ALEX WOOLFSON
alex@yaoi911.com
584 Castro Street #548
San Francisco 94114
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexwoolfson/the-young-protectors-vol-1-0
http://youngprotectors.com/
Gay Superhero Comic Reaches $14,000 Kickstarter Print Goal in less than 24 hours. AY SUPERHERO COMIC REACHES $14,000 KICKSTARTER PRINT GOAL IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS
[May 25, 2013] Less than 24 hours after launching a Kickstarter project to raise $14,000 to publish his gay superhero webcomic in book form, The Young Protectors writer Alex Woolfson has reached his goal. And with 30 more days left on the clock, the funding is showing no signs of slowing down.“I wrote The Young Protectors because I loved action movies and superhero comics as a kid,” Woolfson said. “But I never got to see what I really wanted to see and that’s kick-ass genre stories with heroes who just happened to like other guys. Both with The Young Protectors and my previous sci-fi comic, Artifice, I’m trying to create the kind of stories I always wanted to see. What’s been most gratifying about all of this is discovering that a lot of other people have been wanting to see the exact same thing.”
With full-color art by Marvel/DC penciler Adam DeKraker and Harvey-award nominated colorist Veronica Gandini, The Young Protectors: Engaging the Enemy tells the story of how Kyle, a closeted, young superhero dedicated to helping everyone but himself, ascends to become one of the most powerful champions the world has ever known.
But no one ever said becoming a real hero would be easy.
The story begins with Kyle finally summoning the courage to enter a local gay bar. It’s his very first step towards accepting himself. Unfortunately for him, his very next step out of the bar places him face-to-face with The Annihilator, “the most dangerous supervillain in the world.” And the price that The Annihilator demands to keep Kyle’s secret will lead Kyle down a path fraught with danger, adventure and unexpected romance. It’s a path that will force Kyle to question what it really means to be a hero and will ultimately thrust him and his young teammates into an epic conflict against vastly superior foes.
The Young Protectors has been running as a webcomic on Alex’s Web site Yaoi 911 Webcomics for a little over a year. The first book will collect the Prologue, Chapter One and Interlude One from the on-going webcomic and will include special features, including excerpts from a “classified dossier” on notorious supervillain The Annihilator.
Woolfson continued: “This is my second Kickstarter so I really tried to put in a lot of thought about what folks might like for rewards. Crowdfunding allows you to try things you never would otherwise be able to do because there’s no upfront financial risk. For one, it can allow a regular guy like me who would never be able to afford to print a book to actually make that happen. But it also lets me experiment. So for this project, I’ve created what are called ‘stretch goals’ — extra goals that get unlocked if you exceed the original goal.
“One thing I’m trying are trading cards — action-y superhero ones just like the kind you got as a kid. That’s the first stretch goal that gets unlocked pretty much right away and I’ll be sending out 24-hour surveys so backers will actually get to vote on who they want to see on them. And then if things go really well, I’ll create other ‘romance cards’ with sexy pin-up art and intimate details for each of the characters that are more for grown-ups, with again, backers voting on what they want to see.
“I’m not a big corporation. I can’t afford to do ‘market testing’ or anything like that. But I’ve really wanted to create these cards. And this Kickstarter will let me know if other people would like that too.
“It’s a really good time to be an independent creator. No matter what you want to do, but especially if your dream is making stuff mainstream publishers would consider ‘niche’. You know, like action stories with heroes who just happen to like other guys. Twenty years ago, I never would have been able to do this. But because of the growth of webcomics and services like Kickstarter I’m able to make these big-publisher-quality books and am able to share my work with thousands of readers. It’s all beyond my wildest dreams, actually.”
Readers who are interested in finding out more about the Young Protectors Graphic Novel Print Drive Kickstarter project can go here.
The Young Protectors webcomic can be read for free online here.
