click photo to go straight to the Kickstarter page

by Matt Miner

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year of fighting for the animals!

Stepping slightly outside the topic of BSL, but staying in the world of animal protection and positive portrayal of bully breeds, I’d like to introduce something I’ve worked on for the better part of a year – a lot of my blood, sweat, tears and money have brought us to the point where I can unveil what I hope will be a double-whammy win for the animals in the form of a new comic book in production that features gritty masked heroes taking action for animals: Liberator!

Influenced by gritty,  dark anti-heroes like Batman and Dexter, this book follows a duo of young outcast crusaders who work on behalf of animals but, unlike the common anti-hero, follow a strict ethical code of nonviolence in their quest for justice.

Unlettered page from issue 1: one of our heroes visits a vacated dogfighting compound late at night.

We’ve turned to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to try and fund the rest of the art costs for the project.  The hard parts are already done – we have a publisher who is eager and excited to publish the book to the mainstream mass-market as long as we get it completed on our own.

So we need help in the form of pledges to help fund the completion of the book.  Check out the Liberator Kickstarter campaign and pledge to support it – the campaign ends February 1 and no money is collected until then!

Questions you may have:

“How, exactly, is a comic book or graphic novel going to help animals?”

1. The heroes of Liberator are animal-friendly role models to the young people that the book is geared to.  They are rescuers and activists who, rather than beating up supervillians or stopping interplanetary war are taking on real issues of dog fighters and animal abusers.
2. My part of the proceeds will help fund Sloane and my continued animal rescue in the Rockaways, NY and the anti-BSL work that BSL News does.

We all know of the horrible cases of young people abusing animals – we remember the monsters who burn dogs and cats alive, the scumbags who fight dogs, the dogs like Oreo who are thrown from rooftops and those like Patrick who are starved and discarded like trash..

The idea for Liberator is to entertain and tell a fun and compelling superhero story while showcasing to comic book readers the virtues of nonviolent protection of animals.  Let’s face it, on some level media does affect the way people act so why not give comic book readers some positive heroes for the animals?

Can you imagine how cool it would be if kids were reading about badass comic book heroes who gave a damn about animals?  Remember, we have mass-market mainstream publishing set up if we get this completed!  That’s HUGE.

“What’s Kickstarter and why do you need the money?”

1. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website.  Its goal is to help artists and creators with funding the completion of worthwhile projects.
2. The money raised is NOT a donation, a chip-in or a handout, as you get awesome rewards – the completed product plus limited edition goods and other unique and cool things for your support.  Think of it as a pre-order of the book that helps pay for the project’s completion!
3. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing fundraiser.  If 100% of the goal amount isn’t raised then NO money is collected and the project will not happen.  I know, that part really sucks!
4. Creating a comic book is surprisingly expensive.  An issue of Liberator costs about $4000 just to pay the artists!

I went back to school to study under one of the top comic book writers on the planet, took out loans, and am working with a professional comic book art team to make Liberator SHINE.  There’s no point in doing a project that’s THIS important if we’re not going to do it right, so I already sunk a significant amount of my own money into it.  At this point I’m tapped out  so I have to crowdfund through Kickstarter for the rest.

“Sounds like a great outreach tool for the animals, so how can I help?”

1. Visit the Kickstarter page and PLEDGE – pick out some cool rewards for yourself – there’s GREAT stuff over there up for grabs!
2. Tweet, Share and Email about the project – explain to people why you think this is a great project worth backing.  Tweets and Facebook statuses are gone in a flash so try and send a message out once a week to be sure your friends saw!
3. If you’re a journalist or blogger, blog or write an article about the campaign!  I’m available for interviews – just contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
4. If you’re a celebrity or musician please email me to provide a short supportive quote to use in promotion – you’ll be in good company with musicians like Neko Case, Bif Naked, Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion, Chris Hannah from Propagandhi, and tons of top comic book creators and big names in animal protection!  Or if you’re not feeling like doing a quote, please use your star power and tweet/share the project on facebook for your fans!

I hope everyone has a great 2013 and kicks some serious ass for the animals.  We’re all they’ve got and we have to do everything we can to help out those who can’t help themselves.