Category: Crowdfunding

Kesel and Grummett’s ‘Section Zero’ returns via Kickstarter

The former Gorilla Comics title could finally be completed, with your help.

Back in 2000 several creators whose names most comic fans will recognize came together and formed their own imprint, Gorilla Comics. Although the imprint didn’t last long, several of the titles that originated under it went on to find new life — Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s Empire, for instance, ended up at DC, while Tellos by Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo was Published through Image Comics (which initially published all the Gorilla titles).

Karl Kesel, the Eisner Award-winning inker who also has written comics like Fantastic Four and Harley Quinn, teamed up with Tom Grummett (they created the 1990s Superboy together) to create a six-issue miniseries called Section Zero for Gorilla Comics. Only three issues were completed, however, as Kesel had to step away for personal reasons. After a brief return in 2012 as a webcomic, Kesel and Grummett have turned to Kickstarter to “help us finally finish what we begun.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: Ekstrom & Brownfield on Imminent Press and ‘Terminal’

Two members of the newly formed collective discuss their current Kickstarter campaign as it nears its completion date.

In January, a new comics imprint, Imminent Press, took to Kickstarter to raise funds to bring their graphic novel anthology, titled Terminal, to life. The campaign failed.

But more importantly, they didn’t give up.

The second time’s the charm, as they dusted themselves off and retooled their project and campaign. Now with less than a week left, they’ve hit their funding goal for the first issue of a Terminal miniseries, with hopes that they can earn enough to publish the second issue as well. Contributors to the project include a mix of veteran and emerging comic and webcomic creators, along with several names you might recognize from the comic press — one of whom is even our former boss.

I spoke with two members of their “board,” Steve Ekstrom and Troy Brownfield, about Imminent Press, Terminal, their Kickstarter campaign and more.

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Retrofit/Big Planet announces Spring line and new Kickstarter

Retrofit Comics has just announced a Kickstarter to fund their spring line. Here’s the lineup:

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‘Swords of the Swashbucklers’ sails again

Kickstarter for a new collection of Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice’s classic Epic Comics series funds in under 24 hours.

Dynamite Entertainment is looking to bring Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice’s Swords of the Swashbucklers back into print, and they’ve turned to Kickstarter to do it. And less than 24 hours into their campaign, they’re already 100 percent funded.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Swords of the Swashbucklers began life as a graphic novel from Marvel back in 1984, followed by a a series that ran for 12 issues under their Epic Comics banner. It’s about a teenage girl whose parents are kidnapped by an alien empire, so she joins up with a crew of space pirates to try and save them.

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Pony up $6 to support Bailey and Vaughn’s ‘Deadwater’

New 28-page “rom-spense” Western comic available via Kickstarter for one week only.

During March, Kickstarter has been actively encouraging an initiative they call “All in 1” — “a creative sprint to help you bring something new to life, simply and swiftly. Run a one-week project so you can get right to the fun part — creating.”

Cuzak Bailey and Jen Vaughn have done just that, creating a 28-page “rom-spense” comic called Deadwater, available via the crowdfunding site for one week only.

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Delsante, Cabaleiro kickstart ‘The Golden Guard’

New comic + RPG features a Golden Age superhero team transported to today — and they don’t like what they see.

Stray co-creator Vito Delsante has returned to Kickstarter with artist Carlos Cabaleiro to fund The Golden Guard, a 48-page comic with back matter that includes its own roleplaying game.

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Second volume of ‘Fresh Romance’ hits Kickstarter

New volume includes comics by Sally Jane Thompson, Cecil Castellucci and more.

The romance comics anthology Fresh Romance returned to Kickstarter this week, courtesy of the book’s new publisher Emet Comics.

Maytal Gilboa, CEO of Emet Comics, emailed backers of the first volume (of which I am one) on International Women’s Day to announce the new volume. “Fresh Romance was a romance anthology founded by Janelle Assellin in 2015 as a way to promote female and LGBT creators, and to showcase diverse stories about love,” she said. “Fresh Romance Volume 1 was a huge success, being published by Oni Press, and selling over 3,000 copies to devoted readers. When Janelle retired last year, she gave us her blessing to continue the series, and we’re doing everything in our power to make good on the promises that were made to everyone who rooted for this series to succeed.”

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You have a week to help save ‘The F1rst Hero’

Anthony Ruttgaizer’s book about insane extrahumans was canceled by Diamond, but you can help bring it to print through Kickstarter.

In Anthony Ruttgaizer‘s The F1rst Hero, anyone who develops super powers goes insane … until Jake Roth gains them. Then he has to decide whether he’s going to use them to help people and potentially put himself in danger from the U.S. Extrahuman Task Force, which hunts down these “extrahumans.”

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Teenagers quest for porn in ‘Smutt & Jeff’

Kody Chamberlain, Gavin Guidry, K. Michael Russell and Rob Guillory seek support to publish a new comic about one boy’s mission to find porn. Pre-internet, of course.

It’s a rite of passage that every teenage boy likely went through in the 1980s, before the internet made it so easy — seeing your first porn magazine. Now Kody Chamberlain, Gavin Guidry, K. Michael Russell and Rob Guillory are looking to bring one such teen’s mission to life in Smutt & Jeff. And they’ve turned to Kickstarter to help make it happen for Jeff.

