Table of Contents
Introduction
Written by Caleb Palmquist
Welcome to Ink to Table, a monthly magazine all about indie comics on Kickstarter. Our goal is to dive deep into a creator’s work each month and promote high-quality indie comics that we believe in. Ink to Table was created by Caleb Palmquist and Curtis Clow, who have collectively launched over 50 projects on Kickstarter and raised over a million dollars for indie comics. We’ve had a lot of success on the platform, and now we want to give back to the community.
When we started this project, we knew we needed to have specific rules for the kinds of projects and creators we would choose to highlight. Here are the rules we settled on:
Truly indie comics. Every comic book project we highlight is being independently published by the creator, and isn’t being run through a publisher’s profile. These comics may go on to be published traditionally, but in their current format they are true Kickstarter indies.
High quality comics. We will only feature projects we really believe in and think are worth sharing. We want the readers of Ink to Table to know each and every project we feature has our vote of confidence.
In each issue of Ink to Table, you can expect to see interviews with the creators, previews of their projects, deep dives by Caleb and Curtis as well as guest writers, and special features. We hope to highlight many voices across indie comics and serve as a showcase for the best indie comics that Kickstarter has to offer.
In this first issue we have an interview with Andrew Maxwell about his new comic book, a round table discussion about Kickstarter strategy, and a look back at one of Andrew’s previous works.
Thanks for coming along with us on this new adventure. We are just getting started.
-Caleb Palmquist and Curtis Clow
First Place Losers
Introduction and Preview
This month’s featured comic is First Place Losers by Andrew Maxwell, Max Davenport, Flobo Boyce, and Andriy Lukin. The book is the first of four issues all about high octane mech racing. You can check out the project right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rumrow/first-place-losers-1?ref=ed5ioa
Here’s a preview of the book:
An Interview with Andrew Maxwell
by Curtis Clow
CURTIS: The mech racing in First Place Losers is a fun, original take on mechs. I know from talking with you Formula 1 had a big influence on this series. What was your mind set on making this series more of a sci-fi take on racing rather than just car racing?
ANDREW: First off, thanks! Yeah originally, we were considering making a more traditional racing book. I was heavily into the Netflix series Drive to Survive and had started following along with the actual F1 seasons soon after. I began watching a lot of Indy and F1 racing documentaries and looking at other motorsport content out there. I noticed there were a ton of manga, anime, and Euro racing titles like Initial D, Wangan Midnight, and Michel Vaillant to name a few. (Oh and of course Speed Racer. That was a part of my DNA growing up.) There are so many great opportunities for drama in sports. I think that’s why sports comics are not uncommon in other countries. I remember reading and loving the Ping Pong manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto a few years back. If you had pitched a comic about ping pong being exciting, I would’ve thought you’re crazy. But it was amazing!
Ultimately though, we just weren’t sure how well a sports comic would do over here or stand out on Kickstarter. To be honest, we also weren’t sure if we would want to write a straight up racing comic either. We needed a little twist.
All this brainstorming was going on during the pandemic, and I had gotten into Gundam in a big way - building the models, watching the animes. I really fell down the rabbit hole. On top of that I sort of became obsessed with Korean action movies, particularly with actor Ma Dong-Seok and the Roundup series. He was the main inspiration for Bear in the comic. I was also sent a sci-fi short from my buddy writer Rob Pilkington, that he did with artist Max Davenport for an upcoming anthology. Full of robots and action. I was blown away. I knew he was the final missing piece. We reached out, and the rest sort of all fell into place.
CURTIS: It looks like you co-wrote this series with Flobo Boyce? I know you’ve both written series on your own and co-written series. Do you prefer one of those more? How does the process change when writing solo versus co-writing?
ANDREW: I don’t know if I like one more than the other. They’re just different. I think working with a partner, you have instant feedback, and you can bounce ideas off of someone. Plus, as both of you know, making comics is incredibly expensive. Having someone to split the costs with is a huge advantage. When you’re writing solo, it can feel like you’re writing in a vacuum sometimes. “Is this even good? Will anyone want to read this?” You know that type of stuff.
