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Welcome back to another installment of Indie Comics Showcase, the weekly blog where we signal boost a few truly independent comics that are currently crowdfunding their projects, crowdsourcing their funding in some way, or just completely self-publishing on their own. Every little bit of support for these creators matters, from a single dollar pledge to the twenty-five dollar bundle, and of course the higher tiers are usually fun too! Even if you can’t back a campaign or buy a book, you can share or tweet about these projects to your friends and followers.
On Indie Comics Showcase, we interview the creators, show off some art, and tell you how you can check out the product for yourself. Below we have some outstanding crowdfunding campaigns this week for you to learn about, enjoy, and hopefully support by backing one or more of them! Thanks for checking these out and for being the best part of Indie Comics Showcase. Let’s jump in!
Check out the Kickstarter page here!
Chris Braly: Welcome to Indie Comics Showcase, Chuck! Tell me the pitch for Of Bitter Souls…!
Chuck Satterlee: Four people are erased from their hard lived lives and are gifted powers that enhance their worst character flaws. A mysterious Pastor named Secord leads them as they learn to control the new powers and more so, overcome their previous lives. They fight the ghosts, spooks, monsters & other beings straight out of New Orleans myth and legends as the crescent is the setting for the series. The team is rocked when they learn Secord’s true purpose for them. A story of stewardship and temptation, OF BITTER SOULS is 198 pages of great horror/superhero action.
CB: Tell me the story behind the story, Chuck. Where did this comic come from, and made you decide to self-publish it?
CS: The series idea originated out of a failed submission to Marvel back when the Ultimate line of books was coming out. I had what I felt was a great idea to make Dr. Strange a Haitian-born voodoo priest living in the Garden District. A perfect place for the Ultimate Sanctum Sanctorum. The rejection led to OF BITTER SOULS out of my love for New Orleans and desire to tell a story based there. I actually did not self publish at first. It was originally published by Speakeasy and when they went out of business, it was Markosia. We did nine total issues of the book and it spawned two trade paperbacks. What I am doing now is bringing it all together in a 400 page hard cover, oversized omnibus collection. I’m collecting it now because my artist and friend and partner on the book, Norm Breyfogle. arguable one of the greatest Batman artists of all time, was the artist on the series and therefore, this is a lot of Norm Breyfogle art that a lot of people may have never seen before.
CB: That’s awesome. So what type of comic readers was this story aimed at?
CS: This book, while it may have a couple slightly risqué panels among its 198 pages, is essentially a book without cursing and intended to appeal to comic book readers both young and old. It has a horror tint to it, so it should appeal to horror fans and it also has a superhero feel.
CB: Tell us about your style and creative process, and how you developed them.
CS: I’m a writer out of the school of the older journeymen writers. The John Ostranders and Brian Augustyns of the world. I like to think that I learned a little from reading so much Frank Miller, but if I am being honest, I more emulate an Alan Grant, or Brian or John or maybe a Mark Gruenwald. As far as experience, I self-published my first comic AGONY ACRES back in the 1990’s. It was well received and even George Pérez volunteered to ink our covers he liked the book so much.
I then moved onto OF BITTER SOULS and SMOKE & MIRROR, also both creator owned series. I adapted KING OF SKULL ISLAND for comics along with adaptions for books titled THE LEXIAN CHRONICLES and HERETIC. I then co-created and co-wrote a series with Phil Hester and Kevin Mellon called THIRTEEN STEPS. I then took some time away from comics, and now I am back with this omnibus Kickstarter as well as four series coming out in 2022-2023 titled NO OTHER GODS, MONSTERS & MIDWAYS, THE CALIMS ADJUSTER and BOB.
CB: Man, you’re busy! Let’s talk about the creative team a bit. Tell me about working with Norm and the other creatives on this book.
CS: OF BITTER SOULS, as I mentioned earlier… had only one penciler/inker/artist. That was the legendary Batman/Detective Comics artist, Norm Breyfogle. Norm penciled and inked absolutely every one of the 198 total pages of story in the book. The series was colored by Mike Kowalczyk and Jason Newcomb and lettered by Chuck Maly, Thomas Mauer and Simon Bowland. I was the writer/creator. For this edition, there will be a new cover, however, by industry fan favorite Tim Seeley (one of my favorites too, by the way).
CB: What have you been learning from self-publishing / crowdfunding and creating through this process?
CS: The crowdfunding is the thing. There is a ton to learn and this old dog can absolutely learn new tricks. I read books by Carmelo Chimera and Greg Pak, spoke to everybody I knew to get advice like Steve Bryant (Athena Voltaire) and Jimmy Palmiotti (Paperfilms) and Sal Abbinanti (Mercury Comics) and others. I am doing the best I can but my first attempt at a KS campaign kind of crashed and burned so this time around (a different project) I will take all my lessons learned through failure and all the advice from the books and from friends and I think I’ll do a lot better this time.
CB: Are there more stories to tell in this universe?
CS: OF BITTER SOULS has more stories to tell… but I just don’t know if I want to do it with anybody but Norm. But I do have all these new series I am working on. We were going to go through Second Sight for publishing these series, but they are focusing hard on their horror titles. Therefore, we left Second Sight and are soon to announce our new publisher for the books.
CB: I see. So what can you tell us about any special features in this book?
