Kickstarter can seem a desolate place for comic fans. Littered with the anthology dreams of the web-published, it’s rare to come across anything more exciting than a big name trying to drum up support for a niche project that’s clearly already been in the out tray of every comic book publisher. Looking for quality there really is like trying to find a diamond in a tin mine.
Then you find one – or in my case, have one brought to your attention by Twitter. Being a fan of Gail Simone’s work on Deadpool and Agent X, I’d followed her across for Birds of Prey and Secret Six, in a rare excursion to DC. Secret Six was a fantastic series, her words being paired with the artwork of Jim Calafiore, and it was a damn shame when it was cancelled after only 36 issues. It was Gail’s Twitter feed that put Leaving Megalopolis on my radar and the book became my first foray into comic book crowdfunding. I backed the alternate cover shipping of the book at $50, and added a signed plate (why wouldn’t you?!). I wasn’t the only one. Originally targeting just $34,000, Gail & Jim smashed past in short order, eventually ending up with over 4,000 backers pledging a grand total of $117,660. Stretch goals equalled backer bonuses – they were able to fill out the creative team with the colours of Jason Wright and the letters of Dave Sharpe, both of whom worked on Secret Six. Additional pages and a back-up story were added. Higher quality paper. When Gail & Jim said “bonus”, they meant it and delivered.
What of the product itself. The creative team took their time, often in the face of much wailing and gnashing of teeth of those with less patience than yours truly. I’ve always been of the mindset that creatives should take their time and get it right rather than rushing something half-arsed to market. Leaving Megalopolis delivers totally.
The creators: Gail Simone & Jim Calafiore
Plot. Main Story: Megalopolis…an idyll. The “world’s safest city”. Of course, that was before our story begins. The heroes responsible for this urban paradise have mysteriously lost their minds, turning into super-powered homicidal maniacs and trapping the citizens on their island, toying with them sadistically. We follow a The Walking Dead style group of survivors, led by Officer Mina Rios, as they attempt to escape, only to face caped danger at every point of the compass. Back-up Story: A struggling survivor stumbles upon the headquarters of a hero, occupied now only by his non-super powered sidekick…until someone comes home. A fantastic exploration of what it means to be a hero in very short order.
Regular cover: the survivors may be in trouble…
Words/story. Gail Simone is always going to deliver, especially when given the freedom to express herself in a setting and with characters all of her own. A simple, wordless opening effectively establishes both the fall of paradise and the impossibility of the situation facing normal human beings in Megalopolis. Filling out her characters and plot through very effective use of flashbacks, it’s a pleasure to see Simone explore mature themes freely, themes that are normally reduced to innuendo or off-panel action in most Big Two comics. For me, in this current environment of treating readers like morons and over-writing everything as to not confuse, it’s Simone’s economy that really lifts the work into the top drawer – trusting the reader to fill in the necessary gaps in the not-unreasonable expectation that if they can read, they may just be able to do so. Pace-wise, too, she doesn’t force things, allowing the tension to ebb and flow – it’s here that the flashbacks could have been obstructive, but it never feels so, as they add to our understanding of the motivations and circumstances that brought them all to this point. A real highlight – and this is proof of the benefits of overfunding – is the back-up story. Short, sweet, sweary as all hell, Jim Calafiore has delivered a magnificent nugget showing us why it doesn’t take super powers to be a super hero.
Art. Both main and back-up story are pencilled / inked by Jim Calafiore and coloured by Jason Wright. Jim’s work is definitely my kind of comic art. Harking back to the early ’90s with splash pages and heavy inks, Jim’s attention to detail delivers an apocalyptic vision of a metropolis that has been devastated by heroes gone bad. His character work is where he stands out, marrying well-trodden cape archetypes (the mouthy speedster, the boy sidekick, the keen-eyed archer, the hyper-moral boy scout, etc) with a (and this where he could get offended should he ever read this) Liefeld-esque originality, though, it must be noted, with a far better ability around feet and panel construction than Rob has ever mustered (I’m one of his few remaining fans, by the by)! Wright’s colouring is effective too, adding a vitality that contrasts nicely with Calafiore’s deep inkwork. An especially nice touch is his work in removing and isolating the flashback from the core of the story through colour – a key reason that they’re non-intrusive to the flow of the story.
Overlord, LMs God-amongst-men, before and after designs
I only have one complaint…I wasn’t aware this would be vol.1. and coming to the end felt painful. On the plus side, that’s a massive compliment to how lost I was in the story – and, of course, I hopefully get to back or buy volumes 2, 3, 4…and on…should Leaving Megalopolis prove successful when it launches in the retail market.
This was my first experience in backing a comic book via Kickstarter…and it won’t be my last. If they’re all of the same quality as this I’ll be a very lucky man indeed.
They’ll be back…and so will I…
An aside…I had a slight problem with delivery, my fault entirely, and had to deal with Jim personally to get it sorted. He was very helpful and got the book back to me in double-quick time. Cheers, Jim!
Spoken, Written & Screamed 