Tag: P.R. Dedelis

Kickstart the Comic: 5 Seconds Volume 2

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When is a power a gift and when is it a curse?

And could it be both?

What happens when the person you save has an extraordinary ability of her own.

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5 Seconds – Volume 2

Writer – Stephen Kok

Artist – P.R. Dedelis

Colors – Peyton Freeman

 

Kickstarter Campaign ends on Friday, March 2, 2018 at 6:02 AM EST.

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The Pitch:

What would you do if you could see 5 seconds into the future? How will Jake use this gift when meets a girl who can hear your thoughts?

The Story:

5 Seconds Volume 2 is a YOUNG ADULT – 70 page – PERFECT BOUND – Graphic Novel which picks up directly after the first 5 Seconds finishes. Jake finds himself dealing with a new situation, a girl who can read minds. What deep dark secret is the girl hiding and can Jake (with his best friend Ellie) find out before the past catches up with them?

John’s Thoughts:

I’m in that boat, having not read the first volume, but I’m willing to take their word for it with this self-contained story.

I sometimes (all the time) wonder about how it would feel to be able to see into the future. How could you not these days when every new discovery, every new piece of handheld technology, and every advancement in knowledge makes you feel as if the old school science fiction writers had been left to guide us into the future. Going back to HG Wells, we all want to know what might lurk for us around the next corner. What happens if we choose this path over another path.

Where are we going?

Add to that the idea of peering into other people’s heads… all at once it is both enticing and utterly frightening. I think that if we knew what was going on in our friend’s heads at any time we all would seal ourselves away from the rest of the world (and it wouldn’t even be close).

Put those two things together…

The Rewards:

On the higher end, you can get the original cover artwork ($235) or get drawn into the comic ($102). If you are looking to play a bit of catch-up you have the PDFs available ($6) or print copies of both volumes ($39). One thing I really like is that you can also get pdfs of his non-5 Seconds comics (Tabby, Blue, and Word Smith) and really play catch-up on everything Stephen Kok has put out into the world thus far ($12).

The Verdict:

While I haven’t read Volume 1, I have checked out Word Smith by Stephen and really enjoyed it. If you like fun comics with a cool gimick at the core (whether that is words are magic or a glimpse into the future), you may want to check out the Kickstarter.

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To find out more about 5 Seconds or other works by Stephen Kok, check them out here.

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John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Theft & Therapy, There’s Something About Mac, Hollow Empire, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

 

 

 

Steampunk Fridays – Kickstart the Comic – Word Smith

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Check out John McGuire’s The Gilded Age steampunk graphic novel on Kickstarter!

Welcome to the first in hopefully many Fridays worth of Steampunk goodness to come. My hope is to shed some light on the genre in any way I can possibly think of. Movies, TV, comics, novels, short stories, artwork, history, and possibly other bits and pieces I haven’t even considered yet. Since I write a Steampunk comic (The Gilded Age – the first issue is still available for FREE download here), it feels only right to reach out and see what others have done.

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Word Smith – A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure

From Sigmate Studio

Stephen Kok – Writer

P.R. Dedelis – Artist

Peyton Freeman – Colors

K. Hermann – Animator

Kickstarter campaign ends on Friday, July 14, 2017, at 7:44 AM EDT.

The Pitch:

Sometimes all it takes is a word. 

Word Smith is a steampunk fantasy adventure graphic novel. I always loved steampunk and it was great to put my own twist on it and write a story in this world. There’s dragons, airships, magical words and much more.

At the core of the story, it’s still a story about people, their emotions, dreams and ambitions.

The Story:

When one of Victoria’s words goes awry, she sets off on an adventure to try and get things back the way it was. With her dragon, Sparky will she succeed or make matters worse?

Word Smith follows the story of Victoria who crafts words. These words can evoke the emotion associated with it. For example, the word HOPE will give the recipient a sense of hope.

Sample pages from Word Smith. P.R. Dedelis – Artist and Peyton Freeman – Colors

John’s Thoughts:

Steampunk goes hand in hand with Inventors. Da Vinci, Tesla, Edison, etc. So the core concept of crafting words seems like one of those things that are obvious once someone else has told you the idea (as in – why didn’t I think of that?). And then having these constructed words become their own magic for people opens an enormous amount of possibilities. Not only could you possibly get a word that has an unintended effect, but what if someone else were to use a negative word for this purpose?

The artwork has a manga influence (if only from the larger eyes on some of the characters), and there is a playfulness at work here. Which makes sense if you are going to have a talking dragon as one of your main characters!

Oh, I didn’t mention that… yeah, talking dragon!

The Rewards:

For about $19 US (AU $25) you get a physical copy of the 55-page graphic novel. As you go up the levels, there is the opportunity for prints and original sketches ($60 US). And if you’d like to be immortalized within the comic, you can select the level which lets you “Get Drawn In” ($187 US).

What’s nice is that he offered some of these options as “early bird” or limited rewards for a reduced price. Never a bad thing to reward people for pledging earlier in the life of a campaign.

However, it’s the other option at that same level “Meet the Creator” which will interest those living in and around Sydney, Australia. Stephen basically opens up the meeting as allowing you to ask him questions, discuss projects, or pretty much anything else you might want to discuss. As someone who’s run a few successful Kickstarter projects, it could be very useful to pick his brain if you were considering running one of your own!

The Verdict:

I like the core concept and from the artwork he’s posted on the Kickstarter page, it has the feeling of a fun comic. I’m very interested to see where the story ends up.

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For more information on Word Smith or Sigmate Studio other comic projects, check them out here.

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John McGuire

John McGuire is the author of the supernatural thriller The Dark That Follows, the steampunk comic The Gilded Age, and the novellas Theft & Therapy and There’s Something About Mac through the Amazon Kindle Worlds program.

His second novel, Hollow Empire, is now complete. The first episode is now FREE!

He also has a short story in the Beyond the Gate anthology, which is free on most platforms!

And has two shorts in the Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows anthology! Check it out!

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com.