UPDATE: Just under two days remain. Though Sullivan’s Sluggers has made well over 1000% (that’s three zeroes) of its goal in this fundraiser, there’s still a few great incentives to unlock before the campaign ends. At $80,000, everyone who pledged $30 get’s a slipcase edition. At $82,000, we get a placeholder ribbon. I, Paul Montgomery, want that placeholder ribbon. So get funding!
In a minute, we’re gonna talk baseball and boogie monsters with Mark Andrew Smith, but first a video featuring my dulcet tones over some James Stokoe art and a little dubstep:
Right?!
It should come as no shock that Sullivan’s Sluggers has already sailed past the halfway point to its target on Kickstarter with a whole month left to raise funds. It’s really a “Build it and they will come,” situation. Not because of me and the dubstep, but because, ya know, look at this thing! America’s favorite pastime. Grotesque monsters. Orc Stain and Wonton Soup‘s James Stokoe. And the jack of all genres Mark Andrew Smith (New Brighton Archaeological Society, Amazing Joy Buzzards, Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors). It’s a hole-in-one grand slam dunk!
Let’s head out to half-court step up to the mound and talk to writer Mark Andrew Smith about bats, balls and things that go bump in the ninth.
iFanboy: Would it be fair to describe Sullivan’s Sluggers as Field of Dreams, only with much worse things shambling out of the corn fields? Field of Nightmares maybe? Where did this idea come from?
Mark Andrew Smith: I think “Field of Nightmares” is very accurate. I love baseball and baseball films, and I also love splatter horror films. I was writing in a notebook one day and the two ideas came together and Sullivan’s Sluggers was born and started to become a richer concept.
iF: How much baseball are we looking at before things go south? Is this a love letter to the game or just an excuse to break out the bats?
MAS: Things go south around page 32 of this 200 page book, so we get to know the dynamics of the team and who the people are on it, so we have a built in investment for the characters. I have my favorites. It’s both a love letter to the game AND an excuse to break out the bats (and other things).
iF: Let’s talk about James Stokoe for a bit. This is a guy operating at another level than most of us are used to. What was your process like?
MAS: James is operating on another level, and I think already one of the comic book greats. I really wish I had an amazing process for working with James but in truth it’s so simple, I write pages, e-mail them to James, and he draws, scans, and e-mails me pages back. I wish there were a more dynamic answer to this question.
I think the one thing about working with James Stokoe is that I wrote the book in sections, so I’d give him a section, and then get pages back from James which would pump me up for the next sections to give them my all and fuel my creative energies.
iF: You’ve utilized Kickstarter in the past. Can you speak to your experience with crowd-sourcing in the past and how you’ve come to view the resource now?
MAS: I did the New Brighton Archeological Society that we’ve just wrapped art on and know we’re coloring and preparing it for print. I think I was way ahead of the curve, not to pat myself on the back, and always knew the potential of Kickstarter.
Now it’s gaining even more in popularity and is a great way for creators to have more control over their work and connect directly with their readers.
What are you waiting for? Head over to Kickstarter and plunk down your paper route money for the 200 page hardcover of Sullivan’s Sluggers. This book will not be available in stories, so get your claim in now!
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Thanks for sharing. I’m a big fan of both but somehow missed news of this. Pledged.
Um…? YES.
I saw people talking about this on Twitter. It looks flippin’ great! I’m totally plunking down for my copy.
I backed this today. Looks SO awesome.
And I see that it’s already passed its mark on Kickstarter? Amazing.
Stokoe? I’m in! And the MOMENT original art is added my pledge will jump!
I NEED THAT HARDCOVER
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
Baseball and Monsters… $50 well spent!!!!!!
Cool. Nice to see they got their money and then some.
200 pages of James Stokoe art? See ya in 2015, Orc Stain. 😉
Sluggers is complete or just about complete from what I can tell. He’s been working on it for a while.
Looks like it’s nearly doubled its Kickstarter goal in a single day. Pretty amazing.
Spoke too soon. Now it’s more than doubled its goal.
Tripled!
HOLY [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!!!!! THAT [EXPLETIVE DELETED] WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET’S GIT THIS [EXPLETIVE DELETED]ING BOOK KICK STARTED!!!!!! HOT DAMN, THAT WAS COOL!
With all this excitement Image should act fast and announce a reprint for the first trade of Orc Stain.
Yeah, why is that out of print?! How does that make sense?
It wasn’t a formal announcement, but I recall someone at Image casually confirming that a reprint was on the way. Vague, I know, but I’m sure it was addressed recently.
Unless I was delusional, I thought I remember seeing a new printing of the trade in last month’s DCBS previews.
Awesome stuff. I’m ready to get my hardcover. Pledged!
Also, I think it would be an awesome idea for IFanboy to do a weekly article on comic book projects from Kickstarter. With IFanboy’s community, this would definitely help out independent comic books get started and give back to the comic book community as a whole. It could be another “of the week” article. “Kickstarter Project of the Week” That’s just my two cents.
Undertaker1983 I had the same idea. Has everyone seen this project by Paul Jenkins & Humberto Ramos :
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1803036765/fairy-quest?ref=history
Preordered that book months ago at amazon.de. There it was solicited as an image book. Will now cancel that preorder and give em the money dirctly via kickstarter.
I am so ready for the slipcase, already upped my pledge!
Also, they’ll be donating anything raised after they hit $82,000 to the Hero Initiative
Totally happening. Right now.
I backed the project. So glad to see the amazing show of support. Everyday I wake up and something new has been added to the tier. I’m like Paul, i want that ribbon!!! lol Amazing.
Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about this so I pledged today. Really hoping for a nice slip cover! Looking forward to the baseball splatterfest. Oh yeah, GO RANGERS!
This is so cool. I just backed it too. Thanks for letting me know Paul!
Mark Andrew Smith did a Reddit AMA a few weeks back, look it up, very interesting stuff. That’s when i first heard of the project. I’m glad my initial $30 donation is now granting me EVEN MORE rewards.
PAUL did you do the voiceover for the promo on the kickstarter?
nevermind, answer in article
Bookmark ribbon unlocked!
I backed this sucker the first day it opened, And now I have just watched my hardcover grow to omnibus size, then extra foldout, now Slipcase. So Sweet. Now give me that ribbon!
YES! YES! YES! We’ve achieved bound in ribbon!!! AH-MAY-ZING!