Hey! It’s a banner week! We get to start with good news, as something is going right for comics! Huzzah! Let’s look at that good news and more in this week’s edition of Comics Disassembled.

1. Kickstarter, Crushing It

We knew Kickstarter comic projects were doing big numbers already, but now we have a better grasp on it, as it was revealed this week that they have already put up a record $22 million this year on the crowd-funding giant. That towers over the previous record of $16.9 million. It makes sense, though. With the pandemic affecting the larger comic marketplace, many have turned to Kickstarter as a way to a) keep working and b) keep getting paid for said work. And, perhaps more crucially for that number, more giant creators have, as the Keanu Reeves fueled Kickstarter for his upcoming BOOM! series BRZRKR set records as the biggest comics project ever with nearly $1.5 million.

Like I said, it makes sense that this would be the case, but there’s a part of me that wonders whether this is step one in a new, greater adoption of the platform by creators of all varieties or if it’s a bubble caused by the pandemic. I imagine it’s somewhere in the middle, as usage will likely level out as the market – and society – stabilizes – but there will be some that continue to leverage it because of the success they had there (for example: I bet Scott Snyder goes down that path again). But Kickstarter’s arrow continues to point upwards, which is rad to see. Crowd-funding at this scale is life-changing, and it gives creators options they didn’t have before. I love to see it.

2. Johns and Frank, Reteaming

I always felt like Geoff Johns made a lot of sense at Image, as he’s clearly a dude with ideas but someone who was always in a superhero box. It made a lot of sense, but he just seemed to love it at DC in particular. Now, with that connection largely severed, his Doomsday Clock partner – Gary Frank – and him are taking their talents to Image Comics with Geiger, their new series that launches in April 2021.

It’s a story about a post-apocalyptic wasteland, so as per usual from the guy that once was said to be launching an imprint named The Killing Zone, the room has been well and truly read. But hey, that’s not to say I’m not curious about this book. We’ve never seen Johns outside of the corporate vortex, and Frank is undeniably a heck of a talent as an artist. What could they do together if they were completely uninhibited from an editorial standpoint? Well, apparently create a dystopia during the early days of one, but they might also create an interest comic, so…profit?

Image has to be happy, though. This is a big win for them, and during a time they definitely need one. They seem to finally be getting their next wave of creators to fuel another rise, as writers Donny Cates, James Tynion IV and now Johns are helping bolster them. That’s good. Image needed it, because it’s one of the most Image light times of the past decade for yours truly. Even if it’s established creators, it’s still relative new blood to them. That’s necessary.