We're Fully Funded! Final Week! Stretch Goals & Kickstarter Parties!
over 1 year ago – Thu, May 25, 2023 at 03:29:23 PM

We did it! Thanks to you!

As of today, we are 100 percent fully funded, making Tinseltown: Losing the Light our most successful Kickstarter campaign to date. I am personally blown away by the level of enthusiasm this campaign has generated.  A deep, heartfelt thank you to each and every backer who has made this possible! 

It's the final week!

The campaign ends Wednesday May 31st at Midnight. All creators want to expose their work to as wide an audience as possible, so let's use the remaining time left to keep the momentum going!

Stretch Goals:

Now that we're fully funded we can reveal the first stretch goal. At $8,500 the graphic novel will feature a brand new pinup by artist David Moreno! 

The Kickstarter Parties:

Whether  you're already a backer, backing at the last minute, or new to  Tinseltown: Losing the Light, if you're local to the L.A. area, please join me for some free cake as I celebrate the  final day of the campaign at Golden Apple Comics from 3-7pm!

Celebrate the success of the Tinseltown: Losing the Light Kickstarter  campaign during its final two hours online with myself and co-host Pat Jankiewicz. We'll answer all your questions, take you on an in-depth look at the making of  Tinseltown, all the reward levels, and what's to come. Click HERE to join the event page for the livestream.

91% Funded! Two T-shirts! Event Horizon & Indie Comics Relay!
over 1 year ago – Tue, May 23, 2023 at 12:38:05 PM

Thanks to our generous backers we are now 91% funded with 8 days to go! 

NEW T-SHIRT:

We now have not 1, but 2 Kickstarter Exclusive t-shirts available as reward tiers and add-ons! Design #2 features brand new art by Henry Ponciano. The light and the dark side of "Losing the Light," if you will!  Available in sizes from Small to 5x Extra Large. FREE shipping in the US. *Shipping outside the US will  be charged separately after the campaign ends.

Meanwhile...

I was the guest on the Event Horizon internet radio broadcast on Sci-Fi Radio. You can check it out here.  And yesterday I was a guest on Indie Comics Relay:

OTHER COOL KICKSTARTERS TO CHECK OUT:

Zackary Marois' sVOYAGE is a 48 page all alien, no human, pure sci-fi adventure. The beginning tale of Sonderon, intergalactic space explorer! The campaign runs for another week, and could use a little love to make its goal.

Annette Oefner's Rust City is a cyber-punk sci-fi adventure in which the Sky Empire rules without mercy, but a boy from District 3 harbours a dangerous desire to break out. Control and surveillance are the laws of the Sky Empire. Drake, a boy  from district 3 called Rust City, suffers from amnesia and takes  dangerous drugs to dream about a long-desired person. When forgotten  events start to repeat themselves, he sets out to find the truth at all  costs. Rust City is for everyone who enjoys dark dystopian vibes with a  neon-cyberpunk look, inspired by classics like Akira, Ghost In The Shell  and Blade Runner.

Christopher Brimmage's MANDRILL P.I. Novels 1-2: A noir tale for cartoon lovers is a 250 page plus prose novel that's been called Hellboy meets True Detective meets Who Framed Roger Rabbit in this hardboiled noir tale set in a cartoon metropolis. The project is fully funded and live for another 25 days!

Pin-up Reveal! T-shirts! Podcasts & Livestreams Galore!
over 1 year ago – Fri, May 19, 2023 at 02:17:21 PM

That gorgeous pin-up you see is by Tinseltown artist Henry Ponciano. A mashup of Carrick Esquivel's Officer Jacqueline Jones who's own Kickstarter is currently live here and Tinseltown's Officer Abigail Moore. The pin-up will be featured in Tinseltown: Losing the Light. If Carrick reaches his stretch goal of $2000, he'll also include the pinup for his backers paying $60 and up!

I just added a new Reward level featuring the T-shirt pictured above in sizes ranging from Small to 5X Extra Large. The Shirt is also available as an add-on.

I've been keeping busy spreading the word about the Kickstarter on  a whole plethora of cool podcasts and livestreams. You can check them all out here: 

You can listen on Spotify here.

