Welcome back to another installment of Indie Comics Showcase, the weekly blog where we signal boost a few truly independent comics that are currently crowdfunding their projects, crowdsourcing their funding in some way, or just completely self-publishing on their own. Every little bit of support for these creators matters, from a single dollar pledge to the twenty-five dollar bundle, and of course the higher tiers are usually fun too! Even if you can’t back a campaign or buy a book, you can share or tweet about these projects to your friends and followers.
On Indie Comics Showcase, we interview the creators, show off some art, and tell you how you can check out the product for yourself. Below we have some outstanding crowdfunding campaigns this week for you to learn about, enjoy, and hopefully support by backing one or more of them! Thanks for checking these out and for being the best part of Indie Comics Showcase. Let’s jump in!
Nightwave: Origin
by Adam Stewart
Check out the campaign here!
Chris Braly: Tell our readers your elevator pitch for Nightwave: Origin… Briefly tell our readers what’s up.
Adam Stewart: Well Chris, without giving out too much, Nightwave: Origin is the first comic to be introduced by Planet Gocman Ltd. It will be a preview (or Origin) that will begin a long line of world building stories. This origin story was made to introduce a key character for the in-story event Planet Gocman have been working towards. As well as a string line of in-story events to follow. Nightwave: Origin sees how a young girl, born under a bleeding moon, goes through life in solitude. On a faithful day she breaks free of those confines, but soon finds herself deep in the heart of an omen she was being protected from. From there on she must choose between two paths. The path of light and the path of darkness. Anyone who loves Folklore, Mythology or simply in-depth storylines which intertwine would get a kick out of this.
CB: Where did the idea for this comic come from?
AS: The idea for this specific story came from my love for creatures that are beyond our control and understanding. How would they interact with us? What would happen if the gods and the creatures of folklore were to make contact modern day society? What would happen if the Titans never died and decided to declare war on the gods in 2020? I guess, if that happened before the end of December we wouldn’t be too surprised haha. But the idea is to give an answer to all of these questions and bring into light some of the most intriguing of mythological and fairy tale creatures. For Nightwave: Origin, one question was asked. What if a dragon fought a demon?
CB: Tell us a little more about the project. What kind of comic fans do you expect this comic will entertain the most?
AS: I expect fans of the Fantasy/Horror genre to truly love this comic. We do not hold back on the idea of killing off characters. However, this comic itself will be connected to many other genres in the long term. So I guess the goal is to reach out to everyone!
CB: Do you have experience in comics that you’re bringing to this project?
AS: All of my experience on comics (other then decades of reading) stem around storyboard writing. I have worked with individuals who have worked on the illustrations for larger companies such as IDW, Darkhorse and a plateau of independent comic creators. These same individuals have been key in the creation of this origin story and will be key to the creation of many more stories further down the line.
CB: Tell us a bit about your creative team or if there are any other creators that have contributed to this project?
AS: We have had a good few creators aiding in this comics development. Mostly other indie creators. Stephen Kok has been a big help in our development. He’s had many successful campaigns such as the Wordsmith Series, Terralympus and currently Transhuman. Ricardo Sanchez Arreola who has worked on IDW and Darkhorse titles has been a big help and Bryan Arfel Magnaye has done wonders towards our project. Our team itself consists of Ozan Arslan who has recently succeeded in his campaign for Xii Paladin, Lev Lawason, Timi Osunbayo, Arnaud Delbrassinne, Mark Nicoll and Adeleke Adewale who have all been key players in creating these world building stories.
CB: What are you learning from crowdfunding and creating through this process?
AS: Consistency is key! That should sum it up. But to expand on that, the crowdfunding process isn’t as simple as creating a page and sharing it. Consistently talking with people, making connections, striving to make it better, all of these things are key. And in all honesty there will always be faults and failures. 40% of crowdfunds tend to fail, but that’s alright its still a learning curve. What is important is what you do after that. Just keep up the energy!
CB: Thanks for chatting with us! Good luck and we are rooting for you!
AS: Thank you for your support!
Check out Nightwave: Origin’s Campaign Here!
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SUPERVILLAINS ANONYMOUS
by Adam Friended
Check out the campaign here!
Chris Braly: Give us your elevator pitch for Supervillains Anonymous.
Adam Friended: “Supervillains Anonymous” is a comedy superhero story about two friends who take on a corrupt supervillain establishment. The story takes place in a world where the supervillains have won and created a sterile, dystopian nightmare. In this future world hunger and disease have been completely eliminated, but so has freedom and excitement. It’s in this dystopian hellscape that two rebel supervillains embark on a mission to recapture some of the glory their city, New Evil Angeles, has lost.
CB: How did you first get into crowdfunding comics and how did it lead to this? Have you ever done this before?
