Joe Caramagna and Scott Koblish Explore THE FURTHER TRAVELS OF WYATT EARP

We get dozens of requests for Kickstarter coverage every week, and we wish all of them luck, but we can’t cover them all, and honestly, I’ve got no idea which one’s are going to be worth the endorsement and which aren’t, so we tend to leave that for others. Yet The Further Travels of Wyatt Earp grabbed me for a bunch of reason. It’s being written by incredible good guy, Joe Caramagna, mostly known as a Marvel letterer to the laymen, and drawn by Scott Koblish of the much missed OMAC series. Even more than that though, it’s about the FURTHER TRAVELS OF WYATT EARP, which is obviously a perfect spot for me.

The details of their Kickstarter campaign are here, and you can go read up and throw in should you feel so obliged, but I also asked Joe a few questions about the project.

iFanboy: Why Wyatt Earp?

Joe Caramagna: Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a big fan of American history. I was never much of a fan of westerns at all, but I was interested in learning more about Wyatt Earp, so I finally gave in and watched Tombstone… and I loved it! As time went by, it always stuck with me that he lived in Hollywood at the time of his death, which was almost fifty years after The Gunfight At The OK Corral. I finally looked into what he did in between, and all of that stuff, knowing that Wyatt had the reputation he had at the time, it was more interesting to me than what happened in Tombstone. And westerns are so out of my comfort zone that I just had to do it. Why do something easy, right? What’s the fun in that?

iF: How based in reality is the series going to be?

JC: It’s based on real times and places in Wyatt Earp’s life. After he basically retired from law enforcement, the newspapers still loved to report on what he was doing with his life. But because he didn’t want to be bothered, most of what was told to reporters came from second-hand sources, and even from his enemies. So even the REALITY isn’t really based on reality. What I do in this series is have some fun in connecting the dots. Some of it is guessing what might have happened, some is completely made up, but all of it comes from a real time and place in his life.

iF: What is it about the comic book medium that works for westerns? Are there challenges inherent to the genre and the media?

JC: The biggest challenge for me is that I was never really a fan of westerns until very recently. Most of what I’ve written is Spider-Man and Iron Man, so this is really out of my comfort zone. Comics are a really great medium for westerns the same way that films are — the dust! Everything feels so dusty and dirty, and every time I watch a western, I can’t help but think about how bad these guys must stink! The visuals don’t let you forget about the environment in the way you might by reading prose. The charm of the western is in the stink!

iF: Does Ike Clanton finally get what’s coming to him?

JC: Ha! Ike Clanton sure did get what was coming to him, but in my story ol’ Wyatt’s already moved on to the next phase in his life.

iF: What’s the Kickstarter money for?

This project is entirely my own, but unfortunately I don’t have all of the skills to put it all together in the way that would do it justice. I hired the best artist that I could think of for what I had in mind, Scott Koblish, who has worked for Marvel and DC as well as Stan Lee Media and now Disney Publishing, and two good friends of mine, colorist Andrew Edge and my designer Melissa Horvath, who is a friend of mine from elementary school. These talented folks are taking time away from other work and their families in order to work for me for much less than what they are worth. The funding goal for the Kickstarter pays their rates and publishing and digital distribution costs for the first two chapters of The Further Travels of Wyatt Earp, and of course to cover the costs of fulfilling the Kickstarter rewards, taxes and fees and all of that fun Kickstarter stuff! So if you’re a fan of westerns or American history or just good comics, come over to our Kickstarter page and pledge!

Learn more at GetYourMustacheOn.Tumblr.com