Although, writing in partners can have its own challenges as well. There can be disagreements, or one person pushing for something the other doesn’t want. It has to be the right chemistry. I’ve been incredibly lucky so far. Co-creating Aldous Spark with Peter Miriani and now this with Flobo has been a dream. Flobo has such a gift for world building. He created a whole booklet of all the teams in the league: in-world history, color schemes, and names. It makes the project that much better.
CURTIS: That opening spread on pages 3 & 4 is stellar! It’s a great intro to the mech racing sport and shows off many different unique mech designs. What was the collaboration like with your artist Max Davenport on creating those designs?
ANDREW: Max is amazing. One for his talents which are apparent looking at those pages. But also, for the patience and wherewithal for taking on a project with 20 mechs in it! That double page spread is incredible! I’m thankful we didn’t give him early onset arthritis.
Without even asking, Max went in-depth with all the design work. Flobo and I put together a giant reference doc of various mechs we liked and with what aspects we thought might work from each. Everything on the mechs has a purpose. He was practically his own engineer. How the grappling hooks would work, where they were located, could they bear weight? Would they rip the arm off? All of it had to make sense. Here’s some initial concept art where you can see his process as we went back and forth:
There are also three styles of mechs on the track – gliders (built for speed), bruisers (built for bashing), and poly’s (short for polymaths. A hybrid of the two). Max designed them all. Here’s some more concept art:
Each mech type is capable of winning, but with completely different strategies. So, there was a lot of time and effort put into development for this series. We want it to feel real, and Max was more than up the task.
CURTIS: Mechs have a deep history in lots of different media. What are your biggest inspirations as a mecha fan for First Place Losers?
ANDREW: Oh man, I think as a kid, I was always obsessed with robots. Transformers of course being the first big one for me. Robotech was probably my first introduction to actual “mecha” though. And even then, it was whatever random pieces I could catch on TV. I just didn’t have access. Now we can watch it all, and I’ve watched a lot. Evangelion, Appleseed, Knights of Sidonia, and a ton of others.
But as I mentioned earlier, the nugget of it all really came from Gundam. That was my biggest inspiration. Our mechs aren’t built for war. But their origins come from man’s exploration of space and colonizing new planets is very similar to Gundam. Patlabor was another big one. Not so much on the premise, but how mechs and mech technology is a part of their everyday society.
In sports or anything that you want to be really good at, you have to practice. The goal is to be as perfect as possible. Cut out all distractions. Never get tired or weak. Always be precise, and exact. Being able to repeat that same result again and again. Something humans can never fully do. But machines can.
We wanted to explore that line between human and machine. To be the ultimate competitor you almost have to turn off your emotions, and not think or care about your opponents. Only the end goal matters. That’s very machine like.
CURTIS: This is your first new series in a while. How long have you been working on this one? From the initial concept, world building and all? This mech racing sport really seems like it has the special sauce as far as new IP goes. Did you feel that from the start?
ANDREW: It’s been brewing since the end of the pandemic, but actual production is probably closer to the last year. For better or worse, I don’t launch anything until the book is done. I don’t want anyone to back the project, and not get their book. I’ve definitely been on the other side of that, and it’s a bummer. Sometimes that means the books take a while to come out, which I think has hurt me in the past. So, I’m always thankful for all the readers that are patient and show up to each campaign for something new.
As far as special sauce goes, appreciate the thought! It’s really just something Flobo and I wanted to make, which I think is where all the books come from. Making something you want to read. I hope it resonates with people; fingers crossed!
CURTIS: I love all the details on the page showing the race location, accessories, participants, circuit formation and conditions. There’s so much creativity there. And you are already adding to the drama by showing you get three accessories for the race but your main character is missing some of those, adding to the stakes that they could not only lose, but die. How did you narrow it down to only three accessories for this first race? Does having those constraints make it easier or harder to write the action?
