Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics

The Black Coat Kickstarter

Published Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:00:14 -0600

Dean Kotz writes;

Two months ago, Ben Lichius sent me a note:

"I'm planning to put together a Kickstarter campaign for a new Black Coat series (titled "The Blackest Dye"). Would you be available to work on it?"

I guess he was being polite, because he knew I'd say yes. Ben and I love creating comics together, and I'd been waiting three years to draw another adventure of the Black Coat.

The campaign launched December 2nd. As of today, we have less than a week left to reach our goal.

At the close of our 2009 mini-series, "Or Give Me Death", our hero rode off into the night. His current threats were defeated, but even more danger was ahead. The American colonies were finally at war with the British, and, as both sides clashed, sinister monsters plotted in the shadows. Fans of the book were dying to find out what happened next.

After I drew that last page so was I. Ben had plenty of script ideas ready to keep both us and America's first superspy busy for quite a while. We had one only problem: there just wasn't any room in our schedules.

Comics are a time consuming art form. Writing a 70 page script for a supernatural espionage thriller isn't quick. Filling the necessary sheets of Bristol board with pen and ink takes even longer. For an independent book like ours, there's no budget for a page rate and almost never any money on the back end. The work has to be done during spare moments between paying gigs and day jobs. Sometimes, even for a labor of love, there just isn't any time.

This is where our Kickstarter campaign comes in.

If it's successful we'll be able to give the Black Coat's next chapter our full, undivided attention. The book will be finished and back from the printer no later than October 2013. Ape Entertainment has already agreed to print it. In addition to a copy of the new 66 page graphic novel, backers will receive some really exciting rewards: everything from sketches and original pages to t-shirts and cameo appearances in the book. There are even a few original pages available from Gabriel Hardman's Black Coat one-shot.

Kickstarter gives us a chance to put out a book we can really be proud of, the kind of comic we as fans want to read. We feel too strongly about these characters and care too much about the genre to just bang something out. The Black Coat isn't a movie pitch or a marketing gimmick. It's our comic book love letter to pulp heroes with a Colonial American twist. We are excited to share the process with those who join us for the ride.

Remember, there's danger ahead…

Check out our campaign here. And for more information about the Black Coat and his previous adventures visit http://www.the-black-coat.com/

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