Kickstarter Highs and Lows...

 

Kickstarter can be a really strange place.  Take our current outing with The Book of Stephen.  On the first day of the campaign, we managed to attract several first time backers and several high priced reward tiers were selected.  I mean, Wow! What a way to kick off a campaign.  But since then, we’ve only had a slow trickle of new followers to the campaign and even fewer new backers.  I’m no sure what happened, but I have faith that it’s going to work out.  I’m continuing to shamelessly promote the campaign on social media, and I feel like it’s getting a lot of positive response.  I have a feeling that the majority of our funding is going to come in the final week of the campaign.  The last campaign we launched for the Freedom Fighter Comic book had a similar kind of backer pattern.  It wasn’t until the last 48 hours of the campaign that we managed to pull in the rest of the funds needed to meet our goal.  We even went over our goal some, which was an outstanding feeling! 

The idea of canceling the campaign, revamping or even relaunching on IndieGoGo has crossed my mind, but I think should see this one out.  Meeting the goal on The Book of Stephen Kickstarter is really all that I would like to do.  However, I do dream of the opportunity to announce some great stretch goals and surpass our goal by hundreds, maybe even thousands!  It can still be done!  There are still 16 days in the campaign.  We can still do this!

If you haven’t yet, please check out The Book of Stephen Kickstarter.  If pledging isn’t something that you can do at this time for whatever reason, I really would appreciate if you help spread the word about this campaign.  I think that we have some great rewards and add ons, so hopefully you can find something that suits you.  If there’s something you’d like to see, by all means reach out and tell me.  Maybe I can make it happen. 

THE BOOK OF STEPHEN ON KICKSTARTER

As always, thank you so much for your help and support in the past and whatever you can provide now.  I hope that you are all well, and still supporting indie comics everywhere!

Review: The Catch (Comic Series)

Ok, let’s talk about The Catch.  A series from Atomic Tiki Studio, The Catch is a fun twist on the superhero genre.  The book is brought to us by Steve Bryant (Writer & Letterer), Ismael Canales (Pencils & Inks), Roger Surroca (Colors), and Chris Murrin (Editor).  The Catch is another book that I found on Kickstarter, and this book certainly attests to the idea that the best comics out there today are indie and are found on crowdfunding sites.  

The Story:  Lucy Chase is a skip trace, however in her world a lot of the skips that she is tasked with tracking down are super powered criminals.  How is this regular world girl able to get the leg up on some supers you might ask?  Well, for starters she’s very witty, clever, and she was trained by the best, her father.  Also, because of her appearance, it appears that some of her adversaries underestimate her abilities.  It also doesn’t hurt that Lucy’s mother is the Deputy Marshal.  Oh yeah, and she maintains a complicated romantic relationship with a detective under her mother’s command.  These two relations allow her access to some helpful devices in securing her target.  While tracing one of her targets, Lucy stumbles into a multifaceted conspiracy to retrieve a flash drive that contains information compiled by the recently discovered deceased superhero, Mid-Knight.  The information on the drive?  Well, it’s only filled with contingency protocols on how to stop every super powered vigilante and criminal on the streets!  Lucy has gotten herself into something deep, and I just know that the story is just beginning.

First off, the art team knocked it out of the park.  From the line work, to the logo design, to the coloring, the book is put together very professionally.  Obviously, artwork that is consistent and easy on the eyes makes for an enjoyable read, and this creative team delivers.  

I am hooked into this story so far.  I have read issue 1 and 2, and I totally dig the characters and their back stories (or at least what has been revealed to us so far).  Yeah, some of the characters are obvious parodies of other popular heroes from other mainstream books; but in my opinion, these types of familiarities are what help to draw a reader into a new title.  However, the characters that are not familiar in some way still come off relatable.  Lucy’s personal struggles appear to always be looming, but she uses her devotion to her craft as a skip-trace to ignore them.  It’s only a band aid, and I think she knows that it will eventually peel away; but these are ideal elements to build a complex character that a reader can relate to.  

The Catch is really a fun read, and I would certainly recommend that you find a copy and read it.  I myself am looking forward to reading issue #3 and further.  Oh, well look at that, the creators have just launched another Kickstarter for the third book!  Now might be the perfect time for you to catch up.  If you check out the rewards, you will find that you can get the other books in this campaign as well.  Go on, check it out and support another great indie comic series!  Thanks, and keep reading!

Check Out THE CATCH on Kickstarter!

