Comic Creators, 3 reasons to Crowdfund Now

 

Crowdfunding is actually doing well during the pandemic, so why not launch your campaign now?  I plan to start a campaign for my comic and wasn’t sure if it would work, but creators are having success during the pandemic. 

https://bleedingfool.com/crowdfunding/discussions-some-thoughts-on-the-crowdfunding-comics-trend/

In an article written by Heidi MacDonald on Comicsbeat.com She discusses the success that crowdfunding has had during the pandemic. Well, that is when it comes to support. She talks about layoffs at Kickstarter, but the bulk of the article is about how people are finding success in their campaigns during the pandemic. She cites the low amount of active campaigns as a major reason. With less competition it is easier to find the backers who are looking for something new and exciting to back. According to the article, comic projects have  59% success rate 

ANother article, by George Gene Gustines from the New York Times, discusses the campaign success rate of people who have already made a name for themselves in comics like Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. He also looks at the question of if big names like McFarlane should be starting campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The article states that you may think that one project can steal contributors from another but Gustines says that is not the case. He cites an article from the Dailydot that shows over 30% of backers have backed more than one project.  Projects like Mr. McFarlane’s may actually lead to someone finding yours. 

In conclusion, even though the world is in a pandemic, don’t give up on your project. You never know who is looking for exactly what you have created ors something new and exciting to read.

Take Advantage: with a low number of campaigns on crowdfunding sites, you may have a better chance 

Choose your site: there are good reasons to use indiegogo over Kickstarter and vice versa, compare them and go with what’s right for you 

Get Social: Don’t be afraid to share your campaign on social, or even talk about running a campaign early to generate some buzz. 

I am a journalist, and aspiring comic writer who has a comic ready to start a crowdfunding campaign. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Westfield State University and comic books are my passion. 

I am currently taking the Social Media Marketing Specialization course from Northwestern University on Coursera and this bog is an assignment for that class. 

You can find me on Twitter @KoFCOmic and Instagram @kofcomic and Knights of Fire on Facebook 

D.C. Trip, 4th of July Weekend

Despite a lot of heat, humidity and exercising more than anyone should, my wife and I had a great time in Washington D.C. during the 4th of July weekend. 

Our first meal in D.C. was at KramerBooks and Afterwords Cafe. I would describe the food as American breakfast with a hint of Mexican flavor. The highlights were my wife’s pancakes, which were super fluffy and delicious and the home fries that had a hint of chili powder, giving them a nice kick compared to other homefries. 

After breakfast, we caught an Uber to the National Mall, which is not a mall at all but the area of D.C. that houses a huge portion of the monuments and memorials. We walked to the 4th of July parade route and waited a few hours for the parade to start. 

While the parade was fun and entertaining, we had been out in the heat after not getting any more than 4 hours of sleep, so we left before it ended. The parade featured marching bands from schools in the D.C. area and some from other parts of the country including Western Michigan and Houma Louisiana. There were not as many floats and balloons as we expected, but the lack of sleep and desire for water sent us on our way. 

After napping the afternoon away, we went to the Hive hotel where we had tickets to watch the fireworks from there rooftop bar. It is here that we discovered “&Pizza”. 

&Pizza is like a Subway or Qdoba for Pizza! I must stress that the quality of food is much better than Subway but the idea is the same. The person at the counter picks out a dough and then the rest is up to you. Sauce, cheese, toppings, even a drizzled sauce on top at the end. I got a pizza with spicy sauce, peppers, onions, pepperoni and a sweet chili sauce. It was spicy, light, and fresh. It was so good I could have eaten 3 more pizzas. 

After grabbing some “Merica” swag in the form of a red white and blue lei, and some American flag stunner shades, we climbed the stairs to the rooftop bar to wait a few hours for the fireworks to start. 

By the time the fireworks started, we realized that the tickets we bought were a steal because right down the main street we were facing we saw the fireworks start directly at eye level and we couldn’t have asked for a better view. Hold on, I take that back, there was a building blocking the leftmost part of the display but the view was still incredible. If you go to D.C. for the 4th I would highly recommend getting tickets for the Hive rooftop bar. Just don’t reserve couches if it’s raining, they covered them after it was already too late. 

