Iron Circus Comics is making the move to animation with Eisner nominated webcomic, Lackadaisy. Tracy Butler created the prohibition era cats comic in 2006 and has drawn in thousands of readers in the time since then. Together, Butler and Iron Circus’ C. Spike Trotman will Kickstart a campaign to create an adult animated short of the celebrated webcomic.
Announced on March 12, the Lackadaisy Animated Short campaign is set to run through April 17 with a goal of $85,000. In the first two hours following its Twitter announcement, nearly 500 supporters backed over half of that amount. And in just six hours, the project was completely funded by its devoted fanbase. For Butler, it’s a huge step in her creative vision. She says Lackadaisy was always animated and musical in her head so, with a short film, she’ll finally be able to show her fans exactly what she sees.
If you’re not one of those fans, here’s Butler’s quick description: “Lackadaisy is the tale of a gang of jazz band stragglers, ruffians, and alley cats struggling to keep a once popular Prohibition-era speakeasy in operation,” said Tracy Butler. “Amidst their spectacular failures and unlikely victories under the nose of the law and up against their ruthless, outsized competitors, the Lackadaisy crew adapts and survives as a syndicate of St. Louis bootleggers, by relying on the strengths of their tight (if dysfunctional) family dynamic. In a broader sense, the story is an indulgent romanticization of the past, that explores the dangers of exactly that – the destructiveness of lingering on the good old days that were, perhaps, not as good as they appear, through the distortion lenses of grief, nostalgia and lovelorn desperation. The 1920s ambiance of hot jazz, hot bullet casings, and bad hooch isn’t without its heady sense of levity and humor, though.”
Butler and Spike are calling in Fable Siegel (Titmouse, Hazbin Hotel) to direct the Lackadaisy animated short, with Butler co-directing and overseeing art direction. On the voice side, Michael Kovach plays Rocky Rickaby, Belsheber Rusape plays Calvin “Freckle” McMurray, Lisa Reimold plays Ivy Pepper, Ashe Wagner plays Mitzi May and SungWon Cho plays Mordecai Heller.
To support the Lackadaisy animated short film, head over to Iron Circus’ official Kickstarter. There, backers can pledge to receive anything from “the Lackadaisy Essentials eBook to The Complete Lackadaisy Goodie Bag (featuring the Lackadaisy Essentials art book, volumes one and two of the Lackadaisy comic collections in ebook form, a digital wallpaper set, the completed film as an HD digital download, and a download of the soundtrack and storyboards)” and, for the most ambitious, an Associate Producer credit on the film itself. Iron Circus will fulfill those pledges by this fall, according to a press release.
In about 24 hours, the Lackadaisy Animated Short reached $120,000 of funding. For context, Spike’s most successful Kickstarter The Complete Girls With Slingshots raised $260,000. Check out the work in progress below, along with Iron Circus’ sick new animation logo.
Hello, world. :) pic.twitter.com/FDkgNEjRbm
— Iron Circus Comics (@ironcircuscomix) March 17, 2020
