[Since jumping into comics crowdfunding in March, I’ve received 12 projects in paper form. Some have arrived digitally, but I’ll wait until the paper copies arrive because I’m that type of luddite. This “Year in Review” will catalog each one…and I promise to be done by New Year’s Eve!]
Richard Kemp offers up War Priest #1, a hefty 76-page graphic novel that plumbs the dystopian genre. After an obliquely referred to apocalypse of some sort, this story takes place in the theocratic “Kingsland,” which more or less covers the territory of the former Confederate States of America. Each “Ward” – more or less former US states – is run by a War Priest, all of whom answer to the High Father. This story is about Matthias, sword-wielding War Priest of the former South Carolina and his perilous journey to find the War Priest of the former Florida.
The story dives deep into the dual modes of sword violence (Kingsland is a pretty violent place, it seems) and dark mysticism – both in and out of religion. Kemp shows remarkable restraint in offering minimal exposition throughout the book, and only when the circumstances warrant. This approach gives you a feeling of being in the moment, learning as the story continues.
The fully scripted and colored story truly takes only half the book. The other half is what Kemp calls the “Clean Pages”: Black and white line art devoid of any lettering. I find myself enjoying those clean pages because it’s clear that Kemp loves the action scenes, and those scenes shine when not held back by word balloons and captions. The art is rough but appropriately dynamic for the story. Kemp refers to his love of Mike Mignola’s work in his comments, and I can see that influence in his pages and characters.
If you want to see sample pages, click on the link in the first paragraph of this post. Kemp provides a few on his Kickstarter campaign page.
This is the first of three volumes, and I’m genuinely interested to see where it goes after the cliffhanger ending of this first chapter.
My War Priest package came with a PDF version of the book and three stretch goal prints below. I found the one on the right particularly compelling.
As introductions to crowdfunding comics goes, this was a very nice start. At $10 postage paid, it was a steal! Past that, the production values went far and beyond what I was used to seeing from small press. This was a full-size, saddle-stitched comic with cardstock covers and color, glossy interiors. Its impact on my publishing ambitions was massive; I was just starting to think about Heroic: Heroes Now and went scurrying to the Inter-webs to find a printer who could do something as nice as this book.
Have you considered checking out my small press comics and stories?
Phoenix Productions 
Thank you!
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