Crowdfunding

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit back and read some comics. The weekend is finally here, and the world can relax and rest once more --- but the comics industry has been busy too, you know, and the last seven days have seen a flurry of comics-based news and announcements fly past at high speed. ComicsAlliance have got your back, though: when it comes to comics, we never slow down, and so here’s a look back and just what’s been going on. New comics, new stories, new hirings, new podcasts, new art being made --- it’s all part of the ComicsAlliance Weekender!

2016 sees the 20th anniversary of Pokémon, and the world is geared up for celebration, with digital re-releases of Pokémon Red and Blue, the augmented reality app Pokémon Go, and now, this fan-made art book of all 150 original Pokémon drawn to look like... adorable pugs! The project, by Australian graphic designer and illustrator Sean Dowling, is live on Kickstarter now with a host of rewards including posters, art cards and a softcover book of all 150 titled “The Pugédex”.

C. Spike Trotman's Iron Circus Comics has already successfully funded a newly launched third Smut Peddler Kickstarter, but it's not too late to get in on the rewards. The earlier Kickstarters, in 2012 and 2014, enabled the publication of two Smut Peddler anthologies, adding up to more than 600 pages of porn and erotica comics. The current Kickstarter project is somewhat different, however. The funding will enable Trotman to publish two new books under the Smut Peddler banner: My Monster Boyfriend and Yes, Roya.

Crowdfunding has become an important part of how comics get made, allowing creators to pitch their work directly to readers, and providing opportunities for comics that traditional publishers may not consider. With Back Pages, ComicsAlliance hopes to provide a spotlight for some of the best comics crowdfunding projects we can find. Alex Heberling has been working full time on webcomics since 2013 with her series The Hues. Mixing sci-fi with high fantasy, The Hues follows a group of young women as they attempt to fend off an alien invasion --- with magic powers they've only just realized they have, and haven't quite got the full hang of yet. Alex has taken to Kickstarter this year for her second campaign, seeking to fund a second print volume of the comic. ComicsAlliance spoke to her to find out more.

Back in 2012, Robert Valley launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of a second volume of Pear Cider and Cigarettes, an autobiographical graphic novel about trying to save a friend in desperate need of a new liver. It's about a lot more than that too, as Chris Sebela put it in his interview with the animator/artist himself, "Instead of meditations on relationships and jobs, Pear Cider is a whirlwind journey full of drugs, blood, sex, disease and international travel." Both volumes of the book were a success, but now Valley is returning to Kickstarter with Pear Cider and Cigarettes once more, only this time he's hoping to turn the story into a 30-minute animated short. Even back when the crowdfunding for the second volume began, Robert Valley had an animated version of the story in mind. As he does most of his solo animating through Photoshop already, the book would serve as storyboards for the short film. It's taken four more years, but Valley's completely animated the story from start to finish. This latest Kickstarter venture is merely to help secure funding for post-production.

Crowdfunding has become an important part of how comics get made, allowing creators to pitch their work directly to readers, and providing opportunities for comics that traditional publishers may not consider. With Back Pages, ComicsAlliance hopes to provide a spotlight for some of the best comics crowdfunding projects we can find. North Bend, by Ryan Ellsworth, Robert Carey, and Dee Cunniffe and Thomas Mauer, is a crime drama with elements of political thriller, focusing on a DEA agent invited to contribute to a CIA program to experiment on small-time criminals against their knowledge with mind-control drugs. The agent has to decide where he stands. Should he keep quiet, out of loyalty to his government, or speak out and put himself at risk? It's a story that surprisingly has its roots in real life events. We spoke to Ellsworth to learn more.

Prism Comics has released a 25-page free preview of its upcoming Alphabet anthology, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. Alphabet commemorates 10 years of the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant, and features full-color comics from nearly 50 creators, some of whom have received the grant in the past. It's going to be an impressive collection of LGBTQ-oriented comics from a wide variety of talents. The Alphabet Kickstarter ends on Thursday Dec. 24, at 12:50 PM EST. As of this writing, funding is more than two-thirds of the way towards an $18,000 goal, so its chances look pretty good, but there's only a week left, and queer art can always use whatever help it can get.

The weekend is here! Put down your paperwork, throw your stationery out of the window, and do a victory spin in your office chair, because it’s time to catch up on that greatest of all media: comics! What’s been going on this week? There’s so much comics that there’s no way anybody can keep up with all of it — so Weekender is here to catch you up on some of the stories you may have missed, and some of the best writing about comics from the past few days.

Should you ever doubt that humanity has a dire and implacable need to pretend to be wizards who go to magic school, consider this: When New World Magischola launched on Kickstarter at 7:00 PM yesterday with the promise of letting people live out that fantasy next summer in Virginia, it had an initial goal of $35,000. At 7:21 PM, it had just rounded $90,000. The campaign is set to fund a three-day live-action roleplaying session next summer in Virginia, allowing backers to attend classes, cast spells, solve magical mysteries and --- if you're willing to shell out the cash for a premium experience --- even join a secret society with its own special subplot. Also, there will be a breakfast buffet, so I'm gonna need $450, thanks in advance.

The launch and rise of Peow, a Swedish publisher that was nominated for three Ignatz Awards this year, is one of the most encouraging success stories of 2015. Founded by Patrick Crotty, Olle Forsslöf and Elliot Alfredius, the studio started with three artists and a risograph machine, but has now established a reputation for bright, vibrant, and funny works that are unlike anything else in the industry. Peow has now turned to Kickstarter to fund its Spring/Summer 2016 line-up, featuring new work from creators including Guillaume Singelin, Wai Wai Pang, Mathilde Kitteh, Luca Oliveri, Mackenzie Schubert,and Patrick Crotty himself. It looks as though next year will see Peow grow even further, so we sat down with Crotty to take a closer look at the publisher's history and its hopes for the future.