The Kickstarter campaign for a new superhero graphic novel from writer Nate Cosby, artist Jacob Edgar, colorist Kike J. Diaz, and letterer Rus Wooton is down to eight days left in its run, and while the book may have already met its funding goal that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a few surprises left. Today a big one was unveiled, as the team behind the book has announced a name change for the project: The Daring Double Life of Ace Adams.
Along with the new title comes new trade dress for both the main cover of the book and its many variants:
Initially called Alter Ego, The Daring Double Life of Ace Adams follows the now-titular Ace Adams, a stuntman in the Hollywood of an alternate 1940s, as he fights crime by day as Whiz-Bang and by night as The Black Dog. The reason for the change, as Cosby told The Beat, came down to a message he received from legendary comics writer and historian Roy Thomas:
“The man, the myth, the legend Roy Thomas reached out, because he’d received notes from his fans about our book, and if it was connected to his Alter Ego magazine and comic books with the same title. Roy kindly asked if we’d consider a different title, which was truly exciting because Alter Ego had always felt like a placeholder to me, not quite right for the story.
The Daring Double Life of Ace Adams feels right to me. Plus, it was Roy Thomas’ idea to use ‘Double’ in the title, so now I get to say that Roy Thomas helped me come up with a name for a comic. How freaking cool is THAT!?”
Edgar also told The Beat how the book’s new title helps put the focus and feel of the graphic novel front and center:
“The new title has that classic Hollywood adventure feel that we’re trying to tap into with the stories. And at the same time, I think it tells you up front that this is a character-driven story about Ace, the man. He has these fantastical superhero personas, but the heart of our book is Ace. Who he is and who he’s trying to be.”
The Daring Double Life of Ace Adams now finds itself in the company of projects like Return of the Jedi that changed their titles between announcement and release. Will Alter Ego posters one day be as valuable as Revenge of the Jedi posters are? Time will tell, but either way the book still sounds pretty entertaining regardless of its title.
Check out all of the book’s variant covers with the new trade dress below. The Kickstarter campaign for The Daring Double Life of Ace Adams runs through next Wednesday, April 13th.
