It Came from Kickstarter: The Hero Business: Season One

One of the problems with buying as many novels and trades as I do, and contributing to as many Kickstarters as I do, is that I have constantly growing stacks on unread books. I get a new one, and unless it's part of a continuing narrative, it usually joins the stack. And then sometime when I'm between books, I'll grab a random book off the stack. Last week I was looking for something light and fun, and I saw a book from a Kickstarter that I received back in December, and thought that it fit the bill, and it really did.

Created by Bill Walko, The Hero Business is the story of a business that provides marketing, consulting, technical, and PR services for super heroes. If you're new the super hero game, they have a consultant for you,to learn the ropes. Have you been through a cosmic crisis that has re-written your history? That's what public relations are for, to get the word out! It's aware of pretty much every genre trope you can imagine, and plays them all for laughs, but never pokes at those of us who love them. It's quick-witted super hero pastiche with its tongue planted firmly in cheek, with office drama mixed in, and some great characters.

The Kickstarter for The Hero Business funded a collection of the first season of the web comics, the first six storylines. We're introduced to the series through Parker, the new receptionist for The Hero Business, which is the name of the company as well as the comics, on her first day of work, so we have a solid point of view character that allows the reader to not only see how the business works, but the other principal characters.

Parker (center) is a smart, level headed young woman who is also working on her dissertation while dealing with the wacky hijinks at Hero Business. Morgan (far right) is the Director of Public Relations; she's probably the best of the senior staff at what she does, but she's also a workaholic. Simon (first from right) is the Marketing Director, a smarmy Brit who is always looking to get ahead and always has a scheme up his sleeve. Brody (far left) is the art director, who feels like doing this commercial work is below him, that he's a real artist, but that doesn't pay the bills. Finally. there's Bravada and Dr. Malefactor (on Parker's left and right, respectively). These guys were once Superman and Luthor-esque arch-rivals, but now have to work together, with Bravado as official superhero of Hero Business, and Malefactor as Head of R&D, meaning he still builds mad science stuff, but he theoretically isn't doing it to take over the world. Bravado is pretty out of touch with the modern world, and Malefactor still is more mad scientist than corporate scientist, and they still profess to hate each other, but there's something close to friendship hidden underneath that.

Each of the six chapters of the first season of The Hero Business are short stories that can be read on their own, but have subplots that feed into each other. Chapter One, "Orientation," is the aforementioned first day of work for Parker. She has to show a celebutante who has gotten herself super powers around, introduce her to the people who will help her become a superhero. We meet the cast, and get to really see just how smart Parker is, as she's the one who solves the problem when the celebrity brat decides it would be much cooler to be a super villain. But in the epilogue, we see that Parker has a secret of her own, one that she is keeping from Hero Business and might mean she has an agenda against the business.

Chapter Two is "The All-New, All-Different Bravado," where a popular TV show about superheroes says Bravdo is old news, so the Hero Business decides to rebrand him. It's a hilarious take on superhero reboots, as three members of the hero business select creators to help design Bravado's new image. Brody brings in a '90s Image Comics type creator who tries to make Bravado grim and gritty; Morgan brings in a hip, young TV writer from the "EW Network," to try to make Bravado relevant to the youth market; and Simon brings in a Grant Morrison analogue to make a trippy, confusing Bravado. The ending, where the people who initially were against Bravado are now begging for the classic one back, is interesting to read as we see DC Rebirth taking shape and the return of classic versions of heroes.

"Cry, Malefactor!"the next chapter, focuses on "reformed" mad scientist Dr. Malefactor trying to find a new job that will allow him some more freedom to do mad science while leaving an android duplicate in his place at Hero Business. We get to see that Malefactor has more levels than just the evil scientist and that he's got layers, that he feels like a failure for not having conquered the world yet. We also get our first look at Infernal Enterprises, the Hero Business's rival, a company that does similar work, but is evil, run by the malevolent Demonatrix and her assistant, Primstone.