Breakfast the second day was from a place called Bagels Etc. The homemade bagels were amazing and made even better by the variety of cream cheeses they had. I got Honey walnut and could have taken home their entire stock.

My favorite part of the trip was our time spent at the Journalism museum called the Newseum. The Newseum provided us with an entertaining, thoughtful and most importantly air conditioned look at the history and importance of journalism.  We watched videos on women in journalism and reenactments of some of the most important news stories in the country's history. Stories like Edward R. Murrow’s coverage of the air raids on London.  We also saw part of the Berlin wall, The first news van, and an entire area dedicated to Jon Stewart and the Daily show. 

I want to pause here to say that while D.C. is a lot of fun, it is also a place to reflect on the past. The museums and monuments in the city remind us that freedom isn’t free, and that we are fortunate to live in a free country. With that said…

Parts of the Newseum were difficult to walk through but it was important for us to see these exhibits. There is a section about the Boston Marathon bombing and how the F.B.I. used the media to put out the right information to apprehend the correct suspects. 

There is also a large 9/11 exhibit that had a piece of a radio tower media outlets used that was on top of one of the towers. We also saw a video about the journalists that were in the area covering what was going on as it happened and how they dealt with it and kept working through everything so that the American people knew what was going on. 

In the first amendment exhibit, we saw a map that showed the extent of freedom of the press in over a hundred countries. It was broken up into  three levels. Full freedom of the press, partial freedom, and no freedom. It is astonishing to see how few countries have full freedom, or even partial freedom of the press. 

One part of the museum that was pretty important to me, was the dedication to the funny pages,. It wasn’t a very large section, but it was a reminder to me that journalism and comics have always gone hand and hand. As an aspiring comic writer who went to school for journalism, I appreciated the recognition. 

After the Newseum we went to The Partisan. This is a restaurant that is part of a butcher shop called The Red Apron.  They used locally sourced meat for all their dishes, and you could taste the freshness and quality of the food from the first bite. My wife got a burger that was one of the best I have ever tasted, and I got a pastrami sandwich that was out of this world. 

We finished our lunch and set out for the National Archives. Here we were able to see some of the most important documents in American history. This included the Emancipation Proclamation, the Magna Carta, and documents pertaining to the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The line to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was very long so I settled for seeing the iron plate that was used to print the Declaration of Independence. 

We had some time after the National Archives so we tackled the first few monuments at the National Mall. We walked to the Washington Monument which is in the middle of the mall and when you look in one direction you can see the White House and to another, you see The World War II Memorial and the reflecting pool that leads up to the Lincoln Memorial.  

It might have been the heat but the walk from the World War II Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool felt like an eternity.  When we got to the Lincoln Memorial, there were a lot of people sitting on the stairs. I was surprised that they didn't have roped off sections dedicated to walking in and out because we had to step around people to get in to see Honest Abe.

We also stopped at the Korean War Memorial which had some beautiful statues. Like the 9/11 exhibit at the Newseum, the War memorials can be pretty heavy but it is important to remember the people who lost their lives in the name of freedom. 

Dinner that night was at a restaurant in China Town called Reren. We had heard about it in a YouTube video about their five dollar dumplings. The dumplings were delicious and so was the Lamen. The service here was great as well. As soon as we sat down we had glasses of water put in front of us and when the waiter walked by again and saw that the glasses were empty he just brought us a pitcher.  

Our last day in D.C. started with a trip to the National Zoo which contained our main objective of the weekend. We wanted to see a panda bear in real life. With less than a handful of zoos in the U.S. that have them, this was our best chance.  Seeing an animal you know you may only see once in your life is a surreal experience and we were fortunate to get to see Pandas up close. 

We also saw some big cats that were actually awake, Sea Lions, Otters, Elephants, and even some baby armadillos that were kind of adorable.  The National Zoo is a great way to spend a few hours while on a trip to D.C. and as an added bonus, it's completely free!

