Squatch Kick! - Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter Print Run

Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter Print Run

Project Creator: Russell Nohelty

It's late at night, approximately 1:30 a.m. in the morning, and I should be in bed. But, what am I doing, instead?

For some seemingly inexplicable reason, I found it "necessary" to back a Kickstarter graphic novel project called Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter. Apparently, Ichabod Jones isn't the only one who's gone crazy.

This one had me at the video. Damn that project creator, Russell Nohelty, and his artist sidekick, Renzo Podesta for putting this thing together! Ultimately, though, it was listening to Russell in the video talking about the comic book that really commandeered my attention and made me want to support this project.

The combination of Russell narrating what this book was about, while simultaneously showing us the pages from the book, was more than I could resist. What can I say? I'm just the latest victim of this Ichabod Jones fellow. He didn't kill me, but he is apparently Hell bent on killing my wallet.

But, honest-to-God, I've been trying to do better, about not backing so many Kickstarter projects. My pledges are always low amounts, anyway, but my wife has started quizzing me about what all these Kickstarter charges are. They just keep showing up on our electronic statement, apparently. Fortunately, this experience has provided me an excellent opportunity to practice my mumbling skills

Ichabod Jones is a murderer. He's been sentenced to an insane asylum. Really, this is not the kind of person that I should be hanging out with, but I keep reassuring myself that he's only a fictional character. It's just a comic book. OK, OK, so technically speaking, it's a graphic novel. Far be it from me to deny a psycho-killer in comic form his due.

Did I mention that Issue # 1 is available to read for free, online?

Personally, I hate reading comic books in this manner. But, I just had to check this one out. I was curious, see, and you would think that at some point, I would learn my lesson about checking out interesting sounding comic books. Quickly, this graphic novel had me in a visual stranglehold!

As a gesture to my wife, I decided that I would only pledge the bare minimum to this crowd funding campaign. It was either that or nothing, and I really think that this project deserves to be funded. So, while my wife slept peacefully in our bed, I hit the pledge button ever so quietly.

Ichabod Jones is a psycho-killer, one who apparently finds himself in the Apocalypse. In a sharp and strange twist of fate, this inhumane monster of a man becomes the monster hunter. And to think, all this time you've been wondering why they say that fate is fickle.

The art has a gritty feeling to it, but the coloring is solid, and it helps to set the mood for this graphic novel.

The characters have a bit of a cartoony feel to them, but they are portrayed in a serious vein, so the end result is that with each turn of the page, you want to find out what happened.

Issue # 1 is a solid read, or it was for me, anyway. This is a nice little product that Russel Nohelty has put together for us. It is so much better than a lot of stuff that is on the market, these days. It truly is!

If this book was lying around on a coffee table, people would pick it up. They would do so, just to see what it was about. Ichabod standing there, knife in hand, just staring back at the reader. You only find out about Ichabod's history as a murderer after you turn the page - or, unless you stumble across the Kickstarter project page for this project.

Like any good book, if you pick this one up, it will be hard to put down, until you've finished it. It's a fast read, and it gets into the action quickly and effectively.

These days, there's a lot of competition amongst various Kickstarter projects from all kinds of different categories, all competing for attention and support. I can honestly say that I think that this project deserves to be looked at, deserves to be supported

Of course, what caused the Apocalypse to come about, I don't know, yet. Dangle that fruit of interest right under our noses, leaving us wanting to know, wanting to find out what happens to Ichabod and to everyone else.

Russell Nohelty shamelessly plugs this book, and I find his own enthusiasm for this item to be contagious.

Or, maybe it's just the voice inside of me going to all kinds of lengths to persuade me to up my ante, and pony up some additional pledge dollars. Did I mention that Russell has created a ten dollar pledge level, if you prefer PDF format to print format?

That's for ALL FOUR ISSUES, too!

Damn that Russell Nohelty! Confound his hide! There's something more sinister afoot, here, than just a psychotic murderer transforming into a savior during the Apocalypse. Russell knows EXACTLY what he's doing - He's tempting me, just like he's going to tempt you.

The real question, of course, is whether Ichabod ends up killing monsters, or whether it's all in his mind, and he's just brutally killing other people?

Again, Russell Nohelty is bent on keeping us in suspense. How brazenly he milks the Cow of Suspense! How dare he make it so enticing!

Yet, I'm glad that he did make it enticing. I like comic books. I like them, a lot. I also like what I am seeing, where Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter is concerned.

I joined in, becoming Backer # 89 for this project, and bringing the fund pledge total to $2,818 on a goal of $3,500. With twenty-six days left to go in this crowd funding campaign, I simply can't imagine this particular project not meeting it's funding goal. Like Ichabod would do to one of his victims, I can easily envision this Kickstarter butchering its funding goal, and fleeing well into stretch goal territory.

Regardless of what you're drawn to, reading-wise, I would encourage you to drop by this Kickstarter's project page, and at least give it a quick look-see. But, be forewarned!

You, too, might just become a victim, Ichabod Jones' latest, as this item lulls you in, only to then go in for the kill on your wallet or purse, as the desire to see what happens begins to grow.

But, to be absolutely certain, there are far worse fates in life than to fall prey to reading Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter.

Indeed, fate being what it is, backing this project and reading this graphic novel (the first chapter, if nothing else) might just turn out to be a true pleasure in life.

Check it out! Me? I'm still struggling to not take that ten buck pledge plunge, and sacrifice a little more moolah, so that I won't be left in the lurch with having read only that very first issue! A little voice inside my head keeps assuring me that it will be OK, if I do that.

Surely, my wife will understand?! Whether she does or not, I'm Squatch Kicking this project!

Take that, Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter!!

