A long time ago I was given a fantastic comic to review called Runners. From the moment I read the original book I was more than impressed. Creator Sean Wang crafted a seriously entertaining space opera that satisfied the long neglected Star Frontiers fanboy inside of me. Runners details the exploits of a gang of space smugglers. Just imagine a book filled with extraterrestrial Han Solos and you’ll understand the basic premise of Runners.
Now Mr. Wang is starting his own Kickstarter campaign to print up the second Runners graphic novel that was previously only available on the web. Runners is a book that deserves to be in print and find itself in the hands of a much larger fanbase. All you need to do is click here for a look at his campaign to see the work that will fill the graphic novel and you can see that this is a project that reeks of professionalism. It is worthy of your contribution and would make a fantastic addition to your comic library.
Here is some information on the project from the press release:
NEW RUNNERS GRAPHIC NOVEL LAUNCHES ON KICKSTARTER
Easthampton, MA – February 26, 2013 —
The second volume of the highly acclaimed sci-fi comic Runners is now a graphic novel campaign on Kickstarter.com. Originally posting the action comedy about alien smugglers online as a free webcomic at www.runnersuniverse.com, creator Sean Wang now hopes to raise funding to print the new story, Runners: The Big Snow Job, as a full color graphic novel.
“The first book, Runners: Bad Goods, was black-and white,” says Wang, “so it was a bit more affordable to print when it came out. But for the second volume, I wanted to print the book in color, just as it appeared online. Since color printing can be pretty expensive for a self publisher like myself, I thought Kickstarter would be a great idea to help get the book into people’s hands.”
Runners: The Big Snow Job will be a 168-page, full color graphic novel that finds reluctant smuggler Roka Nostaco and his alien crew working a seemingly trivial job on a frozen planet that turns out to be more than they bargained for as they deal with a hostile native population, a band of mercenaries, a mob power play, and a series of treacherous double-crosses. In addition to the complete story that originally posted online, the book will also include an all-new, 6-page epilogue, 10 pages of sketchbook concepts, and a gallery of pinups from such comic artists as David Petersen (MouseGuard), Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), Khoi Pham (Avengers, X-Men), and Shawn McManus (Fables: Cinderella).
“I’m especially excited about the Kickstarter campaign,” continues Wang, “because I have a lot of very cool reward incentives for project backers, including character cards, prints, a 64-page expanded sketchbook, and even some of the original cover art! I’ll also be offering custom inked illustrations of series characters. So I think Runners fans, both new and old, will really get a lot of great stuff out of the campaign!”
Runners: The Big Snow Job is now on Kickstarter.com and runs through March 28, 2013:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621975803/runners-the-big-snow-job-graphic-novel
The complete Runners series can be read online at: www.runnersuniverse.com.
