Every few weeks we sift through all the dozens of crowdfunding communications we receive here at BF each week to bring you a handful of the more intriguing, exciting, experimental and daring uses of the form that we spot, along with some interesting campaigns we’ve found ourselves. These are comics that both fit the Broken Frontier coverage ethos and that we think deserve your support and backing!
Welcome to Crowdfunding Corner…
Birdcage Bottom Books
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/birdcagebottombooks/birdcage-bottom-books-2019-publications
The who and what: It’s time to give another crowdfunding boost to the latest batch of books from J.T. Yost’s micropublisher and distro Birdcage Bottom Books who continue to shine a spotlight on the work of some top indie and alt practice. Indeed, since the last time we featured them in Crowdfunding Corner BF’s Robin Enrico has reviewed books from that campaign including Eva Müller’s In the Future, We Are Dead and Stephanie Mannheim’s Nate the Nonconformist Has a Rival!.
The current Kickstarter is for three books. Max Clotfelter’s Rooftop Stew is described as a collection of “depraved comics, both fictional and autobiographical, blending ‘60s psychedelic underground comic sensibility with Southern style debauchery.” There’s another Eva Müller collection Future Corpse “covering themes of feminism, anxiety, punk rock, immortality, labor and robotic vacuums.” And the third book this time round is Lance Ward’s Blood and Drugs: “the story of people on the fringes of society and how a single poor decision changed one man’s life forever. Buster struggles against his heroin addiction, his floundering career in comics and with human relationships in a search for redemption.”
What’s on offer: You can order the individual books or the entire set with various related minicomic offers and previous Birdcage Bottom publications. Original art, a self-publisher mentoring session with Birdcage Bottom’s J.T. Yost and an Eva Müller commission of you and Karl Marx are also on offer!
Why you should back it: Once again we’re going to repeat Birdcage Bottom Books’ succinct mission statement to “help incredible cartoonists who may be flying under the radar get a wider audience” and underline that any micropublisher whose ethos is so closely aligned to our own deserves all our support.
– Andy Oliver
Blop: Martian Explorer
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blopshop/blop-martian-explorer-by-alex-hahn-blopshop/
The who and what: Alex Hahn has been creating his Blop comics in a number of formats for some years now. The mishap-prone alien explorer trying to come to terms with humanity is a comedic treat and this new all-ages one-shot is designed as an entry point, jumping-on issue. Of the two main stories one adapts and expand on the very first Blop tale giving a perfect introduction to the character while the other sees Blop sent on a super secret mission.
What’s on offer: Outside of the digital and print copies the reward tiers include an enamel pin, stickers, previous Blop comics, portrait commissions, the chance to appear in a story and even the one-off Blop ornament Alex has had on his table at shows for the last few years.
Why you should back it: Alex Hahn is an incredibly versatile creator whose work ranges from the stellar slapstick of Blop to the intensely dark autobio of Post Conatus. He’s also one of the UK small press scene’s most under-rated talents and one who deserves to be seen by a far, far wider audience. If you want to find out more about Alex Hahn’s work we have a huge interview with him here last year at Broken Frontier.
– Andy Oliver
Dunce #5
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jensk/dunce-5
The who and what: Norwegian comic artist Jens K Styve’s comic has a definite autobiographical infusion with the artist describing it as “a comic about a guy not totally unlike myself, trying to make it far up north, in Tromsø.” Appearing in multiple newspapers it’s also an award-winning strip with this edition being the fifth collection to date.
What’s on offer: Styve’s campaigns are stripped back to the essentials but there are options this time around to pick up the entire set of five issues plus get hold of an original ink drawing.
Why you should back it: I had the pleasure of an evening in the company of Jens K Styve after ELCAF last summer and was given some fascinating insights into the Norwegian comics world. Jens was also a guest artist last year at the Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier Drink and Draw. These books always reach their crowdfunding targets with ease so here’s your chance to discover just why and open yourself up to some Scandinavian slice-of-life comics at the same time.
– Andy Oliver
Future
The who and what: A twisting tale of time and paradoxes with a human heart Future follows Kay and Murray who are sent forward in time with a mission to rewrite the future and save both a doomed humanity and a dying Murray. But they find themselves trapped alone in a desolate era to come with no way of returning home and a realisation that the nature of time is very different to what had been assumed. Created by Tom Woodman and Rupert Smissen (who BF readers may remember as a Tiny Pencil contributor).
What’s on offer: Outside of the book itself there are also options to get hold of the annotated script, sketched-in copies, portraits of you in a spacesuit(!), signed concept art and even an art workshop with Rupert.
Why you should back it: The very best sci-fi finds the human in the extraordinary and this book has an intriguing premise that fits that definition from the outset. The preview art available on the Unbound site underlines that juxtaposition and that this is a story that is universal in both emotional terms as well as conceptual ones.
Back the Unbound crowdfunder here!
– Andy Oliver