Morgan is the focal character of Chapter Four, "Frenemy Mine." Glamazon, one of the world's leading superheroines, has written a tell-all memoir, and the Hero Business, as her PR firm, is hosting a book launch party. Glamazon was Morgan's school roommate, and the two of them go back years, and Morgan isn't exactly flattered by the things Glamazon has to say about her. But she's a professional, and wants to grin and bear her way through it. But things go wrong, including certain revelations about Morgan's past, and we get a wild fight in the middle of the party. This chapter gives us more depth for Morgan, who has been up til this point been mostly portrayed as a driven business woman, and we get dimension on Glamazon as well, one of the more regularly portrayed super people in the comic.

The last of the single character centric chapters, "Simon Sayeth," pretty obviously from the title focuses on Simon. Simon has developed a new app called "kickr" which works as a way to let heroes meet other heroes for team-ups. But when the other senior staff members aren't being as helpful as Simon wants, he uses a book of black magic to cast a spell to get them to. Only, as anyone who has ever read anything about mind control or wishes knows, be careful what you ask for. And despite remaining a jerk, the story gives reader a bit more understanding of why he is such a jerk. And while his plan doesn't work out, the eventual use of his app is absolutely hilarious.

"Bad for Business," the final episode of season one, is a perfect finale, bringing together all the things we've learned about these characters, and answering questions about Parker's secret and origins, what Infernal Enterprises is up to, and provides a cool cliffhanger for the next season. It's an exciting payoff, as each character gets to show off what they are best at. I love the scene where Parker, Simon, and Malefactor are brainstorming ways to stop Infernal Enterprises's hostile takeover of the Hero Business, because even if Simon is willing to do anything to get ahead, and Parker needs to prove she's on the side of the angels, neither are quite willing to go down Malefactor's mad science route, no matter how frustrated he gets by it.

It's obvious from these descriptions that Bill Walko knows his superhero tropes. He plays off all the hero vs. hero, the retcons, the plans gone wrong, and so many more. The Season One collection also has a bunch of "Coffee Break" strips; one or two page shorts that are quick set-up punchline gags. The covers to each of the chapters, as well as various pin-ups, are homages to classic superhero comic book covers. And the background and supporting super characters all play on classic hero types that all of us super hero fans know and love.

The most important thing about The Hero Business, though, is the first line of creator Bill Walko's introduction, "Comics should be fun."And at its heart, below all the pastiche and parody, is what The Hero Business is: fun. It's quirky superhero sit-com at its best, enjoyable both for those of us who get everything that Walko is alluding to and those who just know that superheroes fight supervillains in flashy costumes. And hey, I'll always read for the fun of it.

Since The Hero Business was a Kickstarter, you can't get it through most of the usual channels. But you can visit The Hero Business website, where you can buy the complete Season One, various prints and merch, or just read the series as a web comic. Season Two, episode one is running now.

Kickstarter Spotlight On: Hexer Dusk

As I get ready for what looks to be a busy Memorial Day weekend, I just wanted to write a quick post about a Kickstarter I'm really excited about. I've written about the work from John Ostrander and Jan Duursema a bunch over the years, especially their work together on Star Wars: Republic,  Star Wars: Legacy and Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi. But now, the two of them are back together, working on a new original graphic novel Kickstarter, a sci-fi/fantasy mash up called Hexer Dusk.

I'm not going to talk too much, because Jan and John do that better than I could on the Kickstarter page and in this new interview on Comic Book Resources, but just check that out. It sounds amazing! It's got falling sky cities, demons, and is headlined by one of the last of the solider/magic users called Hexers, Xane Dusk. Looking at the sample art, it's got a touch of Legacy, with it's broken down, hardscrabble world, some of John Ostrander's classic Grimjack, and whole lot of Jan Duursema's amazing design work.

So, go read that interview, then visit the Kickstarter and pledge! It's just about 97% funded, so your pledge might be the one that puts it over the top. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend, and see you Monday!

It Came From Kickstarter: Gamer Girl & Vixen #1

I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I'm the one who's always rooting for those crazy kids in  to finally get it together and make it work. So, when I saw a Kickstarter for a series about two star-crossed young people in a fantastic world falling in love, well, it seemed too cute to pass up. It's a romantic comic without being a "romance comic," with action, derring do, and the adorable blushes of first love. Oh, and did I mention that they're both women and they're both supervillains? Yeah, that's what makes Gamer Girl & Vixen unique and fun.

