I’ve got coffee in my holiday mug, which I use all year because it is the size of my face, so that can only mean one thing: time for our weekly round-up of notable crowdfunding projects. This week’s features are all based in North America and feature stories unique to that experience. There’s an anthology exploring North American legends and lore, one about the importance music in our lives from British Columbia, and a 90’s pop-inspired murder mystery that takes place in small-town America.
The Sun and the Wayward Wind
The duo at the Baltimore based Dandelion Wine Collective (DWC) is bringing back their legends and lore anthology several months after their initial unsuccessful Kickstarter bid. The Sun and the Wayward Wind is a full-color softcover anthology of comics and illustration. The book will feature reimagined North American legends, folklore, and personal tales from 14 comics and 10 illustrators.
http://kck.st/2AEoaae
On lonely highways, giants lurk along roads and ghosts linger in rest stops. A deadly fire meets its grave in the green bay, where love blooms between a woman and a spirit in the water. Forgotten shores and talk of snake mountain, voices from the past and a train ride with the Jersey Devil…
So what’s changed over the last few months and why does DWC think they will be successful now? Well the pair behind DWC, Paloma Hernando and Sunmi, are absorbing the costs of printing, reducing the sale price of the anthology, and giving more money to the artists. They’ve cut their funding goal by half. This time around the pair is asking for $19,000, as opposed to the $32,000 they had requested back in August.
The Sun and the Wayward Wind will feature the work of comics Celia Lowenthal, Sarah Webb, Megan Kelchner, and Sunita Balsara (to name but a few). There’s a slew of reward tiers featuring artwork, patches, digital editions and more. The project has raised around $13,000 of its $19,000 goal and funding will end on December 13, 2017.
I really like the idea of reinterpreting lore through a personal lens and narrative. Below you’ll find some sample pages from the comics and illustrators to give you a better idea of what to expect:
Swan Song – The Music Anthology
Cloudscape Comics is a lovely community based organization dedicated to helping local comics in British Columbia. Each year since 2008, Cloudscape has produced at least one anthology featuring local comic artists and creators.
Aptly titled, Swan Song will be the last anthology produced by Cloudscape’s current board of directors, so they wanted to go out with a bit of a bang. Swan Song will be a big ol’ 12×12 anthology of which will feature over 20 cartoonists from British Columbia. It’s all about music, laughter, joy and sadness.
Swan Song will feature a cover by graphic novelist, Renee Nault. The anthology will trace the importance of song and dance in the lives of these 20 creators and artists. It’s about identity, finding and losing yourself in and through music.
Cloudscape Comics is hoping to raise around $25,000 to help offset the lofty publishing costs that comes with printing such a massive book, their largest anthology yet. They have raised nearly $10,000 and with a funding deadline of December 9, 2017, there’s not much time left to act. Backers can choose from a soft-cover or hardcover of Swan Song along with nifty reward tiers.
Feel free to check out some of the contributing artists and artwork below or head on over to their Kickstarter:
Monument
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/californiaghost/monument-comic-book?ref=home_new_and_noteworthy
West Coast illustrator Mark Haven Britt wants to bring us the story of secrets, lies and murder. Britt’s previous work includes clients like ESPN, Marvel and Image, but he’s since shirked his corporate mantle in order to pursue his own storytelling with Monument.
Red envelopes start arriving all over town revealing people’s deepest, darkest secrets and each chapter is about what those people do once the secret is out. While the letters are arriving, the local police are struggling to find a missing teenager. Are the letters and the missing teenager somehow connected? MONUMENT is a gripping murder mystery involving soul-crushing lies systematically being brought to light. The mystery is mixed with a series of bittersweet, quirky and slightly romantic slice-of-life stories set. MONUMENT is about community. It’s about the 90’s. It’s about the power of truth.
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for the design of these comics and I’m also a sucker for anything billed as a ‘pop record in comic form.’ Monument transports us back to the last century and if there’s anything I long for it’s the heady days of the 1990s. I was in my prime, rollerblading to the Disney Aladdin cassette in my basement and telling my mom I was going to the Olympics, but I digress. Monument is about a small town with lots of secrets and what happens when those secrets are exposed.
Britt has completed the first chapter of Monument, so backers are funding the second chapter. If successful, backers will receive both chapters one and two. The funding deadline for this project is December 16, 2017. Monument has raised around $4,600 of its $5,000 goal.
Well, that’s it for me this week. As always, if you’ve got a crowdfunding project you want me to check out please reply below or say hi on Twitter.
