We have a ten-pack of fantastic crowdfunding projects to bring you that are all ongoing and will be ending in the next month. It has been a while since we have done one of these, but honestly these are one of the favorite type of columns that we do at Pop Culture Squad. Right now there are 436 active campaigns on Kickstarter and these are our ten favorite.
Each of these campaigns offer excellent backer rewards and we hope that the creators are able to accomplish their goals and get to make cool stuff for all of us. Some of these projects are already funded, and we are happy to highlight them knowing that backers will get the rewards that they sign up for. Others still need some help to get over the finish line, and we are on their side.
The projects are listed below in chronological order of the end of the campaign. So, the ones that end soonest come first. However, the entire list is banging. We feel there is something for everyone on this list. Enjoy!
Fa Sheng: Origins #1 by Rylend Grant and Dexter Wee
Campaign Link
Ending: Tue, May 24 2022 11:59 PM EDT.
PCS Thoughts: This looks like a great comic for fans of Martial Arts comic books. There are plenty of digital and physical reward options. We are excited about this.
From the Campaign:
Fa Sheng: Origins is an all-new wuxia comic created by Peter Shiao, written by Rylend Grant and illustrated by artist Dexter Wee, about the humble beginnings of a great Shaolin Master. If you like Shang-Chi, Kung Fu, Warrior, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ip Man, or The Grandmaster, this all-new series is for you.
Fa Sheng is a death-cheating, mind-bending Shaolin Master… but he carved a long bloody road to get there. Fa Sheng’s story begins in the latter days of the 19th century when the propaganda and carnage of China’s Boxer Uprising force him to reevaluate his purpose in life, to dedicate himself to helping those in need. It isn’t easy. Between Fa Sheng and his goal of enlightenment stand ruthless adversaries, backstabbing power grabbers and cowardly charlatans… any of whom would gladly dispose of anyone in their way.
Cannibals on Mars – A Sci-Fi Horror One Shot Comic
Campaign Link
Ending: Thu, May 26 2022 7:20 AM EDT
PCS Thoughts: This is one of those projects that still needs help to get over the funding target. It looks like an interesting story, the preview art is intriguing, and this is certainly for a mature audience. If you like space murder adventures, I think you will like this one.
From the Campaign:
CANNIBALS ON MARS is a 48 page, perfect-bound, one-shot that delivers blood-soaked space horror that comic fans can really sink their teeth into.
Ever since the ancients fixed their gaze skyward, human beings have marveled at the planets stretched before them. Heretics, heroes, science, and sacrifice all advanced our understanding of the stars, until finally, in 2027, earthlings established the first functioning colony on another planet.
The RH7 Colonies on Mars: a terraforming series of interconnected outposts inhabited by a bold set of international astronauts, scientists, engineers, and psychologists. Their mission was twofold: to develop a sustainable environment for eventual, large-scale migration and to prove that human beings–despite their differences, could work together to create a fledgling new society built on trust, camaraderie, and the common good.
Then all communication from earth was cut off… The colonists continued their mission…. They thrived. They survived…. They lived, loved, and lost…. Five years passed….
And now here we are…
We Eat Gods #1
Campaign Link
Ending: Thu, June 2 2022 7:34 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: Garrett Gunn, Christy Blanch, Kit Wallis, and Dave Lentz, the team that brought us Good Boy, are on a creative roll and this book looks like more excellent storytelling. This team is also known for putting together spectacular backer rewards, and you won’t want to miss them.
From the Campaign:
Before humanity’s extinction as a result of the God War, a fleet of saviors for humankind were created, known as the Godeaters. In the years following the War, these droids would attempt to vanquish the Gods one by one until none remained so that humanity could return. But the will of the gods persevered and now the last hope for humanity lies in the heart of a single Godeater droid: Raze.
We Eat Gods #1 is a 24-page full color comic.
IMPOSSIBLE 2C: IMPOSSIBLE JONES & POLECAT TEAM-UP!
Campaign Link
Ending: Thu, June 2 2022 11:00 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: Karl Kessel and David Hahn return with their excellent creator owned series. The campaign page itself leans into the comic aspect of storytelling, and it is a great story. This character’s adventures have been fun to watch so far, but I think the hardest part about backing this campaign might be deciding between the Stuart Immonen and Bill Sienkiewicz covers.
From the Campaign:
A story of GHOSTS… and other things that haunt us. DELUXE DOUBLE-SIZED comic by KESEL (King Shark, Harley Quinn) & HAHN (Batman ’66).
Head Wounds: Sparrow – a new graphic novel from Oscar Isaac
Campaign Link
Ending: Fri, June 3 2022 3:13 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: This is a new book from Legendary Comics with a star studded creative team from multiple media platforms. Fans of crime comics this is for you. Seriously, they had me at Christian Ward art. I can never turn that down.
From the Campaign:
Tangled up in the battle between Good and Evil, a crooked Louisiana detective with a higher purpose must psychically suffer the wounds of those he’s sworn to protect until he brings their assailants to justice.
No one would call Leo a good person – much less a good cop. But when his best friend is shot in front of him, he wakes up with a hole in his own head that only he can see, and a host of mysterious strangers calling on him for action.
