NEW NPCs Pages + Snow White Zombie Apocalypse #5 Trailer Reveal!
7 months ago – Sun, Mar 17, 2024 at 07:08:46 PM

Hey Folks!

Thanks so much for supporting my work, and helping to bring NPCs to comic readers nationwide!

So first off, Enon Films (The folks behind the Durruti movie and the Wanderer's Feast prequel) have made an awesome trailer for the upcoming Snow White Zombie Apocalypse #5. Please check it out, it's got new music by Crüxshadows as I think it's one of the best ones I've done yet. And when you do make sure you watch PAST the end:

I'm going to be launching SWZA #5 this coming Tuesday 3/19/24 at 7:30 AM EST. 

The campaign will run for 30 days. We have a very ambitious $12,000 goal, so I'm gonna need all your support to make it work. If we get overfunded, the additional money will be rolled into NPCs & Durruti. Plus, the book is just absolutely breathtaking:

So even if you aren't able to back SWZA right now, or want to wait for NPCs, you can still help out with just a few seconds of your time. Pre-Follows help immensely with the Kickstarter Algorithm:

Also, to make it worth your while, if you pre-follow, then back at "The Book" level or higher and comment "NPCs" on the page, I will send you this as a free, limited edition print:

We need at least 250 pre-follows before launch and at the moment we have 217. There's nearly 300 of you, so if everyone helps out, we'll be in a VERY good place to launch on Tuesday 3/19/24. So please, take a few seconds to:

Click here & then click "Notify Me." 

New NPCs Pages!

I am getting some truly incredible stuff back from Juan Francisco Mota (Who also draws Durruti: Shadow of the People #2+) 

What I think is so wonderful about this, is he's the rare artist who not only can deliver action & horror:

But also he's got some genuinely funny panels even without my dialogue. I mean, just LOOK at Steve here:

Thanks again for your support, and please remember to pre-follow SWZA #5. It is critical that this campaign goes well and when it does, that will give me some real room to work towards getting NPCs #1+ to you guys sooner rather than later. 

Cheers,

-Brent

NPCs #1 + SWZA #5 + New Series: The Shepherd!
8 months ago – Sat, Feb 17, 2024 at 02:48:44 PM

Hey folks,

So right off the bat, I want to thank everyone who has given to this series. Juan and I are hard at work getting the book together. In the meantime, I want to give you a closer look at the colored art we're getting back:

Abby here is one of my favorite characters. Zacq created her initially and right off the bat, after just her first few lines of dialogue we were laughing our asses off:

Obviously, we're pulling from Bloodborne and Darksouls, and a large part of the way we find drama and humor is incongruity between reality and fantasy...or in Abby's case, between FANTASY and fantasy.

She's kinda perfect for this and though she took a back seat to Gwen's original party in the intro, she's one of our favorite characters to write and Juan has a blast drawing her so you'll see quite a bit of her as the series continues.

And ON that note, here's someone who we saw in the background of many of our trailer shots, I give you Dragonguy:

Dragonguy is every early game Skyrim sociopath: mismatched armor, low level weapons, and relying on petty larceny and desperately in search of a waifu:

Expect to see more of him as the series continues. Skyrim's potential for humor is matched only by the lengths the developers went to in crafting a game that's full of books no one reads.

I'll let you know how the series continues to develop and also let me know if you enjoy the character spotlight to whet your appetite.

Now, in the meantime:

Snow White Zombie Apocalypse #5:

If you're new to my work, you may not be aware of my flagship series. The fulfiment for the first graphic novel of which is in its final stretch, which means I'm going to be launching the NEXT installment, so while you wait on NPCs #1 Consider pre-following the campaign, because it's gonna be AMAZING

Adam Bryce Thomas of IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog and Samurai Jack (who did the Record of Price War's cover for NPCs) is beginning his run on the series, and he's basing it on Berserk:

For the fairytale this time, I'm pulling from The Saga of Hrolfr Kraki and His Twelve Berserkr Bodyguards and our antagonist is a literal Drauger:

And because it's me...yeah I couldn't resist turning this into an honest-to-god Dungeoncrawl:

Bottom line is: if you like NPCs you will LOVE Snow White Zombie Apocalypse So,Please click this link, then click "Notify me". even if you don't plan to get the book, the more pre-followers we have on the campaign, the better kickstarter's algorithm will treat us!

