Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Cheerleader Karate School, coronavirus, David Doub

Coronavirus Versus The Cheerleader Karate School

Published Sun, 26 Apr 2020 10:00:02 -0500

David Doub had originally, planned to do a month-long Kickstarter at the beginning of April for the crossover comic, Dusk Vs Cheerleader Karate School. He just needed to pay the artist the last bit of monies owed and pay for colouring. At which point coronavirus happened and the world suddenly ended. Doub writes for Bleeding Cool about how this changed everything and the special offer he is providing to Bleeding Cool readers, and to their own comic book stores. Doub writes.

Coronavirus Versus The Cheerleader Karate School. Art from Kickstarter.

Then coronavirus attacked the world and everything shutdown to help save everyone. To Flatten the Curve. Naturally, I choose to stop the Kickstarter Launch. People were suffering. People were struggling. Now was not the time to fund a simple comic book. But then as I sat there and watched all that was happening, I saw how communities stepped up to help people. I saw how the comic community stepped up and help those less fortunate and were struggling to survive. Even little steps, like sharing a comic, meant a lot to people. So, I started taking steps to help in the little ways I could.

First, I offered free PDFs of comics of mine. Then I started collecting other people's comics and added it to the pile. Note – you can get all the comics here if you are interested.
Next I was talking to my friend Jerry who is an artist that I've worked with on numerous projects. He was laid off and was properly self-quarantining and was wondering if we could do a web-comic, so he had something else to focus on. Something to distract him from the world outside for a little bit. So, we made a Webcomic and together we forgot about the Pandemic for awhile. You can currently read the comic here.

Next, I was talking to Helmut, the artist for the Kickstarter, Dusk Vs Cheerleader Karate School. He is in the Philippines and makes his living from art and so of course he was struggling to make ends meet. Also, I talked to Daniel, the colorist for the comic, about his situation. I saw Diamond had shut down and the major publishers stopped making comics. This meant comic shops didn't have new product to sell people.

Adding all that up I decided to relaunch the Kickstarter so I could try help all those issues listed above, at least in some small way. I made it a quick two week run time, so I could get the funds faster into the hands of people who needed them.

A Kickstarter is hard even in good times, so during this crisis, it's been crazy. But as I have juggled my work and family life while running this Kickstarter, I noticed something. I noticed I wasn't scared. I was aware of the dangers of coronavirus, but I wasn't afraid. Every night my poor fiancé would have nightmares about taking care of our family during this Pandemic, but I was able to sleep more soundly and focus on the tasks at hand.

I was coping during this Crisis because the Joy of Making Comics was giving me a source of comfort. Comics had always been there for me during the bad times of my life. Comics had always entertained me and distracted me from my troubles, if just a little bit, but just enough so I could rest and carry on. While I was trying to bravely help everyone else through comics, comics and everyone else was helping me. Thank You Comics. Thank You Comics Community.

To continue that spirit of giving, for all Bleeding Cool readers who go and donate to the Kickstarter, I will donate a stack of ten copies of the comic to the store of your choosing free of charge. Just message in the Kickstarter that you read this article and let us know which store you want the comics sent to. The Hope is this will give the shop more stock to sell to help out during these trying times.