Welcome back to The Beat‘s weekly crowdfunding comics round-up! Each week we’ll spotlight comics projects we think would be a great investment, whether it’s a one-shot story or a sprawling anthology. This week’s round-up includes a brand-new anthology from The Nib titled Be Gay, Do Comics, a webcomic collection from the Johnny Wander team, and more.

Let’s get going!

1. Windsurfer #1

Windsurfer #1

Goal: Approx $6,500 USD
Ends: Mon, November 25 2019 5:51 AM EST
Creators: Carl LaniʻKeha Shinyama
Best Value Tier: $5 USD for a digital copy
In addition to battling super-villains in the backdrop of modern Hawaiʻi, at the heart of WINDSURFER are stories about the timeless and uniquely Hawaiian concepts of ALOHA, PONO, and KULEANA, allowing us to tell new superhero stories we’ve yet to see anywhere in the world.

The cover for Windsurfer #1 is gorgeous — creator Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama delivers bright, vibrant colors that will that will brighten your spirits and leave you curious for more. This is his first comic and first Kickstarter project, but he’s up front about the schedule and potential challenges, and if you can donate at the $5 digital-only level, the potential for this delightful Hawaiian take on a superhero tale sounds worth the investment.

You can back the campaign here.

2. Be Gay, Do Comics: a queer comics anthology

Be Gay, Do Comics

Goal: $30,000 USD
Ends: Thu, December 19 2019 9:57 AM EST
Creators: Anthology, published by The Nib
Best Value Tier: $5 for a digital copy
Be Gay, Do Comics will be a 250 page hardcover comic anthology featuring queer history, memoir, and satire from The Nib—a homosexual behemoth highlighting the many amazing LGBTQ cartoonists we’ve had the joy of working with. With your support Be Gay, Do Comics will be our finest book yet.

The Nib is back at it again with an all-star roster of queer creators on this brand-new anthology, including Annie Mok, Bianca Xunise, and Shing Yin Khor. The Nib has consistently delivered incredible comics that run the gamut from deeply personal and touching biographical work to gut-bustingly funny satire, and Be Gay, Do Comics promises to do the same. There are plenty of great add-ons here too including some great enamel pins, and there will be an option to add them on in BackerKit later if you don’t want to commit to a higher dollar tier for one extra item. Also great to see The Nib credit Io Ascarium’s “Be Gay, Do Crime” meme that inspired the title!

You can back the campaign here.

You can grab Be Gay, Do Crime merch for yourself here, and also check out ABO Comix, a collective co-founded by Io Ascarium that works with LGBTQI prisoners to help elevate their vocies through art.

3. BARBAROUS CHAPTER 3 – LEEDS-SIZED EDITION

Barbarous Ch. 3

Goal: $10,080 USD
Ends: Fri, November 22 2019 11:59 PM EST
Creators: Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota
Best Value Tier: $10 for a PDF of Chapter 3, $26 for PDFs of Chapters 1-3
Persephone Mori has a job! She’s been brought on to assist Leeds, the superintendent of an apartment building. It all sounds too mundane for a wizard college dropout, but the devil’s in the details: Leeds is a towering monster man, the landlord is a mysterious woman with a skeleton hand, and the building… well, the building is weird.

This campaign collects the third chapter of Ota and Hirsh’s beautifully illustrated Barbarous, and also offers monster boyfriend pillows as a reward, if that’s your jam. As with most webcomic campaigns you can check out Barbarous for free on-line before you buy — if you like what you see, but prefer to binge-read, the $26 tier will get you a digital library of all the collected volumes so far. If you pledge for a physical reward, the campaign notes they’re not collecting shipping up front but will calculate more accurate individual parcel shipping costs during the fulfillment process.

You can back the campaign here.

4. Action Tank – Book 2! (and also Book 1)

Action Tank! Book 2

Goal: Approx $6,787 USD
Ends: Wed, December 18 2019 2:53 PM EST
Creators: Mike Barry
Best Value Tier: Approx $10 USD for a PDF of both books
A galaxy-spanning graphic novel series about friendship, discovery, and how far one boy will go for his mum’s spaghetti carbonara.

People underestimate how difficult it is to make comics for kids — it’s not just about story content, but about creating art that’s easy to parse for relatively new readers and engaging for any skill level, not just the precocious readers a lot of us like to remember ourselves as in adulthood. Mike Barry nails it on all counts: Action Tank is a delightful action-packed tale perfect for the younger readers he touts it as aimed as (7-12 year olds). The designs are fun, the layouts eye-popping and easy to follow, and it’s just plain cute. $10 is a steal for two books, especially since book two clocks in at more than 250 pages.

You can back the campaign here.

The following campaigns from previous round-ups are still running:

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