There's never been a better point to come onto the series and you 1000% don't want to miss this historic new issue. So what are you waiting for? Please click here to pre-follow SWZA #5:

Now, one last thing:

The Shepherd:

So, ONE of the people who is most responsible for SWZA being as good as it is, is my editor Andrea Molinari:

He has been a HUGE champion of my work, and has directly contributed to NPCs by being a trusted second set of eyes on everything I write, ensuring that whatever I'm creating has its maximum impact.

And the thing is, he's currently running a kickstarter for a series all his own:

It is decidedly NOT a comedy...it's a heavy and tragic story right from the beginning, but also humor and horror tend to pair well together.

The book is about the titular character: "The Shepherd" A recently deceased professor tasked with rescuing souls from hell...which in this imagining functions less like a prison, and more like a hospital. It's a shifting spiritual landscape where the souls of the restless dead join forces to battle against their own inner demons:

Isn't that an incredible premise? Andrea has created one of my favorite kind of storytelling: worlds where, like Dr. Who, the writer can go anywhere and do anything from moving beyond the siren song of Wrath and Vengeance (Vol. 1), to collective redemption (Vol. 2) to the more intimate & traditional ghost stories revolving around those The Shepherd has left behind (Vol. 3):

As I said, some of the stories are quite heavy (It's a horror book...and not a "funny" horror book like SWZA), but if you're intrigued or just want to help out, please pop over and pledge and/or share the campaign. A ton has gone into this and you'll be returning to Andrea all the mutual aid he's given to NPCs, SWZA & Durruti over the years.

>>> Click Here to Support The Shepherd on Kickstarter<<<

Backerkit Survey Errors
9 months ago – Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 05:37:28 PM

Hey folks,

So, apparently there was something wrong with the backerkit surveys. They currently have people who have only digital rewards being asked for their addresses. 

If this happenes just enter "Digital McFakerson, 00 Fakeridge Rd, Faketown, USA, 00000" 

The other issue is that people's shipping cost is coming up as a credit at the end of their orders. This is a mistake.

If you could, please just leave the extra $6 on OR use it as a discount for an add-on item of $20+ of value. I'm happy to extend the discount for your trouble (And also could really use the extra cash). 

Might I suggest:

Other good options are the SWZA Challenge Coins:

Or the complete Major Arcana Tarot Set:

or the signed & numbered Cruxshadows cards:

Thanks so much!

Message me if you have any other trouble. Not sure why this happened because I've run Backerkit after Backerkit and this has never happened before. They must've changed how the system works in-between campaigns.

Cheers!

-Brent

Surveys are OUT! Happy Holidays! New NPCs T-Shirt!
9 months ago – Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 08:06:39 PM

Hey folks! 

Quick update: wanted to pop on here to let you know that the NPCs Surveys are IN YOUR EMAIL as we speak. Please fill them out ASAP, and if you can PLEASE add-on as many merch items as you can. This fiasco with the misprinted SWZA Vol. 1 books has seriously hurt me this holiday season. I was supposed to have fulfilled SWZA and Durruti #2 already but couldn't without the hardcover. Now I *have* the hardcover and fulfillment is almost done, but that means I can't run the kickstarters to I had planned until a month or two later than intended, which justy gums the whole process up.

So, if you want to help out, and would like to get some cool stuff at the same time, here's some suggestions:

NPCs Premium Cotton D20 Tee!

We also have:

Snow White Zombie Apocalypse Vol. 1 Hardcover:

We've already had a huge response to the NPCs Misprint collector's version  particularly the $30 Early Bird version, Which has just ONE discounted book left! 

If you want to get a reconstituted version where you have all the comics and poems that were cut off, you can grab a fixed/reconsituted version with $80 worth of books and comics for just $50!

SWZA Major Arcana Tarot Pack

Finally, if you want something really special, I've added the three signed and numbered Cruxshadows Tarot Cards for a special price:

Thanks folks! Holiday has been special but it's so exciting making comics for you! 

-Brent

NPCs Backerkit Inbount + SWZA VOl. 1 Misprint + FREE Original CrüxshadowsChristmas Album
10 months ago – Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 08:05:18 PM

Hey Folks!

Thank you for your patience. Sorry for the lack of update. I wanted to make sure I had everything Holidays are hectic enough on their own and this one has been a DOOZY (more on that below).  

First thing's first: I have good news. After grappling with Backerkit over some techincal stuff, I have the surveys ready to go, and will be launching them potentially as early as tomorrow. 

HOWEVER, it occurs to me that you guys may prefer to get the surveys AFTER Christmas, rather than right before Christmas eve. So please, sound off in the comments if you'd prefer to wait until the 26th-31st. or even after the first. If I don't hear anything I'll make a judgement call and launch.