AF: This actually is our first adventure in crowdfunding! As a lifelong artist and illustrator I’ve always wanted to create a comic but with no real audience or publishing connections it was obvious I’d have to take the indie publishing route. I watched a friend create his own book and launch it on Comixology. The book was amazing but garnered little interest in such a crowded market so I was convinced I’d need to build my own audience if I wanted to launch something with any potential for success. In 2018 I started a weekly livestream show with another YouTuber (PSA Sitch) that has found a sizable audience. So we have to give a big thank you to them. Not only have they made the project possible, in many ways they pushed us to do it.
CB: Where did the idea for Supervillains Anonymous originate? What’s its genesis?
AF: I had a screenwriting agent a few years ago who insisted I have a gajillion ideas floating around in my head when I walk into any pitch meeting so I wrote out about 60 loglines to always have at the ready. We pulled the idea from that logline list and developed it from there. My writing partner wrote the first draft and we both wrote and rewrote from there working in as many jokes and references we could around our weekly show. On the show we get a lot of fan art, so these internet memes form around your personalities. I got labeled a laser addict for my propensity to add laser vision to thumbnails regardless of how inappropriate it might be. Two fan factions formed around who fans liked more, the Adam faction is A-Team and the Sitch faction is S-Class. We incorporated as many of these ideas as we could into the story, while still developing something people would love even if they had never heard of our show.
CB: What kind of comic fans do you expect this comic will entertain the most?
AF: Action comedy fans. The story is a wild ride designed to push some buttons.
CB: Tell us a bit about your creative team. How did you guys hook up and what led to this?
AF: I met my writing partner on YouTube. I penciled, inked, colored and lettered all the pages and covers on our IGG campaign myself, but CT is going to ink and color my pencils for the rest of the book. She is an artist and longtime fan of our show. She began doing fan art for the show and has even helped me develop another project (Dick Smashers) which we will release at some future date.
CB: Thanks for chatting with us! Good luck and we are rooting for you!
AF: Thank you for sharing our work!
Check out the Supervillains Anonymous campaign here!
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CONFEDERATE MONSTER
by Dave Swartz
Check out the Indiegogo campaign here!
Chris Braly: Tell our readers your elevator pitch for Confederate Monster. Briefly tell our readers what’s up.
Dave Swartz: Confederate Monster is Frankenstein meets the Civil War! It follows the story of Igor, 8 years after the events of the original tale. He is now living as Dr. Daniel Schmidt, a reconstructive surgeon repairing wounded soldiers coming back from the war. His secret is soon discovered by the Confederates who kidnap him, and force him to reanimate their dead army! This story has ALL your favorite Frankenstein characters, including a very different take on Victor, the Monster, and the Bride!
CB: This isn’t your first adventure in crowdfunding. We featured your Feast or Famine comic back in 2019. How did you first get into this and how did it lead to this?
DS: I started creating comics back in 2014. At the time I was a Creative Director at a marketing company, but I wanted to make something for just myself. A colleague of mine asked if I had ever had a table at a Comic Con before, and in that moment I realized what I had to do! So I created a 200 page graphic novel called Atlas:Origins that I self published in 2016. Then I wanted to prove I could create something a publisher would green light, and that was Feast or Famine. All of my crowdfunding adventures have been a challenge, and I’ve learned a ton along the way. Never the less, each one has been a success because of my experience in marketing, branding, and storytelling.
CB: Where did the idea for Confederate Monster originate?
DS: I was writing a series of pitches that included Feast of Famine, Confederate Monster, and a couple others. Each one was just a challenge to myself at first. After Atlas, I knew I could do a superhero story easy! However, I wanted to see what I could do with Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy. So I started with just that, a genre. When I thought horror, I immediately went to Frankenstein. I’ve always loved the character, and thought “What if I played around with the time period, and set it in a world that fits, but hasn’t been done before?” That’s what landed it inside the Civil War. The rest kinda wrote itself in a way. There are so many natural correlations between the themes of Frankenstein and that period in American history.
CB: What kind of comic fans do you expect this comic will entertain the most?
DS: Horror fans I would expect. However, history buffs will love all the historically accurate characters including actual Confederate Generals, and even Abe Lincoln himself shows up later on! It’s not just a gruesome gore fest though. There are real human questions being explored in the pages of this book that I think everyone can relate to.
CB: Tell us a bit about your creative team / other creators that have contributed to this?
DS: I wish I could, but it’s all me! I write, draw, color, and letter the entire book. Some might think it would take me years to complete a book that way, but so far I’ve been able to get 80 pages done in less than a year!
CB: What else are you learning from crowdfunding and creating through this process?
DS: I’m learning how to have fun with it again. When you first start on page one, your passion and drive for the book is at an all-time high! Then after 80 pages, you look and see you’ve got 80 more to go. It can take some wind out of your sails, to live with this daunting task each day. The crowdfunder helps to put some momentum back into the project, and helps me connect to that page one passion again!
CB: Thanks for chatting with us! Good luck and we are rooting for you!
DS: Thank you for having me on, and for the luck. In crowdfunding, we all need it!
Check out the campaign for Confederate Monster here!
That’s it for this installment! Support indie comics!!!
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