Welcome back to another installment of Indie Comics Showcase, the weekly blog where we signal boost a few truly independent comics that are currently crowdfunding their projects, crowdsourcing their funding in some way, or just completely self-publishing on their own. Every little bit of support for these creators matters, from a single dollar pledge to the twenty-five dollar bundle, and of course the higher tiers are usually fun too! Even if you can’t back a campaign or buy a book, you can share or tweet about these projects to your friends and followers.
On Indie Comics Showcase, we interview the creators, show off some art, and tell you how you can check out the product for yourself. Below we have some outstanding crowdfunding campaigns this week for you to learn about, enjoy, and hopefully support by backing one or more of them! Thanks for checking these out and for being the best part of Indie Comics Showcase. Let’s jump in!
Check out the campaign here!
Chris Braly: Welcome back to Indie Comics Showcase, Michael. Get us up to speed on your latest issue of ‘The Embrace’!
Michael Oden: The story follows Clarence Griffin, a grieving father who is reunited with the ghost of his son David and given a chance to bring his son’s killers to justice. Through a bond with his son’s spirit, Clarence and David become the spectral hero, The Embrace. The Embrace 2 is the second chapter of a five to six issue mini series
The Embrace 2 Is Live Now!
CB: Where did the idea for this come from?
MO: The idea for this book came from two places for me, the emotional core of this story came from going through a custody battle back in 2021. The second inspiration was a news article I saw around thr time my son was born where this 14 year old kid’s body was found at this park in Alexandria where I lived at the time. This had always stuck with me and that story inspired the narrative of Clarence and David. This led to an initial crowdfunder on IGG back in 2021 that raised almost 16k, and now we are live on FMC after a very successful 11k campaign on IGG as well!
CB: What kind of reader is this best suited?
MO: Well ideally anyone, I feel like the themes of fatherhood, loss and justice are things most people would find relatable. However, if I were to target it I’ve always compared this to books like The Crow, Haunt, or Spawn
CB: Tell me a bit about your creative process, Michael.
MO: My style varies per project as a writer. Different stories require different style. This leads into my creative process which involves me effectively creating music playlists that put me in the right headspace. When I am writing a script it’s like there’s a movie playing in my head and these songs act as a soundtrack.
CB: Who is helping you bring this project to print?
MO: We have a pretty exceptional team on The Embrace. Dean James, the main artist and my co creator on the book has been pushing himself and really developing his style in this second book which is only enhanced by our new colorist Eugen Betivu, whose work on The Lost Pages by the Diaz brothers precedes itself. We also have an exceptional list of talent that we’ve brought together for various indie covers such as Irene “Renie” Strychalski, Eder Messias, Michael Bancroft, and last but not least Shelby Robertson, as well as amazing mini-prints, trading cards, and box art from talents such as Jason Bascom, Inkspots, Rich Ayala, and Shimhaq!
CB: How far along is the book?
MO: The script is done, with most of it penciled and about a quarter of it inked with 7 pages fully colored and 6 fully lettered. We are eyeing a February 2025 fulfillment timeline, but are hoping to be done sooner! This is the second chapter of a mini series that will run 5 to 6 issues. Additionally, Dean and I have talked about an anthology book delving into the lore of the world.
CB: What have you been learning from self-publishing through this process?
MO: This is a labor of love and if you expect it to pay dividends right away, you’re in the wrong industry.
CB: Any special features in this campaign you want to mention?
MO: On this particular campaign I would say that there are three tiers to look at. If you’ve never seen The Embrace before, I highly recommend our featured catch-up tier which gets all caught up with two beautiful covers, one by Joel Gomez and one by Shelby Robertson, along with a trading card set, miniprint, chibi sticker, and a sticky hand.
If you want a truly unique collector piece, the Glow in the dark Haunted Edition only has 25 left and will be signed and numbered by Shelby Robertson. Then finally, if you want the best bang for your buck, our box includes all covers of book 2, a copy of book 1, an embrace t shirt, sticky hand, miniprint collection, and a special black and white edition of The Embrace 2 only available on this tier.
CB: What else can you tell our readers before we conclude this interview?
MO: In addition to The Embrace 2, be on the look out as we intend to launch Elysian Fields Reborn in March of 2025! This reboot of my first series is the culmination of all my knowledge I’ve gained in this space!
CB: Good luck, Michael. It looks good!
Check out the campaign here!
Chris Braly: Welcome back to Indie Comics Showcase, Russ. Tell me the elevator pitch for your comic magazine, The Atlantean!
Russ Leach: After the reality shattering events in Valusia (as told within the pages of The Shadow Kingdom – our last production) Kull and his most trusted friend Brule, take a solemn vow to hunt down and destroy the hidden empire of the serpent men. These are the tales of those journeys and the great hunt! It’s 50 pages of Black and White traditional art of Robert E Howard’s premiere Sword & Sorcery characters, in regular magazine format like the legendary style of Savage Sword!
CB: What’s the origin story of this project?
RL: We are huge Robert E Howard fans and wanted to bring the most faithful graphic novel version of The Shadow Kingdom to readers. We did this with a lot of great reviews and felt that we could add to the story Howard had started in that first book. Our version of The Shadow Kingdom is now available in multiple versions from the Critical Blast website and online outlets such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc. With Kull and all the aspects of The Shadow Kingdom in public domain, we set out to create a regular magazine format book that was similar in feel to the Bronze Age Savage Sword of Conan magazines.