So, for those of you who are wondering WHY this tool so long, whelp. right after the campaign, I had a logistical bomb go off. Related to this little guy:

 The Saga of SWZA Vol. 1 Episode III: The Phantom Poem:

For the new people, Snow White Zombie Apocalypse is my flagship series, and I have been working on this book, my very first graphic novel EVER for now, nearly two years. 

Well, I am happy to announce that it's done, and has arrived. HOWEVER, there's a bit of a problem, and it has to do with that sticker in the top right corner:

So, what happened with this, well I was SUPPOSED to get these in the mail back in November, and I DID, and...the book arrived, with a giant misprint on the very first page:

And it wasn't just that but three of the four 2-Pagew Spreads had the same problem:

So, here I was, with a shipment of 200 books, ready to deliver them except...I couldn't. And this wasn't like a misprinted run of comics, If you have any idea just how incredibly expensive  and time-consuming these things are to print (especially in the United States) Well, let's just say that I'm very grateful that everyone involved really came together and between the three of us we managed to find a way to make it happen.

So since then I have been scrambling to get the reprint taken care of and in my hands so I can send them to backers and...yesterday they arrived!

Great right? Yeap! but now I have another problem: What to do with the 200 misprinted books? Well, I got creative, and with your help, Here's what I came up with:

 SWZA Vol. 1 Misprint (Collector's Item):

The book, as it turns out, actually isn't in that bad shape. It's really only 3 2-Page Spreads, and luckily it was cut in such a way that you can still tell what's going on, SOOOOOO:

If you're tapped out, or just want to wait until you get your other stuff, I totally understand. There's 200 of them, so I doubt they're going to sell out anytime soon.

Though I should tell you, I've actually made the first ten of them only $30 as an early bird special.  So if anyone wants to give one of these misprints a good home, and on the cheap, and help me keep my head above water until I get SWZA #5/#6 out early next year, I'd sure appreciate it:

What's that? You'd love to help but if you're gonna drop that much money on a book, you'd Like to get ALL the content?

Say no more:

This signed and numbered copy of the SWZA Vol. 1 misprint comes with SWZA #2, SWZA #4 (2021), and Durruti #2!

Each issue has one of the three misprinted 2-page spreads!  You won't miss any art at all, AND We're even including the Neil Gaiman poem so you miss absolutely nothing.

As you can probably tell, Autonomous Collective is a VERY small operation, but the takeaway is, despite the logistical and financial bomb that was the misprinting fiasco, I'm doing everything I can to get you the books as fast as possible.

In the meantime, if you want to help me out, purchasing the Misprinted Vol. 1 at the $30 Early Bird, $40 Standard, or $50 Reconstituted (above) would be very much appreciated.

And if the book isn't your speed, you can also get: 

If you've been following for any length of time, you know that I make the objectively BEST swag on kickstarter, and these cards are no exception. There are even three SPECIAL cards:

Even with everyone sacrificing to get the books reprinted for you, the misprinting of 200 Snow White Zombie Apocalypse hardcover books was absolutely devastating, both for my finances and my schedule.

I actually had planned to be finishing out the campaign for Durruti #3 and getting ready to Launch SWZA #5 right around now.

However, I didn't want to run either of those until fulfillment was done on both Vol. 1 ...and I can't finish that fulfillment without the HC Graphic Novel...which is now in the mail.

So barring a giant meteor (which at this point, I'm not ruling out) I think we're finally through this creative bottleneck.

Thank you for bearing with me. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter, and yough I have taken an inordinately long time (even by my standards) those of you who know me, know that I always get you the BEST coolest swag on kickstarter, that you absolutely can't get anywhere else.

For instance: these there Cruxshadows-inspired special Tarot cards signed buy Rogue, the frontman and critical center of gravity for the international chart-topping goth/darwave band (and also my writing partner) and Cruxshadows violinist and model Johanna Moresco:

And SPEAKING of the Cruxshadows:

FREE Cruxshadows Christmas Alubum Including a BRAND NEW Song!

One of the coolest things about having a rockstar for a friend, is that every year, Rogue releases at least ONE free christmas song, that you can DL on his website right now, and this year it's a BANGER:

Go DL it. I did. It's amazing. 

And it's not just one song, there's basically an entire Cruxshadows Christmas album there.

And yes, this is really free. It's a great way to get in the holiday spirit AND listen to something new or a new take on old classics. All that's required is that you consider a suggested donation, to support his work and keep this tradition going:

Thanks so much! Keep an eye on this page and your mailboxes, I will be updating again very soon!

-B