Springing forward drives me a little bananas. It wreaks havoc with my sleep cycle and turns me into a raging, sleep-deprived bear. So, fighting against type here, I’m going to try and bring light and joy into your life.
Here’s a look at three crowdfunding projects I think are worth a gander at:
Now listen here folks, I like the title of this collection a lot. That’s not my singular criteria for how I choose crowdfunding projects but it doesn’t hurt either. I’m also a fan of the past anthologies Toronto Comics has put together, like the Wayward Sisters Anthology. Their collections tend to have a nice blend of new and established creators and Osgoode as Gold promises to keep in that same tradition. The collection hopes to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of the Toronto comics scene.
This collection features over 50 creators and 220-pages of beautiful colored comics. You don’t have to be familiar with any of TO Comix previously published works to enjoy this one. Cover design and artwork is courtesy of the talented Irma Kniivila (Ms. Marvel, Deadpool) with a foreword from Chip Zdarsky (Jughead, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man).
You can take a peak at some of the featured collaborators below:
Image via Kickstarter
The team here is hoping to raise $11,713 to help cover the costs of printing, shipping, and most importantly, paying the creators. With reward tiers from $5-$110 the cost of supporting this project is pretty affordable. Five dollars will snag you the digital download where $100 will get you quite a generous bundle of goods like every book in the Toronto Comics series, enamel pins, stickers and the limited edition prints.
This project will continue funding through March 30, 2018. Some reward tiers have already become unavailable, so you may wanna check them out now before it is too late.
Kilgore Books and Comics has been publishing indie comics since 2009. This Kickstarter is hoping to help fund Kilgore’s entire 2018 publishing calendar: that’s nine comics, four graphic novels and five pamphlets. This micro press helps give new and experimental cartoonists a place to call home or aid in distribution, like An Introduction to Alcohol by Karl Christian Krumpholz or Reign of Crumbs by Glynnis Fawkes.
Over on Kilgore’s Kickstarter page, they dive into what comics they plan to publish in 2018 and it is quite the roster. There’s Blammo #10 from Noah Van Sciver, a debut work entitled Tinderella by M.S. Harkness, and an exploration of grief in the autobiographical Baseline Blvdby Emi Gennis. They’ve provided preview pages for each of their planned publications so you can get a sense of what you’ll be supporting.
Each issue of Blammo is made up of 4-6 short stories, some historical, some autobiographical some fiction, and some plain weirdness.
Tinderella is an autobiographical comic about online dating, living poor and being a dumb 20-something.
A 64-page mostly wordless autobiographical comic exploring grief and all of the feelings that come with it.
Independently producing all of this work costs a lot of money. In order to pay for printing, royalties, and all the other costs that come with being a publisher in the year of 2018, Kilgore Books and Comics is seeking to raise $20,000 to help put these publications into the hands of eager readers.
Backer rewards include special prints, a custom t-shirt to wear over your human flesh and more. I’m always a fan of bringing more weirdness into the world and if backing this project makes that possible, so be it. Kilgore Books and Comics will be funding through March 30, 2018. You can also read more about them on their website.
At least, oh nine times a week, I am struck by the creativeness of other humans. From Fortuna Media comes a 90s inspired collection that takes the imagined and makes it real, well…almost.
Before Microsoft Encarta or the internet came into our homes we had books, encyclopedias to be exact. The joy one could have looking through an encyclopedia is something I wish future generations could experience. I try not to be overly saccharine when it comes to the past but I still miss going to the library and looking through volumes of encyclopedias. So imagine my delight when I came across this Kickstarter.
Proposed page design and layout
Almost Real presents its imagined biological creations in a format that harkens to the days of yore, here’s how Fortuna Media explains it:
This zine will be a coherent work as a collection of different speculative biology, as if it were an educational work that also shows off contributors’ artistic and anatomical illustration capabilities with full splash and intro pages for each section of the zine.
Invoking that 90s mag feel
Do you know why I like this? Well, do you? Because it takes what I loved about getting Nickelodeon Magazine or Zoobooks and reimagines it into a strangely wonderful new thing.
Here’s a peak at some of the creators contributing to the collection:
Laura Wilson will provide cover art with additional insert work and poster art by Nhyworks. Almost Real looks to be an enchanting escape into the world of speculative biology. Fortuna Media is hoping to raise $20,000 to help bring their 8.5×11″, 60+ page zine to life.
Backer rewards include your usual fare of posters, pins, and other goodies. Funding for this project will continue through March 19, so head be sure to check it out.
Well, it is time for me to go put on another pot of coffee because it is going to be one of those days. Until next week, remember to hit me up at @missafayres and send me your tips for projects you think I should check out.
Correction: An introduction to Alcohol was published at Tinto Press, not Kilgore( though, I love Kilgore and everything Dan is doing). http://www.tintopress.con
Correction: An introduction to Alcohol was published at Tinto Press, not Kilgore( though, I love Kilgore and everything Dan is doing). http://www.tintopress.con
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