Campaigners Graphic Novel Blog

The year is 2076. Amidst the excitement of America’s tri-centennial celebration, the centerpiece is the presidential debate--a no-holds-barred, hand-to-hand fight to the death. Kydra Frank, known as Kyd to her friends, will be turning eighteen on...

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Con Schedule 2019 (part 1)

Hey all, just dropping a few upcoming con dates!

This weekend, 4/27-28, I’ll be at Gem City Comic Con in Dayton, OH. http://gemcitycomiccon.com/

3 Rivers Comicon in Pittsburgh, PA (my hometown show), May 11-12 http://3riverscomicon.com/

Sci-Fi Valley Con in Altoona, PA, June 7-9 http://www.scifivalleycon.com/

I’ll have physical copies of the complete Campaigners, so if that’ something you’re interested in, here you go. Come by, say hi, pick up a book!

I’m planning on adding more cons down the road, so keep an eye out.

[campaignersblog]

Con Schedule 2019 (part 1)

Hey all, just dropping a few upcoming con dates!

This weekend, 4/27-28, I’ll be at Gem City Comic Con in Dayton, OH. http://gemcitycomiccon.com/

3 Rivers Comicon in Pittsburgh, PA (my hometown show), May 11-12 http://3riverscomicon.com/

Sci-Fi Valley Con in Altoona, PA, June 7-9 http://www.scifivalleycon.com/

I’ll have physical copies of the complete Campaigners, so if that’ something you’re interested in, here you go. Come by, say hi, pick up a book!

I’m planning on adding more cons down the road, so keep an eye out.

[campaignersblog]

It’s here!!!!

I know it’s been a very long time, but it’s finally here!! Issue 5 (the FINAL ISSUE!!) will be releasing THIS WEDNESDAY (Aug 29th) on comiXology!!

Make sure you check it out!!

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We’re Back!! (soon)

Hey everybody! 

It’s been a while, I know. A lot’s been going on on all fronts, but we’re back, and issue 5 is well underway. 

Issue 5! That’s the last issue! I don’t know where we’ll go from there. I’d love to do a print edition, we’ll have to see.

Anyway, fro now, let’s focus on this final issue. I’ll be at 3 Rivers Comicon in Pittsburgh this weekend (5/19-20) and I’ll have a tablet with the first few finished pages up for people to look at, so if you happen to be in the area come take a look!

Beyond that, I’ll keep you posted when I have more solid info. Just know that we’re very close to finishing this whole thing!

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Campaigners issue 4 on comiXology!

Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a post here to let you know that Campaigners issue 4 will be available on comiXology next Wednesday, the 16th!!

Of course, if you’re so inclined, you can pick up a DRM-free pdf from the website, zeropresscomics.com, right now.

I know it’s been a long time coming on this, and I really appreciate your patience. Sometimes indie comics move slow, for a lot of different reasons, and those of you who are willing to stick it out for the duration have our utmost gratitude.

This is a great issue, I’m really proud of how it turned out. I hope you all agree!

I’m going to try to post some preview pages here before the issue drops (not too many, wouldn’t want to spoil it!), so keep your eyes peeled!

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Campaigners Issue 4 will be up at zeropresscomics.com this Wednesday. check it out!

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Long Overdue Updates!

Hey everyone! It has been a loooong time since we’ve updated anything here. Short version is that everybody had something pop up and the book got delayed indefinitely. (For me it was like four or five things that popped up, but w/e.)

There is news on Issue 4, but first I wanted to let everyone know that there were some revisions to issue 1, and I would like very much for anyone who has the old version to get the new one.

Basically, it bothered me that I ended the issue with Bee getting attacked by the cops for being trans. When I first wrote the issue, it felt very important to end it that way, and I can’t figure out why. (I could venture a guess, and I’m sure so could you, but let’s just leave it at that.)

Anyway, over time, I became aware of a conversation going on about people of privilege using things like violence against marginalized people as a way to, I guess, win ally cookies or whatever. And I had to ask myself if that’s what I was doing with this. And the answer was pretty fucking obvious.

I went through a few options on what I could do, but finally decided I needed to just go ahead and revise the issue. Generally I like to leave a work as-is, mistakes and all, but this needed to be taken care of.

The changes aren’t huge, just a rewrite of the dialogue so that the altercation doesn’t center on Bee being trans. The scene still serves it’s purpose without playing on targeted violence.

I want to clarify something, in case it sounds like I’m over here patting myself on the back. I’m not. I fucked up, and I’m sorry. This is me trying to fix my mistake.

(For the record, I literally got the revised file from Sean yesterday, the proximity to this Chaykin mess is entirely coincidental, though it did prompt me to move a little faster on getting the revised version out there.)