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Mike Dawson’s ‘Sad-Boy’ zine satirizes 90s autobiographical comics

The ‘Rules For Dating My Daughter’ creator returns with an old-school zine satirizing autobiographical cartooning.

“Rules For Dating My Daughter” creator Mike Dawson has gone old school with a new ‘zine about “lonely navel-gazing mopey sad-boys.” And he’s using Kickstarter to fund it.

“Sad-Boy Comix and Stories” satirizes 1990s-style autobiographical cartooning. “Read comics about Sad-Boys adventures on e-Bay, first dates, and his experiences tabling at SPX (the Small Press Expo), all the while making the case that comics don’t have to be limited to infantile stories about grown men in tights punching each other – they can be about real world concerns, like being twenty two years old and liking to look at porn magazines and R. Crumb drawings,” the Kickstarter page reads.

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‘Stray’ kickstarts a new bi-monthly series

Writer Vito Delsante and artist Sean Izaakse raise money to publish a new series starring their independent superhero creation.

The team behind the independent superhero comic “Stray” returned this month with a new Kickstarter for a new ongoing series, and a new, additional artist for their first arc. With their Kickstarter funded in a couple of days, now they’re adding several additional stretch goals to the campaign.

Writer Vito Delsante and artist Sean Izaakse funded a “Stray” miniseries through Kickstarter back in 2013, which eventually ended up at Action Lab Entertainment. The story focuses on Rodney Weller, the former teen sidekick to the superhero known as Doberman. When his mentor is killed, Rodney returns to action after five years to solve the murder as Stray. In addition to the miniseries, Stray also appeared in the “Actionverse” crossover series with Molly Danger and Midnight Tiger. It’s kind of to “Nightwing” what “Invincible” is to “Superboy” — and I mean that in a good way.

Joining the creative team for the first arc is artist Phil Cho. As the first arc takes place in both the past and present, Cho will draw the flashback sequences while Izaakse will draw the present-day story.

According to their Kickstarter page: “We are starting a new era for ‘Stray’ as it makes the jump from mini-series to a bi-monthly ongoing at Action Lab Entertainment. When last we saw Rodney, he was one of the heroes saving the world in ‘Actionverse.’ As a result of those events, he has decided to do more for the common man, to leave the ‘superheroing’ to the heroes with super powers. But, things don’t go as he planned as he is pulled into a grand cosmic conspiracy that involves the first girl he ever kissed and a hostile alien force known only as The Intolerance.”

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Read more about the book and their stretch goals on Kickstarter. In addition to the campaign, Delsante and Izaakse have also created a shirt featuring the character to benefit the StubbyDog organization.

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Love ain’t just in the air: ‘Fresh Romance’ heads to print

The romance comic anthology returns with a new Kickstarter and publisher, Oni Press.

Fresh Romance, the romance comic anthology that raised more than $50,000 via crowdfunding last year, returns to Kickstarter today to raise funds for a print collection.

The collection, which will be published by Oni Press, will include all the stories that appeared in the digital anthology thus far in a 6×9 paperback format — or hardcover “if we hit our goal early in the campaign,” the project page reads. In addition, series editor Janelle Asselin is making sure the original creators receive a piece of the reward:

With these talented creators on board, Fresh Romance forges a new future for romance comics with modern characters, stories and a wide array of genres. These stories are all creator-owned and the creators have been paid a page rate for their work already thanks to our previous Kickstarter, which covered the cost of producing six issues. The primary use for the funds raised from this Kickstarter is the cost of printing and distributing the physical book. Anything we earn above and beyond the goal will go to creating more FRESH ROMANCE comics.

Still, paying creators fairly is a cornerstone of the Rosy Press business model; we wouldn’t exist without the hard work of creators, so we firmly believe they should be compensated fairly and retain control over their work. So when we hit our goal and for every $10,000 we go over our goal, every single creator whose work is included in this collection will get a one-time bonus of 2x their page rate.

Here’s a rundown of the comics that have appeared in the anthology; “Beauties” and “The Ruby Equation” were my favorites:

  • School Spirit by Kate Leth, Arielle Jovellanos, Amanda Scurti, and Taylor Esposito. School Spirit is the story of four teens embroiled in keeping their love lives secret from everyone around them. It’s never quite that simple, though, and complications for this group include bigoted parents and witch-y powers!
  • Ruined is an historical romance by Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Ryan Ferrier featuring a couple entering a loveless marriage at the prompting of society and their families. The future looks bleak for Andrew and Catherine, but there’s more to each of them than either one knows. (Just chapter 1 — 60 pages of story — will be included)
  • The Ruby Equation stars a cynical matchmaker from another dimension who has to learn to believe in love for real! But is a coffee shop the right place to learn lessons of love? Written by Sarah Kuhn, drawn by Sally Jane Thompson, colored by Savanna Ganucheau, and lettered by Steve Wands.
  • Beauties by Marguerite Bennett, Trungles, and Rachel Deering takes readers to a lush fantasy world where the beautiful are beastly and the beasts are beautiful — and true love can be either.

The print edition will feature a cover by Kevin Wada, which you can check out below:

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For more information or to pledge, check out the Kickstarter page.