September 2021: Kickstarter Success and New Scout Titles!

Stretching to accomplish some goals this spooky season!

Welcome to my second newsletter, featuring some out-of-this-world announcements and new releases! I finally launched my Kickstarter, and some of the projects I’ve been editing for several months now are finally out on comic book stands and digital shelves. It’s been an eventful month!

Announcements

I’m cheating a bit here since I launched October 1st, but my Kickstarter for Road Trip to Hell #1-3: Divine Intervention has been a long time in the making. Thanks to the generosity of backers, we met the $1,000 goal in a matter of 12 hours AND hit our first stretch goal at $2,000, unlocking five new comics from indie creators.

Now we have until the end of October to try and get backers five more free digital comics at $2,500—and we’re less than $100 away right now! If we then hit $3,000, backers can vote on which chibi character created by Zoe Stanley pictured in the variant above will be turned into a sticker that all backers with physical rewards will receive.

Interviews

Kickstart the Week with Anthologies Exploring the Universe and Sexuality

My Comic Frontline interview series “Kickstart the Week” featured two anthologies in September:

In an interview with fellow Comic Frontliner Kathryn Calamia (aka Comic Uno), we talked about her helming of the important project Bi Visibility: A Bisexual Anthology. This anthology features nine stories spanning a variety of genres and our interview covers a variety of topics, including some advice on writing bisexual characters if the writer themselves is not bisexual and the coverage of Tim Drake aka Robin’s sexual orientation. Huge shout-out to Kat; I really admire all of her work (check out her amazing Youtube channel) and her Kickstarter’s digital indie bundles inspired me to include them in my own campaign.

Another anthology featured in September was the Twisting Time anthology, which includes 24 stories from 40+ contributors exploring various science-fiction concepts. I interviewed the creator behind the collection, Megan Archer, who talked about why the sci-fi genre is such a good fit for an anthology, gave a speed-round recap of each story, and revealed which of her creator’s realities she would live in. (I’m up for whichever reality is the least likely to get me killed.)

What I’m Editing

Projects on Kickstarter

A couple more projects that I edited have hit the Kickstarter scene! Be sure to check them out before they end this month.

Already five times over its goal, Ruination is a fantasy adventure series I’ve had the pleasure of editing with compelling characters and a lovingly rendered world at war. And the first issue is actually included in my digital comic bundle on my Kickstarter!

One of the most quirky comics I’ve ever edited, the first issue of Zombie Deathball Mayhem is now available on Kickstarter. This horror miniseries follows a woman and her pet chihuahua on the hunt for an orthodontist. I fell in love with the idea that the chihuahua is inside an exercise ball customized with knives to take down zombies. It’s on my list of things I need to survive an apocalypse now.

Scout Comics

I’ve been working with Scout Comics since the beginning of this year, but September marked the first month a title came out that I’ve been editing for them—and not just one, but two!

It’s been an honor to work with comic book industry legends Karl Kesel (Harley Quinn) and David Hahn (Batman '66) on their series Impossible Jones! The titular character is a thief turned fake superhero after getting some wonky powers that lead to wacky hijinks in a colorful world filled with eccentric characters. “Odd” doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of editing the comic of creators whose work I have read as a fan years before I even entered the comic book industry (shout-out to 90s Superboy and his sweet jacket!).

Beginning with issue five, I was able to jump into the acclaimed By the Horns series as an editor and reunite with the amazing creative team of Markisan Naso and Jason Muhr, who I met previously when doing PR for their title Voracious. The series is an action-packed fantasy story with tensions running high.

J-Novel and Tapas Media

The third volume of the light novel series I’m editing for J-Novel, Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, just released on digital platforms! And the fourth volume is currently releasing in parts every Wednesday.

I was just put on another Tapas Media series! But I can’t talk about it just yet…so feel free to enjoy the currently active titles that I’m editing, including Comedown Machine and Necrobride.

What I’m Covering

Screen Rant

For September, ten of my comic book news articles were published.

DC Comics

• Swamp Thing: Green Hell is A Twisted New Epic: I’m really excited to see Jeff Lemire writer Swamp Thing: Green Hell, a three-issue limited Black Label series.

• Gotham City Sirens Take The Spotlight in Gorgeous Comic Covers: As a longtime fan of the Gotham City Sirens Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn, Jenny Frison’s Catwoman variants showcasing each of the members are gorgeous. Let’s get a new Gotham City Sirens series, please and thank you!

Marvel Comics

• Star Wars: Luke Finally Follows Yoda's Harshest Advice: This article title sounds like clickbait, but I think it’s true!

• Black Knight Will Fight The X-Men Before His MCU Debut: Part of the Death of Doctor Strange event!

• Marvel Teases The New Sorcerer Supreme's Secret Identity: And Marvel certainly didn’t waste any time replacing Dr. Strange! Who do you think it should be?

• Wolverine's New Tech Armor Shines in Avengers Cover Art: I love that they’ve combined mechs and Marvel, like how DC has combined webcomics and Batman.

• Iron Man & Captain America Take On Marvel's New Super-Team: An interesting duo to pair up for sure, and I’m digging the Alex Ross cover.

• Darth Vader and Luke's Most Even Fight Didn't Involve Lightsabers: Again, clickbait or truth? I think the latter!

Indie Comics

• Dynamite Variants Prove Every Comic Cover Is Better With Dogs On It: This is one of my favorite article titles. Because really, what isn’t made better by having dogs? Dynamite combined iconic characters with the Stray Dogs team’s adorable pooches.

• Star Wars: High Republic All-Star Team Unites For IDW Annual: This one-shot brings together so many writers and characters from the High Republic era.

More posts to come, so be sure to subscribe!