Quickstarter Round-up: Four Comics Campaigns to Back This Week
Welcome to this week’s Quickstarter Roundup, a shortlist of currently-running comics crowdfunding campaigns that are worth your time and money. If you have tips about current or upcoming comics crowdfunding projects, you can reach out at quickstarter at ckstewart dot com.
On to this week’s round-up.
Ladies’ Night Anthology Volume 5: Sisters
The Ladies’ Night Anthology returns for an anthology featuring ten brand new stories about the sisters your born with and the sisters you find throughout your life. At $4 for a PDF and $10 for a PDF and physical copy, plus shipping, this is an incredibly affordable project. The $20 tier is the best deal, featuring both versions of the book and two incredibly adorable exclusive enamel pins. With four previous anthologies under their belt, the Ladies’ Night series are a reliable anthology publisher and Kickstarter project manager. The LNA team is not offering previous anthology as add-on rewards this go-round, but their previous books are all available for $10 in their on-line store. This project is already at $4,000 of their $8,500 goal and ends on October 4.
Finding Dee #2: Taking On Me – A Webcomic Compilation
Credit: Dee Fish
Illustrator Dee Fish is funding a collected version of her autobio webcomic, and for $10 you can net PDF versions of both the first and second volumes. As someone for whom the trade paperback is the ideal form of comic consumption, I’m a sucker for a webcomic compilation, and Finding Dee is a heartfelt and funny exploration of Fish’s day-to-day life. Per the Kickstarter, the content for this volume is already 50% complete, making this a relatively low-risk project to back. This project ends on September 24.
The Foxglove Wood by Katie Whittle
This is a very small independent project from Frisson Comics’ Katie Whittle, featuring a short horror comic in what Whittle says is an experimental style for her. The art and unusual style are eye-catching enough to make it worth its $5 PDF price. A glance at other projects Whittle and Frisson Comics created suggest some delivery delays for physical rewards in previous campaigns, but there don’t seem to be any major complaints. The Foxglove Wood is already a complete project available for free through the Frisson Comics website. If you like it, it’s finished, and should find its way to your hands quickly barring any printing hiccups. If you’re not sure you want to take the risk, then read it at Frisson, and consider dropping the Kickstarter a dollar or two in thanks if you enjoy it. This project ends on September, 22.
Writer Pat Shand is back with a new volume of DESTINY, NY, the tale of a retired magical girl who’s making the transition from the monsters to making rent. With 14 days to go, DESTINY, NY has already hit its $20,000 goal, and is currently shooting to hit a $25,000 stretch goal for a comic by Vita Ayala (DC, Black Mask) and Fabian Lelay (Black Mask). Shand seems to be a reliable Kickstarter manager and Ayala and Lelay will undoubtedly make a great team, so if you’ve been holding out on backing Volume 2, it’s a safe bet and a worthy stretch goal. $20 will net you PDF copies of both volumes to be delivered by April 2018. This project wraps on September, 28.
Following Up
A quick check-in on projects from previous Quickstarter updates …
MINE! A Comics Collection to Benefit Planned Parenthood: This anthology is fully-funded and sitting at roughly $55,000 with two days to go. A hardcover edition of the book will be added at $60,000, and a Spanish language translation at $75,000. This campaign ends on September 15.
The Sun and the Wayward Wind: Unfortunately this campaign didn’t hit its goal, but an update post suggests the Dandelion Wine Collective may relaunch it at a later date. If they do, I’ll keep you posted.
Gothic Tales of Haunted Love: A Comics Anthology: This campaign hit its goal and deadlines have already been set for creators to deliver their contributions, and Quickstarter will keep you up to speed on any future opportunities to purchase the anthology once its Kickstarter obligations have been fulfilled.
Managed by the Dandelion Wine Collective, The Sun and the Wayward Wind is a full-color anthology focused on reimagining North American legends and lore. This anthology includes some incredibly talented illustrators, including Ashanti Fortson (Galanthus) and e. jackson (Baby, Summer Fright Nights). Donation tiers start at $15 for a DRM-free PDF, which includes a digital wallpaper. This is the Collective’s first project, and they’re only at $8k of $32k with two weeks left to go, but the campaign states they have all materials and vendors lined up to start production as soon as the project wraps, and the sample art is so beautiful it’s worth at least chipping in a dollar or two for the lower-level reward tiers for a shot at purchasing the full anthology at a later date. For those looking for innovative and original indie comics to add to your shelves, this Kickstarter is worth chipping in for and signal boosting. This campaign ends September 14.
This is one of the safest bests in this round-up. Gothic Tales of Haunted Love is already fully funded and managed by Bedside Press founder Hope L. Nicholson, who has a number of high profile, successful campaigns under her belt. Gothic Tales brings together powerhouse creators like Sarah W. Searle (Ruined), Mel Gillman (As the Crow Flies), and Hien Pham (
As crowdfunding sites become an increasingly popular and accessible option for independent creators looking to launch their next big project, the absence of consistent coverage of crowdfunding projects becomes even more glaring.