CS: Where do I start? Ok… 198 pages of Norm Breyfogle drawn story. 100’s of sketches by Norm that have most likely never been seen by anybody but me and him. There are a total of 33 guest pin-ups in the book by artists such as the legendary Dick Giordano, Mike Oeming, Szymon Kudranski, Ryan Stegman, Inkai Miranda and more. Every single script will be in the book and all of the back story of creating the book and there will be a number of short stories by a number of writers including another friend of mine who recently passed away, Brian Augustyn. The foreword is by Norm Breyfogle’s longtime Batman writer, Alan Grant.
CB: Wow! An all-star line-up for sure. Thanks for chatting with me. I see the campaign launches in a two weeks, so is there anything else you would like to share with our readers before we sign off?
CS: This omnibus is a absolute tribute to Norm and his art. It represents the single longest run on any title outside of Bat titles, Prime and Archie. I also intend to give at least 5% of the profits to the Hero Initiative to promote Life Insurance, Long term care Insurance and Disability Insurance awareness… all products that, had Norm had them… perhaps may have helped to prolong his life. We were robbed of Norm far too soon!
CB: Totally agree, Chuck. Thanks again for your time and good luck on the project. Those who want to see more can visit ofbittersouls.com.
Check out the Kickstarter page here!
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here!
Chris Braly: Briefly tell us the elevator pitch for God Slayers, Nathan!
Nathan Johns: A group of heroes are on a quest to resurrect a fallen enemy, whose soul seeks redemption, in the hopes he will help them defeat a demon he is responsible for releasing on the world of Athenéa.
CB: How did you come up with the idea, and what convinced you to self-publish?
NJ: The idea came from my roleplaying background and really wanting to share a story outside a roleplaying group. The original script was written as an anime, but I never did anything with it. I decided to self publish because I was inspired by another creator who is always hustling and promoting their books and I thought, “Why not do this?” Meeting Mario, the books artist, really set things in motion though.
I write a ton, constantly creating stories and developing characters, but my main background is in oration as a Gamemaster. That is how I developed skills in long term storytelling. When I write, I just like to turn on Divide Music’s anime inspired songs and listen while I write.
CB: Tell me about your creative team that contributed to this project.
NJ: Mario A Barraza is the main artist, colorist, and letterer of the book. I adore his work. We met when I commissioned a group image of my roleplaying group’s characters to give them as a Christmas gift. From there I just kept buying art from him and built a rapport. One day I asked if he would want to do a comic and what his page rates would be and GodSlayers got its start!
CB: Cool. So tell how far along this project is? It is completed?
NJ: We are editing the final page and preparing for printing. Everything is paid for and the money from the Kickstarter goes to printing, fulfillment, and back to Mario as we produce Episode 2!
CB: Nice. So what have you been learning from crowdfunding through all this?
NJ: A ton! I jumped in head first thinking it was; create book, put on Kickstarter. I’ve learned how to make a decent Kickstarter, how pages need to be laid out, and am learning promotion while I try to promote the book! It has been fun!
CB: So who is the ideal reader for GodSlayers?
NJ: Fantasy and Indie comic fans, anime fans may enjoy it as well. It has some blood and dark themes, but I would say teenagers and up with a love of fantasy and roleplaying.
CB: Are there more GodSlayers stories to tell?
NJ: I’d like to do GodSlayers through at least 10 Episodes, and I have started looking for an artist for a second title I’d like to produce.
CB: Before we sign off, is there anything special about the campaign you’d like to mention?
NJ: I think the most unique thing is the Author’s Gallery, which is my storyboard and descriptions of GodSlayers, as sent to the artist. It will include some helpful info I have learned as I have been going on this journey to help new indie creators!
CB: That’s cool. Are you enjoying being an indie creator?
NJ: The Indie Comics culture is amazing! These are people without huge backing from corporate business who are putting their heart and souls into these works. I have found them to be fun, creative, and just an amazing group of people and I am so happy to have joined that culture!
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here!
Grab a copy here!
Chris Braly: Welcome to Indie Comics Showcase, Jaskaran. Tell me about Melodic Remedy.
Jaskaran Sawhney: A music artist is dependent on his musical talent to cure the demons that haunt his mind and soul. It is 15 pages, colored.
CB: Where did the idea for this comic come from, and made you decide to self-publish it?
JS: Reading comics and listening to music are two big hobbies of mine, so I decided to merge them together and create a short 3 issue digital comic anthology saga based on an untouched niche with a comic suited for music fans as well as fans who’s enjoy indie comics.
CB: Tell us about your style and creative process, and how you developed them
JS: I first outlined my idea into plot points and then worked the script out and collaborated with an artist on the project, a freelance illustrator that handled both the lettering and illustrations for the comic.
CB: Where does the book currently stand? Are there more issues?
JS: I have currently completed the first two issues. I have recently released the first issue and I will be releasing the second issue soon.
CB: What have you been learning from self-publishing / crowdfunding and creating through this process?
JS: I have learned that it’s definitely tough to promote your comic, especially if you don’t have a talent in digital marketing. However, I do find that using social media still brings traffic.
CB: Thanks for chatting with me. Any final comments about Melodic Remedy?
JS: I think the main unique thing about this comic is the fact that there’s not many comics out their catered to music fans so this comic saga provides that uniqueness.
Grab a copy here!
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That’s it for this installment. If you’re a creator ramping up your own campaign or have a comic available for purchase online and you want to be featured in our weekly column, click here. And follow Indie Comics Showcase on Twitter at @Indie_Comics and reach out to them for more eyes on YOUR crowdfunding comic project. Until next time, support indie comics!
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