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The Samurnauts: Curse Of The Dreadnuts, The Graphic Novel!

Project by Unshaven Comics; Matt Wright, Marc Alan Fishman, and Kyle Gnepper. Project closes August 31st. The book itself will be published and sent to backers in January, 2016.

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Marc Fishman writes,

The Samurnauts are a team of samurai-astronauts, led by an immortal kung fu monkey, defending humanity from shapeshifting demon dinosaurs, and zombie-cyborg pirates… in space!

I've repeated that pitch – and heard it repeated back to me – so many times I'm confident I could repeat it backwards and in Yiddish if need be. If there's any indicator though, that proves to me how potent it is? Every time it's said, I can't stop smiling at the sound of it. And far better than my own possible medical issues of giddiness aside, everyone else who hears it tends to be in the same boat. Something about the avalanche of concepts merging into a singular entity rings true to nerds running the gamut from 6 to 60. There's a universal truth that seemingly is uncompromising:

People love immortal kung-fu monkeys. And zombie-cyborg space pirates. And giant robots. And dinosaurs.

I'd be lying if I said Unshaven Comics created the Samurnauts devoid of this knowledge. So often after we lay the pitch bare, we hear a common retort: "What in the world were you smoking when you came up with that?" And as I've repeated more often than I'd like to admit… absolutely nothing. The concept was born of an evening like too many others, back when Matt, Kyle and I were merely best friends in High School.

We'd met at the lunch table in sixth grade – in the south suburbs of Chicago. Kyle, Matt, and I came all from different parts of the neighborhood. In a schoolyard where most everyone knew everyone… we found one another through utter happenstance. It had only taken a single gaze over Matt's shoulder at a sweet viking drawing doodled on the back of a math test for me to proclaim we were now best friends, and that we'd be making comic books together. Kyle joined in when he proclaimed that he too enjoyed the viking drawing, and would lend his talents writing. Because I'm Jewish, and adhere to strict stereotypes… I proclaimed I could run the eventual business, write, and maybe draw. I like to earn three non-existent paychecks when at all possible.

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Flash forward to our aforementioned high school days. We, still the self-guided comic-loving outcasts in a class well over 500 kids, found ourselves wasting our evenings at Baker's Square. Over pie and coffee – drank lovingly in an attempt to feel older than we were – we'd often debate the finer points of our beloved medium. In between the diabetic-comas we'd run up against, ideas would ebb and flow; all the while I'd denote in my head how we could eventually perhaps make a living from these creative fleets of fancy.

Flash-forward beyond college, sitting in a different Baker's Square, roughly a town and a half over… our first comic book published, with barely a sold copy to our names. Now, in between the continual back-and-forth over the Batman vs. Punisher war that we'd waged in words now for nearly 2 decades, the idea took shape. At first, largely a joke, inspired by an episode of Samurai Jack. But then fleshed out. And further out. And further still. An immortal monkey, leading a Power Ranger-like team? Against dinosaurs? No. Dinosaurs who can shapeshift. And have magic. Yes! And there needs to be giant robots. And zombies. No, not just zombies. Zombie-cyborgs. Like, they lose an arm, and attach a mechanical one in its place. Awesome! And they should be pirates. Because… pirates! And to this end, my hand to Rao himself, we'd only had pie and coffee. OK, Kyle drinks Pepsi, not coffee. But I digress.

The concept was fleshed out over the remainder of that evening. At the core of it all, this was our childhood made of ink and paper. Those cartoons we grew up on that never dared to speak down to us. Cartoons that touched on death, on love, and passion. Those comics and other properties that built universes that were as much about having fun as they were about delivering a message of peace, unity, and/or acceptance. These were the tenants underneath the mountain of adjectives we'd soon use to ignite a fanbase we desperately craved.

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Flash-forward to 2010. "The Samurnauts" are pitched at the very first C2E2. We'd done maybe ten shows by the point. Pitched our previous books hundreds – if not thousands– of times to passersby. We'd never had a reception as we'd now gotten. I say without any ego to be had… when someone hears your pitch and literally says "Stop talking, and take my money.", you know you've finally done something right. But far better than that? When the same person finds you a year later to tell you "This was way better than I'd thought it would be. It's deep, and isn't just a joke like I'd thought!"… well, that's when you know all the hours toiled over two decades of friendship and meticulous planning were worth it.

So, with that said, our hearts are on our sleeves. The Kickstarer is live, and we're hoping that we can meet our goals, and be able to proudly announce that from coast to coast that kids, tweens, teens, and kids-at-heart will declare…

Samurnauts are go!

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The Samurnauts: Curse of the Dreadnuts is the first independently published original graphic novel from Unshaven Comics. It collects the complete mini-series of 4 issues (150 pages), and comes with 40+ pages of never-seen-before content. This includes essays from Mike Gold (former DC Comics editor, and founder of First Comics) and John Ostrander (Suicide Squad, The Spectre, and the recently funded Kros: Hollowed Ground), as well as a pin up gallery featuring Don Kramer (Detective Comics, JSA), Mikey Babinski (Star Wars), and Kristen Gudsnuk (Henchgirl). The campaign can be found here:

http://kck.st/1U8aRDb

SPECIAL FOR BLEEDING COOL READERS! If you back the campaign, and let us know you found out about the campaign from Bleeding Cool (at the end survey), we will add an additional poster print to ALL reward levels backed! Any backing over $75 will also come with an additional FREE sketch card of your choice!

For more information, feel free to visit Unshaven Comics' facebook page (facebook.com/UnshavenComics), or write directly to Marc Alan Fishman at marc@unshavencomicsonline.com


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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