In recent years, I'd like to think comics have grown more inclusive of female creators, as well as characters that aren't hetero, white, and male. Not saying there isn't a long way to go still, but we're starting to move in the right direction. And Kickstarter helps new creators, or creators with ideas that don't work at the big companies, with new ideas get their work in front of a new audience, and that's why it's the perfect place for a title like this. It's LGBT themed and friendly, but easily accessible to anyone who's ever felt the thrill of falling head over heels with someone. The initial Kickstarter raised enough funds to publish hard copies of the first two issues, and a digital copy of issue three; today, I'll be focusing on issue one, with a little talk about issue two, just to give you a taste of what I found so charming about the series.

 The first issue of Gamer Girl & Vixen is an extended meet cute, the romantic comedy trope where two characters meet in a way that is funny, befitting their characters, and usually hard to imagine would happen in real life. This issue is a great example of exactly how a first issue should be done. It tells a complete story, it does some world building, but most importantly, it builds the characters and makes you want to come back for future stories with them. Finding the right balance between character, action, and set up is tricky, especially in the, "write for the trade" era, but I always feel like when it hits, it's a good indication of the strength of a series.

Right out of the gate, we get a good feeling for Vixen. Even though she's not wearing a costume, you see she has the flair of great comic book cat burglars. As a matter of fact, she looks down on superheroes, thinking back on the days when her dad was a burglar and it was only thieves and gangsters with cool nicknames; it's a nice way of establishing that this is a world with superheroes without having tons of exposition about how there are superheroes. As she breaks into the offices of Stowe University to steal records for an as yet unrevealed reason, her caper is interrupted not just by campus security, though, but by a call from her mother. As she ducks her way past the guards we learn that Vixen is still in the closet and has a boyfriend because shehas a hard time with the expectations of her overbearing mother, and the fear of being hurt. It's a common theme in LGBT literature focusing on people in their teens and early 20s, dealing with the expectations of society and parents, and while it's an important character beat, it doesn't slow down the story, which it easily could have. Instead it enriches a character, tugs at the heartstrings, and provides motivation while still moving at a brisk clip.

Cut next to Gamer Girl, fully decked out in her costume as she prepares to test out her gauntlets, which create hard light holograms. She has a different problem than Vixen; she is clearly out, but has a clingy girlfriend. Once she's off the phone, she simply wants to try rappelling down a building, when she sees Vixen being chased by public safety, she instead swoops down on a rope to save her... only for the rope to be not quite long enough and for them to wind up on the street just a bit farther along then Vixen was before, firmly in campus security's sights. The remainder of the issue is a chase and a lot of banter, that further establishes the characters' wit and abilities, and ends with the two of them exchanging phone numbers and setting a costumed date for that Friday. The way our leads click is almost audible, with them trading quips the entire time, in the fashion of fast talking 1940s screwball comedies. 

Gemma Moody's art is cartoony, with exaggerated expressions, but not pushed so far into that cartoonyness as to be caricature. She has a great sense of panel layout; while most of the pages have a number of smaller panels, keeping the story flowing, she reserves the pages with big panels for moments that are deserving of them. It's also a nice touch that the first time each of our protagonists see each other, those panels shift to a more photo-realistic style, clearly differentiating them from everything around them.

Issue two gives readers a better feel for the lives of Liz (Gamer Girl) and Bianca (Vixen). You get to see their friends and significant others, and you get to see their first date, which includes a robbery. You also learn a little more about Gamer Girl's background, about where the tech that she's using and improving comes from. And at issue's end? Our leads meet their first superhero, Jumpshot, whose basketball-pun ladened dialogue makes me just shake my head; if this is what the heroes sound like, sign me up to be a villain. Also, points for having Gamer Girl say, "Random encounter," a nod to her game themed costume.

I'm choosing this week to discuss Gamer Girl & Vixen because the team behind the book has just launched a second Kickstarter, this one to fund a complete graphic novel of the first six issues of the series. Here's a little copy from the creators:

"Love has a way of working itself out, especially if you don't care who gets hurt or what laws get broken along the way.

