost, Lance Ward, Patrick Dean, November Garcia, Thomas Lampion, Mike Freiheit
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Indie comics publisher Birdcage Bottom Books is raising funds to publish their 2020 titles, which include three graphic novels and two comics. They are:

  • Flop Sweat #1 by Lance Ward
  • Malarkey #5 by November Garcia
  • Eddie’s Week by Patrick Dean
  • The Burning Hotels by Thomas Lampion
  • WOODS by Mike Freiheit

What’s the deal? You can pledge to receive individual copies of the publications, or you can go all in and get all five of them for $50. Also, for every copy of Eddie’s Week sold, they’ll donate $2 to ALSA in honor of Patrick Dean, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis back in 2018.

ELECTRIC YOUTH #1

Creators involved: Kyle Roberts, Clay Adams, Rafael Dantas and Emilio Pilliu
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Despite the title, Debbie Gibson is not involved. No, this is the story of a kid who goes dumpster diving and ends up finding a dead body … then things get weird.

Ever feel like you weren’t the kid your parents wanted you to be? Jeff Eckard does. And when he and his dad move to Irvine, California in the Fall of 1989, things only get worse. Because almost all the kids in this boring-ass town seem gut-churningly perfect. So when Jeff and his friends go dumpster diving behind the local Quickie Mart, they’re just looking for a little…stimulation? Instead, Jeff finds a dead body. 

Only, no one believes him. Not his friends, not his dad, no one. It’s up to Jeff to get the evidence himself, but his investigation uncovers an even more horrifying secret…

What’s the deal?$6 gets you a digital copy of the 28-page first issue, while $12 gets you a signed physical copy.

MIDNIGHT TIGER #3: End of the Beginning

Creators involved: Ray-Anthony Height
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Ray-Anthony height’s Midnight Tiger has been featured in several other Actionverse titles from Action Lab, but his own miniseries hit a snag after issue #2. Height is looking to get it back on track with this Kickstarter campaign for the third issue.

The story revolves around young high school senior  Gavin Shaw, a disillusioned teen living in the crime infested city of Apollo Bay, California who’s lost faith in the heroes he admired growing up. After attempting to save the life of the gravely injured hero known as Lionsblood, Gavin finds himself waking up in a hospital bed days later with amazing new abilities. He becomes Apollo Bay’s very own superhero, MIDNIGHT TIGER , and becomes an inspiration to his community!

What’s the deal? As little as $2 gets you a digital copy of the third issue, while higher tiers get you extras and original artwork.

Bricks of the MOUSE GUARD

Creators involved: David Petersen, Crazy Bricks
Platform: Kickstarter

What to know: Typically I try to just cover comics here, but I thought this might be of interest to any Mouse Guard fans out there.

“Back in 2015, to celebrate Mouse Guard’s 10th anniversary, The Seattle ArchLUG group put on an amazing Mouse Guard LEGO display at Emerald City Comic Con,” Petersen wrote on his blog. “To have mini-figures for the installation, BOOM! and I licensed Mouse Guard to Guy Himber of Crazy Bricks to manufacture LEGO-Mini-Fig-compatible mouse heads and specialty Mouse Guard accessories.”

This is actually the second Kickstarter campaign for Mouse Guard minifigures; money from this campaign will be used to produce new version of the first figures they made:

Plus several new ones:

What’s the deal? The minifigures are basically $20 each, with some discounts for buying multiples. $108 gets you the six new figures, while $234 gets you the entire set, old and new.

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