Oklahoma comic creators racing down Route 66
Word Balloons #1159: Crowdfunding updates and a forgotten history
Oklahoma comic creator Charles Martin has raced back to Kickstarter, joined by early Literati Press cartoonist Don Rosencrans (“Welcome to Ralton”) and Rhiya Shepherd.
This non-Literati project looks at fast cars in a dark future in “Bastard Children of Route 66.”
The book is described as follows:
In the near future, artificial intelligence has replaced all human drivers on the road, leading to safe roadways, but also an underground racing network of rebellious hot rod clubs called Hives.
Sam, Ozone, and their supped-up '66 Mustang named Betsy are the fastest team in the circuit and deftly dodge the oppressive swarms of police drones trying to shut down the racers.
Find out more about the series on its Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cmww/bastard-children-of-route-66-v1
The Kickstarter runs through May 13.
‘It Girl’ gets action figure
The debut action figure of It Girl, from Mike Allred's The Atomics, is being crowdfunded as an action figure, along with Madman with a Frank Einstein head.
Description from the Kickstarter page:
Allred (“Superman: Space Age,” Silver Surfer, The X-Cellent) made his first major splash with indy superhero Madman in the '90s: Frank Einstein, back from the dead with no memory of his past life, embarks on a quest of self discovery in his snazzy costume and alongside his group of friends. That group grew in the early 20th century with The Atomics, featuring the amazing It Girl! A former Mutant Street Beatnik, Luna Romy manifested the ability to turn into whatever she touches, and fights alongside Madman and their pals in Allred's ever-expanding Madmaniverse of characters.
"Madman: The Oddity Odyssey" introduced Frank "Madman" Einstein and his cast of eccentric and unusual pals. Frank's journey to find himself through the silver-toned pages of "The Oddity Odyssey" recalled 1950s sci-fi films and Silver Age superheroes, all while peering into the future of the medium. The character has gone on to star in multiple series, and meet other comic-book characters from Nexus to Superman.
“I love Mike Allred, and Madman is a marriage of comic sensibilities and pop art unlike anything we have seen before or since,” said Dean Compton of theunspokendecade.com.
The Kickstarter runs through May 18.
Oft-forgotten history explored in graphic novel
A recently released graphic novel explores an often-forgotten chapter of history.
“The Cargo Rebellion: Those Who Chose Freedom,” from PM Press, tells the story of a mutiny of Chinese indentured laborers on the high seas in 1852.
The ship Robert Bowne held 400 indentured Chinese men bound for the United States to serve as forced labor.
The men rebelled; the subsequent revolt and legal struggles are recounted in this 28-page graphic novel that is the centerpiece of the 64-page book on the subject.
The book is a collaboration by the creative team of Jason Oliver Chang,
Benjamin Barson, Alexis Dudden and artist Kim Inthavong
More info: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1288
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Oklahoma.