ANDREW: Thanks! We had a blast coming up with all that. Our designer Andriy is amazing. We wanted it to feel as real as possible, so we based it on true to life pre-race diagnostics and specs. Like we were discussing earlier, F1 was a huge influence. A lot of race dynamics, rules, and the racetracks were heavily inspired by real life circuits. But turned up a few notches of course. We gave Andriy a ton of reference materials, and he modeled it to give it that feel with an intergalactic flair. Personally, I’m such a sucker for those type of details. Plus, we thought it would help initiate readers a bit before they got to the actual pages.
Regarding the accessories, yeah, we definitely wanted to set our character up as underdogs from the start. Team ION has a legacy of greatness, but through mismanagement, greed, and poor decisions has fallen on hard times. We start this issue off, as tangible example of that. There’s so much more to come to in that department. This first issue we start in a jungle track, but it will vary book to book. We’ll have races on ice planets, volcanic, desert, you name it. The race accessories and the mech bodies themselves will adapt and change to reflect that.
CURTIS: This already seems like such a special IP to me. It’s a racing video game I’d love to play. What would your dream adaptation be for First Place Losers look like?
ANDREW: A video game would be the dream! Unlocking new tech, leveling up your mech. Story mode or solo exhibition races. Traveling planet to planet to race. Intergalactic mobsters trying to get you to throw a race. Heh, I want to play that right now. I think it would translate perfectly.
An animated show with a line of figures/ models would be a close second. The day I get to hold an action figure from a book I worked on is definitely on the bucket list.
CURTIS: These preview pages set up the stakes that the main character is at risk in this race. Where does the first issue go from here? What do we have to look forward to in the rest of the series?
ANDREW: I don’t want to give away too much, but after the first issue we set up some big reveals. I have to be careful what I say. But the story is not going where you think.
We’re going to put our characters through hell, and it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. One that you’ll want to be on of course. Okay, I’m done with the puns. But you get what I mean. Thanks for checking us out!
A Round Table Discussion with Andrew, Curtis, and Caleb about Kickstarter Strategy
Questions by Andrew Maxwell
ANDREW: Besides the actual comic and the Kickstarter page, what’s your guys’ general pre-campaign checklist?
CURTIS: Having proper lead up time to a launch is important! I want to start sharing some stuff about my comic to my personal mailing list a month or two before launch. Really focus on weekly emails to get my current audience warm. Plus with tools like Backerkit launch you can add in a few emails and a landing page to all of your previous backers. Directing all traffic to your Kickstarter pre-launch page to build up that list to give you the best possible day one of the launch!
CALEB: That pre-launch page is all important. Because day one of the Kickstarter is by far the most important day, you want to get as many people as possible signed up. I also make sure to reach out to other creators to get cross-promotions lined up, because they tend to be less effective if they are arranged at the last minute. In a perfect world every day of the campaign is planned out ahead of time, so I don’t have to think about what promotions I’m going to do on each day of the campaign, and I can focus on the creative stuff.
ANDREW: Do you guys pursue podcast and site coverage ahead of time? Do you find it helpful? This was the first time we reached out of the comic space in that category, and a lot of those balls are in still in the air to see if they had any effect. Curious to get your take.
CURTIS: Nope, not at all. I don’t think those really have a substantial effect on Kickstarter. It may help a little… But you can’t really track those conversions with reference links. So in short, it doesn’t hurt, but not the most important thing.
CALEB: I will depending on the launch. I’ve done campaigns with 20+ podcast appearances and other interviews, and I’ve done campaigns with none. I do think there have been podcasts that have given me a spike, but they are not always the ones I expect. If you have the time and the bandwidth, I think you should try to promote as much as you can.
ANDREW: Do you think social media matters or helps when it comes to Kickstarter? I know you’re not super active on that front Curtis, but you still use it. Caleb, you seem to be mostly absent. What are your general thoughts?
CURTIS: Nope, don’t think this matters at all either. I have about 6k followers on Instagram and at most have only tracked 2 or 3 backers from my reference link there. It doesn’t hurt to help warm up that audience and show them peaks of the comic (since some of those followers might also be mail list subscribers). But the true power of a following is an active mailing list. That trumps social media every time. I once had a comic peer asking me for advice on a successful Kickstarter. He had around 100k followers on Instagram compared to my 6k. My advice to him was to convert those followers into mailing list subs.
