Spring is here, the time when thoughts turn to thoughts of love...and also to the annual release of Strange Romance comics anthology!
Strange Romance is collection of short SF, fantasy and horror stories about love. It's released digitally on Comixology every year, and we did a successful print run of volume one via Kickstarter, so it's time to have a go at doing the same for volume 2!
This volume is 170 pages, in full colour, featuring 17 stories by up-and-coming and established creators. Our goal is to produce a print run of a trade paperback collection, in colour, plus money for shipping and bonuses. Extra money will go towards royalties for the creators, of course!
WHAT YOU GET: Our main offering is the anthology itself, over 150 full-colour pages in trade paperback form. Anyone who pledges $20 Canadian or over will receive the trade, along with a series of fun extras at higher pledge levels. Chief among these will be a series of valentines in the style of storebought cards--you know, like those things you used to swap in grade school--drawn by the artist contributors and featuring the characters in the anthology.
For lower-level contributors, there will be a digital PDF of the anthology.
We will also be offering at least one special bonus story--backers at the $50 level or higher will get to read it. We may do more, too (see stretch goals) and we'd love to eventually collect them all into a special small print edition: Volume 2.0 . If we reach some of our stretch goals this will happen sooner than later, but even if it doesn't these stories will be there for our backers in PDF form.
Finally, some of our artists have committed to doing commissions. Pledge at a high enough level and they'll do original black and white or colour sketches, and other commissions. PLEASE NOTE: we do reserve the right to refuse to draw certain subject matter that we deem inappropriate due to offensive content or unreasonable demands. Likewise, we cannot agree to draw characters that are copyrighted or otherwise owned by corporations or other entities besides us. We're happy to work with you, but please be reasonable!
Here's the full list of stories and contributors:
"It Means The World To Me"--Writer, Andrew Otis Weiss/Artist, Matthew Tavares
"Blood Red Summer"--Writer, Ryan Ferrier/Pencils & Inks, KR Whalen/Colours, Stephany Lein
"Beatrice"--Writer, Andrew Healey/Artist, Nizamt
"The Light At Point Agape"--Writer, Dave Lartigue/Artist, JoJo Seames
"Ad Natare Ad Astra"--Writer, Sarah Marsh/Artist, Shawn Phelps
"Sense Memory"--Writer, Daniel Reynolds/Artist, Kelvin Sue
"Princess of Space"--Writer/Artist, Adam Prosser
"Embodied By Spiral-1223"--Writer, Dee Emm Elms/Artist, James Reilly-English
"Opposites Attract"--Writer, Tom Foss/Artist, Chance Brown
"Manor"--Writer/Artist, Philip Rice
"Sea Change"--Writer, Charlotte Finn/Artist, Chance Brown/Letterer, Josh Krach
"Controlled Burns"--Writer, Lara Eckener/Artist, Cleopatra Peterson/Letterer, Cat Walrond
"Inventory"--Writer, Mike Levine/Artist, Claire Connelly
"Hell Hath Fury"--Writer, Cory Reid/Artist, Sharon Gauthier
"Zip Kramer in Love"--Writer, Sam Noir/Artist, Marvin Law
"In The Wings"--Writer, Andrew Ihla/Artist, JoJo Seames
"Half: Double Date"--Writer, Ryan Clement/Artist, Stephanie Brennan
Stretch goals:
$2,000 If we hit $2,000 or more we'll add an extra comic story in PDF form for our $20 and below, and TWO extra stories for anyone at a higher backer level. We actually have a lot of options here and we may run a vote for our backers on which story to develop!
$3,000 If we hit this level we'll collect up all the bonus comic stories into a very special VOLUME 2.5, print it, and send it out to anyone who contributed at a $20 level or more (We'll sell it for a small fee, plus shipping, to anyone who contributed at a lower level but wants one of these).
$4,000 At this level we'll do something we had as an idea for the last Kickstarter but didn't hit our goals for: a 12-month "Swimsuit" calendar with original pinup art, keeping to the SF/fantasy theme of course! We'll do versions featuring dudes and ladies (and maybe a version with a mix of both if it's requested?) With a lower bonus level
More stretch goals will be added as needed once the project is rolling!
More details at the Facebook group page, where you can also see process art and sneak previews of future volumes; we'd love it if you'd join us! We also have a tumblr, and we're on Twitter as @PhantasmicTales.
Risks and challenges
Strange Romance is COMPLETED. 100% done. No danger of not being finished on time whatsoever! Furthermore, we've found a local printer who can do a short run while keeping the price relatively low, so we only need a relatively small amount to produce and ship a hundred copies or so.
All physical media will be books, posters, prints and other paper products of this nature, so it shouldn't be tremendously expensive to ship. Incidentally, our editor is Canadian as are many of the contributors, so all prices are in Canadian dollars--Americans, your dollars will go a lot further here! Why not kick in for the $30 or $40 tier?
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Funding period
- (60 days)