It feels like I only come here anymore when I want something from you.
Ah well, if I had more time, or more to say...
Anyhow, I have another Kickstarter running now! I mention a while back about a project called Campaigners, and we've finally got the Kickstarter launched! You can find the project here.
This is a much, MUCH bigger project than I've ever tried before. This is important to me for a number of reasons. This story is incredibly important to me,. It started out as just a small, weird, almost a joke of idea. "What if candidates had to fight each other to the death?" It's one of those things you think of and laugh about. Gee, that'd be great to watch! Right?
Except would it, really? If the sort of person who would beat another person to death with their bare hands for power were put in charge of the country? That would be, for lack of a better phrase, pretty fucked up.
That was my starting point. Looking at political campaigns now, it's all just a game. How best can I convince people to vote for. Not by being the best candidate, but by putting on the best show. In retrospect, pro-wrestling might have been a better analogy for what I was trying to accomplish at that point, but MMA seemed so much more brutal.
While I was developing the idea I realized I needed a POV character. It couldn't just be about the fighters. There needed to be someone watching this and realizing how much a mess it all was.
That's when I met Kydra Franks. A teenage girl, with all the angst and confusion that comes with being a teenage girl. A little bit of an outsider, frustrated at the fact that no one else sees how absurd the system is. The more I got to know her, the more I realized that she wasn't just the POV character, she was the main character. This is her story.
There's a lot of myself in the character of Kydra. Especially the me I was in high school. Smarter than average, but not as smart as she thinks. Self-assured but lacking confidence. As she developed, the idea occurred to me that she should have a best friend. A co-conspirator.
And thus was born Bee. Bianca Faye. Pretty much Kyd's complete opposite. Outgoing. Loves clothes and music. Doesn't care about politics, at all. While I was playing with the her characteristics, I decided to see what would happen if she were a transgender girl. How would that effect the story? And, quite honestly, it opened the story up entirely.
Bee went immediately from a sidekick to practically as much of a protagonist as Kyd. It's because of Bee getting bullied that Kyd lashes out publicly against the political system. It's Bee, trying to piggyback off Kyd's sudden notoriety, who organizes a public protest. And so much more.
The last cog in the machine was the President. I honestly didn't think I needed to do much with him. Just give him a vaguely Presidential history, so I made him a lawyer who got into politics. Give him a background in fighting. He was from a rough neighborhood, poor, learned to fight young, worked his way through school with MMA scholarships.
The thing is, the crux of the story hinges on this character. If the system is going to change, he's the one that has to decide to change it. If it isn't going to change, it will be because he chose to do nothing.
The big breakthrough was a line that he says, and I'm not going to say the line, or who he says it to, or any other context, because it's late in the story and it would give too much away. But it really informed his character for me, and I suddenly understood who this man was. This was a man who defended poor teenagers, mostly black teenagers, being bullied by a dysfunctional legal system. This was a man who lost his first fight for the Presidency, nearly died, and was told he would never fight again. This was a man who fought his way back into the ring, and destroyed all comers.
Of course, it didn't become real until I came across MJ Barros online. I don't remember at this point where I first saw her work, but I knew immediately that she was an artist I wanted to work with. It was clear that she would be an ideal artist for this particular project. It wasn't until she started putting together character designs and promo art that I realized that she was the perfect artist for the project.
I can't imagine doing this book with anyone else. She's brought so much to the project. Everything she's done has been better than expected. And it's not just her art. MJ is from Chile, a country that was until recently run by a violent dictator. These issues are very real to her. She reminds me regularly how important issues like voting rights and the right to assemble are to her. Having her on the book, I think, forces me to take it more seriously than I might otherwise. It keeps me from being overly cynical. There's a passion to the project that simply wouldn't be there without MJ's presence.
And finally, Sean Rinehart, who designed the logo and has put a ton of effort into making all the promotional material look great. He's done an amazing job so far of designing everything and he'll be lettering the book as well as providing further designs (including something really interesting in the book that I don't want to go into too much detail on but am really excited about).
Everything about this project has been an incredible experience so far, and I can't wait to see this book completed. It's terrifying and amazing and I can't wait for everyone to read this story!
So please take a look, and share it around, and maybe give a little money? It's a huge goal, I know, but every cent will go toward creating the book, paying the artists, printing the book, getting the rewards made, and so-on. It's necessary, I promise. And it will be worth it, I promise that as well.
As always, thanks for reading.
-Brendan
