I’m loving the background designs for novel new Kickstarter project Past Away,they have an almost Blade Runner-esque feel to them.

The project is an online interactive comic created by artist and designer Christopher Middleton:

While I refer to Past Away as a comic, that’s mostly because that’s the closest thing to liken it to. The art style and the format are actually more like an animated film. There are no panels or word boxes in Past Away. All of the dialogue scrolls across the bottom of the screen similar to subtitles. I’m a HUGE fan of animation and I wanted Past Away to have the feeling of an animated film or television show.

The comic/game will be available exclusively online:

There is no print alternative for Past Away. From concept to creation it was created to be experienced as a motion comic. Also, since all of the mediums capable of displaying a motion comic also have the potential for interactivity, I wanted to use that interactivity for more than just turning the page or moving to the next shot. I thought it would be cool to integrate choices into the story, so that you can become an active participant in the narrative. I wanted to make a truly interactive story.

This is bold move by the creator and one I hope pays off.If you want to find out more about Past Away I have written a piece for my website,or you could just go straight to the Kickstarter project page and pledge,there are some great rewards on offer,including my favourite at $250:a character pin-up by Minjue Helen Chen.

14 May 36 Permalink

A couple of pages from a fun comics’ Kickstarter I just covered called Pariah,Missouri created by Andres Salazaar.You should check the project’s poker themed pledges,it’s all great fun.

Art wise,I’m particularly digging the sepia and blue toned inks which make the comic look old timey.Definitely one to watch as western comics have got a bit serious of late,time to make them a little weird again:

“1857.  Pariah, Missouri is a riverboat boom-town and a haven for the unscrupulous. The charismatic Hy Buchanan works undercover as a foppish cheat, and creates a rag-tag team to ferret out evil, both the corruption of man and the supernatural. His first challenge is the arrival of a duo of thespians, whose intentions are not to entertain.

Pariah Missouri is a western (set right before the Civil War) with a supernatural twist. Think of it as Deadwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  It leans on mysticism and folk-magic and if you enjoy settings that are heavily researched with complex characters this is for you! “

Check out the project here or visit Andres Salazaar’s blog for more info and art,alternatively,if this seems like your kind of thing there’s a downloadable 20 page preview here.

9 December 2 Permalink

One of the most popular Kickstarter projects of recent times has been optioned for serialization by Boom! Studios.Fairy Quest by Spectacular Spider-Man collaborators,Paul Jenkins & Humberto Ramos was originally Kickstarted back in May to the tune of $95,000.The story,laid out in a series of short graphic novels,concerns the fictional characters of Grimm’s Fairy Tales living in an oppressive society where they must replay their stories exactly day after day after day.Fed up with this monotonous lifestyle a band of Fairy Tales join together to break free into our world.

You can buy the books direct from the creators for $29.95 now.Or…if that seems like a lot of money to you(which,to be fair it is)you can wait until February when Boom! will serialize the title into a two-issue comic for just £3.99 an issue.You can’t say fairer than that,can you?

FAIRY QUEST #1
Paul Jenkins & Humberto Ramos

The world of Fablewood, where all of the stories that have ever been told live side-by-side, is a sinister place indeed! Under the watchful eye of the dreaded Mister Grimm and his Think Police, Red Riding Hood and her Wolf must risk everything to try and escape and find sanctuary in a mysterious place called the Real World…

Written by industry legend Paul Jenkins (SENTRY, DEATHMATCH) and drawn by comics superstar Humberto Ramos (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN), the smash Kickstarter success story, FAIRY QUEST, is now available in single issue format for the first time!

And obviously you can read the preview above!

14 November 8 Permalink