Acts of Contrition Vol. 3 Is Coming to Kickstarter!

 

The Third and Final Installment to the Acts of Contrition Graphic Novel Series is coming to Kickstarter!

It's bitter sweet, but the series that I've poured my heart into is coming to an end!  The Neo Noir Crime thriller will come to a conclusion in "The Book of Stephen."  Of course, bringing this final book to Kickstarter wasn't the original plan; but because of the current global situation, it seemed to be the most logical one.  On account of the COVID19 pandemic, I have not been able to attend any comic conventions this year which is where we tend to make most of our sales and get the most exposure.  Late last year, we successfully used Kickstarter late to fund the printing of Freedom Fighter #10, and we gained a lot of new readers because of it.  My hope is that the Acts of Contrition series will receive a similar response with The Book of Stephen Kickstarter.

The campaign has not yet launched, but I plan to hit the "Go" button in the next couple of days.  I'm really just waiting on Kickstarter to approve the campaign.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a preview of the campaign with everyone in hopes that I could get some feedback before the launch.  Tell me what you think of it.  Are the rewards exciting enough?  Do they seem fair?  Any misspellings, or awkwardly composed sentences?  

So, please, if you have a moment, follow this link and see what you think.  I hope you consider following and backing the campaign.  I will post again when we launch!  Thanks for reading!

The Book of Stephen Kickstarter

 

Review: The Reset (Comic Book)

Okay, I really wanted to pace myself on writing this review.  The Reset is another book that I had backed on Kickstarter.  This was actually a book that I had been looking forward to for a long time, as it promised a “comic of high concept sci-fi action, time travel and corporate espionage!”  Well, let’s dive right in.

The Reset is brought you us by:  Writer:  Matt Kund  -  Artist:  Kevin Zimmerman  -  Colorist:  Ertan Ceyhan  --  Editor/Letterer:  Noah Ray

The world is about experience a catastrophic event.  A scientist, Mr. Crais, has discovered some sort of time travel/teleportation that will allow him to “reset” the world to a certain point in history to essentially save the human race.  The Reset follows James, Mr Crais’s former partner, and James’ team as they try to stop Mr. Crais and his plan, which is to allow the rich and powerful of the world to maintain their wealth and power after the “reset” for a fee of 20%. 

***Maybe Some SPOILERS Below***

On the first page of the book, right away, I am intrigued.  The artwork sets a somber mood for the situation at hand, and in five panels and less than ten words, I already want to know more about the world that this book is based in.  Unfortunately, things get a little choppy from here on out.  We meet the main character, James, as he heads into work.  What he does for a living is as much of a mystery to us as is what the world he lives in.  James rescues a homeless child from being beat up by some looters inside James’ place of work.  James decides that the child can make it up to him by cleaning some labs.  Kind of strange, but I assume that this will be a fun Indiana Jones/Short Round friendship throughout the book.  Wrong.  Though the child appears to be part of the “team” in the next few pages he disappears from the cast faster than he appeared.  We do meet James’ female teammate whose name is… hmm…  I don’t think they ever mention her name anywhere.  Anyway, the pair is soon joined by another character named, Alan.  Together, they track Crais’s movements, and try to steal and recreate Crais’s tech.  Meanwhile, Crais is wining and dining with the rich and famous as they all contend for their spot in the reset.  The story advances pretty fast for a complex story, and in the end, I’m afraid I really don’t understand what happens.  I’m not sure if the reset happens, or what James’ team was really trying to accomplish, or if they even did it.

The artwork in the Rest is amazing.  The colors and linework are on point and they set the mood for all the scenes.  However, I feel like a lot of the story telling was put on the artists shoulders by the lack of advancing dialogue.  The effort was obviously put forward, but in the end, I was still quite confused on how the story ended.

The story concept was intriguing; The world is ending, and a miracle breakthrough in science will allow the human race to survive in the past… but at what point does the world reset too?  Of course, giving one person the power to decide the fate of the world is going to breed corruption, that plot device is no surprise.  Where I feel the Reset falls short is their characters.  Short of the first names (at least in most cases) we know extraordinarily little about the cast other than they are super smart and sneaky.  Okay, we at least also know that James was previously partners with Crais, but what they actually did together, and what caused them to break their partnership is a complete mystery.  On top of that, James and team’s plan isn’t exactly clear either.  It’s clear that they are capable of infiltrating Crais’s labs undetected, so if stopping him was the plan, I’m not sure why they couldn’t do that with the skills that they possess.

