What If There Was Only One Rhino Left on Earth?
That's the question at the heart of our new horror comic - Nosejob
Another comic is crossing the finish line in 2024! And it feels GOOD.
Last night, I launched my body horror comic, Nosejob, on Kickstarter, and it trampled its way to nearly 75% funding in the 15 hours since. This book is a labor of love that evolved radically since it was a germ of an idea as far back as 2013. I wanted to shift thematic gears on the books I was writing and tackle a more serious topic that still lent itself to entertaining horror.
Coincidentally, I met a local artist during an art walk event who reached out to me of his own volition a few months later about collaborating on a comic. He was the primary caregiver for an infant at the time and wanted to be creative in the spare moments he had. His style was dynamic and distinctly European (in my opinion), although he was a Venezuelan national. Sadly, his schedule didn’t allow much real time to compose pages, and he never advanced past character concepts, but check these out:
I seriously fell in love with the detailed design and almost cyberpunk elements. I tested other artists for this project over the years, including one of our long-time coloring collaborators, Vito Potenza.
Vito returned some amazing designs and beautiful test pages that I loved. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right for me at that moment, and Nosejob again fell to the back of the publishing line due to other obligations and life circumstances. Otherwise, Vito would be the full artist on this series today.
Fast forward to 2021, when I decided to create the annual Vicious Circus Halloween title, which painter Oscar Pinto graciously decided to illustrate. The collaboration was incredible and, thus far, has produced three haunting volumes that are the comics work of which I’m most proud as a writer. After the first Halloween comic was completed, Oscar approached me about working up another project. I pitched him two, and, between them, he chose Nosejob.
In the three years since, Oscar delivered full art (lines and colors) on 58 pages of body horror comic perfection. I’m telling you that every page has blown me away. I lettered the second book myself, and it was an absolute pleasure to zoom in close on those panels to get the caption boxes and balloons placed correctly. This series looks incredible, and I’ll put it up against anything in the market today. I’m that confident in Oscar’s work.
This story is done now, fully illustrated and lettered and ready for a print order once the Kickstarter ends on Sunday, March 31. It’s a complete tale, front-to-back, told over two issues for one continuous, epic story that portrays horror in ways that are grotesque, disturbing, entertaining, and - in the case of the rhinoceros - all too real.
I hope you’ll take a moment to check it out and do me the honor of pledging and reading this story of which I’m so proud.
Have a great week!
Kevin