A Triple Threat Of Aphrodite IX

Welcome back to an awesome new adventure with Comic Unknown!!

  Having just a over a month up and running, we have seen great comics, characters and creators come in and out of Comic Unknown. With some steam in this epic train, we have managed to get a glimpse into one of the most notable indie publishing companies, TOP COW! With Top Cow recently releasing a new Aphrodite IX on Free Comic Book Day, I have gotten the chance to review issues One, Two, and Three! 

 Just to have an idea of who she is, Aphrodite is assassin that is both cybernetically and genetically enhanced, but whose memory is purged after every hit to protect herself and her masters. So to keep this short and sweet, shes kicking ass and taking names in this new series. 

Now for the fun part. This not a single, not a double, BUT a triple review of Aphrodite IX!

 Issue one shows us a distant future where humanity is nearly extinct and where humans are divided into two factions, one with cybernetic enhancements and the other genetically altered. There centuries long war has brought lots of bloodshed between the two factions. During this war, Aphrodite has been accidentally awakened from stasis by a genetically altered human named Marcus and is quickly confronted by three "Cybers" in which Aphrodite doesn't even give them a fighting chance. Without spoiling anything else, Aphrodite IX issue one is action packed, beautifully illustrated, and brilliantly written, Sejic and Hawkins are a force to be reckoned with. The dialogue between characters are so realistic, the combination of that and the illustration makes you forget your reading a comic book  This is a must read for any person looking for an awesome sci-fi series, let alone any reader looking for a kick-ass story.

Issue Two

 After waking up into a new world, we find out that Aphrodite has a few more tricks up her sleeve besides being an epic coordinated assassin in the second issue. She has the ability to modify her physical appearance (loosely shown in issue one) and the ability to secrete artificial pheromones which cause anyone effected to become attracted to her to a point that they will not attack. Issue two focuses into recovering the body of what once was Marcus's drake named Glamrung and capturing the second in command to Executor Chronos. Even with this victorious accomplishment, Aphrodite has been "slaved" once again and is under control by her handler, Burch. During this time, Burch has twenty minutes to control Aphrodite and than shortly erasing her memories causing her to not know what is going on. The dynamic duo known as Sejic and Hawkins has once again put forward amazing illustrations with such a great narrative  that anyone can forget that they're reading a comic book instead of watching a film. The story is in a perfect pace where you would keep reading until you sadly noticed the issue is done. In a shocking ending, issue two is left in a cliffhanger (like the previous) and keeps the reader asking for more. Aphrodite IX issue two has the perfect balance of dialogue and action scenes that would keep anyone's eyes glued to the pages.

Last but certainly not least, issue three!!

The issue starts off with Marcus and Aphrodite chasing the escaped prisoner with the Gens's mythical/majestic creatures as transportation. While still capable of being under Burch's control, Aphrodite begins to fight the influence she's under. She begins to question herself and becomes confused of who she is and what is happening to her when she blacks out for those twenty minutes. You soon find out that Chronos will stop at nothing to annihilate the Gens. With many surprises in store throughout the issue, one thing never changes, and that's that Aphrodite is a hell of an assassin. If she is targeting you, prepare to say goodbye. The series only gets better and better after each issue. With great tragedy comes amazing writing, and boy did issue three have it's share of bloodshed. Having a beautifully unique art style can only strengthen the series, each panel looks like a painting of the epic tale. I tip my hat to the creation team of Aphrodite IX for creating yet another great issue. This is definitely a series worth reading and having in your collection. Issue Three was released today July 17, 2013 so make sure to grab your copy NOW!

Want to know what else C.U. will have in store for you? Just follow C.U. on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to see every update.

An A-peeling Interview

Welcome Back to Comic Unknown!

With the vast amount of interviews here we have yet another awesome interview!
 Banana Man's creator Vincent Cracchiolo

What made you want to work in the comicbook industry?

I have been a comic fan my whole life, and so after reading thousands of comics, sometimes you want to do something of your own. You don't necessarily think you can do it better, but you feel like you have your own stories to tell or show.



How did you and Chris Caldwell create the idea of Banana Man?

It all started as a request from a friend of mine who had graduated from the Kubert School of Cartooning, Chris Caldwell. He wanted me to write a superhero comic for him; I wanted to write about something realistic. So I wrote about a superhero who had no powers. Everything that would happen could actually happen in real life; it would just be rather unlikely.

In a sleep deprived state while working a couple jobs I came up with what I thought would be a universally appealing hero: Banana Man. We threw together a short book just to see what kind of reaction we would get at the local comic convention, and I left the story with an open ending just in case...


Who is your favorite all time super hero/villain? Why?

Spider-Man is the best all time superhero. Great powers, great costume, real world problems, and then he doesn't take himself too seriously. If you are reading a comic, you want it to be funny.





Why a Kickstarters campaign?

I always wanted to publish the book professionally, but it is expensive to get it printed, and then there is a lot of pressure to sell the book after that to try and recoup your costs. Kickstarter allowed me to basically presell the book, that way the printing is paid for up front, then I just ship the books out. It made is risk free for me, and that ended up opening the book up to all sorts of people that would never have heard about it before.


Did you ever consider another crowdfunding site?