I wanted this book to be a great read, I really did.  It had a lot of potential.  This isn’t a terrible read, but I feel I must give it no more than 3.5 Stars out of 5.  The characters just were not relatable and there wasn’t enough context to the story.  Maybe they tried to squeeze way too much into 20 pages?  Perhaps it would have been better to plan it as 4 issue series… or perhaps a short introduction in the front of the book to set the scene?  Maybe I missed something, or maybe I just had higher expectations for this book, either way, this is just one comic reader’s humble opinion.  Please feel free to make your own judgements.   You can find The Reset here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattkund/the-reset?ref=discovery&term=the%20reset  and  Here:  https://www.facebook.com/theresetcomic/   

Review: "Sidekick For Hire" #1 & #2 (Comic Book Series)

Sidekick For Hire is another book series that I had recently backed on Kickstarter.  We always hear the story of the superhero—the main character wearing the cape and struggling to balance his/her everyday life with their hero persona.  But what about the sidekick?  On the outside, this book looks like a fun and sometime quirky superhero book, but it also manages to twist in some seriousness to the main protagonists life choices.

Sidekick For Hire is brought to you by:  Writer:  Kristian Herrera  -  Artist:  Rick Alves  -  Colorist:  Veronica Saraceno (Issue #1) & Jimmy Greenhalgh (Issue #2)  -  Letterer:  Toben Racicot  -  Logo Design:  Winston Gambro

The main character, Leo, is currently the sidekick to a hero with a bit of a reputation:  Captain Ultra.  Leo is going by the alias of Kid Alpha.  Leo reveals that he had achieved this “position” by placing an ad on an online job search site; he simply posted that he was looking to be a sidekick for pay.  From the start it looks like Leo is doing his sidekick gig with ease, but he apparently isn’t very good at it.  While busting up a gang of thieves, Leo takes a moment to check his messages and because of this careless interruption, Captain Ultra is shot and killed from behind—Tragically, this apparently isn’t the first time a hero has died while Leo has been assisting.  I suppose that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again… and again.  Leo places another ad online and awaits his next job offer.  Meanwhile, we get to see how Leo has been balancing his crime fighting career with his regular life.  Leo is in school; he has a male friend that he confides his alter ego life to, and he has supportive yet clueless parents that he visits regularly.  On top of that, it’s pretty clear that Leo’s poor ability to juggle his two lives is going to cost him a possible relationship with the girl that he’s obviously crushing on.  By the end of issue #1, it’s revealed that something more went on the night that Captain Ultra was murdered; something that will haunt Leo for the rest of his life. 

Okay, let’s unwrap this thing; I love this story concept.  I’ve read other sidekick books (from other creators) in the past, and this one holds up alongside them in my book.  Sidekick For Hire adds the twist that the sidekick is an actually occupation.  Leo is a pretty relatable character.  Although he has some fighting skills and dubs himself a “has-been gymnast,” he’s also a pretty clumsy guy that makes a lot of mistakes.  As far as villains go, Leo really is his own worst enemy.  He knows that he can get other jobs—safer jobs—to pay his bills, however he decides to follow a very unconventional occupational route just because he can’t stand working a regular job.  Not very smart, but it makes for a fun read.   

The artwork fits the book on every level.  I like all the colorful scenes, and the fun character designs.  I think that the concept for this book was well planned and had a firm theme that they had set in place.  Kudos to the art team!  They are all certainly working on a professional level!

As enjoyable as these first two books were, by the final page of Issue #2 it’s clear that these first two books were only setting the stage for the real story to begin. 

I love super hero comic books, but it’s important that we don’t forget about all the sidekicks out there that usually keep them from getting killed.  I give Sidekick For Hire a solid 5 out of 5 Stars.  I’m assuming that SideKick For Hire #3 will most likely come in the form of a Kickstarter campaign, and if so, I would recommend getting in on that one!  Sidekick For Hire is also available on ComiXology:  https://www.comixology.com/Sidekick-For-Hire-1/digital-comic/820948

REVIEW: "From Blood" (Comicbook Series)

So, I just finished reading issue #3 of From Blood, from Cosmic Times.  I supported this series on Kickstarter on their issue 1 campaign, where I was able to secure one of the foil covered variants of the book.  Somehow, I missed the Kickstarter campaign for issue #2, but I made up for it on the Issue #3 campaign and picked up all 3 issues.

