Welcome to this week’s installment of The Beat’s Comics Crowdfunding Round-Up! This week we’ve got five high-quality projects from well-known creators and publishers from various backgrounds, from a collection featuring one of the earliest recognizable characters in the furry fandom to a second comic book spin-off of Lumpia with a Vengeance. Let’s get right into it!
The Jack Salem Comics
Creators: Roz Gibson (creator), DripRat (Salem and Simone colorist), Scott Ruggles (Salem and Simone background artist), David Hopkins (artist)
Goal: $3,300
End Date: April 24, 2022
Goodies: All volumes are softcover, with color covers and black and white interior, artwork tiers
Furry serial killers, SF, and ultraviolence all meet in three graphic novels collecting the exploits of Jack Salem.
Originally published by the Amateur Press Association magazine Rowrbrazzle in 1987, Jack Salem, a furry serial killer, living in a future society where sentient animals and humans live side by side, is one of the earliest recognizable characters from the furry fandom. Over the decades, Jack Salem’s stories were printed in Huzzah, Antarctic Press, MU Press, Radio Comixs, Furplanet, and more. The 18+, NSFW Kickstarter campaign is to collect the Jack Salem comics completed after the initial two stories (.357 and Furrlough’s Escape to New York, currently available online and not included in these books) together in three high-quality volumes, Blacklight (262 pages), Jack and Harpy (120 pages), and Salem and Simone (86 pages). For long-time readers of Jack Salem, there will be one new story and expanded story notes.
Follipops
Creators: Scott Ball (artist) and Georgia Ball (writer)
Goal: $6,000
End Date: April 28, 2022
Goodies: A graphic novel with the first half of the Follipops saga, sticker, bookmark, magnet, pin, and the creators are working toward stretch goal rewards
Two mercenaries try to go legit in a town where the law is on the wrong side of justice.
An anthropomorphic deer with a savior complex – or maybe a death wish, driven by her mercenary lifestyle – travels to different towns and causes trouble everywhere she goes. However, when she comes across a town with an evil dictator, she finds herself on the other side of the law. Her constant companion is a stuffed bunny ready to “boo kaka” your bunny socks off. This all-ages comic is written by Georgia Ball, who scripts much of the Scholastic Graphix I Survived graphic novel series and produced work for IDW Publishing and Space Goat Productions, Inc. (Evil Dead 2).
Amazing Adventures of Bart Bartson & Demolition Dinosaur #2
Creators: Don Borgmeyer (writer), Kelsi Jo Silva (artist), Jacoby Salcedo (artist), Toben Racicot (letterer), and Matt Johnson (editor)
Goal: $1,000
End Date: May 5, 2022
Goodies: A digital or physical copy and a digital or physical catch-up bundle that includes Demolition Dinosaur #1
Chapter 2: In which a boy and his dinosaur punch some bad guys…
Nine-year-old Bart Bartson recently landed in an abusive foster care situation at Madame Stockholm’s home. He copes with abuse from the other boys by dissociating into his imagination, where he finds companionship with a t-rex, Demolition Dinosaur. Faced with worsening abuse in the real world, Bart learns to fight back through his imaginative adventures with Demolition Dinosaur fighting killer robots and fighting snarling toad monsters. There is also a bonus story, “Space C.O.R.P.S.,” with art by Salcedo. It is a tongue-in-cheek retro sci-fi story about Bart’s parents saving Earth from a madman with a giant laser.
Woodstake: Three Days of Peace, Music and Blood
Creators: Darin S. Cape (writer) and Felipe Kroll (artist)
Goal: $1,250
End Date: April 11. 2022
Goodies: Digital/print edition or digital/print bundle add-on with The Killing Machine, collector’s edition or signed collector’s edition with TKM bundle add-on, SHP Comics hardcover notebook, Woodstake original art poster, sticker set, trading cards, and the “I want it all” package
The creators say this comic is for Shaun of the Dead and Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula fans, but it also sounds What We Do in the Shadows groupies may like it. Woodstake is set in 1969 at Woodstock Festival, and readers will see the vampire drink the drug blood or at least trip on LSD. The story focuses on three protagonists who enlist the help of Dr. Van Halen, a descendant of the legendary Van Helsing and uncle of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who are trying to survive the attacks of the Woodstock Vampire’s growing brood.
THE LEGENDARY LUMPIA SQUAD – Filipino American Comic Book #1
Creators: Kid Heroes Productions
Goal: $3,000
End Date: May 2, 2022
Goodies: 24-page comic book
An independent comic book spin-off to our award-winning feature film LUMPIA WITH A VENGEANCE to be released in Summer 2022.
Lumpia with a Vengeance, the Filipino-American indie film that won an Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at Hawai’i International Film Festival, is getting a second spin-off comic book from Kid Heroes Comics. The Lumpia Squad will face off against a monster made of Ube, the Tagalong word for Purple Yam used in many Filipino delicacies. However, food is often masked as something much more sinister when the Lumpia Squad is tasked with taking it down!
Here are some already-funded comics crowdfunding projects worth checking out:
- Digital Lizards of Doom! LEVEL 3: Dana Deathly
- The Color Guard: The Collected Edition
- CRHYME®: A Hip-Hop Detective Graphic Novel
- Resist NOW! – Volume 1
And don’t forget to check out last week’s campaigns:
- Rocketeer Comic Puzzle
- David F. Walker’s Imposter Syndrome
- Demon Bitch: YOU ALL SUCK
- “Suihira: The City of Water” Book 1 Graphic Novel
And finally, here are some comics crowdfunding projects that haven’t launched yet, but that look to be worth keeping an eye on:
- Becky: Continuing the Story
- Crossover Division #’s 1-4: Shakespearean Tragedy Unfolds!
- Mr. Beaver Vol. #1
- Zombie Cat Invasion Graphic Novel
Miss any of our previous Comics Crowdfunding Round-Ups? Check out the archive here!