Gamer Girl & Vixen is a love story for modern audiences, where two potential lovers realize they can only really be themselves in the capes and costumes world of heroes and villains.

Bianca Crowley has spent her whole life pretending to be straight, because that's what her mother and society expect of the beautiful redhead. But when she meets the out and proud Gamer Girl- who already has the kickass costume and awesome super-powers- Bianca finally finds an outlet for the feelings she's been suppressing her entire life.

Surfing the current wave of  female-focused comics - like Marvel's Captain Marvel, Image's Sex Criminals, and DC's Batgirl - this is a mature love story with all the sex, hijinks, broken hearts and inappropriate cell phone pics that entails

The series is co-written by Kristi McDowell and Sean Ian Mills, with art by Gemma Moody and lettering by Taylor Esposito.

If you want to check out more, you can go look at the new Kickstarter campaign, where you can get a link to read the entire first issue digitally, and if you simply can't wait to see what's next, you can pick up a digital or hard copy of issue two and a digital issue three at the Joy Cat Comics website.

A series that is flirty and fun, smartly written with engaging character right out of the gate, Gamer Girl and Vixen is the kind of comic I love to talk about. There's not much like it on the market, and it speaks to its themes in a way that everyone can relate to. I've only read three issues, and the minute the Kickstarter came up for the complete six, I placed my pledge immediately, because I want to see what happens next, and I have a feeling if you read them, you will too.

It Came From Kickstarter: Die Kitty Die #1

Die Kitty Die #1
Story and Art: Fernando Ruiz & Dan Parent
Inks: Rick Koslowski & J. Bone
Colors: Gelnn Whitmore
Letters: Janice Chiang
Additional Art: Gisele Jagace, J. Bone, and Shouri

I contribute to a lot of Kickstarters, mostly comics and games (both RPG and board), and I do my best to use The Matt Signal Facebook Page (like it if you haven't, please) to spread the word on the projects before they're complete. But I have been very lax about actually writing about the finished products, and I'm looking to remedy that with a recurring column featuring the projects I've crowdfunded. On Sunday, I received the digital first issue of a new series, Die Kitty Die, from creators Fernando Ruiz and Dan Parent, and so today I'll be sharing a review of that issue!

If you're not familiar with either Fernando Ruiz or Dan Parent, these are two very talented guys. They were both regular contributors as both writers and artists to the classic Archie line for quite a while before the recent reboot. Fernando's name might be familiar to a wider audience at this point, as he was the artist on the wonderfully bizarre Archie Vs. Predator (and hey, wouldn't it be awesome to see him do Archie Vs. Alien. C'mon, Dark Horse and Archie, make it happen). These are two masters of the Archie house style, which you can see reflected in Die Kitty Die. But trust me, this might look similar in style to classic Archie, but it's its own thing and a little less all ages.

Without giving too much away, the basic plot of Die Kitty Die is that Kitty is a Sabrina the Teenage Witch type character, only one who exists both in the comics and the real world; she survives on the royalties of the comics based on her life. With sales on her comics not what they used to be, her publisher decides to reboot the Kitty comics, but they need a hook and a publicity stunt, so they decide the death of Kitty is the way to go. Only not the death of the comic character, oh no. What better publicity than the death of the actual, real life star?

The first issue of Die Kitty Die is actually three or four comics in one. The issue opens with a classic Kitty story from the comics. It's a funny little story, sort of a PG-13 version of a classic teen romance comic like Archie or Patsy Walker. The dialogue is bawdier than would have been allowed in the '60s, especially in regards to Kitty's... ahem... endowments, but it's a very funny little short.

From there we enter the main story, where we meet the real world Kitty (not quite as buxom as her comic counterpart) at a comic shop, her friends, and the status quo, that Kitty is worried about what the comic company is going to do with her in the comics; they've married her off and had her fight zombies, and there's a hint of meta-commentary on the comic book industry in this scene. It's a charming little bit, where you get to see Kitty show off her powers, see someone else use magic, and get to know the world of Kitty.