Project: Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter Print Run
Project Creator: Russell Nohelty
Kicktraq Link
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Kickstarter project: SEX AND VIOLENCE VOL. 2

Comic books - They're not just for kids, anymore.

In truth, though, they've never been "just for kids." Or, maybe they have simply always been for the kid in all of us? I'm inclined to believe that it's more a case of comic books being for the imagination in all of us, regardless of age.

Exploring the Comics section of Kickstarter led me to a project titled, "Sex & Violence Vol. 2." OK, so you have my attention.

So, as I load the project page in my web browser, to see what it's all about, the project title image takes center stage, featuring two women, with one firing a gun. To the right and just below that image, there's a photo of a man. His name? Jimmy Palmiotti.

OK, so with a name like that, sounds Italian to me, and with the project image bearing down on me, for some reason, I am thinking Mafia and crime. Jimmy Palmiotti, aka Jimmy the Palm.

The women in the project image, that gun being fired is right next to a pillow and alarm clock. So, it sends a strong visual message that they shot somebody who was lying in bed. I'm thinking Mafia hit men.....er.....hit women.

Scrolling down the page, I encounter an image which appears to be the front cover of the comic book. It's a scene of a guy who has been stabbed, with a nude woman with her back turned to the reader holding a bloody knife. It underscores both the sex and the violence aspects of the title of this project. But, I'm still thinking assassins, hit women - of some sort.

Of course, if you continue scrolling down the project page for this particular Kickstarter, you begin to see other images - including some of war scenes. So, it's beginning to have less of a Mafia feel (Where did that come from, anyway, I ask of my own imagination?), and more of a core violence feel.

But, it's not just and only about violence. It's also about sex, and while sex is a taboo topic for some, it is a fact of life, and it is also a topic of interest for adults, and legitimately so.

The thing about comic books is that, while they are inherently a visual medium, they are also something substantially more than just a visual medium. They are also an exercise in storytelling, and even if a comic book is about sex or violence, much less about both, simultaneously, no matter what the underlying imagery is like, there's got to be a storyline, if the imagery is to be more than a collection of pretty pictures.

Sex & Violence Vol. 2 indicates a Volume 1, which I am not familiar with, as this Kickstarter project is my first encounter with the work of Jimmy Palmiotti and his associated collection of co-creators that have gathered together to put this project together. There's also Justin Gray, Vanesa R. Del Ray, Romina Moranelli, and Rafa Garres.

This project is a graphic novel undertaking, and it was actually the artwork of artist Romina Moranelli which initially caught my eye, as I was scrolling down the project page that very first time. Clearly, the artist understands that there's more to sexuality than mere nudity, and the coloring style for the first tale in this graphic novel collection of three distinctively different stories is beautifully rendered. This first tale of three is titled, "Daddy Issues," and the pale color scheme is a testimony to how color, when used in a subtle manner, adds to the mood and setting of a comic book, rather than visually overpowering the storytelling that is being attempted beneath the color.

The second tale in this graphic novel is titled, "Red Dog Army," and it is a tale set in World War II.

The art here is of a gritty style, which tends to work very well in comic books dealing with the subject of war. Plus, in a graphic novel titled Sex & Violence Vol. 2, a tale about war certainly falls squarely within the ambit of violence. Hell, what is more violent than war, after all?

Nothing, actually. Indeed, war is the fullest expression of mankind's penchant for violence, the apex of man's taste for brutality and carnage on a wide scale.

This tale pertains to a special military unit in the Soviet army that uses dogs as anti-tank weapons. Now, there's an angle! But, I would be lying, if I said anything other than that it is the artwork, itself, which draws me to this tale, raising my curiosity about it.

The third tale of the three in this graphic novel collection, one titled, "Filter," is a story about a killer looking back on his life, and reflecting upon various choices that he made along the way.

The art in this third tale alludes to the dual premise of the graphic novel's title, sex and violence.

Where actual novels are heavily dependent upon a sea of words to make the story come alive,the graphic novel format utilizes imagery to tell a large part of the story.

It is said that a picture says a thousand words, and in that same vein, graphic novels have a tendency to tell a much larger story, in a much shorter length of space. But, brevity of pages is not the true measure of a quality production, where storytelling is concerned. Storytelling is an art form unto itself, whether in verbal, written, or graphical form.

Ultimately, though, even tales about sex and violence are not mere exercises in stimuli taken to excess. No, what they are ultimately about is human drama, which is why such material is ultimately appealing.

Obviously, quality plays a big role in whether the appeal is great or meager.

Effective storytelling is not simply a rote exercise in churning stuff out and tossing it at the public masses. Rather, it's more about grasping how to tell a story with great effect, about knowing what to say and what imagery to provide, to set the mood and to deliver the underlying story in such a manner that it has real impact.

Thus, it must touch the reader in some way, shape, or form, in a way that has meaning to them.

The image on the left speaks volumes, as it is the visual depiction of a scene where a man is being buried alive. The man being buried, his eyes are wide and his mouth is open, implying that he is trying to speak, trying to say something before his grim fate is to be visited upon him. The other man in the scene, he is smoking, his foot resting on a shovel, imply a casual manner. It strikes at the core of what is supposed to be our humanity. This is no occasion for being casual, and yet, here the reader is treated to just, exactly that.

These two individuals juxtaposed in this one scene, it makes me want to know more. I want to know the fate of the one man, and the why of the other committing this foul deed.

In any event, this Kickstarter project caught my eye - plus, it left me wondering. To wonder is to care, to some degree.

Just how much? Enough to back it. Enough to Squatch Kick it!

Jimmy the Palm, you listening to me? You've been Squatch Kicked! Capice?

Project: SEX AND VIOLENCE VOL. 2
Project Creators: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Kicktraq Link
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