After the Zoo we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The Air and Space Museum is full of replicas of shuttles used by NASA for space exploration and there's a whole exhibit dedicated to the Wright Brother. I learned that they got the idea to try and figure out flight from their experience owning a Bike shop. 

My favorite place to eat in D.C. is GCDC. It’s a restaurant we found that specializes in gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We found GCDC by accident. I was looking around the area we were heading to and just happened to click on it. I have always wanted to go to a restaurant that specializes in grilled cheese so we stopped by and man was it worth it. 

I got the Grilled Cheeseburger and my wife got the Chicken Parm Grilled Cheese. Both sandwiches were excellent. Hers came with marinara dipping sauce and mine with a ketchup mayo mix that complimented the sandwich perfectly. We also got the Poutine Tots which had bacon and cheese on them. 

I also found one of my new favorite beers here.  I saw a tap that was topped with a pirate skull wearing a hat and asked what it was. The bartender said it was Tropicanon an IPA from Heavy Seas Brewing out of Maryland. From the first sip I was hooked it was a delicious combination of hops and juice and was so refreshing after battling with the heat all day. 

With full stomachs, we ventured out for the last leg of our adventure. After struggling to get one the day before, we were finally able to figure out how to rent the powered scooters from Uber. We had seen them all over the city but the day before we could not rent any of the ones we found. We mustered up enough luck to find two that worked.

Hilarity ensued as we set off on our scooters pulling a swift 12 miles an hour we dodged pedestrians and goofed around all the way back to the National Mall. We respectfully got off our scooters to walk along the Vietnam Memorial.

We saw a few people looking for specific names and others taking a moment to take in the sight of the walls lined with the names of all the heroes lost in the conflict. 

From the Vietnam Memorial we took off on the long journey to the Jefferson Memorial, which is a bit of a distance from the National Mall. When you get there though, you can see why. The statue of Jefferson is looking directly back out at the Washington Monument and the White House keeping a watchful eye over the capitol. 

That was the end of our exploration and our weekend in D.C.  It was a beautiful city and besides the heat and humidity, we had a great time. If we are fortunate enough to go back I would like to see the Houlicost Museum, other Smithsonian buildings, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Capitol. I would also like to visit the White House but that requires planning 21 days in advance of your visit. 

Some notes on D.C.

• For how clean it was there was a lack of trash barrels available but they may have just been for security purposes for the 4th.
• Streets can randomly be closed based on moving of the President.
• You will see people taking selfies and family photos with the War Memorials we thought this was weird and a little disrespectful.
• Hotels charge to park so fly if you can!
• USE THE SCOOTERS!
• If possible, make reservations for meals.

Gronk Retires

Yesterday Via his instagram , Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement from the NFL.

The University of Arizona product ends his career after 9 seasons with the Patriots. He managed to put together a career that for the next four years will have people asking if he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. If he does go to Canton on the first ballot, he would join Gale Sayers and Jim Brown as the only players to not play in their thirties and make it on their first ballot.

The 29 year old will retire with a resume that reflects a career worthy of praise. He played 115 games, made 521 receptions, racked up 7,861 yards and caught 79 touchdowns.

The second round draft pick played in 16 postseason games in which he had 81 receptions, for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns.  

Something to keep in mind, is that Gronk put up these regular season numbers while only playing 2 full seasons. He missed a total of 36 regular season games which is 2 and a quarter seasons.

Gronk’s sophomore season seems to be his most impressive. He played 16 games and caught 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns.

While putting up such great numbers as a receiving tight end, Gronk was a great blocker as well. He was a true Patriot player in the way that he helped the Patriots’ running game by shutting down some of the league's best defenders.

Some of his most notable records include:

Most receptions by a Tight End in Super Bowl history: 23

Only Tight End to lead the league in receiving touchdowns

Only Tight End in history to have 1,000 postseason receiving yards

Most Touchdowns by a Tight End in a season: 18

Most career Postseason touchdowns by a Tight End: 12

Most offensive touchdowns in first two years (Tied with Randy Moss)

He is also tied with two other greatest tight ends Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten for most consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards by a Tight End  (4 consecutive seasons)

Holding the records he does and tieing with the likes of Moss, Witten and Gonzalez, makes a strong case for Gronk getting into the Hall of Fame.

