By Zack Quaintance — It’s been a while but we’re bringing back Baby’s Got to Back (ahem), our feature about crowdfunded comics, and so as such, today we have a look at the August 2021 Kickstarter Comics Highlights. One campaign this month comes from Jimmy Palmiotti, one of the most successful comics creators on Kickstarter. And Jimmy was kind enough to take some time out to talk to us about his new book with artist Scott Hampton, Rage.

Check out our conversation below, followed by some more picks for campaigns to back this month!

Kickstarter Comics August 2021 — Spotlight with Jimmy Palmiotti

ZACK QUAINTANCE: This book is apocalyptic but it also seems personal in a way, given the ideas about anger (I mean, it's titled RAGE). What inspired you to combine those two throughlines?

JIMMY PALMIOTTI: With Rage, we wanted to create a conflict that was easily relatable and at the same time would bring out the personalities of the characters in the book so the reader can experience each character’s journey. It is a story of redemption as well set in a background where chaos is the new normal. The world has gone crazy overnight and it’s up to who is left to create a new normal. Not so far from reality these days.

ZACK: Was there anything about this present moment that makes it the perfect time for a book like RAGE?

JIMMY: I think the pandemic has slowed a lot of us down to see what is really important in our lives and how relationships and connection is so much more important that we might have thought. Taking away this intimacy really changed a lot of people this past year and on some level, the characters in Rage goes through the same changes but at a more accelerated pace. We wanted to take a deep dive in what trauma does to a person and how coming out and dealing with it within this story a bond is strengthened when you have two people that can learn to forgive others and especially themselves. That all said, the action is way over the top visually at times, making us have to give the book a mature label. Personally, I prefer my books this way because when you have creators doing something that is passionate to them, it should not have restrictions. Kickstarter gives us this kind of opportunity.

ZACK: The preview artwork for this book is just fantastic. What made Scott Hampton the perfect collaborator to illustrate RAGE?

JIMMY: Scott’s work is grounded in a reality that is very rare to see in graphic novels. His style is a perfect visual style to tell the story we wanted to tell. We both threw around a few ideas with RAGE and as we started getting deeper into the character, Scott started to see them as real people. The way Scott works is he is drawing from real life. I think this alone made me rework the book on a lot of different levels to become a more emotional adventure and at the same time throw major challenges Scott’s way. I made that boy work hard, and I think it paid off- in the best of ways.

ZACK: Was the fully-painted approach to the artwork something you always envisioned as part of this project?

JIMMY: When Scott and I were coming up with the idea, I never saw it as anything else. His art is the heart and visual soul of the project and I wrote the script for him specifically…knowing in advance what he likes to draw and what his style and approach is. This comes from working together in the past. The trick of any writer is to know who is going to illustrate your story- something that has worked out for me for as long as you can remember. Knowing each other, a shorthand can come into play that makes the process that much more unique. The guy can draw his ass off.

ZACK: Finally, what's the scope of this story? Is it entirely contained or might we see more stories with Braden or the world of RAGE?

JIMMY: RAGE is a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. It is contained between the hardcovers and leaves the reader with mostly answered questions. There could be more stories about the world presented for sure, but for this, we wanted to give the reader a full story and not lead them on with a 2 or 3-part thing even though the set up offers a lot of other opportunities to tell more tales. The premise is Global, but the story between the father, daughter and the people they meet along the way is intimate.

Back RAGE on Kickstarter!

Other August 2021 Kickstarter Comics to Back

HAUNTHOLOGY: A Horror Comic Collection By Jeremy Haun
Writer: Jeremy Haun
Artist: Jeremy Haun
End Date: August 5, 2021
From Jeremy Haun: I channeled all of the confusion, loneliness, isolation, anger, and fear I was feeling—that WE ALL were feeling—and told short horror stories that dealt with that. I made stories about nightmares, monsters, and post-apocalyptic landscapes-- over 20 in all.
Sitting alone in my studio, I wrote, drew, and lettered every single page of HAUNTHOLOGY. I put everything into these stories. And honestly? It’s the best thing I’ve ever made.
I’m proud to share this book with you. Over the past year it has been my therapy.
I believe that horror takes a look at the world around us and comments on it. It’s also about ghosts and madmen, but these are also personal stories filled with emotion and reflection.
Back It Here: HAUNTHOLOGY - A Horror Comic Collection by Jeremy Haun

Tart 13
Writer: Kevin Joseph
Artist: Ludovic Salle
End Date: August 6, 2021
If a demon killed you, would you accept your eternal Heavenly rewards? Or would you risk your salvation to protect other innocent victims from the same fate? Tart Acid has made her choice.
With her friends in The Toxic Fruit, Tart watches for evidence of demonic incursions in the timestream. When the need arises, one or all of them are sent to stop the attack before history is thrown into chaos.
Sometimes Tart finds herself in obscure places no one has ever heard of. Sometimes she finds...
Back It Here: Tart 13

ShortBox
Writers: Various
Artist: Various
End Date: August 11, 2021
From ShortBox: ShortBox is an independent, Eisner-nominated, Ignatz award-winning comics publisher based in Yorkshire, England. Since 2016, we've been publishing a mail-order comics box containing 5 comic books, plus some sweets! What's unique about our box is that everything in it is new- original work created specifically to be released via the box. Each box is a vehicle for us to put out a selection of fresh, exciting, independent comics, and mail them directly to your door!
Our aim with the box is simple: to present a spectrum of work in a variety of styles and approaches and explore all the many things the comics can be- fun, serious, experimental, gross, moving, gorgeous to look at, informative, scary, delicious, -and the list goes on! All the books in our boxes are new, stand-alone stories.
Back It Now: ShortBox