CALEB: I’m all about the mailing list. I use Facebook to network with other creators and artists, but I basically don’t use social media for marketing at all. There was a time when it was more effective, but now I find that the mailing list and discovery through Kickstarter itself are the two most powerful tools in my arsenal.
ANDREW: Are there trends you both are noticing on what funds and doesn’t fund? If so, does that affect what you decide to publish?
CURTIS: There are some trends… but it can be hard to narrow down. The most important thing I think is having top notch killer art. If your book looks beautiful, that’ll help it out on Kickstarter a ton. That includes art, but also design, lettering and a great easy to understand story hook won’t hurt. Next comes stuff like genre choice. Also, just staying active on Kickstarter year after year is really important I think too.
CALEB: Totally! There are genres and styles that sell better than others, and like Curtis said, quality art that appeals to readers really matters. I’ve experimented way more with styles and genres than a lot of creators have, and some very clear trends have emerged with what my readers like and want more of. That said, I am always in favor of challenging ideas of what will sell and what won’t. A few years ago someone told me Westerns don’t sell on Kickstarter, and this year I launched my most successful book ever - a Western.
ANDREW: What type of campaigns do you get excited about? Is it mainly comics or other categories? Do the rewards matter to you as a fan or merely as a creator?
CURTIS: Mostly comics, board games and video games! But by far I’ve backed the most comics out of those categories. I will say as a creator my buying habits are probably a bit different than most fans. I don’t care much for stickers or other little things. Just give me the main product. But as a creator I know stickers, prints and other little rewards sell super well! It’s interesting to know both sides of it, knowing just because I wouldn't buy something doens’t man backers wouldn’t want it!
CALEB: I’m a sucker for a board game. I’ve backed a lot of projects on Kickstarter, but board games are the area where I get to be a fanboy, rather than a peer and fellow creator. I’ve backed more “deluxe edition” board games than I care to admit, and my living room is full of the proof. If you ever come to my house, plan on playing a board game or three.
Rum Row: A Retrospective
by Caleb Palmquist
Before First Place Losers, Andrew created a comic book series called Rum Row. Not only did this series have a ton of success on Kickstarter, it is also my favorite of Andrew’s previously published works.
The series is a prohibition story all about a series of speakeasies in blimps high above the city, away from the reach of law enforcement. It is a classic gang war story with some very interesting twists. The concept alone made it a hit on Kickstarter, but I want to take a close look at my favorite spread in the entire series. Here it is:
In this scene three characters have just been pushed out of a dirigible in a ruined plane. Jack, the main character of the series, is attempting to free a parachute jammed in side of the cockpit.
I love this spread because it creates tension in such an exciting way. In the middle of the spread we see the plane plummeting toward the water, and down the left hand side we see Jack struggling to free the parachute. Even when he successfully yanks it free by using a shard of glass, he’s still not safe. I think that center image really takes this page to the next level, because it draws your eyes down, keeping the stakes of the action front and center.
These are the kinds of scenes that really demonstrate the incredible power of the comic book medium. When I look at this page by the very talented Gavin Mitchell, I know I’m looking at still images, but I can feel my stomach dropping like it’s me plummeting to my death.
That is just one of many excellent scenes in Rum Row. Of course, you can get that whole series as an add-on in the First Place Losers Kickstarter, or on Andrew Maxwell’s online store. Rum Row made me an Andrew Maxwell fan for life, and I highly encourage you to check it out.
Signing Off
by Caleb Palmquist and Curtis Clow
Thanks for checking out the first issue of Ink to Table. As we grow we plan to feature a new comic book every month that is live on Kickstarter. If you have a suggestion for an amazing comic book coming up, or you have a comic you’d like featured, please feel free to contact us and let us know!
This month’s comic was First Place Losers. It runs on Kickstarter until Thursday, August 15th. If you’d like to check it out, here’s the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rumrow/first-place-losers-1
Until next time,
Caleb and Curtis
What a novel idea! Enjoyed this interview and can’t wait for the next installment :)