Today is the first Wednesday of the month, and it’s also the first day of school for my kids, which means I’m deadass tired! I’ve been a tad on the spoiled side this summer, staying up late watching TV with the fam, and not having to wake til the younger kids did at around 9-9:30-ish AM. This morning I wasn’t wholly unprepared for the alarm to go off at 7 AM, but I didn’t find it all that pleasant - more because I didn’t sleep well with being nervous about my boy’s first day in pre-school, and excited about this weekend's Rose City Comic Con - which I’m attending as a fan this year instead of as a vendor. Point being, I’m really tired, but I promised to tell you about a great charity for those in need down in Houston, TX, as well as some groovy new Kickstarters!
COMING REAL SOON!
Podcasters Unite for The Hurricane Harvey Podcast Pack!
Justin Corbett of Mindfudge Comedy Podcast is leading the pack of podcasters pulling together to help ease the troubles of their fellow Houstonians after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. I recently spoke with Justin about his charitable efforts, he explained they already have more than 50 podcast shows involved, and by the 12th of September when the campaign officially launches it could be as many as 75 or more committed to the cause. The minimum donation is $10 which will get you the PodPack - a collection of exclusive episodes from contributing podcasts, which were recorded specifically to help raise money for Harvey victims. However, you may donate as much as you’d like. 25% of funds raised will go to local Houston podcasters whose homes have been flooded or destroyed, evenly distributed among the podcasters in need of it. The remaining 75% of funds raised will go to Mayor Turner’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund.
The charity will launch from IndieGoGo.com on next Tuesday, September 12th. Until then, you may follow Mindfudge on Facebook or Twitter for updates.
The 4th Monkey
A Brit and a New Yorker dreamed up a comic anthology which I’m really excited about, and it’s not just cause a few of my friends are involved. James E. Roche and Daniel Farrand wanted to create an anthology which could use the comics medium to give back to the comics community, as well as the world as a whole. The 4th Monkey, edited by James and Dan, is that book. Within the pages of this coming anthology you’ll find stories based around issues important to the creators behind them. Aiming to raise awareness of those things too often ignored; poaching, water pollution; endangered bee populations; internet trolling; teenage suicide; the book doesn’t shy away from the hard hits. The project announcement from their Facebook Page:
'The 4th Monkey' is a comic book anthology (Coming to Kickstarter in September) featuring stories to raise awareness about environmental and social issues. The goal of the anthology and it's creators is to bring some awareness to each of the issues addressed in the book. Brought to life by 20+ comic creators from across the planet, each team will be creating a story about something that is near and dear to their hearts... or just something that's been bothering them. Playing on the 3 Mystic Monkeys proverb, 'The 4th Monkey' is one who is not blinded. It is aware and wants the world to take notice, before it's too late. 'The 4th Monkey' will launch on Kickstarter early September, aiming to fund the creation and printing of the approx. 96 page book, featuring 8 short stories revolving around the following topics: Suicide. Poaching. Politicization. Bullying. Betrayal. Water Pollution. Pesticides. Alcoholism. A new preview page will be uploaded to this page every week, announcing the creative team involved and their stories! The Line-Up includes: Bob Salley, Brian L. Hawkins, Chris Fenoglio, Daniel Farrand, Ed Jiménez, Hde Ponsonby-Jones, Hus Ozkan, James Erik Hodson, James E. Roche, Jose Johann Jaro, Josh Jensen, Kelly Bender, Kote Carvajal, Criss Madd, Kristofor Harris, Madeleine Holly-Rosing, Nicolas Touris, Rob Andersin, Russell Nohelty, Shawna Madd, & Stan Yak!
Pretty impressive line-up if you ask me, and this alone excited me, but it was a response to a slight criticism of their cover art with chimpanzees on it instead of monkeys that really clinched it for me. Here is a screenshot of the comments:
I’m a sucker mythology and don’t get me started on classic proverbs!
There is a lot of great art in this book, and I’d love to showcase all the previews thus far shown on the Facebook page for The 4th Monkey but there just ain’t room here. Instead I’ll show you the page that really caught my eye and had me friend the artist cause, I so gotta hire Hus Ozkan one day soon!
The 4th Monkey also launches on Sept. 12th, on Kickstarter. Like their Facebook page and their event page to keep up to date!
NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
If you’re like me, and you just might be (you know, since you’re likely one of our Backers) then you enjoy Halloween, and enjoy sharing the holiday with your kids, or nieces and nephews, grandchildren, etc. Well then have I a really fun book for you! Yup, a book book! Oddly enough, I rarely back book books. No real reason. I love books! I just… don’t. However, I was grabbed by the fun art of this one, and then the groovy rhymes grabbed my cash! Oh, and crows, I love crows. Beautiful plumage!
This campaign currently sits at $2,000 with $3k yet to raise to hit their goal of $5,000, and sixteen days to do it. That’s a challenge, but it is surmountable. I messaged the creator and asked if he could tell me a little more about it for me to share with you all. He kindly supplied me with a Press Release. As it’s getting on in the day, my weariness is becoming more weary… so I’m gonna cheat and simply share what creator Jason Flowers kindly provided me with, and of course a few preview pages he also provided me with...