Manticore Vol. 1
Writer: Eric Palicki
Artist: Christopher Pearson
End Date: August 12, 2021
Word of Sheilah's grandmother's passing arrives in the mail, in a package containing only a handwritten note and a hideous necklace: a large black stone hung from a silver chain. Ever the dutiful granddaughter, Sheilah promptly puts on the necklace, assuming it to be Grandma's final act of levity in the face of her own passing, or perhaps a lingering totem to her historically awful fashion sense.
What Sheilah doesn't know is, the necklace holds the key to controlling Grandma's pet monster, which Sheilah has just inherited.
Her eyes suddenly opened to a secret world of magic and myth, Sheilah Cross becomes determined to unravel the mystery not only of how her grandmother died, but of how her grandmother lived.
Back It Here: Manticore Vol. 1

The Out Side
Writers: Various
Artists: Various
End Date: August 12, 2021
The goal is to assemble a fantastic group of open trans and nonbinary artists who will share their journeys of self-discovery and acceptance. Moreover, the book will be safe-for-work, so teens and tweens who otherwise might not have access, will see themselves represented and affirmed." —The Kao
Back It Here: The Out Side

Zombie Date Night
Writer: Steve Urena
Artist: Sergi Domènech
End Date: August 14, 2021
From the messed up brain of Steve Urena, the guy who brought you fast killer sloths, (Slow Pokes) comes a horror-comedy that is full of zombies, romance, and even a grandmother fighting off a horde of zombies with a chancleta! Drawn by Sergi Domènech, edited by Allegra Calderaro, lettered by Anthony Rella and colored by Josh Jensen, this unforgettable reimagining of the zombie genre is a hilarious action-packed thrill ride that will sink its teeth into you while leaving you on the edge of your seat.
Back It Here: Zombie Date Night

Jalisco
Writer: Kayden Phoenix
Artist: Amanda Julina Gonzalez
End Date: August 15, 2021
Her origin story is simple. Jalisco's a humble girl that lives on the outskirts of Guadalajara. Her mom takes her to the park to cheer her up with folklorico dance, and out of nowhere- Jalisco's mom disappears.
Jalisco goes to the cops, who brush her away. She goes home in hopes that her mom is there, but she's not. Jalisco ends up going to the bar to ask for help- anyone's help.
Again, everyone snubs her. So Jalisco sets off on her own to find her mom. Luckily for her she gets saved by a band of Adelitas. They all know the fate of her mom but can't tell her about the rampant femicide.
Instead Adella, the matriarch of the Adelitas, says she'll train her so she can learn to protect herself. Jalisco says she just wants to find her mom. Adella tells her about Malinche, the traitor to our gender and the leader of the femicides.
And the story continues...
Back It Here: Jalisco

Bastards of the Cosmos
Writer: Shah Emami
Artist: David Moises
End Date: August 26, 2021
Outlaw-turned-bounty hunter Kirby Bronson was left for dead by his old gang. Now, he's back and tracking down the people who betrayed him.
The empire of cyborg samurai are looking for Kirby's former gang leader, Deacon aq Lonar. The bounty hunter is forced to worked with a samurai named Kazuoax-51. Bounty hunter and samurai, this unlikely duo, must put their resentments aside to take down an outlaw who causes nothing but death and destruction in his heists throughout the cosmos.
Bastards of the Cosmos is filled to the brim with outlaws, cyborg samurai, space pirates, Kirby krackle and vengeance!
Back It Here: Bastards of the Cosmos

The Killer in the Dead of the Night.jpeg

The Killer - In The Dead of the Night
Writer: Jonathan Thompson
Artist: Attila Schwanz
End Date: August 27, 2021
It begins with a contract. A mob boss, fat on his own appetite, puts out a hit on the man who's security firm will put his own business at risk.
A deranged killer steps up to the plate...ready to fill his.
Then there is the Target, an old man locked in his modern castle on the beach. A man who wants cameras everywhere so there is always an eye on our loved ones. A man who decades earlier dug himself so deeply into his own work that he neglected his wife to the point that she swam out into the ocean and let herself be washed away by the sea.
On that night, 30 years ago, far off in the space, a star went supernova and exploded. This is the night that the light from that star will finally fade away. On the roof of his home the old man has a telescope so he can watch the star disappear from the night sky, the final piece of a memory from when his wife walked beside him, and then he plans on committing Harakiri.
But, hiding his footprints against the tide, a KILLER creeps closer.
Back It Here: The Killer - In The Dead of the Night

Girls Have a Blog
Creators: Sarah Bollinger and T. Kurtzhals
End Date: September 1, 2021
From the creators: When Girls Have A Blog launched as a featured Webtoon in 2017, we both were floored by its positive reception. The kinds of people we met and reached through GHAB remains the most amazing thing about the series. Whether it was at comic book conventions or even being recognized at our local craft store, the readers we encountered shared their personal stories with us about triumphing over their own anxieties and struggles. They inspired us. Our readers were the best.
We cannot thank everyone enough for your support and love. Making Girls Have A Blog was amazing in itself, and now it’ll be a MASSIVE book thanks to the lovely people at Rocketship and YOU.
Back It Here: Girls Have a Blog

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.