Posted in: Comics | Tagged: COVID Cop, dean haspiel, kickstarter

Covid Cop, Dean Haspiel's Romantic Horror Comic Everyone Rejected

Covid Cop is a romantic horror comic by Dean Haspielhitting its final days of crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Because no one else will publish it.

Published Mon, 27 Mar 2023 11:57:11 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:21:47 -0500

Comments

Covid Cop is a romantic horror comic by Red Hook/Billy Dogma creator Dean Haspiel that is hitting its final days of crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Because no one else will publish it. Haspiel says "In 2020, around the same time I conceived & co-curated the Ringo Award nominated PANDEMIX (which was the first comic book anthology to respond to the pandemic), I created an idea that I showed to several publishers and it received the same reactions. "We love your idea but we can't publish it." They were too afraid. Scared of how people would respond. I took that as a good sign. A major clue that I'd made something that might truly resonate."

"I spent the winter holidays and the early part of 2023 illustrating the story that I had written and pitched in 2020, during a time of isolation and terror, and do what art and comix do best, spawn an antihero. My aim is to crowdfund this creator owned, self-published comic book. Something bombastic yet heartfelt and wholly independent. An expression of a certain time and space for you and me. Something to cringe yet laugh at. A "Dean Haspiel deep cut" called COVID COP. A cross between Judge Dredd, Toxic Avenger, Mad Max, and Sin City, COVID COP is my response to a pandemic that never found its cure and has wiped out 98% of mankind. By steeping in the fumes and waters of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, can Covid Cop become the antidote that might save what's left of humanity and rekindle romance with his ex-wife, Fate Majeure?"

Okay well, that all sounds a little better. And he offers us an invitation to "hop on board the ground floor of my grassroots effort and help me print an outlier sensation that will be mailed directly to your doorstep. If this introductory one-shot does well, I have more Covid Cop stories to chronicle". And he promised "By the time this campaign ends, I'll have completed COVID COP and be ready for print and distribution. The challenge I face is recouping my personal financial investment and getting the book into your hands. It took three months of unpaid work for me to visualize this project. COVID COP is something I aim to sell at conventions and events. But you, my first supporter, will be forever cherished in my heart for helping realize a veteran freelance cartoonists dream of taking the first step towards independent publishing."