New from AWA Studios is the highly anticipated Kickstarter ILLuminati. Written by acclaimed writer and filmmaker Bryan Edward Hill (Chariot, Ultimate Black Panther), drawn by Inkpot Award-winning artist and producer Denys Cowan (Black Panther, Static Shock), and inked by Eisner Hall of Fame artist Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Legion), with cover art by Eisner and Ringo Award-winning artist Sanford Greene (Bitter Root, Power-Man & Iron Fist, 1000).
The story is set in Los Angeles, a city of secrets where fame has a price. In ILLuminati, when a rising hip-hop star dies under mysterious circumstances, her twin sister Lily – a young woman with psychic abilities – journeys to the City of Angels for answers and becomes enmeshed in a dark conspiracy that snakes its way through the pillars of power, fame, and popular culture. ILLuminati is a relentless supernatural thriller that tackles head-on the most enduring urban legend of our day: The Black ILLuminati.
To supplement this Kickstarter, popular radio personality Charlamagne tha God was brought on to curate 5 variant covers based on some of the most important hip-hop album covers.
Chapter #1 Homage Album: Ice Cube’s Death Certificate
Artist: Shawn Martinbrough | Colorist: Matt Herms
Chapter #2
Homage Album: DMX’s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
Artist: Keron Grant
Chapter #3
Homage Album: Redman’s Dare Iz a Darkside
Artist: Irvin Rodriguez
Chapter #4
Homage Album: De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising
Artist: Kyle Baker
Chapter #5 Homage Album: Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers
Artist: Denys Cowan | Colorist: Marco Lesko
Launched on Sept. 17th, this Kickstarter was completely funded in record time, to coincide with the campaign’s end date of Oct. 22nd, three of the prominent players in this Kickstarter, Charlamagne, Denys Cowan, and AWA co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Axel Alonso showed up at NYCC for a panel moderated by writer Rob Markman and press junket.
Left to right: Axel Alonso, Denys Cowan, Charlemagne, and moderator Rob Markman.When asked about the need for a publisher like AWA to use Kickstarter co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Axel Alonso stated that this was to “empower fans, giving them the opportunity to get whichever version of the book they wanted, using a sliding scale.”
The ILLuminati Kickstarter launched on September 17 and runs through Tuesday, October 22. If you missed the campaign you’ll still be able to purchase it as individual issues later next year with the variants used for each issue cover.
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