Most people go about their daily lives ignoring or unable to see the divine battle for Good and Evil raging around them, but it has just become very very real for Leo. As angels and demons vie for the fate of humanity, he must choose a side or risk seeing everyone and everything he has ever known destroyed as the stakes get higher and higher.
As Leo sees the true faces of the people around him he must decide – will he do what’s best for him alone, or follow a higher purpose?
Head Wounds: Sparrow is approximately 130 pages and this Kickstarter campaign will feature collectible items that backers can only get here.
Black Boy’s Blues – An Honest Graphic Novel of Hard Times
Campaign Link
Ending: Fri, June 3 2022 11:59 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: Author R.D. Hunter has developed some important stories into a beautiful memoir comic anthology. We are happy to add this book to our spotlight list this month. Check it out. You have just about a week to get in on this fully funded project.
From the Campaign:
On June 28, 2018, a man barricaded the only exit to the offices of the Capital Gazette Newspaper and charged in with a shotgun. At the end of the mass shooting my former editor, and several co-workers were identified among the dead.
Fortunately, I wasn’t there. I was a terribly inexperienced journalist and quit just before the shooting. I spent the next few years wondering if my life was saved by my own ineptitude. Maybe, if I had been a better writer, I could have done something.
On the third anniversary of the shooting, just days before the start of the gunman’s trial, I published a comic about my experience on the internet message board, Reddit.com. The cathartic experience of creating a comic and the overwhelmingly positive response I received helped me deal with what I now recognize as survivor’s guilt.
For the past year I’ve written about terrible, yet self-affirming, events in my life that I publish online in their entirety for free online. However, hiring artists at fair wages isn’t cheap, and I’ve finally reached the point where it is no longer sustainable to fund this ongoing project with cash advances from my credit card.
DIE: The Roleplaying Game
Campaign Link
Ending: Fri, June 10 2022 1:00 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: We normally stick to comics in these lists, but this is a game based on a comic. A fantastic comic!!! We are super excited for this tabletop RPG. The designers have taken their time and developed a authentic game with interesting wrinkles and it has been recommended by a variety of writers and gamers. The backer rewards look amazing. I cannot wait to get my hands on this project.
From the Campaign:
You and your friends are dragged into a treacherous fantasy world made from your own fears, doubts and desires. There’s only one way to escape – but with limitless adventure within your grasp, would you even want to?
DIE is a tabletop roleplaying game about fantasy versus reality, and poses the question of why we play games at all. The comic it’s based upon is occasionally jokingly described as “goth Jumanji”; DIE the RPG is designed from the ground up to let a group of players make their own personal version of the comic.
The Séance Room Volume 2
Campaign Link
Ending: Tue, June 14 2022 11:37 AM EDT
PCS Thoughts: We enjoyed the first round of this series, and this one is crossing over with some truly fan favorite characters. There is plenty of time to get behind this project. Fans of horror and psychological thrillers, this is the project for you. We are really rooting for this book to get funded and be made.
From the Campaign:
Séance Room is a comic about the people that enter Weiss Manor and confront the ghosts of the house and the demons of their minds. Each issue is a full story or psychological torment.
Instead of waiting years for new issues let us all work together to enter the Séance Room not one more time but FOUR! This go round we have a very special guest- Cassie Hack and Vlad!!! That is right! Séance Room and world famous Hack/Slash.
If that was not enough we are also proud to bring Harry and the Ghosts to life with the talent of Ben Templesmith (Gentleman Wormwood, 30 Days of Night), Alex Cormac (Road of Bones, Sink) and Drew Rausch (My Blacks Don’t Match).
Don’t worry our intrepid artist Dustin Irvin is still drawing out Ghastly Ghouls. He is the man behind our Hack/ Crossover!!!!
To say this is exciting is a HUGE understatement Now come join us in the Séance Room.
BLEEDING PULP #1 and #2 Feat. I EAT MONSTERS
Campaign Link
Ending: Thu, June 16 2022 12:00 PM EDT
PCS Thoughts: This comic filled with bloody delights comes from veteran Kickstarter Justin Gray. He has developed a method to create excellent independent comics and consistently delivers quality products to his backers. This book sounds bonkers in the best ways and we are struggling to decide which of the amazing backer reward options to choose. Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with this book.
From the Campaign:
9-Year-Old Annabelle is accused of viciously murdering and partially eating her brothers. She spends the next several years bouncing between foster homes, juvenile detention centers, and mental institutions before escaping halfway around the world to Thailand. Haunted and consumed by guilt, Annabelle continues to punish herself mentally and physically to atone for not saving her family. All of that changes when a man in a mask proves once and for all that MONSTERS ARE REAL!
This is not a floppy with 20 pages of story and 12 pages of ads or recaps. This is a 60-page, gorgeous, full-color, square-bound paperback with two stories. In addition to I Eat Monsters, the comic includes the backup creature feature: Madam Bedlam & The Order of Zadok Part 2 of 2 by Miljenko Simic and Alessia Nocera.
We hope you find something on this list that suits you, and maybe even multiple somethings. Supporting independent creators is a way to bolster the comic medium and keep the industry growing.
If you are looking for other Kickstarter Projects to back we recommend following the Twitter account @KickstarterReads. They are always plugged in to what is good.
One last thing, there is still time to support the Comics for Ukraine project on Zoop that we wrote about last month.
