Welcome to The Beat’s crowdfunding round-up: a collection of some of our favorite campaigns from the week including one-shots, on-goings, anthologies and everything in-between. This week we’re checking out the action/mystery, Signals, the sci-fi comedy, Jack Astro, and more.
Let’s get started!
SIGNALS: The Complete Series
Creators: Deandra Tan (creator)
Goal: $8,500
End date: August 26, 2021
Goodies: Get the digital version for $16, get the print edition for $30, or check out higher tiers for back issues, art prints, stickers, and more.
Join Mel Song, amateur telepathic detective, as she searches for a missing woman in the heart of New York City in Signals.
After 3 years, Signals is bringing its online run to an end – and beginning its two-volume print run. The series combines mystery, comedy, romance and action in a story described as Nancy Drew meets John Wick. It follows Mel, a telepathic rookie detective, who stumbles upon the sinister underbelly of New York’s criminal world. Across 450+ pages, she’ll unravel the mystery and the realization that she isn’t the only mind-reader in New York.
Jack Astro, Comedy Sci-Fi Comic Book
Creators: Doug Wilson (creator)
Goal: $696
End date: August 25, 2021
Goodies: The PDF is $14, the physical version is $28, and higher tiers include art cards, A5 sketches, and more.
A 164-page, softcover, full colour comic book.
When a Singularity Drive experiment goes wrong, test pilot Jack is duplicated and his clone sent into multiple galaxies across the universe. Jack Astro picks up as he’s setting out to reassemble the lost pieces before the drive re-activates to send him home. Check out a preview on the campaign page, or read the 164-page comic here.
Shady Lane Blues: A new comic by Kris Morron & Jake Kelly
Creators: Kris “skinnyk” Morron (creator/writer), Jake Kelly (artist), Rob Jones (letterer),
Goal: $3,400
End date: August 20, 2021
Goodies: Get the digital edition for $5, get the physical version for $10, and check out higher tiers for additional copies, and more comics.
An uplifting story about the power music has to inspire.
Film noir and music combine for an inspiring short story about the life-changing power of music in Shady Lanes Blues. The story and art take nods from blues and the 1960s, following Screamin’ Washington Monroe, a washed=up and all but forgotten blues legend in his struggle to find inspiration. For more, head over to the campaign page for a preview and thoughts on themes.
England Made Me
Creators: David Metcalfe (creator)
Goal: $974
End date: September 3, 2021
Goodies: The digital version is $5, the print version is $12, and backers can also pick up Metcalfe’s Being a Girl, prints, and more.
A comic about growing up in the 70s and 80s in Northern England. Love,loss,friendship and finding out who you are.
From the creator of Being a Girl comes England Made Me, a full color 40-page comic about growing up in England during the 70s and 80s; the grey northern region marred by unemployment and “football hooliganism.” It’s told from the perspective of Scam McNeill, a boy thrown into a strange England town after his family left Ireland.
The Out Side – real life trans & nonbinary comics anthology
Creators: The Kao (project captain), Min Christensen (consultant/illustrator), David Daneman (designer) and additional creators
Goal: $15,950
End date: August 12, 2021
Goodies: Get the e-book for $10, the physical version is $20, and higher tiers include prints, digital portraits, and more.
Journeys to truth and self-acceptance from 16 comic artists. Foreword by Julia Kaye.
The Out Side is bringing together sixteen artists to share and celebrate stories about trans and nonbinary identities, each with their own diverse viewpoints and styles. It’s an anthology centered around self and societal acceptance, with a focus on providing representation for young queer folks looking to see themselves in comics.
Here are some already funded projects:
- Promenad – A Short Horror Comic
- Tales from the Cryptic Closet 3D
- MADEMOISELLE DE SADE
- RAGE – a graphic novel by Jimmy Palmiotti & Scott Hampton
- Sacrimony #1+2 – A Fantasy Comic About Love, Life and Death
And don’t forget to check out last week’s campaigns:
- Z Class: The Beginning
- Jalisco, Latina Superhero Graphic Novel
- The Color Guard #2
- Darkboy and Adler #1-3
- Monsterwood Book 3: Annihilation Graphic Novel
- ShortBox: a box full of fun and fine indie comics
