Editor’s Note: It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s New Comic Book Day and another edition of Amazing Journey!
The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.
Amazing Journey back issues
True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12)
Last year I highlighted some great Kickstarter comics (scroll up to issue #4 in the back issues list) and there is currently a great crop of comics campaigns live now on Kickstarter that you need to check out.
Inferno Girl Red Books 1-2
This gorgeous book from Mat Groom (Marvel Comics’ ULTRAMAN) and artist Erica D’Urso (CAPTAIN MARVEL and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS) is part of Kyle Higgins’ interconnected Massive-verse.
We all need something to believe in. Especially Cássia Costa.
An ancient cult and their army of demons have stolen Cássia’s home, Apex City. When a magical dragon bracelet rockets into her life and affixes itself to her arm, Cássia’s the only person equipped to stop the cult from offering the entire city to their dark lord.
There’s just one catch...
The magical bracelet is powered by belief, and Cássia — an intensely pragmatic, rational girl – doesn’t have much to spare. She’ll have to find something to kindle her faith, though, and fast —because she has a secret legacy to live up to. Because her mother's life is on the line. And because Apex City needs Inferno Girl Red.
The campaign ends tomorrow and is still a few thousand away from funding, so if you love the high school super-heroic drama of INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE crossed with the dynamic storytelling and world-building of Japanese tokusatsu superheroes, and the intrigue and relationship drama of British boarding school fiction, then you’ll love Inferno Girl Red.
Back the campaign here.
Old Dog: Dossier
Declan Shalvey’s spy-fi (that’s science fiction plus spy thriller) gets a 120-page process edition, where you can dive deep into the creative process behind this project from script, to layouts, pencils, inks and even colors.
Along with the complete script, pencils and inks for Issue One of the series, the DOSSIER contains work-in-progress photographs, all of Shalvey’s layouts for the series and includes an in-depth interview conducted by SKTCHD.com/Off Panel’s David Harper, along with commentary on selected pages by Shalvey.
It’s a few hundred dollars away from funding with 4 days left.
If you love a behind-the-scenes look at creating a comic, then you’ll definitely want this process edition.
Back the campaign here.
Mirenda and the Golden Horns
This 70+ page, oversized fantasy comic from Grim Wilkins is centered around a woman possessed by a mysterious demon, and her journey to exorcise it. Along the way she makes new friends, evades mystical pursuers, and gets closer to answering the question: Who is Mirenda?
I can tell you that the art in this comic is gorgeous, but you should really head to the campaign page and see it for yourself. This campaign is also a bit away from funding with less than a day left.
Back the campaign here.
Samurai Grandpa and the Eight-Branched Tree
Samurai Grandpa and the Eight-Branched Tree is a magical story of family, love, loss, and soul-searching, wrapped in a celebration of old-school samurai drama inspired by stories like Samurai Jack, Dragon Ball, and all your favorite JRPGs.
Eastin DeVerna and Shawn Daley reunite for another Samurai Grandpa tale!
For some, death is only the beginning—but what does fate hold for the fading soul of this this broken old samurai?
Back the campaign here.
That brings me to the Question of the Week: which one of these campaigns catches your eye? (choosing more than one is totally OK!)
What I’m reading this week
After an all-Al Ewing line-up last week, this week I wanted to highlight three all-new and all-different mini-series!
Rare Flavours #1: Ram V and Filipe Andrade, the team behind the hit mini-series The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, reunite for a new miniseries, in which a demon wants to become the next Anthony Bourdain and hires a down-on-his-luck filmmaker to document the world of Indian cuisine!
Hexagon Bridge #1: This stark cover immediately caught my eye when I first saw it, and I am really looking forward to diving into writer/artist Richard Blake’s mini-series about two explorers trapped in a parallel dimension, and their clairvoyant daughter’s rescue mission. Also definitely check out the cover for issue 2!
Uncanny Spider-Man #1: The last (maybe?) of the Fall of X series finally launches, with Nightcrawler setting up shop in New York City as the Uncanny Spider-Man! This is the third Nightcrawler book in the Krakoa era from Si Spurrier (whose creator-owned fantasy series Coda returned last week) and I am looking forward to reading the conclusion of the Kurt trilogy!
What are you picking up this week?