So I updated the file that’s in the store on the website. For now, you can get the issue for free, just to make it easier. When I have time, I’ll reach out to anyone who bought the issue or got it through a Kickstarter whose e-mail I have. ComiXology will be updating the issue as well, but I don’t know how long that will take, so if you got it there you can grab a free copy off the site as well.

In Other News: ISSUE FOUR IS DONE!!!

That’s right! Issue four is done, and I’ll be making announcements regarding release dates very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, I think that’s all I have right now. Go grab the updated version of issue 1, and keep an eye out for an announcement on issue 4!

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Campaigners FREE, today only!!

Today only, you can pick up all three issues of Campaigners FREE of charge, on me. So please, please, please go vote and then reward yourselves with some free comics.

Get them here. (It still has the price on them, but when you click on them the gumroad link will show them at $0.)

Please vote, and please keep in mind that if you can honestly say the outcome of this vote will not dramatically effect you, you are extremely privileged. There are people fro whom this election could be a literal life-or-death matter. LGBTQ, POC, poor and low-income, especially women.

And please don't forget the down-ballot. Senator, representatives, and so-on. These people make so many of the decisions that will directly effect you and the people around you. Please don't ignore that.

So go vote, and then enjoy some free comics! Thanks!

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In case it wasn’t obvious, Kyd stands with Chelsea Cain. (art my MJ Barros, as always!)

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Spotlight: Campaigners — The Nerd League

In the not-too-distant future, presidential debates have been replaced with hand-to-hand death matches, at least in the world of Campaigners.

I did an interview! Take a look!

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I’ve been showing twitter all the love, I’ve been neglecting you guys here! Campaigners issue 3 is available now at zeropresscomics.com. Go check it out!

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ARTATTACK!: María José "MJ" Barros, participa del primer panel chileno en la Comic Con de San Diego ⋆ Plan9

Este año en la Comic Con de San Diego se presento el primer panel acerca del cómic chileno, en ARTATTACK! hablamos con una de sus protagonistas: MJ Barros.

Here’s a great interview Campaigners artist MJ Barros did while she was at San Diego Comic Con. (Yes it’s in Spanish, but Google will translate it for you if you need to.)

And don’t forget, you can still pick up the FREE preview of issue 3 over at zeropresscomics.com!

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There is now a FREE 9-page preview of issue 3 of Campaigners up in out Digital Store at zeropresscomics.com. This issue is intense, you don’t want to miss it! Go take a look now!

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Written by Brendan Hykes; Art by MJ Barros; Lettering by Sean Rinehart; Editing and consulting by Mey Valdivia Rude Kydra Frank is one of the main protagonists in Campaigners, and she is about to find herself in the center of political controversy. It all starts because of an on-the-spot interview conducted by a local news […]

A really interesting review from Project Nerd of the first two issues of Campaigners. I love seeing all the things people are taking from the book so far!

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Campaigners indiegogo post-mortem

Well you may or may not have noticed that the Indiegogo has ended. As I mentioned before, we didn’t get close enough to our goal to complete the project, so I refunded everyone’s contributions before the campaign closed.

(Surprisingly, none of the current Presidential candidates took us up on the reward I specially designed for them.)

I want to say thank you to everyone who did pledge, it means a lot to us even if we didn’t reach our goal. And everyone who shared or offered encouragement, again, we greatly appreciate it.

It’s worth taking a look at what went wrong with the campaign, but the easy answer is that we simply didn’t build our following before launching. We should have spent more time building our audience.

The next, bigger question is, what happens next? This project is too important, and we’re too far in to just let it go without at least trying to see it through. We’re going to keep pushing, and it will likely take a lot longer than expected to make it to the end, but I have confidence that we can get there.

Issue three is halfway done, however due to some personal business that’s cropped up for some team members, the second half probably won’t be completed until after July. I’d like to get the first half out there, but I’m not willing to charge for half an issue, so I might put together some kind of offer, like if you buy the first two issues I’ll send you the first half of issue three as well.

Beyond that, we’ll be pitching the project around to some publishers, as well as sending copies out to review sites. So if you run a site, or even just a blog, and you’re interested in review copies, let me know. (And if you work for a publisher, make me an offer! ;P )

In all honesty, we really appreciate the support we’ve seen so far, and we hope to keep moving forward with this project, even if we have to do so slowly. We hope you’ll stick with us, pick up the issues that are already out, and tell your friends. The more successful the first three issues are, the faster we can get to the last two!

(BTW, any Presidential candidates who still want in on that reward, I’ll be happy to deal even without the indiegogo...)

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#presidentialfacepalm

(indiegogo is still going, btw)

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So what’s got Kyd all bothered? Check out issue two at zeropresscomics.com to find out! And when you’re done, go back the indiegogo for issues 4 and 5!