More Kickstarters to Check Out:

Lucifer Licorice #1is an all ages comic written by New York Times best selling author Russell Nohelty and illustrated by Angela Oddling that covers that territory where spooky meets adorable! In it, a spoiled brat prince is turned into a licorice monster by a candy witch  and must learn to stop being so bitter to break the curse. Lucifer Licorice is an all-ages comic series perfect for fans of The Regular Show, Adventure Time, Stephen Universe, or Summer Camp Island, and will make you feel all the feelings.

Fearless Dawn:The Bomb #1 & Fearless Dawn:Cold #1 is the first issue of the origin story of Fearless Dawn, plus the Fearless  Dawn:Cold One shot, Steve Mannion sketchbooks, prints & more! In it, the long-awaited origin story of Fearless Dawn is finally told! This  is a great jumping on point for any comic book fans who are not familiar  with this funny, sexy, stumbling super-heroine. Learn how the awkward  Prissy Jones got her super-powers and how she creates her own costume of  moose elks, action gloves and whoop-ass utility belt. The high octane  series also features other colorful characters such as Brownhole Jones  in Zombie Island Party, and Jungle Chick and the Dinosaur.

ValorCon Recap, Graphic Novel Geeks, Bob Kane & Jacqueline Jones
over 1 year ago – Mon, May 15, 2023 at 11:23:01 AM

Thanks to 148 marvelous backers we are now 73% funded with 16 days to go! Though we drift perilously close to the dreaded yet inevitable dead zone (defined as when you go a day or more without any new backers), we shall fear no evil. If you have a friend who you think might appreciate Tinseltown: Losing the Light, please share this link: https://www.tinyurl.com/TinseltownLTLightKickstarter

Meanwhile...

I had a blast selling funny books and spreading the word about the Tinseltown Kickstarter at ValorCon in Perris, California! Thanks to Greg McWhorter for having me.

I had a really interesting and in depth conversation with the Graphic Novel Geeks you can watch above.

For Mother's Day, I re-watched the video I made of my mother Miriam Lucarelli, when we knew she was dying of leukemia, so that her grandson would have something to remember her by. Above is an excerpt from that video in which she discusses becoming a police officer. If you'd like to watch the full video you can do so here.

My wife and I went to Forrest Lawn Cemetery as part of this year's Mother's Day. Here I am at the grave of Bob Kane, the creator of Batman (along with Bill Finger and others). As luck would have it we ran into Bob's relative (niece, I believe) who told us some interesting stories about growing up with Bob as a father figure to her, when her own father passed away at an early age. 

Finally...

Creator Carrick Esquivel's Jacqueline Jones #1 is a project that is near and dear to my heart that just launched today on Kickstarter. Carrick has been a big supporter of Tinseltown, and I've offered whatever tips and advice I can for the past three years he's been working on this project. Jacqueline Jones, like Tinseltown's Abigail Moore, is  a female police officer who fights crime, but her story is set in 1950's Southern California and owes more to influences like Dick Tracy and The Spirit. That said, I've read the first issue, and if you're a fan of Tinseltown, you should check out this sister in blue as well!

Progress Report and Valorcon Ho!
over 1 year ago – Fri, May 12, 2023 at 11:49:02 AM

Thanks to the generous support of our backers we are now 68% funded with 19 days to go! Once again, I have been blown away by all the support so far for Tinseltown.

Today I'll be packing up and getting ready to spread the word at Valorcon, along with other artists/writers, over 20 comic/manga/toy dealers, and so  much more! They have FREE  admission, FREE parking, FREE BBQ lunch (first 500 people) for you and all your  friends who like comic books, manga, cosplay, role-playing games,  fantasy card games, Warhammer40K, live music, and so  much more! 

I'll also be on the Independent Creators panel at 3pm!

Meanwhile, here's a couple of Livestreams I did recently talking about Heroism in Storytelling and Taking Your Storytelling to the Next Level:

Another Kickstarter to Check Out:

Will Alfred's Crossover Division Vol. 1: Fictions & Other Truths Hardcover is a comic with an interesting premise: When stories invade reality, only two bookworms can save the world from an unhappy ending. They're about 2/3rds funded with two weeks to go!