I never considered another crowdfunding site. There are all sorts of them now that just try to copy what kickstarter has done, and they try to put it down by saying you don't keep the money if it doesn't get funded. That is kind of the point though, if my book only got halff funded I would not have wanted to keep the money because then I would be responsible for the other half so that I could get the product to the people that paid. And if you are just worried about not getting funded, then maybe you don't need to be doing the project.


Were you expecting the amount of pledges Banana Man recieved?

I was not expecting the pledges I received at all. I put a low price to get funded just wanted to get it made and hoping for the best. I have never made money on this really, I just didn't want to lose money. I ended up making it a little high just to be safe, and it was interesting to say the least to watch the pledges over the month. I was expecting it to be mostly friends and family, which I kind of feel bad about, they don't need to fund my dreams out of guilt, but kickstarter really has a lot of people that browse it looking for cool projects. Almost 70% of my backers were people through kickstarter.

What should people expect in the Trade Paper Back?

The TPB is the complete collection, I have thrown everything we ever printed in there, plus all the fliers and some extra things I have thrown in. We are also doing two new pages at the end to kind of cap everything off.





Did you ever have a scene/ issue where you look back and thought "WOW!"?

Yeah, going back through and putting this altogether has been pretty funny. There are a few things I am finding questionable, like poop in the microwave, but I never got any negative feedback.



How can viewers find your comic book?

The website is the best place to go, crackcomics.com. It has not been updated since the last issue came out since I have been busy working on the TPB, but I will get it updated once the book is off to the printer. There is lots of stuff on there to go through.


Are there any more book coming from Crack Comics in the future?

No more plans for any more comics, it took me so long to get this last one out, but it felt very rewarding to finally finish it, and it ends in a great spot.

Directly from the creator, the TPB will be coming out soon. Want to know what else C.U. will have in store for you? Just follow the blog and our Facebook/Twitter pages and keep up to date for everything C.U.

The clash of all things indie..... crowdfunding

Welcome to Comic Unknown! 

Today we will be going down a different road for a topic. Today we will talk about CROWDFUNDING!!!!

WHAT IS CROWDFUNDING?

 Crowdfunding  is the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding can be used in multiple types of categories. Art, comics, dance, design, fashion, film and video, food, games, music, photography, publishing, technology, and theater are all categories that you would find in a crowdfunding campaign.

So how does that relate to comics?

 Like said before, comics are one of the many categories that you would find in a crowdfunding site. Crowd funding has been seen in the past to help pay for projects that we see today in indie comics. There are many reasons why a comicbook creator would use crowdfunding. From gathering funds required to print their comicbook to funds to hire someone into their production team, there are just too many reasons for crowdfunding. 

For example, when Comic Unknown had previously asked Jonathan Swinney (letterer of Man of God) why they used Kickstarters, he responded with:

"We ran out of money completing the first three issues. We overprinted issue #1 based on information that Diamond gave us and what we expected our sales to be at C2E2. This had a devastating effect on our budget for the first story arc (Issues 1-6). Kickstarter gave us the money to print the last three (3) issues of the story arc and get them into the fans' hands."

 With the few reasons of crowdfunding, supporters get incentives depending on the amount of money they  each pool in, varying from getting a digital copy or a physical copy to as big as being immortalized into their comicbook. With  many sites out there, the most popular sites for crowdfunding are Kickstarters and Indiegogo. 

Seen in http://www.giantitp.com/

Each site has its pros and cons, its strengths and weaknesses. 

 Kickstarters has a huge community and is very well known. 

The way they get funding is called the All or Nothing funding model. What that means is that if the goal the founder would set up is not reached within the allocated time, the project will not get funded. As much as that sounds a bit drastic, it is a powerful tool to help motivate backers to reach the goal. They have a set of guidelines that the project is required to abide by, and it is also more difficult to create a project outside of the U.S. (or UK) with Kickstarters. Kickstarters uses Amazon Payments as the only method of payment.

 While Indiegogo has a much smaller community, it is more lenient with the funding model let alone easier to create around the world. While they do offer an all or nothing model, the founder can choose whether or not they would want that option. Even though founders put a goal of a specific amount, the goal does not have to be reached to be funded. Indiegogo uses Paypal as the method of payment. 

Project Fees

Another main difference between the two sites are the project fees. Kickstarters charge a rate of 5%, while Indiegogo charges two different rates being 9% (if the project DID NOT reach its goal) and 4% (if the project DID reach its goal).

Verdict

 If your project is within the United States (or UK) and it qualifies for Kickstarters, go for it. Even though they have the all or nothing model, they have a huge community. When ever someone talks about crowdfunding, Kickstarters is usually the first option people go with. 

 Banana Man's creator Vincent J. Cracchiolo did not hesitate to use kickstarters. 

He said, "I never considered another crowdfunding site. There are all sorts of them now that just try to copy what kickstarter has done, and they try to put it down by saying you don't keep the money if it doesn't get funded. That is kind of the point though, if my book only got half funded I would not have wanted to keep the money because then I would be responsible for the other half so that I could get the product to the people that paid. And if you are just worried about not getting funded, then maybe you don't need to be doing the project."

That's it for today at Comic Unknown! 

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