Tag Archives: anthology

Crowdfunded Comics that deserve more attention: The Kugali Anthology

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So I thought the Black Panther movie was awesome,

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and if the box office numbers have anything to say, everyone reading this is probably thinking the same thing.

I’m willing to bet that the creators of today’s Kickstarter comic looked at the release of the movie and thought that now would probably be the best time to try and raise money for their project: The Kugali Anthology.

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The Kugali Anthology is a collection of comic stories and characters written and drawn by black creators, with an emphasis on creators from Africa.

The comic is being funded out of Britain, so any funding information is converted into American dollars.  At the time of writing this comic has currently raised $5,922 out of $13,782 and has 26 days left in its campaign.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kugalimedia/the-kugali-anthology?ref=discovery

Why I like it

Before we start I should make one thing incredibly clear, I am not an expert on Africa and I have no ancestral or familial ties to Africa.  Outside of a few close family friends and an extremely brief section of my school’s history curriculum, my knowledge of African history and culture is very limited.  I am simply writing as a very curious, and very white, comic book fan and tourist.

From the looks of it, this particular anthology is focusing on fantasy stories and folk tales.

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I will admit that I could be wrong, but even if I am, the very idea of having a magazine that brings more attention to creators and artists from Africa telling stories that are based in African culture and history is incredibly exciting and makes me very happy.

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What little I do know has been enough to pique my interest in Africa for a while and I find its history absolutely fascinating.  Africa is a vast,

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and incredibly diverse continent filled with larger than life places and people.  Stories about great kings such as Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire,

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the East African spice ports,

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and the life and exploits of Shaka Zulu,

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have captured my imagination and I have been trying to learn more ever since.

Heck, Africa is home to one of the first and greatest civilizations in Western history, a civilization that some historians devote their entire lives to studying.

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Again, I will admit that I am writing this from a place of relative ignorance but let me ask you this:  If my limited knowledge of Africa can demonstrate that the continent is more than a collection of unfortunate stereotypes, that there is more to it than poverty, disease, and violence, what do you think we could learn from people who actually live there?

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This leads me directly into my next point…

Why you should donate

Because the world is getting smaller and introducing people to entertainment influenced by different cultures just makes sense.  Plus, it can provide creators with a much needed infusion of new ideas and aesthetics.

I’m going to explain by picking on the fantasy genre for a minute.  To be clear, I love a good fantasy story but let’s be honest, the second you read the word “fantasy” your mind probably brought up images like this:

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or this,

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or maybe this if you’re a Japanophile:

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Sure, some creators have helped audiences branch out by introducing fantasy worlds that aren’t influenced by Medieval Europe or Japan.

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but European and pan Asian cultures are not the only places that have stories worth telling and interesting aesthetics.

Africa has so many stories, characters, and themes to offer the world and it’s high time that African creators took their rightful place on the cultural stage and shared their voices with the world.

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The Black Panther movie showed us that audiences are ready for stories that uphold the idea of a strong and confident Africa and that African themes and aesthetics can be a viable source of entertainment.

 

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Let’s take the next step and introduce audiences to the wonderful world of African comic books.

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Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kugalimedia/the-kugali-anthology?ref=discovery

Crowdfunded Comics that deserve more attention: Kaiju Gods

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Full disclosure: this project contains work by Frankie B. Washington, an artist who has done work for this site.  No money or special favors were exchanged for the writing of this article.

Today we’re talking about a Kickstarter project entitled Kaiju Gods.  

 

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This is an anthology book featuring stories about the Japanese giant monster genre of movies known as “kaiju” movies.  At the time of writing this project has 20 days left and has raised $4,960 of it’s $16,000 goal.  Funding ends on March 16th.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/208514895/kaiju-gods?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=kaiju

Why I like it

GIANT MONSTERS AND ROBOTS PUNCHING THINGS!

Raiderman by Jay Piscopo

UNBELIEVABLE DESTRUCTION!

Sloan by Daniel Warner and Chris Enterline

MONSTROUS ROMANCE!

Story by Garrett Gunn and Nicolas Touris

HUMAN ANTS TREMBLING AT IN THE PRESENCE OF A VENGEFUL GOD!!!  ALSO…BANANAS!

Banana Katana by Kevin Roditeli and Rottsteak

Sorry…got a little carried away there.

