Kickstarter have finally intervened in the long-running saga of the unfulfilled Tales from the Quarantine “charity” comics anthology by suspending its editor and supposed publisher Frazer Brown’s account with the following message:
“Kickstarter’s Trust & Safety team has investigated user reports associated with this project and/or its creator. We have reached out to the creator multiple times requesting project updates and communication with backers. As the creator has not responded or provided updates in over 90 days, we have restricted the creator’s account from launching future projects on Kickstarter. Thank you to everyone who sent in reports.”
At this point there’s obviously nothing new to add about this debacle beyond acknowledging this development but just in case this has passed you by (and in international communities that may be entirely possible) here’s how I summarised the situation last year at BF in our multi-part series on the book:
Conceived by organiser Frazer Brown of Red Cabin Comics, the anthology Tales from the Quarantine was first mooted in the darkest days of early lockdown and fostered a real sense of community as creators from the small press scene through to writers and artists who have worked for the biggest names in comics publishing (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Rachael Stott, Charlie Adlard, Jim Zub) came together to tell their stories framed around the pandemic and their experiences of it.
It should have been something extra special. It should have been something magical. It should have been an enduring social record in comics form of those dark days.
Despite the hard work and commitment of so many it has been none of those things.
Art by Rachael Stott
How Brown failed to deliver on the print version of Tales from the Quarantine despite it raising £37,185, and what happened to the thousands of pounds he’d promised would go to charity are questions that are unlikely to ever be answered. However, this does at least give us some relief from the countless prevaricating updates we have endured since the book was funded way back in 2020.
If you want to read more about one of the greatest betrayals of trust in the history of UK comics you can do so in our “Everybody Has a Tale to Tell” series here at BF where creators talk about the impact on them, the eroded confidence in comics Kickstarters that followed, and how the community pulled together. A special acknowledgment to Comics Printing UK who led the charge on this from the start.
Kickstarter has done their bit. Now, if only there was some kind of other authority out there who could do something about investigating where the charity money ended up…?
Update by Andy Oliver