Is it Fall yet? More importantly has the feeling for the season of Halloween started? For some people this is just another passing holiday, but for others, it's a yearly tradition that starts the second the change is in the air.
ATLANTA, GA. - AUGUST, 2017 - Comic book creator/artist, Jason Flowers tries his hand at making a fun children's story. But not just any normal kids book, this one represents the season of Halloween. He constructed the project and released it on August 22nd through www.Kickstarter.com called: Hello! Fat Crow! A story of a little fat crow that ventures to an old forgotten cemetery to wake a skeleton named Mister Larry so that he may go and dig up his four brothers to get into mischief on Halloween night.
"When describing the book I try to explain the story as told in the rhyming styles of Dr. Seuss with fun spooky illustrations done in the style of the old Disney's Skeleton dance cartoon," says the artist. "Whenever reading bedtime stories to my daughter we could never really find many great Halloween books. A few were good, some were okay, but most just fell short of what made Halloween so great to us. So one day I thought up this idea of a little fat crow that goes to visit a skeleton to wake him up. Over the years I drew doodles and ideas here and there which finally led to me writing the story out a few years ago. Fast forward to today and as part of a personal goal to make long awaited projects, the season is coming up and it was finally time to unleash this idea upon the world!"
Already given Kickstarter's seal of approval, also known as a "Project that we love" you can see why this book has already gained such great attention just by watching the vintage, comedic, Halloween video talking about the book, artist Jason Flowers created with his wife.
The book is being sold as 8.5x11 inches in size and forty-four pages in length with perfect bond binding. Colored in the traditional fall and Halloween colors (orange, white, and black) the creative and moody illustrations, along with the detailed environments help make and bring this fun and spooky kids book to life.
Scrolling down the campaign page you can see a wide arrange of pledges available to choose from. Starting at a digital download of the book to physical copies, bookmarks, t-shirts, limited prints, sketch drawings, or hand made original sculptures.
Asking for a $5,000 project goal in a thirty-one day time frame, Hello! Fat crow!, well into it's second week, has already reached more than $1900 in pledges and with the help of more supporters this book will be funded in no time~
For more information visit the link to the Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/698068505/hello-fat-crow
Hello! Fat Crow! - page 1.
Hello! Fat Crow! - page 2.
Hello! Fat Crow! - page 3.
Space Copz: Cereal Zombies!
If I saw this in Artist Alley at a con, there is a good chance I’d snatch this up in a heartbeat. The art is fun, and the premise makes me chuckle! It's a webcomic too boot, and you can read it here first: Space Copz!
First things first, don’t watch the video! It’s not that it's a bad video, but the music they chose for it is all wrong for the comic, and… well… not to be a dick, but I think the music sucks. In fact, as lame as it is to say/admit, the music alone almost kept me from endorsing the book. However, I felt I needed to at least give it a chance. I scrolled down through the project page, and it looked fun enough. Then at the bottom of the page there was a link to the webcomic page and I clicked on that, read a few pages, looked at more and was like, our audience just might like this after all. But don’t take my word for it! Take my friend Greg’s word!
“This is a fun read! It is nice ride through the Space Copz world! Also as always, the aesthetic is great. That in the images for the story and the style of the art.”
- Greg K. Smith Junior Braves of the Apocalypse(Oni Press)
From the Project Page:
SPACE COPZ is an all-age science fiction comic series following the journey of Sgt. Alpha Omega and his loyal sidekick Beta Boy, as they traverse outer space, saving it from great evil.
Available as a web-comic series before making it's way into print copy. Each SPACE COPZ story will be illustrated by a different artist, making for a unique experience for all.
The issues will not be numbered but will instead be titled. This will allow more casual readers the opportunity to pick up the series wherever/whenever they wish.
Why Kickstarter?
Kickstarter allows for issues of SPACE COPZ to be released at a more regularly occurring rate. Creating comic books is by no means a cheap endeavor. But in saying that, asking you wonderful folk for assistance when we need a helping hand aids us in building a sense of accomplishment that we wish to share with our backers. Using this campaign we also hope to gauge the interest of readers nationally (Australia) and internationally (the rest of the world).
But in all seriousness, the creators only need $190 more bucks to hit goal. You can get a digital version if you don’t care to read it off the web for only AU$2 or AU$6 ($16 U.S. ‘cause of shipping) like I did to get a physical copy. I feel I should also mention there is also a “draw you in” reward. So, take a look, especially if you have young (but not too young) readers in your house.
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Anywho, thanks for reading. We’ll be back next with a groovy update on Black Suit of Death and then of course next month with another Worthy Wednesday!
-BjK
P.S. My beautiful state of Oregon is on fire, I’ve a cousin fighting the forest fires right now… I’ve friends in Houston coping with the floods and destruction of Harvey, then in Florida my buddy is about to have his home state hit with Irma… and then everything around the world… you all are in our thoughts. Please take care.
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