The Comics Super Blog!
Find out about crowdfunding projects by Austin English, Vera Greentea, Charlie Stickney and Black Eye Books.
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, IndieGoGo and others. Here’s a look at a few recent campaigns that caught our eyes.
Who is involved? Domino Books, a small press publisher run by Austin English
Deadline: July 31
Goal: $6,000
Innovative small press publisher Hope Nicholson is making big waves to shake up the Canadian comics industry
Bedside Press, the Winnipeg-based small publisher, made a big announcement in the Hollywood Reporter today introducing a collaborative project to boost books and comics that have strong potential but no current access to the market.
Publisher Hope Nicholson formed Bedside Press in 2014 and spent the last five years navigating the comics publishing world and beyond, using already established publishers, Canadian arts grants and internet crowdfunding sites to help bring her books to print. Bedside Press is responsible for many books coming to print, including Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, and two Eisner Award-nominated anthologies: Enough Space for Everyone Else and Trina Robbins’ A Bunch of Jews (and other stuff) with various artists.
Continue reading “Bedside Press to launch mentorship and publishing programs for new comics creators”Find out about crowdfunding projects by Nick Cagnetti, Ominous Press, Doug Gray and … The Intergalactic Postal Service?
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.
Who is involved? Nick Cagnetti and It’s Alive! Press
Deadline: July 27
Goal: $2,000
Site editor Matt Bors says he plans to continue The Nib with member support.
First Look Media, which has funded The Nib for the past three years, will drop its support for the political/non-fiction comics site and lay off its staff at the end of July. Editor Matt Bors said he is working with First Look so they can “hand the publication over to me so that I can continue The Nib.”
In addition to the website, Bors also oversees a print edition of The Nib, with the fourth issue scheduled for July. He said a fifth issue is in the works, and he plans to print it independently.
“This will be a major setback but I will be devoting all my time to continuing this publication with contributions from all the editors and cartoonists who have made this publication what it is,” Bors said.
Continue reading “‘The Nib’ loses funding support from First Look Media”The creator of ‘The Poet and the Flea’ discusses ‘The Plague and Doctor Caim,’ which she is currently crowdfunding.
G.E. Gallas has been making historical comics for years and is currently crowdfunding her newest project, The Plague and Doctor Caim, about a 17th Century plague doctor. The image of a plague doctor is familiar to a lot of people, but the reality and experience of that period is rarely explored.
Gallas is perhaps best known for her comic The Poet and the Flea, an amazing story of the great William Blake, and here she’s returning to historical fiction with a very different story and an aesthetic and design that draws form illuminated manuscripts. Gallas is currently crowfunding the book on Unbound and we spoke recently about the book, research, and what’s funny about the plague.
Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: G.E. Gallas”Jason Bradley Thompson and Jumana Al Hashal discuss going from gamer to creator.
What’s it like to go from gaming to creating your own games?
The husband-and-wife team of Jason Bradley Thompson and Jumana Al Hashal have plenty to say on that topic. Both are serious gamers who are running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their second game, Cartooner: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics. Cartooner focuses on the creative elements of comics and allows anyone who can draw a stick figure to make their own—while the clock is ticking. We talked to Jason and Jumana about how they created a game that turns the players into comics creators, and they also shared some of the game art by Konstantin Pogorelov.
Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: Jason Thompson and Jumana Al Hashal on ‘Cartooner’”
The former ‘Sandman’ and “Fables’ artist seeks to crowdfund ‘Horror at Home Plate: League of Zombies,’ a 24-card set of zombified baseball players.
Shawn McManus’ comics work runs the gambit from Heavy Metal to Saga of the Swamp Thing to Dr. Fate to Sandman and many other titles, but now he’s turned his pen to something different — baseball cards. McManus is using Kickstarter to fund a set titled “Horror at Home Plate: League of Zombies” — so there’s a bit of a supernatural twist to them.
“This project started when I decided to paint a zombie baseball player just for fun between projects,” McManus said on the Kickstarter page. “I liked the retro look of it so I did another. Followed by one more, and then one after that. Before I knew it I had 24 of them done. I can’t tell you how much fun these were to do. I showed them to some fellow artists at lunch one day and someone suggested that I should do a Kickstarter campaign card set. So here we are. This seems to be a great way to share these cards with more than just family and a few friends.”
Continue reading “Shawn McManus looks to Kickstart zombie baseball cards”
New project out of their Portland, Oregon office will offer interviews, opinion pieces and more about ‘all aspects of the creative culture.’
IDW Publishing has launched a Kickstarter for Full Bleed, a hardcover “magazine” curated and edited by IDW Publishing’s Dirk Wood and CEO and Publisher Ted Adams. This is the first project coming out of their Portland, Oregon office, which was announced late last year.
Not to be confused with Matt Maxwell’s Full Bleed column-turned-book about the comics industry, IDW describes the project as a “brand-new quarterly, hand-crafted, print only, 200-page hardcover.” It will include interviews, short stories, opinion pieces and of course comics, covering “all aspects of the creative culture, and beyond — comics, music, film, TV, fine art, photography, design, politics and more.”
Continue reading “IDW Publishing launches Kickstarter for quarterly hardcover ‘magazine’”
Ray-Anthony Height, Vito Delsante, Éric Van Elslande and Action Lab Entertainment team up for the teenage superhero’s first ongoing series.
Ray-Anthony Height’s Midnight Tiger is looking to make a comeback at Action Lab Entertainment via an ongoing series, and the creator has recruited Stray writer Vito Delsante and artist Éric Van Elslande to help make it happen — and now they’ve turned to Kickstarter to ensure the young hero fights again.
Continue reading “Help ‘Midnight Tiger’ rise again via Kickstarter”
Plus: Tramp’s closing down, submissions open for a feminist critique of Whedon and more!
Indianapolis Star cartoonist Gary Varvel was surprised, and none too pleased, when Donald Trump Tweeted one of his cartoons—with some unauthorized alterations. The original cartoon, which was published in January, was a play on the “Trump train” trope, showing a Trump-branded locomotive with a donkey plastered on the front. (Varvel was careful to note that the donkey is “resisting” the train but not being flattened by it: “No cartoon donkeys were killed in the making of this cartoon,” he said.) Trump retweeted another version that replaced the donkey with a CNN logo, added a line about “fake news,” and cropped out Varvel’s signature.
Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: Trump tweets swiped and altered cartoon”
Check out — and help fund — projects from Felipe Smith, Hope Nicholson, Chris Wisnia and more.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Fund Me Friday: Zombie cop, gothic romance and more”
Plus: designing variant covers, Sonny Liew, Tillie Walden, Simon Hanselman, food in San Diego.
Veteran artist Mike Ploog, known to comic fans as the co-creator of Ghost Rider, announced he will be retiring after a 47-year career. His career began with Filmation, as a clean-up artist on Batman and Superman, and eventually was promoted to layouts. He moved onto Hanna-Barbera, continuing his layout work until he became the assistant to Will Eisner.
He made his comic book debut on Werewolf by Night in 1972. Since then, he was credited as a co-creator of Ghost Rider and notable artist on Man-Thing, Planet of the Apes and The Monster of Frankenstein. Later in his career, he did minimal comic work, but teamed with J.M. DeMatteis on Abadazad in 2004.
Continue reading “Comics Lowdown: ‘Abadazad,’ ‘Ghost Rider’ artist Mike Ploog to retire”