Stats from nfl.com  records from Sports Illustrated

Spider-Man PS4 Review

Chester Bennington Tribute

    I could not believe the news I heard as I was getting ready to leave work yesterday. Someone had told me that Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park had committed suicide.. I don’t really think it hit me until I got home and started listening to Linkin Park’s second album  Meteora. 

    While listening to it I started to think about the band that Chester was the front man for and the effect that his music has had on my life. I remember as a kid hearing “One Step Closer,” “Crawling,” and ‘In The End,” on the radio, but I didn’t buy That first Linkin Park album until after I had bought Meteora. I do however remember loving those songs and thinking that I had never really heard anything like it. 

    Then I thought about how all day yesterday I would randomly sing “Bleed it out,” and how anytime I started to sing a Jay-Z song I would subconsciously sing the Collision Course version, (By the way, there needs to be more collaborations like that album.)

    When I was in middle school I think kids were really starting to drift into listening to more hip hop and rap than rock, and Linkin Park was bridging that gap. Mike Shinoda was great at rapping the verses while Chester Bennington would melt your ears off with one of my favorite voices in rock music. 

    My mom would actually yell at me whenever I was singing “One Step closer,” because she didn't think I should be yelling “:Shut up when I’m talking to you.” 

    I loved Hybrid Theory, but for me Meteora was a masterpiece. That album was practically glued into my discman. (For you kids who might be reading this, a discman is a way to listen to an artist’s full album on the go, you actually had to carry this bulky thing around and listen to one artist at a time.) I still to this day know every single word to every song on that album.

I was 13 years old when it came out. For a 13 year old boy in middle school music can play a big role in making that person who they will be for the rest of their lives.  I was, and still am obsessed with music and Chester Bennington and Linkin Park are a big reason for that. I always try to find bands that sound similar to Linkin Park. I love when a band can rap the verses and then get super heavy during the chorus. Without Linkin Park I would not have found Thousand Foot Krutch, and the electric sound of Bring Me The Horizon’s two latest albums caught my attention because of Mr. Han from Linkin Park. 

So what this boils down to I guess is that for me, Chester Bennington’s music is a big part of who  I am today, and I would like to thank him for that. I won’t say goodbye to him because I know that I will listen to him on a weekly basis and I will play Meteora at least three to four times a year, and his voice will constantly be in my head. 

Thank you for all you’ve done for me Chester, and I hope you have found the peace you were looking for.

Daredevil Review

This past Friday Netflix and Marvel re introduced us to the man without fear as the Netflix original series Daredevil was made available for instant streaming.

Daredevil is the story of Matthew Murdock. The son of boxer Jack Murdock, Matthew was blinded in a toxic spill after a car accident. Young Matthew saved a man’s life but lost his sight. Matthew grows up to become a lawyer after attending Columbia University where he meets his best friend Foggy Nelson who he starts his own law firm with.

Lawyer by day Murdock tries to put criminals away, but sometimes the law makes it difficult to put bad men away so at night Murdock takes it upon himself to put those criminals out of business as Daredevil.

The show is 13 episodes and will eventually we will see Daredevil again in the Defenders series coming to Netflix.

The main story arch of Daredevil stems from the Battle of New York from The Avengers. A Major construction company controls the rebuilding contracts for Hell’s Kitchen following the devastation of the Avenger’s battle and that company is owned by the mob and a one Wilson Fisk.

Unlike the movies out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, Daredevil has a very dark side to it and to be honest it was a refreshing change from the films. Daredevil is gritty, gutsy and gory. 

There is a lot of blood, and a lot of violence. This is not your fancy Avengers fights with all their powers and what not, this is a man with heightened senses beating the crap out of the scum in Hell’s Kitchen and getting his fair share of bruises in the process.

Although the fight seems can feel a little dragged out, they feel so real to the viewer you may start dodging punches on your couch.

