A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup March ’19

A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup March ’19
Witchy anthologies, socially critical superheroes, and monsters all take the stage in this month's crowdfunding comics, so grab that wallet and get at 'em!

HEY Y’ALL, IT’S KICKSTARTER SEASON! For me, and you, and everyone! A couple of weeks ago I actually launched my own Kickstarter for the third volume of our anthology of queer historical fiction (back it here!) and dang if it isn’t inspiring and a little intimidating to share the stage with so many other incredible projects.

HEY Y’ALL, IT’S KICKSTARTER SEASON! For me, and you, and everyone! A couple of weeks ago I actually launched my own Kickstarter for the third volume of our anthology of queer historical fiction (back it here!) and dang if it isn’t inspiring and a little intimidating to share the stage with so many other incredible projects. Let’s dive in!

The cover for The Witching Hours. The cover is a top-down close up of a desk, with a piece of parchment that reads THE WITCHING HOURS at the center. Hands reach in from the outside of the image, one holding the paper and the other finishing off the S in HOURS. The hands are wearing black half gloves with gold detailing, and the dark wood desk is littered with other witchy stuff—candles, plants, buttons, a teacup, and a single skull. The Witching Hours, Hannah Myers, Cloudscape Comics, 2019.

The Witching Hours: A Comics Anthology

Hannah Myers
Cloudscape Comics
Ends March 24

The Witching Hours is the first of two witchy anthologies in this roundup! This one is an eleven-story anthology printed in gorgeous duotone—bright turquoise and soft brown—with an incredible array of styles. The stories range from fantasy to horror, and the art has a similar wide range. The book is partially funded by a grant from the province of British Columbia, so they’re just raising the remainder needed to pay their crew and print the books!

The cover image for Monsters & Other Magical Beings. The image is square, black and white over a green background. The title lettering is black, in scratchy horror-esque font, and placed in the center of the image. Monsters peek into the frame from the edges—a bald gnome-lookin' thing, a scaly tail, bug wings, and a horned lizard face. Monsters & Other Magical Beings, Emily Lewis, 2019

Monsters & Other Magical Beings

Emily Lewis
Ends March 30

First an Inktober project and now a zine, Monsters & Other Magical Beings is a collection of drawings and information about magical creatures from all over the world! Square-bound, black and white, and about 76 pages long, the book is a small & modest project that looks fueled by love. I’m especially excited about this one since one of my favorite tabletop games is Monsterhearts and it seems like this could be a great inspiration for new skins (or just, you know, fun to look at).

The Kickstarter card for Eternal Witchcraft. The title lettering, gold in pseudo-calligraphic font, is laid across the center of the bottom half of the image. In the art, three witches stare at the camera. The leftmost witch is white, with short blue hair, pink eyes, and blue lipstick; the middle witch has dark tan skin, long wavy purple hair, teal eyes, and muted red lipstick. The rightmost witch has slightly darker skin than the middle witch, pink, neck-length straight hair & bangs, and purple eyes and lipstick. Eternal Witchcraft, Carolynn Calabrese, Ashley Gallagher, Jenny Mott, Rachel Weiss, POMEpress, 2019.

Eternal Witchcraft—A Comics Spellbook

Carolynn Calabrese, Ashley Gallagher, Jenny Mott, Rachel Weiss
POMEpress
Ends March 31

Eternal Witchcraft is—and I’m going to steal the tagline from the Kickstarter because it’s too good to replace—a “comics spellbook/anthology of witchy instructional comics for Crones and aspiring Crones alike.” It’s part compilation of comics from some of POMEgranate Magazine’s Pocket Spellbooks and part brand-new bespoke spellcraft, all put together in a 200+ page anthology with sparkly gold foil on the cover.

A mockup of Strange Tails. The cover is reminiscent of Starry Night, blue swirls over impressionistic yellow stars. The title lettering is huge, with "STRANGE" and "TAILS" on separate lines, and the white text sits in the center of the page. Strange Tails, Claire Connelly, Gab Contreras, Matt Emmons, Liana Kangas, Cardinal Rae, Erica Schultz, 2019.

Strange Tails

Claire Connelly, Gab Contreras, Matt Emmons, Liana Kangas, Cardinal Rae, Erica Schultz
Ends March 31

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t fully understand what’s going on in this anthology, but it’s my job to tell you so I’m gonna try. Strange Tails is a collection of stories with words by Erica Schultz and pictures by Claire Connelly, including: a story about lobsters in space (at least one of which is immortal), a very true story about Winston Churchill, and something titled “Cheese: A Love Story.” Connelly’s inks are lovely, the colors on them look great, and if you like weird and wacky stuff then this book looks like it’ll satisfy that need just fine.

