Over the weekend I had a terrible dream my cat was covered in disgusting creepy crawlies. I kept trying to vacuum them up but they just kept getting growing. It wasn’t a great dream everyone. I’d like to think that this edition of crowdfunding watch is the exact opposite of that dream. A soul washing if you will.
This week we’re going to look at three new projects hoping to secure funding, hopefully there will be something here to bring a little joy to your Monday.
1. The Pride Adventures
The Pride is a LGBTQ friendly comic series from writer Joe Glass. Glass was tired of being left out of comic book stories so decided to create his own superhero universe. It deals specifically with misrepresentation and marginalization and imagines a world where you have the power to change that.
In The Pride universe everyone has superhero powers but that doesn’t mean everything is well, super (I’m sorry for the pun). FabMan (Tomorrow’s Fabulous Man, Today) is nothing but a joke on the news. People don’t appreciate him for the full breadth of his skills and talents, so FabMan decides to change that by forming a super group known as PRIDE.
PRIDE is filled with superheroes who want to help others and change how their community sees them. The super-team is made up of a wonderful cast of characters including: Wolf, Muscle Mary, Frost, Twink, Bear, Angel and White Trash. Here’s a synopsis of the series:
Not exactly receiving the desired response, the group faces opposition from the confrontational Justice Division, more aggressive misrepresentation by the media and are then taken advantage of in the plans of the nefarious Reverend. After a serious trial by fire, the team find themselves the only super team in the world capable of stopping The Reverend’s diabolical plot for world domination.
Currently, The Pride Adventures is hoping to raise funds to help produce the next issue of the comics anthology. The Pride Adventures is the sister comic to the main Pride series, lest there be any confusion. Issue #5 of The Pride Adventures will feature five new stories about the colorful cast of characters, here’s a peak at them:
- Twink and Wolf face a tense hostage situation, and tackle ideas of mental health, art by Cem Iroz
- Muscle Mary takes a powerful political challenge in a story of female empowerment and strength in a world of men that wants to shut them down, with art by Elizabeth Beals
- The Pride looks at the importance of pride events and their place in the modern world, illustrated by Jon Scrivens
- White Trash stands down a far right fascist march in America, brought to life by Rhys Wootton
- And finally, a tale of FabMan’s continued dating woes, brought to you by guest writer Sina Grace (Nothing Lasts Forever, Marvel’s Iceman) and Jon Cairns
The team is hoping to raise around $8,500 to help cover the cost of paying the artists (yay), publishing and shipping. The rewards available include digital versions of the comic, pins, the hardcover edition of Volume I, which collected The Pride and The Pride Adventures into a hardcover edition back in 2016. Funding for this project will continue through March 29, 2018.
2. The North Star: The Emancipation of Frederick Douglass
Dr. Barron R. Bell (Professor of graphic design and animation at The Art Institute of Portland and Liberty University), Coy Turnbull (Fathom, Superman Confidential) and Robert Jeffrey II (Editor In Chief for BlackSci-Fi.com) are teaming up to help bring the story of Frederick Douglass to life.
The team wants to tell the story of Frederick Douglass in graphic novel form to help bring the legacy of Douglass to a new generation of readers, here’s a short biography they have provided about Douglass:
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818. Through the course of his life, his force of will, tenacity and ferocious sense of justice not only helped him escape his enslavement but self-educate pushing him onto the national and international stage as a statesman. His life intersected with many pivotal events that helped shape our young nation’s history. He was a man of faith, a businessman, a politician and a prophet of the 19th Century. Frederick Douglass forced a country to reevaluate its moral core.
This Kickstarter project is hoping to raise enough money to cover the cost of production and printing to publish Chapter 1 of the comic.
Here’s what the team hopes to do with the first chapter:
Chapter 1: Blackbird will begin the story of Frederick Douglass as he has just escaped from a life of torture and servitude. As he navigates the streets of 1830’s New York City, he must evade slave catchers and freedmen who have hidden agendas. He reminisces upon his life from childhood up until his escape and tries to determine his next steps in a brand new world.
It’d be helpful to know from their team a breakdown of costs and what rewards are available. I’ve generally found that a visual mock-up of rewards can go a long way towards attracting backers. But from what I can tell, there are special edition prints and other bundles available. With funding concluding on April 14, this project is about 30% towards its goal of $5000.
The team’s previous Kickstarter for the same project was relaunched under this title. Hopefully they have more success this time around bringing their story to life!
3. Girrion: The Chrysalis & the Stone # 10
Okay, so maybe you haven’t been keeping up with Girrion, that’s not a problem because we’re about to change that. Girrion is a sweeping sci-fi fantasy manga series that feels slightly Ghibli-esque. It began as an idea Tom Lintern had some fifteen years ago. Lintern is an incredibly talented illustrator who thankfully listened to his brain and created this series.
The series follows the story of Jarra, a poor factory worker who wants nothing more than to scape his dreary reality. He gets that wish when his city is attacked by a malevolent force known as the Halodron. Jarra finds himself thrust into a war of other-worldly magic and weaponry. There’s another problem, a technology known as the Girrion is reanimating the dead soldiers of the crumbling empire’s previous armed conflicts. Jarra must work quickly to help save his city from its past. In issue 10, Jarra will find himself encountering new characters and settings.
To give you a better sense of what this series is about, here’s a preview provided from Girrion‘s Kickstarter page of a previously released issue:
Lintern has been successfully crowdfunding the series on Kickstarter since issue #2. That could explain why his Kickstarter page is filled with neat bits of artwork, cover progress, and what backers can expect. Rewards include a hardcover edition of Volume I, signed prints, character sketches, along with some add-ons. One issue takes Lintern around 300-400 hours to complete, and that’s all while working other freelance jobs.
Until next week my friends, sweet dreams!
