It’s a heavy-hitting week in indie comics and pop culture. You won’t want to miss this Crowdfunding Round-Up!
Nothing Stays Buried – Issue #1
Creators: Aaron Thompson (Writer/Creator), Orlando Andrei “Drekas” (Artist)
Goal: $1,985
End Date: October 8, 2026
Goodies: Digital copy for £5, physical copies for £6, both main covers for £10, physical copy plus an A5 art print for £12, limited artist variants by Alice Leclert or Skoot Starnes & Corey King for £20, commissions starting at £60, and an “Everything we’ve got!” tier for £170.
A 22-page detective noir/mystery thriller that takes the style of a 1950s crime film and drops it into Viking-era England.
This book uses crime-noir-meets-Vikings as its catchy hook, which was enough to get The Beat to take a closer look. This comic depicts the contrast between Anglo-Saxon investigators and Viking chieftains, which it chooses to treat like organized-crime bosses. Genuinely, it’s wild work, and you can immediately see the visual influence of Sin City, 100 Bullets, Parker, and Black Road. I can also work in that it has the particularly fun idea of a murder investigation potentially becoming the spark for a war, rather than simply summarizing the plot.
The Arc Fall
Creators: Owen D. Pomery
Goal: $10,589
End Date: October 9, 2026
Goodies: Digital copy for £12, hardcover plus postcard for £18, hardcover plus the Making Of booklet or Sci-Fi Kiosk Sketch Zine for £30, or the £40 tier with the hardcover and all extras. There was also an £80 tier with an original Owen D. Pomery sketch, but that tier is currently sold out.
The much-anticipated sequel to the acclaimed graphic novel The Hard Switch!
What really caught my attention about The Arc Fall is that it isn’t starting from scratch. It’s a whole new book by Owen D. Pomery that returns to the world of The Hard Switch, following Ada, Haika, and Mallic as they navigate a galaxy where inter-system travel has become increasingly restricted. Even if you haven’t read the first book, the setup here gives you so much, especially with the mystery surrounding whether space travel can become accessible to everyone, with the shadowy X2 organization at the center of it all. Pomery’s background in architecture also makes this one especially interesting visually, with that experience being evident in the design of his science-fiction world. The first Hard Switch campaign brought in £44,068 from 1,351 backers, so there’s already a proven audience behind this return. Now, the Kickstarter-exclusive concept material and sci-fi kiosk sketch zine are here, with plenty of other rewards for longtime readers and newcomers alike.
Death of Comics Bookcase, Vol. 2: Reign of the Comics Bookcases
Creators: Zack Quaintance (Creator/Writer), Nick Cagnetti (Artist), John P. Golden (Artist), Luke Horsman (Artist), Jeremy Hyler (Artist), Jim Lavery (Artist), and Ryan Lee (Artist)
Goal: $6,500
End Date: October 15, 2026
Goodies: Digital copies start at $7, physical copies start at $15, catch-up tiers include Volumes 1 and 2, and higher tiers offer variant covers, an exclusive ’90s-style foil cover, original art, comics journalism courses, and project consulting.
From our own Zack Quaintance, Death of Comics Bookcase is the kind of comic that refuses to stay in one genre, jumping from an oddball superhero story in a dead mall to comics professionals running wild at Comic-Con, then somehow ending up with apes fighting sharks in space. It reminds me why comics are so much fun in the first place. And just because a comic is having fun, doesn’t mean it can’t also look absolutely stellar, and this book understands that balance. Every story leans into the freedom of the medium, using wild ideas, distinct art styles, and an all-star lineup of creators to make each world feel completely its own. That understanding of what makes comics so immersive and absorbing is what makes Death of Comics Bookcase stand out. If you want to support a comic that celebrates just how weird, ambitious, and downright fun the medium can be, this is a campaign worth checking out.
Dragonfly Arc 1. Scrappitland vol. 1 | Comic Book
Creators: Natalia Pluto (creator)
Goal: $1,137
End Date: October 8, 2026
Goodies: Get the digital copy for $6, the variant cover bundle for $32, the merch bundle for $69, or at higher tiers get the mini figures pack for $171 and more!
A sci-fi comic about two wanderers journeying through deadly ash toward a domed city and its buried secrets.
There are so many creators who got to work on Dragonfly, whose influence shows in the preview pages alone. The art is incredible and eerie throughout; this is in part due to the art style given to the comic, but also because the story of Dragonfly follows a world where, in the future, ash storms ravage it, wiping out every living creature caught in its embrace. It looks fantastic, and a story like this can only be just as fun, if not in a dark way. For fans of sci-fi, this is a comic worth investing in!
ARMAGIDA Issue #0
Creators: North Ridge Studios (publisher)
Goal: $354
End Date: October 15, 2026
Goodies: Digital copies start at $8, physical copies at $16, and the full package is available for $35. Rewards also include posters and additional add-ons.
There’s something immediately compelling about ARMAGIDA. The idea of humanity getting nearly wiped out by an alien invasion before turning around and deciding to fight back is a pretty great setup for a sci-fi comic. What really caught my attention, though, is how much worldbuilding is packed into Issue #0. With more than 30 pages, this feels like a real introduction to a much bigger story, readers will have a chance to meet the characters and get a sense of the story before the series moves forward. The preview pages also sell just how big this is, with huge alien environments, advanced technology and a war that feels much bigger than the characters caught inside it. If you like getting in on a sci-fi series from the ground floor, ARMAGIDA is worth checking out and backing on Kickstarter.
For more from The Beat’s Crowdfunding Round-Up, check out our archived posts here!
