Poisonous botanicals, explosions, dead beat parents, arson, impalement, peer pressure, oily discharge, Malaria, assisted suicide, insomnia, barbed wire, turkey bacon, curb smilies, muscle atrophy, label-makers, cauterizing, masochism, plagiarism, morbid obesity, twitches, Mad Cow. What do all these things have in common?
Deadpan, the main character of the most exciting new manga-style comic out there. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
The Dark Comedy is a good old-fashioned superhero story… without all that tiresome truth and justice. Deadpan runs into The Con, they join forces with Mary Ann and Quizzy. The four oddly matched villains ally to make Diversis City their playground. Money and destruction are the tools of their trade. But first they’ll have to get past their differences if they're going to have some fun and defeat those pesky heroes and cops.
The good guys catch the bad guys, lock them up, and throw away the key. The bad guys get out and wreak some more havoc before the heroes catch them again. It’s a story that’s been told time and time again. But what are the bad guys up to in the meantime? Read The Dark Comedy to find out!
Project Stretch Goal #1
$3250: Ben will autograph all physical copies.
Project Stretch Goal #2
$3500: Translate the manga to Japanese!
Project Stretch Goal #3
$4000: ????
Project Stretch Goal #4
$4500: Issue #2 (All backers of $10 or more will receive a pdf of the first 5 pages of issue #2)
About Ben
Benjamin Israel is a writer, voice actor, director, and producer in Toronto.
He is best known for his roles on Beyblade, Arthur, and Julius Jr.. But he has also recorded countless commercials nationwide, so you never know when Ben's voice will float in on the airwaves. In his (sparse) spare time, Ben is also a voice coach, helping the experienced and not-so-experienced alike.
Ben is the President and CIO of Portmantoe Productions as well as a founder and Co-President of Kaede Studios. Along with his dedicated partners in crime, he is currently developing various short films, live action series, and animated series, his favourite of which is The Dark Comedy (we're not just saying that!).
You may someday get to watch The Dark Comedy too! Since Ben and crew are voice actors, the next dream is to turn The Dark Comedy into a cartoon. Now wouldn't that be fun?
Art
Risks and challenges
This is Kaede Studios' first Kickstarter, and forget about beginner's luck! We are going above and beyond to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
The Dark Comedy manga-style comic is well on its way to completion, so don't fret! You should have your gorgeous, glossy copy in your trembling hands (or on your computer) within a few months after backing. The story is all written, the characters fully designed, the artist has completed the first edit of story artwork, and we've partnered with a wonderful printing company who are ready to roll out your copies of The Dark Comedy as soon as we give the word.
As for all those other exciting goodies, we've designed the bookmarks for printing and the wallpaper to furnish your desktop, our artist can't wait to bring your items and characters to life (well, maybe just the characters), Deadpan (I mean, Ben) is ready to email and Skype you as soon as the project is backed, professional voice actors and recording studio are lined up (literally! They're fighting for it!) to record the script, and Ben already knows where he's going to take you for lunch...along with those lucky voice actors.
So, challenges? Sure, but we've got them under control.
Risks? I don't think so.
Seriously, the comic is nearing completion, and should anything happen, there are people raring to assist and finish it off. If I suddenly vanish, there are about 10 separate people who can pick up the slack and get it all delivered to you.
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Funding period
- (30 days)