The second chapter takes the meta-commentary of the first chapter and puts it front and center. Here we meet the publisher of "Kitty Comics," as well as the editor and chief, and one of the creative staff. Each of them is a stereotype of a faction of the industry. The publisher is in it just for the money, and doesn't care about the art. The editor-in-chief is the biggest dude-bro you could imagine, and is excited for the reboot because he can bring in a Hollywood writer and that will mean attention and plenty of "likes of Space Book." And the executive wants to bring in a trendy indy artist whose work is sketchy and slow, but it's got indy cred. It's not the subtlest of commentary, but it's pretty darn funny. And with the decision that killing Kitty is the best way to build buzz since their new PR friendly creative team will need a couple years of lead time to get the book set, the plot is in motion.

The final chapter of the issue is right out of a classic '70s or '80s horror movie. Kitty gets home, and undresses down to her skivvies, only to be interrupted by Dippy the Dead Kid, a Caspar analogue we met in the comic shop earlier who was bemoaning the cancellation of his comic. Only Dippy isn't the friendly ghost, and we quickly see that he is a little creep who isn't friendly to Kitty at all. It's a great set-up for some real horror next issue.

Along with the main story, the issue has a bunch of bonus material, including"Kitty's Katwalk" a fashion spread like in old issues of books like Millie the Model with art by J. Bone, pin-ups from Gisele Jagace and Mike Rooth, and some parody ads. It's a great package, and has more pages than your average for a $4 comic.

I also have to applaud Ruiz and Parent for getting their Kickstarter out on time. For those of you who don't usually do the Kickstarter thing, when you get a projected release date of February, you expect April if you're lucky (I still have a project that expected a hardcopy of the book in December 2014 that still hasn't paid off). And lo and behold, issue #1 of Die Kitty Die had a projected date of February and arrived in February.

There are a lot of comics published through Kickstarters these days, from creators of varied level of experience and skill. Fernando Ruiz and Dan Parent are great creators, and their book lives up to the pedigree of its creators. If you're looking for a comic that's fun, a little bawdy, with some very nice art, and a fun story, you should definitely check out Die Kitty Die.

The first issue of Die Kitty Die is available for digital purchase at Gumroad right now. If you're a person who prefers their comics in physical format, a trade of the four issues will be released this summer under a cover by Matt Signal favorite Darwyn Cooke, so keep your eyes open for that.

Kickstarter Spotlight On: Kros: Hallowed Ground by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Good morning, Matt Signal readers. You'll be getting your normal Monday reviews later today, but I wanted to take a minute this morning to call attention to a specific Kickstarter that I backed this morning. While it's been featured on Bleeding Cool and Comics Alliance already, and I figure if you're reading my blog you probably read those sites as well, I am so excited I wanted to post this.

I've written plenty about John Ostrander on here. His Star Wars run with Jan Duursema introduced my two favorite Star Wars EU characters from the comics, Quinlan Vos and Darth Krayt, and his 80s and 90s work at DC, including Suicide Squad, The Spectre, Manhunter, and Martian Manhunter are some of the best DC Comics in that era, if not ever. And of course there's Grimjack, his bounty hunter sci-fi/magic comic that is one of the great indies of that era. And his collaborator on more than a few of those projects, including Spectre and Martian Manhunter (as well as a four issue arc on Batman), as well as part of Grimjack, was artist Tom Mandrake, whose heavy blacks and dynamic lines make him one of my favorite artists in comics.

Well these two legends of the medium have a new Kickstarter that just went live a few days ago, Kros: Hallowed Ground.  It's a horror comic set against the real world horror that was the Battle of Gettysburg. It's the story of Kros, a vampire hunter, fighting in two wars, the American Civil War by day, and his war against the undead by night. Ostrander has shown a deft hand at writing stories set in the American past, with his multi-generation story of Superman's adopted family, The Kents (part of which was drawn by Mandrake), and two stories set in Marvel's old west, Blaze of Glory and Apache Skies. And Mandrake has drawn some great horror comics over the years, including the awkwardly named but highly amusing Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves, and you have to have horror chops to draw the Spectre, believe me. Check out some art from Kros below to see how great it looks.

I've backed a lot of comics Kickstarters, talked about a few here, and plan to write some up as they arrive. But this book, with this caliber of creators? I had to get the word out so more of you can enjoy. Check out the link here if you didn't click it above for more details, and let's see this book get made.