A collection of comic panels summarizing BLACK. In the first, a back teenager with short dreads looks at the camera. The following scenes show police noticing a group of black teenagers, a shot of the teenagers being shot, the guy from the first panel waking up on an operating table, and a shot of four superheroes striding forward. The panels are on a red background, and the text beside them reads, "It's been three years since Karim Jenkins was gunned down by the police, discovered he had strange abilities, and haphazardly revealed to the world that only Black people have superpowers. Since then, as X, he's become public enemy number one on his mission to protect his people in a world struggling to cope with the existence of empowered Blacks." WHITE, Juan Castro, Jamal Igle, Sarah Litt, Kwanza Osajyefo, Khary Randolph, Derwin Robinson, David Sharpe, Tim Smith 3, 2019.

WHITE

Juan Castro, Jamal Igle, Sarah Litt, Kwanza Osajyefo, Khary Randolph, Derwin Robinson, David Sharpe, Tim Smith 3
Ends March 31

WHITE is a follow-up to 2016’s BLACK, produced by the original team and set three years after BLACK’s conclusion. The book continues with BLACK’s premise—what if only Black people could develop superpowers—and turns the camera on the largest institutional structures and inequalities in their world. The six-issue series will eventually be distributed to comic shops by Black Mask, but Kickstarter backers can get exclusive variants of each issue as well as a campaign-exclusive trade paperback.

A mockup of Rise of the White Phoenix. The cover is a portrait of a young Mexican girl wearing an off-the-shoulders white shirt with that sort of fold over fluttery top bit. Her dark gray skirt billows out to fill the bottom of the image, and she's got flowers in her wavy brown hair. She's also wearing a light pink luchador mask. The title lettering, in white, arcs over her head. Rise of the White Phoenix: Book 1, Lisa Lindsay LaRose, 2019.

Rise of the White Phoenix: Book 1

Lisa Lindsay LaRose
Ends April 4

Rise of the White Phoenix is a short graphic novel about a girl who wants to become a luchadora, and I think it might be everything I’ve ever wanted in life. We’re good, go home, this is the ideal comic book, thanks. You can read the prologue right through here, and then you can just go back the book, because seriously: yes.

A mockup of Icarus and the Sun, shot straight on. The cover is green, with hand written title lettering in the top center. Below, a human representation of the sun rendered in yellows and oranges embraces Icarus, rendered in warm grays. The sun has long, flowing orange hair; Icarus has wings and is beginning to melt. Icarus and the Sun, Gabriel Picolo, 2019.

Icarus and the Sun

Gabriel Picolo
Ends April 6

On March 5th, Indiegogo ground to a stuttering halt, and then dragged itself sluggishly forth for a few hours before regaining its normal snappy speed. Also on March 5th, Gabriel Picolo launched the campaign for Icarus and the Sun. Are these things related? Yes, actually, they are, because Icarus and the Sun raised well over $150,000 (of a $20,000 goal) within an hour of launch and the internet’s collective enthusiasm brought the crowdfunding platform to its knees. The print version of Icarus and the Sun is a now-hardcover collection of Picolo’s breakout 365 Days Of Doodles story, now wrapped up.

The cover of the second issue of Fatventure Mag. Three fat adults sit around a table on an open porch, all laughing. The person in the back faces fully towards the camera; they are white, with short black hair and a snake tattoo that winds its way around their upper arm a couple of times. The person in the middle is Black, with wavy hair tied into a messy bun, yellow sunglasses on their forhead, and a blue top tied around their middle. The person in the foreground faces away from the camera. They're white, with a blue-gray undercut, black sunglasses, and loosely drawn facial hair. There are roller skates strewn around on the ground and fairy lights around the edges of the porch overhang. Fatventure Mag Volume 2, Carrie Alyson, Alice Lesperance, Samantha Puc, 2019.

Fatventure Mag, Volume 2

Carrie Alyson, Alice Lesperance, Samantha Puc
Ends April 7

Fatventure Mag is about fat folks doing active things, and telling “fitness culture” or whatever to (I’m so sorry) take a dang hike. With contributions from fat-identified non-binary and women creators, the magazine is a space for folks to explore and express their experiences without having to drown out the background noise of weight loss nonsense. The magazine also has an absurdly good design sense, so honestly, what’s not to love?

Zora Gilbert
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