With a painted cover and at least 50 pages of classic styled content in each issue we plan to produce three books a year and provide quality and consistency. The art is black and white with an ink wash and is always traditionally produced and available to purchase as part of our crowdfunding campaigns. Issue 1 (Autumn 2024) has a beautiful painted cover by Marcio Freire and a second strip by Glenn Fleming.
Self publishing is a great way to get the word out and test markets. We give our backers a special crowdfund version of the book, from there we can take a retail version forward to other outlets.
CB: Nice. Other than me, who is it aimed at?
RL: Core target audience would be anyone who enjoys Sword and Sorcery or adventure tales. That said we believe that quality and consistency with great stories and art can appeal to all kinds of readers.
CB: Tell me a bit about your style and creative process, Russ.
RL: My style has developed over years of using different tool sets and producing projects for widely differing audiences and demographics. I’ve arrived at a place where I’ve fallen in love with black and white art and use a mix of modern and traditional tools and materials to create my pages. I currently pencil sketch pages in Clip Studio and then print them out. Once done I use a lightbox and traditional materials and tools (Bristol paper, ink pens and brush) to produce the final page art.
CB: Who’s on your creative team here?
RL: Randy Zimmerman is the writer on the project. He is the Editor in Chief at Arrow Comics and has almost 40 years of experience in the industry. I’m the the artist. Glenn Fleming who is a massively experience writer and artist on the ‘Hatch’ back up strip. Marcio Freire provides the painted version of our cover for issue 1. Aaron Sparrow is the consulting Editor who has an impressive list of mainstream contributions and projects.
CB: How far along is the book from being completed and ready for print?
RL: The book is 99% complete. As soon as the campaign is done we will go straight to print and send out the backer packages. Moving on, by the time we hit the campaign for issue 2 in early 2025 issue 2 will already be finished.
CB: You’ve put out a number of books yourself. What have you been learning from self-publishing and crowdfunding?
RL: Its hard work!! Outside of putting the hours into the production itself, the hardest part of all is staying present. Visibility seems to be the thing that is hardest to get right. If people don’t know about your project then no-one is going to buy your book. As we move forward to issue 2 and beyond, word of mouth should help but we are definitely looking at reaching out to other audiences outside of comics. Also advertising may be a necessary evil.
CB: Are you planning more of these magazines next year?
RL: Yes. We plan to keep going and produce three more issue in 2025. If reader numbers are good, then I see no reason to stop there! As for the stories, they are episodic and written the way comics used to be. A longer arc for the story as a whole but each issue is readable as an individual adventure tale. Quality and consistency is the aim of the production. Fantastic adventure and a fun read is the aim of the tales we’ll tell.
CB: Any special perks or tiers on your campaign we should look for?
RL: Each issue has a cover penciled (and inked on the inside front cover) by Russ Leach. The outside front cover will have a version that is fully painted by that issues cover artist. That inside cover ink will be available as a limited signed print and as original artwork in every campaign. We also do the usual bundles, discounts on multiples and sketch’s by Russ Leach
CB: Looks fantastic. Any final words?
RL: The industry is in flux and the mainstream are consistently missing the mark. All we want to do is tell great stories and entertain. That’s what we’ll do with quality and consistency which are two of the things we think are missing from so many publications these days. Comics are THE BEST story telling medium and we love them. Hopefully that love of the art comes through in the books we produce.
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Check out the campaign here!
Chris Braly: Welcome back to Indie Comics Showcase, Wayne! What’s the elevator pitch for The Mythicals?
H. Wayne Desper: Imagine if you took Buffy the Vampire Slayer and mixed it with the shady government conspiracy background of The X-Files and the explosive action of WildCATS. The perfect horror action mystery. Witchy woman Nancy Moon is recruited by Level M, a covert strike force comprised of creatures from myth and legend that protect humanity from supernatural threats
The Mythicals III Launch Trailer
CB: What made you decide to self-publish this?
WD: The lack of quality in the corporate side of comics. Story and art suffered. I dusted an old idea I had in the Army after discovering crowdfunding in late 2021.
CB: Who is your creative team here?
WD: Firstly , H. Wayne Desper is the writer. Carlos Rodrigo is handling the pencils. My inker is Everson Lyrio. On colors is Diego Albuquerque. The lettering is handled by Rick Joseph. And
Aaron Sparrow is my editor.
CB: What’s your current schedule looking like and how far along is the book?
WD: We’re about 50% complete with this issue and on track to go to print around Christmas 2024.
CB: What have you been learning from self-publishing and crowdfunding through this process?
WD: Marketing is the most valuable skill for an independent creator.
CB: What are your plans beyond this book?
WD: There are 13 issues are planned with currently 6 written.
CB: Anything else you would like to share with our readers before we sign off?
WD: Please spread the word. I launched 3 books in 18 months and I’m a proven commodity with my speedy delivery time and excellent price point.
CB: Done! Good luck!
Check out the campaign here!
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That’s it for this installment. If you’re a creator ramping up your own campaign or have a comic available for purchase online and you want to be featured in our weekly column, click here. And follow Indie Comics Showcase on Twitter at @Indie_Comics and reach out to them for more eyes on YOUR crowdfunding comic project. Until next time, support indie comics!
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