I am a sucker for stories about big things punching other big things and yes, Pacific Rim was a great movie and I am eagerly awaiting the release of Pacific Rim Uprising.

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As you can tell from the artwork posted above, there is a huge amount of creativity and passion on display here.  In fact, if you got to the campaign page and read it through, you’ll find that the guy putting the anthology together had no trouble finding people willing to participate.

Now, while I am a big fan of big things being punched, I will admit that there is the possibility of it getting…boring.  Thankfully, this anthology has gathered a wide and diverse pool of talent utilizing different backgrounds, art styles, and story techniques to tell a wide range of stories that deal with the kaiju monsters.

There seems to be a story where a samurai fights a kaiju with nothing but a bow and arrow,

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I don’t know any of the specifics, all I know is that it looks awesome.

Why you should donate

Because kaiju are the perfect metaphor for our time.

We live in a massive, interconnected, and increasingly complicated world that is in the process of changing in ways that we can’t possible imagine.

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Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather live here and now instead of anywhere else, but when times change the chaos can be incredibly destructive.

The internet and social media may have given the individual a greater voice and reach bigger and bigger audiences, but all that noise and activity and be so overwhelming that it drives us to become more and more isolated and withdrawn.

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Globalization has allowed millions of people to be lifted out of poverty, but has reduced millions more to jobs where they are nothing more than cogs in a very large machine that is nearly impossible to comprehend.

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To top it all off, the Earth’s climate is changing, creating an uncertain future where we are unable to sustain our current lifestyle and doom entire countries to ecological and environmental disaster.

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If it all seems a bit overwhelming it’s because it is.  Our brains are incapable of processing tragedies that affect so many people, so we simply shrug our shoulders and write off the suffering of millions as just “something that happens”.

That sort of dehumanization is terrifying, and it is that kind of horror that the Japanese knew all too well as they watched their cities being bombed into oblivion by the seemingly overwhelming and alien force that was the United States military.

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One man who understood that horror well was a little known director named Ishiro Honda,

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and in 1954 he gave that horror a name: Godzilla.

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We can look back at the past and admire how far we’ve come, we can look towards the future and eagerly await what’s to come, but it is important to look at where we are in the present and realize just how small and insignificant we really are.

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Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/208514895/kaiju-gods?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=kaiju

 

Crowdfunded Comics that deserve more attention: Can I Pet Your Werewolf?

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Today we’re going to be talking about a project on Kickstarter that deals with a subject close to my heart.

PUPPIES!!

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Okay, okay, the project isn’t actually about puppies.  I said that so I could post pictures of cute pups.

That being said, today’s Kickstarter project is pretty close.  It’s a project about everyone’s favorite furry monsters…werewolfs.

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Can I Pet Your Werewolf is an anthology series created by Kel McDonald and a various number of artists who want to tell lighthearted stories about friendship, family, and romance between humanity and the furry incarnations of humanity’s animal instincts.

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At the time of writing this project has already reached over $10,000 and needs a total of $30,000 by July 14th, 2017.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1495959227/can-i-pet-your-werewolf?ref=category_recommended

Why I like it

In a word…PUPPIES!!

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Sorry…sorry that’s the last time I’ll do this I swear.

In all seriousness, I consider myself to be a dog person.  One of the greatest jobs I ever had was working at a doggy day care where I would babysit large groups of dogs for hours at a time.

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It was such a demanding job, I’m surprised I was able to survive.

That’s why I like this project so much.  For me, werewolves are basically giant, man sized dogs and having an entire book about the big fluffy pups?

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I am okay with this.

Another reason why I like this project so much are the artists that are involved with the project.  Having the right style of art in your comic is just as important as having the right words for your story.  It can set tone, mood, and the entire emotional layout of what you want to say.

Want proof?

This is how werewolves are normally portrayed,

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and this is how some of the artists from Can I Pet Your Werewolf portray them.

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There’s a pretty big difference in tone.

Now, you may be reading this and thinking that this may not be your cup of tea.  You may be thinking that this anthology is doing to werewolves what another, inexplicably popular book and movie series did to vampires (and werewolves), and in a way I kind of agree with you.  However…

Why you should donate

I’m not going to go into a long tirade about how modern literature and Hollywood are destroying classic monsters that used to be intimidating,

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But you have to admit that the landscape of modern horror is…changing.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing.  Horror movies are supposed to touch on modern day fears and terrors.  The classic horror monsters preyed on things like our fear of uncontrollable lust,

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the destruction of the barrier between life and death,

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and werewolves played on our fears of the bestial nature of man and uncontrollable rage.

