Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, Heart of Oz, kickstarter, Paul Parnell, wizard of oz

Asking The Wizard For Cash – Kickstarter The Great And Powerful

Published Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:00:17 -0600

Paul Parnell writes for Bleeding Cool:

I remember I was 8 years when I first got caught in the world of story telling – creating something out of nothing. It started with me and my action figures, my only friends at the time, going on marvelous adventures through jungles and swamps then into outer space and beyond, I gave them each their own persona and voice.

This didn't help me gain friends very quickly but it did teach me how to engage my imagination and create.

Now, 22 years later, after ample experience in filmmaking, graphic design and comic drawing, I am working on self-publishing my first graphic novel anthology based on the Wizard of Oz world – a dream I have had since I was little.

It will be called The Heart of Oz and will be chocked full of creative sic-fi, adventure and fantasy stories. There will be a total of 7 original stories drawn and written by me and 7 other awesome artists and writers. Who doesn't love to some good ol' collaboration?

The inception and inspiration for this project began a year ago after watching Oz the Great and Powerful. I was inspired to create some concept art and write a few stories and before I knew it, I was making plans to launch a Kickstarter so I could make this book a reality.

I invited other creatives to join me in this quest for 3 reasons. #1 there is strength in numbers #2 it's more fun to create when you can bounce ideas around #3 I have always loved anthologies and getting to see different artist styles, so I thought that our readers would too.

We are also very excited to have the creators of Namesake be a part of our team!

Now, anybody who has ever launched a kickstarter can tell you that there is so much more work that goes into it behind the scenes than it looks like on the front end. What I thought was going to take only a couple months to prep turned into 4, 5, 6…8 months of hard work laced between my other jobs to make what we have now (http://kck.st/1f8CQ3X). And I am sure my picky and meticulous taste didn't help move us any faster. (On the flip side, you know we will be picky and meticulous when completing this book)

I have been a huge fan of Kickstarter since I first learned about it and for my first project I definitely wanted my project to look awesome. I spent a ton of time creating everything, though I do regret not spending more time on promotion during this time.

My Kickstarter project launched on November 18th and we have raised about 7% of our goal as of Dec 6. Not quite what me and my team were expecting, but we still have time – 15 days left as of Dec 6th. We are still believing that anything is possible, but do plan to launch again if we do not reach our goal by December 21st.

I am passionate about seeing this project completed because not only do I want to see the great stories we already have put together come to print, but I would love to have several volumes as well as short films that come out of this project. So supporting us is not just about this one project, but the future possibilities that this one can open.

If you pledge now, not only will you help our chances of getting funded the first time but if we have to relaunch (you won't be charged if we don't reach our goal) then your pledge now will keep you in the loop with updates on when we launch later. http://kck.st/1f8CQ3X

BONUS FOR BLEEDING COOL FANS: for the next week only, if you back the project at the $25 level or above and mention "Bleeding Cool" somewhere in a message to us, you will receive an exclusive, limited edition Bleeding Cool Themed mini-print. This will be exclusive to Bleeding Cool backers only.