John Wick Meet James Bond In Thomas River From Batman and Black Panther Comic Book Icon Brian Stelfreeze! Crowdfunding Surpasses Goal With Over 3 Weeks Left!
Details on the campaign below.
THOMAS RIVER – Issue #1. A 40-page original comic book by Brian Stelfreeze, Doug Wagner, Michelle Poust, and Ed Dukeshire.
Story
From Eisner Award-nominee Brian Stelfreeze (artist of Marvel’s Black Panther) and writer Doug Wagner (Plastic, The Ride: Burning Desire) comes THOMAS RIVER #1, their all new 40-page creator owned comic book.
And what may be the best news of all, THE COMIC IS ALREADY FINISHED and just waiting for this campaign to end so we can put the book directly into your hands. No, that’s not a typo… THE ART, COLORS, & LETTERING ARE COMPLETE. We just need to know how many copies to print.
See, the decision to do this campaign wasn’t made a few weeks ago to capitalize on a new trend; we’ve been planning this for a while, and hope you’ll be excited about the opportunity to fund a project and quickly have a digital copy to read while the book goes to press.
Thomas River is known as a world renowned engineer among his metropolitan friends. He jets around the globe as a consultant to the biggest engineering firms, but that is simply a cover. In reality, River is the quintessential secret agent—equivalent to Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, and James Bond in every manner but one… he is a Black man. Raised by his working class family in Baltimore, Thomas was an exceptionally gifted student. While he could have gone down the wrong path, and almost did, Thomas’ mother simply wouldn’t let it happen. After buckling down, Thomas earned a full-ride to Cornell, where he double-majored in Structural Engineering and Linguistics. Graduating with honors, the CIA saw his true potential and recruited him into their ranks. And he did not disappoint.
Think John Wick meets James Bond in tone and attitude; basically, the most bad ass American secret agent ever.
In this debut book, a terrorist attack unlike anything seen since 9/11 hits the United States. Many lives are lost, and as one of the attacks is in Baltimore, it hits all too close to home for Thomas River. But before the day is over, River is called in by the President of the United States herself, and charged with tracking down the people who orchestrated and carried out this heinous act. As River chases leads across the globe in his effort to bring the guilty to justice, he will discover the plot goes deeper than he could have ever imagined.
The character and concept are from the mind of acclaimed comic creator, Brian Stelfreeze. Brian is best known for his career-defining work with Ta-Nehisi Coates on the reboot of Marvel’s Black Panther, his record-setting 50 consecutive covers of Batman: Shadow of the Bat, and a 30+ year career that includes work at every major publisher.
He is joined on this project by his partner in crime, writer Doug Wagner. Doug’s work includes titles such as Batman: Arkham Origins, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and comic book adaptions of both The Flash and Arrow TV shows, but he’s best known for his smash-hit series, PLASTIC, the critically-acclaimed heist series, THE HARD PLACE, and most recently, THE RIDE: BURNING DESIRE.
The Colors are by Michelle Poust, a talented newcomer who honed her skills under the tutelage of Stelfreeze himself.
Letters are by Ed Dukeshire, the Harvey Award-nominated letterer of books such as Power Rangers, Day Men, and Grant Morrison’s Klaus.
Book Design (as well as the design work for this campaign) is being handled by Sasha E. Head, whose work can be found in Jonathan Hickman’s Decorum, and the award-winning comics magazine, Image+.
THOMAS RIVER is being produced by 12-Gauge Comics, home of the critically-acclaimed titles, PLASTIC, THE RIDE, LOOSE ENDS, & KILL WHITEY DONOVAN, among many others. 12-Gauge is now in it’s 16th year of making great comics, and will make sure this campaign goes off as smoothly as possible.
Risks and challenges
We believe they are minimal, as the actual book is finished. Brian will need to draw up to three characters into existing scenes for the backer reward, but other than that, we’ll just need to print the books once the campaign is complete, and then get them to you. As we’ve been doing this for 16 years and counting, getting books finished and to the printer is something we’ve done hundreds of times. For fulfillment, we’ll be using an experienced 3rd Party vendor to make this part of the process run as smoothly as possible. Obviously things come up, and COVID-19 is still a concern, but rest assured, you’re getting this book in a timely manner.
Regarding Shipping Costs: We will be using a fulfillment center to ship the books to you, and to guarantee the lowest rate, you will be charged chipping during your final checkout, after the campaign has ended. Estimates for 1 – 5 books are $7 – $10 inside the US. Rates will vary in other countries, but expect anywhere from $16 – $20 in Canada, $10 – $25 in the UK/Europe, and $20 – $30 elsewhere. More to follow…
In the creative team’s rounds to promote the project they also released the following cover and variant covers below.
Plus we get a look at some interior panels.
As well as interior pages.
If you are interested you can support the campaign here.