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Now, these movies are classics for a reason but the simple fact of the matter is that times and tastes change.  As a result, horror movies have had to change and find different fears to exploit.  Things like modern day racism,

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the fear of being a single parent raising a child,

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or the fear of catching an STD,

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are the new monsters and worries that we have to afraid of.  As a result, the monsters of the past have passed from the realm of terrifying creatures of folklore to accepted members of the popular culture cannon and creatures that are accepted rather than feared.

We don’t fear creatures like vampires and werewolves anymore, we want to be them.

Hollywood noticed this and has answered the call,
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With varying degrees of success and acceptability.

The funny thing is that you can’t really blame Hollywood for taking the classics and turning them into something that ranges from decent to terrible and bland.  Movies are expensive and you aren’t going to spend millions of dollars on anything and not take every step you can to mitigate risk.  That’s why you see movies that have been workshopped, test grouped, and market tested to death until the final boring, lifeless, and joyless product is forced on audiences everywhere.

Can I Pet Your Werewolf takes the direction that the classic monsters are going and distills it into the focused artistic vision of a few creators, and that’s what makes it special.

What I’m trying to say to you is this.

Would you rather have this as our modern werewolf?

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or this?

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I’ll take the second option thank you.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1495959227/can-i-pet-your-werewolf?ref=category_recommended

Crowdfunded Comics that deserve more attention: Enough Space for Everybody

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Boy, it’s been waaay to long since I’ve done one of these.

For anyone who might not know, I run a blog series where I talk about cool crowdfunded comic books I like and try to help them out for free.  Unfortunately, silly things like work and sleep tend to get in the way so I don’t get to do this as often as I like.

However, today I was feeling especially awake and I decided to browse the projects on Kickstarter and I found this!

The project is a science fiction comic book anthology with a really intriguing twist: it’s a collection of sci fi stories without any military or imperialism themes, tones, or stories.

The project is headed by J.N Monk and needs to raise $30,000 to pay for artists, editing, printing, and shipping.

Kickstarter link:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1638576966/enough-space-for-everyone-else-an-anthology?ref=home_featured

Why I like it

I’ll be honest, when I first read the project description I was a tad confused.

You see, I am a guy who likes comic books and science fiction.  This means that, for most of my life, this is the kind of sci fi I’ve been raised on:

As you can see it’s big, brash, loud, and awesome, but “Enough Space for Everyone” is trying to do science fiction without all the guns, fighting, and violence and that intrigues me.

For me, and I would assume almost everyone else who likes science fiction, the genre is at its best when it creates timeless stories that speak to some particular part of the human condition

By setting stories in the distant future authors allow their stories to become timeless.  After all, we won’t have to worry about a sci fi story being dated because we’ll be long dead by the year 10191

and the wondrous technology that sci fi is known for allows its creator to physically show the reader everything from the meaning of humanity,

To the dangers of our hubris.

The reason why I think conflict is so prevalent in science fiction is because it makes a story easy to understand.

War and violence are one of the few constants in human history and it is something that everyone understands at some level.

Sci fi often uses conflict to set up two opposing sides and use each side to explain the point he/she is trying to make.  One side is good, the other is bad, here’s why, and this is what happens when one side wins.

But if science fiction is a way to explore the human condition, why do we have to always limit ourselves to conflict?  Aren’t there other emotions and ideas that humans have been coping with for thousands of years?  Why can’t science fiction tell those kinds of stories?

The creators of “Enough Space for Everyone” want to write sci fi stories like that and claim that “there is enough space for friendship, for art competitions, for understanding, for magical nights at the theater, for creativity, for vacations, for new beginnings.”

I like this project because I have spent a LOT of time with violent military sci fi and I want to see what stories from other perspectives look like.

Why you should donate

Another interesting thing about science fiction is that a lot of its art tends to rely on a very specific, very detail oriented, very realistic style.

But “Enough Space for Everyone Else” takes a very different approach, preferring to promote artwork that is much less realistic and almost childlike.