FROM BLOOD is brought to you by the Following:

Story, Script, Pencils & Inks By:  Zach Bassett -- Story & Inks By:  James Whynot  --  Script & Edits By:  Martin T. Pierro  --  Colors By: Victorino Muyo JR  --  Letters By:  Michael Moore  --  Published By: Cosmic Times 

First off, From Blood is a little different from the books that I’ve seen come out of Cosmic Times.  In the past I had considered Cosmic Times to be more of a “family friendly” publisher that steers away from the heavy violence, blood and profanity.  Other than the profanity being bleeped out, From Blood covers all the rest of the bases that they had steered away from in the past.

The story opens in a mental institution where Dr. Reese is trying to make some sense of her patient, Patient 27, who has not spoken in 10 years and is prone to violent fits of rage.  As Dr. Reese attempts to make an emotional connection with Patient 27, she discovers that Patient 27 apparently can not be harmed—his body is indestructible.  Key the violent riot, and suddenly Dr. Reese and Patient 27 are escaping the mental institution to find out what gave him his strength, and what terrible sins it is that he is hiding from.  All the while, the couple is being chased by a covert government agency hell bent on unlocking Patient 27’s power for their own diabolical schemes. 

The cover art was the first thing that drew my attention to From Blood.  It shows Patient 27 crouched, with a powerful stare that is meant to instill fright, and his body appears to be covered in blood.  A lot of questions stirred in me, mostly that I wanted to see if this character had any depth or if this was just another gore filled splatter book?  But before I get to that, let me stay on the art.  I love the artwork.  It is readable.  I can’t say that about every indie comicbook that I read, either.  It’s clear what’s happening in every panel, and the art tells the story even when text is not present.  That’s what makes good comic book art.  That being said, it certainly didn’t hurt at all that the line work, and colors in From Blood are spot on also.  The use of all the “cool” tones sets to mood for the emotion that Patient 27 is experiencing—it puts you in the mental institution.  Great work by the art team.   

So, on the outside, yeah, the squabble for a super soldier serum kind of storyline has been done a million times over, so what makes From Blood stand out?  It’s the characters.  Each character had a well thought out personality and back story that adds to the suspense and the twist to the arc.  Dr. Reese, a divorcee that struggles with her own insecurities in her life choices and her faith—Marco carrying a heap of guilt and uncertainty in his actions against his friend—and of course Patient 27 and the source of all his rage and his drive—each character has an interesting part to play in this story and in turn engages the reader to root for them.  I can’t say this enough, characters are what make a good story. 

If I had to pick on something in From Blood, (which I don’t have to, but I will for the sake of balance), it would be the final antagonist in the story.  I found him to be bland in design and his back story was too much evil political scientist that somehow appears to have a license to do whatever he wants.  To me From Blood is a character driven story, and the villain’s character just felt a little blah compared to the rest of the cast. 

This series is a solid 4.5 out of 5 Stars for me.  A very entertaining read that I'm proud to have supported.  I would highly recommend you give this title a chance and consider checking out more titles from Cosmic Times!

Where to Find it:  http://cosmictimes.net/shop/

So, I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything to this blog, but I'm here today with some new stuff!  My comic book series, Freedom Fighter has been reaching new heights recently, and we've decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the release of the Milestone 10th issue! 

This is all super exciting for me, and a little nerve racking.  This is our first Kickstarter for Freedom Fighter, and I really want it to go well.  We've set our goal at a reasonable $800 to cover the printing and shipping costs for the book.  So far, we have reached 52% of our goal with 22 days to go!

Freedom Fighter is about a superhero that is owned and operated by the government; he's kind of a superhero spy.  Over the past 9 issues, Freedom Fighter has found that he can't be sent on a mission without discovering a new conspiracy that his superior officers are trying to cover up.  Now he's discovered a big one:  The Unity!

Freedom Fighter is 007 crosses Inspector Gadget.  So, if you're a fan of fun superheroes and witty spy thrillers, then you should definitely check out Freedom Fighter on Kickstarter Today!


We have a lot of great Rewards for your pledge, as well as some cool Milestone Rewards that will be unlocked as the campaign progresses.  Please consider pledging to our campaign.  And if you can't, please at least consider sharing it on your social media.  The only way that we can get funded is if people can find the campaign.  Thank you to everyone that has helped out so far!  Let's get this book funded! 

FREEDOM FIGHTER 10 ON KICKSTARTER