Into the home stretch for the "Pilgrim 2121: Secrets and Lies" Kickstarter, readying for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival
Our first comics Kickstarter has been a learning curve...
Alongside taking on the editing of Titan’s Star Trek Explorer magazine, publicising the upcoming Lakes International Comic Art Festival (14th - 16th October - see you there?), it’s been an interesting time working the first comics Kickstarter I’ve actively involved with, Pilgrim - Secrets and Lies, which, I’m delighted to say, has reached its target. Thank you to everyone here who backed it, or shared the project.
Its success hasn’t come easily. Like many independent creators utilising crowdfunding, we knew asking for support for a totally new IP (Intellectual Property), the creation of a host of creative talents on the B7 Media team, would be a big ask. But, thankfully, we had tremendous support from the get go for this aspect of the Pilgrim 2121 project - starting with much-appreciated advice on running the campaign itself from folk who’d been there and done that on Kickstarter, and, as it’s been running, press coverage from sites such as the Awesome Comics Podcast, SciFi Bulletin, SciFiPulse, SFX, and many others. Thank you to them.
Work in progress for Pilgrim #2, by Neil Edwards
Then there are the backers themselves: from fans of Neil Edwards art, who have seen his work for Marvel Comics, and Alex Ronald’s amazing cover work so far; plus Martin Baines colouring work and Jim Campbell’s lettering, too. And, of course, followers of this newsletter; and longtime supporters of my comics web site, downthetubes, and my work on comics and magazines for Marvel UK, on Judge Dredd Megazine, for ROK Comics and my recent strip, for SHIFT magazine, “Crucible”, drawn and shaped with much help from former 2000AD artist Smuzz.
You are all very much appreciated - and I hope you’ll enjoy the first issue, which we are aiming to have on sale at the Lakes International Comic Festival next month. Stop by the B7 Comics table and say hello!
More than one of our unofficial advisors advised us that the Kickstarter community would prove the biggest source of backing, and they were right. While social media shares certainly raised awareness of the project, it has definitely been the crowdfunding platform’s “discovery” facility that has driven much of our initial backing. I knew from others that over the past few years Kickstarter - and other crowdfunding platforms - have reshaped the way comic creators can reach an audience, but until you’ve actually taken the step, and run a campaign, you don’t really appreciate just how much it has changed the dynamic.
It’s definitely not an easy route to getting your project off the ground when creating a new IP and reach a receptive, but I’d definitely encourage anyone considering this route to at least try it. But be prepared: know your costs, know you can deliver, and, importantly, value your backers, your supporters who shared the project, and the work of your whole team, which I hope I’ve done. Plus, getting the backing is just the start!
Other Fronts…
This year sees the Lakes International Comic Art Festival move to Bowness-on-Windermere, and I’m very proud to be part of the team on that, now in its tenth year, its mantra “Comics Can Change the World”.
Taking over the whole town, just like we did in Kendal, we’ve got a massive line up of guests, including Charlie Adlard, Lucie Arnoux, Alison Bechdel, Matthew Dooley, Karrie Fransman, Dave Gibbons, Paul Gravett, Jaime Hernandez, Bryan Hitch, Mick McMahon, Sean Phillips, Katie Skelly, Posy Simmonds, Bryan Talbot and more; and a fine line-up of exhibitors in the Lakeview Marketplace, including Art-Bubble, Beatrice Mossman, Bungaroosh, the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain, Clarice Tudor, CoCo Comics, Gustaffo Vargas, Joe Latham, Markosia Enterprises, Myriad Editions, Nick Brokenshire, Olivia Sullivan, Rachael Smith, the Cartoon Museum.
There are exhibitions across the town, including work from Bill Morrison’s “Yellow Submarine”Beatles-inspired comics project, and “Starstruck” by Sean Phillips; plenty of free events for children; comics-inspired crazy golf; and what other British comics Festival is running comics events in its very own, purpose-built sauna? I hope to see you there!
I’ll round off with links to a few recent downthetubes news items you may have missed.
Thanks for reading - and please, if you haven’t yet, back Pilgrim! There’s still time. You can also find out more about the project here.
John Freeman
downthetubes News items…
• Don’t forget we have a British and Irish Comic Shops map on our site, and a guide to upcoming events and exhibitions, too; and a micro site devoted to Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun;’s “Charley’s War” strip
• Lakes Festival Focus: a series of interviews with LICAF guests, with more to come, including Jaime Hernandez, Bryan Hitch and Bex Ollerton
• It’s true! “Bonjo from Beyond the Stars” by Garth Ennis and Kevin O’Neill is biting his way back into 2000AD
• EAGLE comics galore, and much more, in latest Phil-Comics eBay auction
• British comic fanzines archive “The Fanscene Project” has a new online home