Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, up the river

Up The River Kickstarter Continues To Flow

Josh Werner writes,

As Art Director at the indie publisher Source Point Press, I was proud to take on a larger editing and publishing role on the brand new creator-owned comic book series, Up the River. I knew from the beginning that this comic was going to be worthy of a much larger audience than what previous Source Point titles have reached, but it simply wasn't in the budget. We needed some sort of boost, some pre-orders to get the ball rolling, and I knew that once people laid their eyes on Up the River, they'd love it. So I launched a thirty-day Kickstarter campaign February 28th to raise the funds for the printing of the first issue. We set the goal at a modest amount of $2,000, as we're simply looking to cover the basic printing costs and the costs of the rewards, but when it reached its goal by the 3rd day, I knew there was an opportunity here to get the comic in more hands than we'd dreamt.

Up the River is a 21-issue story carefully and meticulously crafted by writer Travis McIntire. Thematically, McIntire describes it as "Huckleberry Finn meets Heart of Darkness meets Superheroes meets Joseph Campbell-style Messiah story." The story follows Syl, who as a young boy witnesses the murder of his superhero father in the streets of Third City. Years later, Syl and his younger brother Arnie set out with the crew of a river boat to take him up the treacherous Hard Silt River to find answers. Set in a uniquely created post-apocalyptic future that is both horrific and fascinating, Up the River is an adventure story that puts a fresh twist on the idea of super-powered humans and a strong emphasis on character development. We're so incredibly proud to have it under the Source Point Press imprint, and I believe the future is bright for this story and its creators.

The comic series is penciled and inked by Stephen Sharar and colored by Sean Seal, with editing and lettering handled by me. The covers (not including variants) are inked by Mark McKenna (X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Justice League, Batman, etc). Mark's been such a great friend to this project, and knowing how much he believes in it, compounded with the overwhelming support we've gotten from our friends within the comic community, has really given all of us the confidence needed to take this series all the way, and put everything we have into it.

"What really drew me to this book was the plot elements included within it," said Sharar in our Kickstarter video. "Super-powered characters, zombie-type characters, monstrous behemoths, an evil scientist, this book has everything I gravitate towards. It's basically a fan-boy's dream to be illustrating a comic like this."

The goal of the Kickstarter campaign was simply to secure the initial funds necessary to print, ship, and distribute the first issue. But the reaction has been so positive, that we'd love to take it much further. If we can double our goal amount, everyone who's receiving the first issue as a reward will get the second issue as well, at no additional charge. At the moment we're just shy of $3,000, our first stretch goal. Once we hit that everyone who pledged $10 or higher will be getting a beautiful art print added on to their rewards, and as it continues to grow, I'll continue to announce more stretch goals. We want to keep it rolling with all of the dollars going directly into putting out a great quality comic and getting more rewards into the campaign backers' hands.

If you like heart-filled adventure stories, horror stories, post-apocalyptic stories, characters with paranormal abilities, and gorgeous rich artwork, I truly think you'll love what this team has put together. Help us bring it all to life by pledging to the Kickstarter campaign or even by simply helping to spread the word:

And, of course, we love every single one of you. You're the best. Feel free to hit us up and chat, everyone involved loves to talk and is exceptionally weird. If you are too, we're all likely to become great friends.
More information can be found at www.SourcePointPress.com and www.facebook.com/SourcePointPress.

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