One particular fight scene is very notable. In episode two Murdock goes into a building to save a kidnapped child. The entire fight is a single shot and it makes for a great peace of cinematography. It is so fluid and when the fighting goes off camera viewers are immediately on the edge of their seats waiting for someone to bust threw the door Murdock just went in.

The show does a great job of introducing its villains and telling their stories. We find out how the Russians who kidnapped the boy from episode two got to New York, and what their role in the show is. We also find out that the Russians, Chinese and Japanese mobsters are all working together with the King Pin, Wilson Fisk.

One thing the show does that makes it stand out is tell the story of Wilson Fisk. Not often do we see the history of our antagonist and find out how they got to the point they’re at and what they mean to accomplish.  We see glimpses into his past just as we see glimpses inti Matt Murdock’s.

Not only are viewers shown Murdock’s struggles as a hero, but we see the man’s day to day struggles as well. We see him struggle with the morality of what he has to do in his costume, and we also see how people interact with him because of his disability. The way that people interact with him because of his vision adds a bit of comedy to the series. A lot of people nod in response to his questions, or go for a hand shake.

There are plenty of great elements to this show but there are a couple things missing. It would have been nice to see some type of tie-in to the upcoming Marvel shows that will be on Netflix. Some type of cameo or mention of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, or Danny Rand would have been fun. Surely Daredevil will feature in the next show that starts up.  The lack of a lead in to the other shows and the long fight scenes are really the only things to complain about.

Marvel and Netflix had a lot to prove with this show as tit is the flag ship for a fleet of shows headed to Netflix in the next couple of years. They have succeeded, and after you see episode thirteen of Daredevil you will want to see the rest of what Marvel and Netflix have coming. 

NFL Domestic Abuse Cases

            In the past few weeks four NFL players have been involved in domestic violence cases.  Jonathan Dwyer is the latest player under investigation, and he joins Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice.

            After TMZ released a video of Ray Rice punching his then Fiancé in an elevator Rice’s contract with the Baltimore Ravens was terminated. He has also been suspended from the league indefinitely.

            Adrian Peterson is under investigation after allegedly hitting his son with a stick. Peterson has turned himself into the police and was going to play this Sunday until he was put on the Commissioner’s ineligible list.

            Greg Hardy and Jonathan Dwyer are both facing charges of domestic abuse as well. Hardy and Peterson are both on the Commissioner’s ineligible list and are not allowed around their respective teams while on the list. As for Dwyer, there has been no word on whether or not he will be the next name on the list.

            The NFL is under a lot of heat for the way these cases have been handled. After changing the terms of Rice’s suspension from two games to six and then almost allowing Peterson to play Anheuser Busch has voiced their concerns to the NFL regarding these cases.

            “We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league.”

           Anheuser Busch is a major sponsor of the league. They put around $200 million into the league each year, and Bud Light is the official beer of the NFL. Nike has stopped selling Adrian Peterson jerseys while his case is in the court system. Other sponsors like McDonald’s and Campbell’s soup have also expressed their concerns.

             If the league can’t make decisions satisfactory to it’s sponsors they could be in danger of losing millions in advertising.

            Should the NFL just be punishing these players?  They could start asking more questions to try to prevent these things from happening again. Why are so many players doing this? Why so many right now? Part of the terms for the players return should be to see a mental health professional to figure out why this is happening.

Did these players just make a mistake that would never happen again, or is there more to this? Could these cases have to do with football related issues?

            It is an aggressive sport with a lot of dangerous contact. Could it be that the aggression needed to play the game extends to the players home life, or could it be that a naturally aggressive person just fairs well in the sport?

            There is also the possibility that the player’s injuries can be to blame for these cases. Three of the players involved in domestic violence cases are running backs and all four are offensive players who take dozens of hits in every game, and practice.

            Retired players have been suing the league because of the injuries they suffered during their career that are affecting them in everyday life. Concussions are the main reason behind most of the arguments. Could concussions be to blame for Rice, Hardy, Peterson and Dweyr’s cases?

            As verdicts are handed out to the players a precedent will be set for how the league will handle domestic abuse cases in the future