I’m not advocating one style of art over another, I’m simply saying that this comic anthology is different from what a lot of people normally associate with science fiction and that’s a good thing.

Which brings me to the biggest reason why I think more people should support this project: it’s different from so many other stories out there.

Whether you like it or not, the past forty years of science fiction has been dominated by two pop culture behemoths,

Almost every work of mainstream science fiction has tried to emulate these two franchises in theme, tone, and visual aesthetic from the idea of a giant galactic war that threatens to tear entire galaxies apart,

to re purposed colonization and exploration stories that used to be about the Wild West but now take place in outer space.

Personally, I think it’s time that science fiction tries to break away from these two narratives and tries something new.  It’s time for a change and “Enough Space for Everyone Else” is a great start.

So if you’re interested in promoting and encouraging science fiction that seeks to bring a new diversity of ideas and stories back to a genre that we all know and love, consider donating to this campaign.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1638576966/enough-space-for-everyone-else-an-anthology?ref=home_featured

Crowdfunded comics that deserve more attention: Starrytellers Anthology

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So it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these and that’s a shame because as I was looking through Kickstarter I saw a whole bunch of interesting stuff that either failed to find funding or didn’t have enough time for anything I could write to make a difference.  With that being said, let’s take a look at this cool little anthology project I found that’s a bit different from what I normally talk about: The Starryteller Anthology.

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The title of the piece is pretty clever play on words.  It’s a collection of stories all centered around the common theme of stars (the giant glowing balls of hydrogen, not celebrities) with 11 different stories created by 11 different female artists from the great Down Under, Australia.

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/262408383/starrytellers-anthology

Why I like it:

For starters the idea of building an anthology series around the concept of a star is something I find very interesting.  For starters, you’re dealing with the fundamental forces of the universe creating a ball of fusion and plasma screaming across the universe on a scale that is nearly impossible for we mere humans to comprehend.

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it’s a very awe inspiring topic which doesn’t just apply to science and creation.  The authors of the anthology understand that when you talk about stars you aren’t necessarily limited to science and creation.  There are elements of mythology, spiritualism, and history that make for great stories about such a broad topic.

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Now you may be wondering why I’m not talking about the stories themselves or any other plot details.  Well that’s because the Kickstarter doesn’t give many details about the plot.  However, I was able to look at some of the work from some of the women working on this project and I was simply blown away.  For example, here’s a piece from one of the artists named Natasha Sim

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Here’s another piece by an artist named Lee Lai

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here’s a picture of two Martians (I think) by an artist named Madeleine Karutz

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and here’s a link to some of the work by the person producing the Kickstarter, a lady named Samantha Calcraft (I highly encourage you to check out the story “Fin”, it is hilarious).

Each one of the artists has their own talent and voice that I’m sure will go into creating an awesome story.  I will admit that I am personally more used to a more realistic and hard lined style than this but the level of attention to detail and passion that is clearly put into each of these pieces has made me a fan of everyone involved in this project.

There are a whole bunch of other artists on this project and each one of them is amazing at what they do.  If you want to see more I highly encourage you to check out each of their Facebook pages, Tumblr blogs, and websites.

Why you should donate:

Besides the cool concept and the awesome artists there are several other things that make this anthology special.

First off, it’s a purely Australian project.

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Now, when I hear the word “Australia” comics aren’t the first thing that come to mind (that would be deadly animals that can kill you in a heartbeat) although they did give us the actor who plays Thor in the movies.

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From what I’ve read most Australians got most of their comic entertainment from American re prints and there hasn’t been much in terms of locally produced content which makes this project special.  I can’t guess the intentions of the creators involved but I honestly believe this project has the potential to create a new comic book culture that is distinctly Australian.

Also, the fact that this is an all female ensemble effort is something to be commended as well.  Yes I do believe that the comic book industry is overwhelmingly dominated by men and while there have been several high profile female writers and artists who have done brilliant work it still isn’t enough.  Let me be clear here, from a personal stand point I do not see this from a gender politics viewpoint.  I simply believe that it is necessary for more people with different viewpoints and different voices to become involved in creating comic books in order for the art form to thrive.

So if you want to see a collection of stories from an insanely talented group of artists and writers that are attempting to bring new ideas, new styles, and new stories to the medium we know and love so much, consider donating to The Starrytellers Anthology.