Girls Like Comics, Too: A Kickstarter

Crowdfunding has grown into a popular way for people to get financial backing for some of their smaller yet promising artistic endeavors. One of the reasons the use of crowdfunding has expanded is due to the popularity of Kickstarter. Using Kickstarter, anyone with an idea, whether it be a comic book, an indie movie, or even a product, can state their specific financial goal, how much they would need to make their idea a reality. Then they share the link to their personal page and promote their idea, hoping people will pledge money to them to help them reach their goal, not unlike the Jerry Lewis telethon to fight Muscular Dystrophy.

Why would people what to pledge money, you ask? Good question. Quite often, these Kickstarter projects will offer incentives for pledging, and the more you give, the more you get. For a low amount, you'll often see an incentive of "A big Thank You and your name on our website" kind of deal. But larger donations can mean more involved incentives, such as one where an author will base a character in his book after you for donating $1,000.

Just yesterday it was brought to my attention that my friend, comic book writer Buddy Scalera, launched his own Kickstarter campaign. Buddy is looking to promote a new line of t-shirts, Girls Like Comics, Too. These shirts made their debut at the New York Comic Con this past October and have received such a great response that Buddy wants to offer them to a wider audience. The shirts are a throwback to one of the greatest debates in the comic book industry, showing that the female demographic is so very overlooked when it comes to mainstream comics. It is important to remember that "girls like comics, too" so that the industry does not gear their stories exclusively to men and boys as they have in the past, which dilutes them to little more than power fantasies. By appealing to more than one demographic, the comic book stories tend to be more interesting and have more longevity, which is what makes Buddy's message so important.

His goal is a modest $600 and by the time of this writing, he is already more than halfway there. But don't let that stop you from helping out! The beauty of crowdfunding is that these projects can go beyond their initial goal, which allows the creator to produce more units of their product. In this case, by going past his $600 goal, Buddy would be able to print more shirts and likely at a lower cost, which would mean even more shirts. Which would not only be great for him but also allow him to spread his message even further.

Also available from Impact Books

Taking a look at the incentives for the "Girls Like Comics, Too" Kickstarter, the one that grabbed my attention was the $35 tier. With that pledge, not only would I receive one of the shirts but Buddy is also offering a plethora of other incentives with it, including two signed copies of comics that he's written. In addition to that, Buddy is including two tools from his Comic Book School project, a series of books and CD-ROMs aimed at helping aspiring comic book artists to develop their skills. At the $35 tier, pledgers would receive one of his Visual Reference for Comic Artists CDs filled with tons of photographic reference and one signed copy of his Comic Artist's Photo Reference books. These two tools are amazing for anyone who wants to break into the comic book industry.

So head over to Buddy's Kickstarter page and take a look at a few of the rewards he is offering and see which one works for you. Even if you don't pledge, consider sharing the page on Facebook or Twitter. Any exposure is good exposure and this is the kind of project that deserves to be put in the spotlight.