This week’s adventures climbing the cliffs of insanity include a look at several awesome kickstarter comic projects that have come to fruition, including Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore’s much-anticipated story, a great post on the origins of Lois Lane, and a video that my youngest son hunted up because the music was used at the beginning of Iron Man 3.
But first, I believe I’m in love with Kickstarter.
For years, I kept hearing there’s no market for books staring non-sexually exploitive female characters or by female creators. Then Jamal Igle’s Molly Danger raised over $50,000, Simone and Calafiore’s Leaving Megalopolis raised over $100,000 and Flesh of White, a horror story by the relatively little-known Erica Heflin and Amanda Rachels exceeded their goal for issue #1, and have fully funded issue #2 with nine days still to go. (That means you can still back it! Go!). 
- A character card from Flesh of White #2’s Kickstarter page, copyright Inverse Press
I received the first issue, a horror mini-series set in Africa concerning the fate of a much-loved but much wanted albino baby, after backing issue #1. The visuals, particularly the emotions in the faces of those surrounding this unusual baby, are beautiful. I’m terrified and worried for him and his family and it’s good #2 is coming soon because I’m on pins and needles. This is exactly the type of comic Kickstarter has made possible.
And I’m only scratching the surface of what’s out there. I realize there are some projects that miss deadlines or disappoint backers but by listening to word of mouth among fellow comic fans and recommendations, I’ve not run into any of them. I missed out on Molly Danger but it appears the comic will also be available to non-Kickstarter backers too. Yay.
Igle also has his Free Comic Book Day issue to promote the series to those who missed out on the Kickstarter. I’m eagerly awaiting a copy of Megalopolis. This week, Simone and Calafiore offered a preview of the first pages to backers.
It looks like, well, a ruined city, and the opening montage concerns a former police officer struggling to survive. Like their series for DC, Secret Six, this isn’t happy, happy fun times. It’s dark and fascinating and gave me a similar vibe to Simone’s Wildstorm series, Welcome to Tranquility.
Now I have to go find some others to back, as the originality and the quality of the Kickstarter projects I’ve received have been better than comics coming from the Big Two.
Hey, Smallville, Betcha Didn’t Know This! Lois Lane’s Legion
This year is the 75 anniversary of the first appearance of Superman and Lois Lane. With Superman largely covered by official marketing, it’s been up to Lois Lane’s Legion of fans (hmm..that has a nice ring. Lois Lane’s Legion) to celebrate the reporter with moxie who never backs down and never gives in to bullies.
This week, the DC Women Kicking Ass tumblr featured Lois’ secret origin, aka the female characters by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who were part of the eventual formation of Lois. The guest-post was by Brad Ricca, the author of the upcoming Super Boys, which is about Siegel and Shuster. Basically, Siegel and Shuster created several female characters before Lois, each sharing a characteristic later embodied in their more famous creation. It’s a great read, especially the panels from long-ago comics.
And speaking of origins…
This Video is Weirder Than Tony Stark
The first thing my youngest son said (13) said when Iron Man 3 began was “Hey! That’s Eiffel 65!” which proved once again that while I think I’m a mom who knows about stuff younger people do, I don’t know everything because he had to explain that Eiffel 65 is a band.
The movie music sent him looking for the original video of “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” when we came home. (We all loved it.) I asked him how it was and he said “Mom, don’t show this video, it’s too weird, use the Iron Man one.”
But what fun would that be? So here you are, the original video to Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee.”
Enjoy the weirdness.
I have a serious problem with Kickstarter…problem, as in a I can’t stop backing playing cards on there. 🙂 I also am very happy to have discovered a new comic artist Larime Taylor and his “A Voice in the Dark” comic. (Originally titled Dark Zoey but changed before completion http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1644376829/dark-zoey, Volume two is http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1644376829/a-voice-in-the-dark-vol-2-killing-game) I love what Kickstarter does, it give us the ability to support what WE want and say yes…make this possible! Also, I’m not a big comic person…never really got into them, but just browsing and came across the mentioned one and bam, I was sucked in. Something I never would have discovered if not for Kickstarter.