Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, kickstarter

Kickstart From The Heart: Creature Academy, Dark Joey, Katella Tales and Endtime

Bleeding Cool's  Kickstarter Correspondent, Shawn Demumbrum has lead three Kickstarter campaigns to launch comic books, two successfully funded and one that wasn't.  Each week he will point out some of the unique Kickstarter projects that wouldn't normally be published by the big comic book companies, but deserve your attention.  Shawn's current project Break the Walls: Stories Inspired by the Songs of the Pixies was also funded through Kickstarter  Interested in learning how to run a Kickstarter campaign?  Read his new series Kickstart Your Comic.

Project: Creature Academy

Creator: Kevin Hanna, Dave Fagan, Erich Owen, and Grant Bond

Concept: A new steampunk fantasy adventure graphic novel, where the human and the magic worlds collide! Creature Academy honors and subverts the tropes we expect in coming-of-age fantasy and super-hero stories. The young hero is no "Chosen One", and the mentors he finds may not be wise or good at all. We're excited to share this unique story for the first time.

Fundraising for: "We're appealing to Kickstarter's comics fans to make Creature Academy a reality."

Sweet spot: Pledge $25 or more. A hardcover edition of Creature Academy, 96 pages. A Creature Academy color print starring Wes Mendes and Jack the Leviathan.

Tipping point:  I really enjoyed Kevin's previous work The Clockwork Girl and this book looks to be equally enjoyable.

So far: $8,242 of $10,000 with 3 days to go

  Project: Dark Zoey

Creator: Larime Taylor

Concept: "Some people become killers.

Zoey was born that way.

Ever since she can remember, Zoey Aarons has felt the urge to kill. For eighteen years she resisted those urges and fought to be someone better than her base instincts would allow. In a moment of weakness and anger, however, she let go and took a life. That hazy Seattle summer day still haunts her, and as she begins college far away from home, she's afraid that she will kill again.

She's right to be afraid.

Instead of leaving that fateful day behind her and starting a new life as a college freshman, Zoey's about to be tested and face temptation in ways far greater than she could ever imagine. The prestigious women's college that she's attending on a full academic scholarship is in Cutter's Circle, California, and Cutter's Circle has a dirty little secret: it has the highest population of serial killers in the country. The town is up to its proverbial severed head in murderers."

Sweet spot: Pledge $5 or more. Printed and PDF copy of the comic.

Cool Zone: Pledge $250 or more. Get yours or a loved one's likeness included as a background or minor character.  Printed and PDF copy of the comic.  The comic will be signed with a quick doodle inside.  A signed and numbered insert pinup.

Tipping point:  The art for this is impressive until you find out it is drawn by a disabled man who uses his mouth to draw.  That makes it incredible.

So far: $3,215 of $1,500 with 5days to go

Project: Katella Tales

Creator: Erica Johnson

Concept: "Katella Tales is the story about a supernatural Brazilian born heroine that was imprinted with inhuman DNA while in the womb. Not only was this planned by the Seers ( the other dimension species on earth and partial DNA donor of Katella), so was her chosen family, the Tringleys. At age 10 on up, the Seers began teleporting Katella to their dimension at night to train her for her future journeys. The Tringleys, too busy with work and success, neglect Katella and believes that her psychedelic tales of conquering other dimensional creatures, the Seers, and other such extreme tales are signs of schizophrenia. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, Katella, now 22 is a heroine, battling corrupted Seers along with earthly villains, juggling boyfriends, and organizing children's charity events to offset the uncontrollable teleporting. Katella is still not sure if her mental diagnosis is real."

Fundraising for: "So, the reason I'm here is to raise the funds to print this comic book and get it delivered around the world. I also need to raise money to finish paying my graphic artist who is helping me make this comic book come to live. The printing of this comic book is set for November 2012. It will be a 24 page
colored comic book. I plan to print 250 copies which will cost me about $875 from a local printer."

Sweet spot: Pledge $10 or more. Printed Copy of Katella Tales.

Tipping point: Species where the creature is a Brazilian heroine who turns against her alien race.

So far: $60 of $1,000 with 9 days to go

Project: Endtime

Creator: Tim Kenyon and Gerry Kissel

Concept: "An ancient prophecy has foretold the world will end. Our destiny is unalterable, but not if Jack Kurgan has his way.

Jack is a stubborn and defiant agent of Death. He's been delivering souls to the afterlife for nearly a century. It's his belief that the prophecy's outcome can be changed. So Jack returns to his original human form with one goal in mind—to prevent the apocalypse.

His goal is to find Sarah Ramsey who, according to the prophecy, is the "tortured soul" responsible for setting in motion the world-ending events. The clock is ticking as Jack, wounded and alone, is forced to elude a mysterious group of men who will stop at nothing to keep him from finding Sarah and stopping the apocalypse.

Jack is getting closer, but time is running out. Sarah has become terminally ill and her death will ensure the end of civilization."

Fundraising for: "The purpose of this Kickstarter campaign is to raise the money needed to go to print. If luck prevails and this campaign far exceeds its goal, I plan to award extra incentives and increase the number of copies printed in the first run to get this book into the hands of even more comic fans."

Sweet spot: Pledge $25 or more. A print copy of Endtime: The Arrival along with postcard and website shout.

Cool Zone: Pledge $125 or more. Your picture prominently displayed on the Kickstarter acknowledgment page in the back of the book, PLUS TWO signed copies of the book — one for you and one for your lucky comic-lover friend. Plus postcard and website shout.

Tipping point: This week I've been swayed by some of the artwork more than story concepts.  Endtime is no exception.  Gerry Kissel's interior artwork is the tipping point.

So far: $3,121 of $4,000 with 9 days to go

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