What 2023 Taught Us About Kickstarter + Top 10 Comic Books of 2023
It's a Lifeline Comics year in review as we look back at all the things we learned. Plus, we take a deep dive into our favorite comic books of 2023.
Hello Lifeline Comics readers!
We've got an exciting newsletter in store for you this week. We’re continuing our year end wrap up with Kat’s Top 10 Comic Books of 2023, and Phil gives a rundown of Lifeline Comics’ 2023 biggest career highlights.
And if that's not exciting enough, we're also going to dive into some media with our thoughts on the newest Godzilla film, Gen V, and more!
Before we dive into our new content, a quick reminder that our current Kickstarter ends one week from today. Don’t miss out on our super-limited Pride 2024 Cover for HAUNTING/LFLD!
Alright, let's get into it!
Lifeline Comics’ Year in Review
Phil: 2023 has been Lifeline Comics’ biggest year to date in earnings. We raised $218,187 on Kickstarter this year across thirteen projects.
To close out 2023, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the lessons we learned from our various Kickstarters and how these lessons will inform our projects going forward.
What we learned from our biggest project of the year: “The Beast & Snow”
We’ll start things off with our biggest earner of 2023: The Beast & Snow #1. This campaign alone raised over $80,000 (more than a third of our total 2023 Kickstarter revenue).
We went into detail about how we created this project in a previous newsletter. If you’re familiar with that post, then you know that one of the most important lessons we learned from The Beast & Snow is to know the market you’re working in.
It’s no secret that NSFW comics and Public Domain IPs are popular on the platform. So unlike every other comic we’ve worked on, we arrived at The Beast & Snow backwards - trying to create the most Kickstarter friendly book we could be looking at what has been most successful in the platform over the years. Then, we just put our own spin on it and made a property that we would love out of it.
We definitely expected a big success from this campaign, but even we were blown away by just how successful it ended up becoming. And while we can’t say too much about what’s to come, we will tease that one of the big lessons we learned from this campaign is that we need to expand our offering of adult romance comics. And we will definitely be introducing a couple more in 2024!
What we learned from our 2023 anthologies - Pt. 1 “Hairology”
People, especially big creators, tend to write off anthologies as not viable products - both in terms of profit and advancement of your own profile as a creator. And we’ve heard plenty of folks argue that the market just doesn’t want anthologies.
Truth be told, we actually started to believe these claims ourselves at one point due to just how frequently we heard them. But if there’s two things we learned from the two anthology campaigns we launched in 2023, it’s this: (1.) anthologies can be profitable and successful (if you do them right and market them to your audience), and (2.) anthologies have so many added benefits in the ways they connect you with other creators.
Hairology was perhaps our biggest swing and biggest risk of the year. It was an expensive 60-page anthology all about a topic we hadn’t really tackled before (hair) that wasn’t exactly a “tried-and-proven” Kickstarter-friendly topic.
At the end of the day, Hairology wasn’t our biggest money maker of the year. But it did turn a profit - in large part due to our amazing creative time. Usually when we run a campaign, we have only 2-6 people sharing the project (Kat and myself, plus artists who are willing to share). But for our anthologies - especially Hairology, which had one of the most active teams we’ve ever worked with - it can be upwards of twenty people helping to spread the word.
And when we talk about lessons we learned from Hairology, that really is the big one: anthologies help you to connect with people - especially creators. We made connections with the more than twenty contributors to the anthology (all of whom are absolutely lovely). We got to work with our incredibly co-editor, Jamila Rowser, who is an incredible person and someone who has lent her wisdom to us for other projects as well.
And we even got a Foreword by Gail Simone (yes, THAT Gail Simone). This was something that completely felt out-of-reach. We reached out to Gail just to see if she’d be willing to share the project, and she offered to write the Foreword herself.
This was another huge lesson we learned from Hairology: always shoot your shot. That person who may feel out-of-reach may be very willing to work with you on the right project in the right role. And this lesson carried over pretty naturally to our next anthology.
What we learned from our 2023 anthologies - Pt. 2 “Rainbow Canvas”
Rainbow Canvas was a different type of anthology from any we had tackled before. Instead of a call-to-action with open applications, we specifically sought out established WEBTOON Canvas creators to tell stories set in worlds of their own series.
This was a lot more work than the usual anthology for us, in terms of building the team. And it also meant less control of the stories (it’s not as easy to give story notes when the creator in question has an established story/world/characters). But the benefits of having a team of established creators - all with fanbases for their series - far outweighed the costs and made Rainbow Canvas one of our most successful projects of the year.
Rainbow Canvas was a lot more on-brand for us than Hairology. We have an audience primed for queer romance stories, and for anthologies (especially queer anthologies). So this project sought to combine those two (already overlapping) sectors of our audience, while also attracting new readers who are fans of the properties featured in Rainbow Canvas. The result of this was pretty much a success on all fronts. The Kickstarter overperformed, we got plenty of new fans, and we connected with several fantastic creators.
Following Hairology, we knew that we wanted to try to get a Foreword for Rainbow Canvas. So we asked ourselves who would be our “dream”, “feels impossible” choice for an anthology about Queer WEBTOON stories. The first answer was Refrainbow - creator of WEBTOON’s Boyfriends, which started out on Canvas. With our Gail Simone lesson in mind, we threw caution to the wind and reached out. And Refrainbow ended up being super excited about the project and wrote a beautiful Foreword for the book.
What we learned from experimenting with the formula for “Slice of Life” on Kickstarter
Slice of Life turned two years only in 2023. That meant that it was time to experiment a little bit with our most well-known property.
Firstly, we experimented with rebranding our fourth issue Kickstarter as “Slice of Life: The Kiss”. This helped to make the property feel fresh on Kickstarter, but also exciting for returning backers who would finally get to see this huge moment between our leads.
There is definitely value to higher issue numbers on Kickstarter. People like long-form storytelling. But giving an arc or subtitle helps to also make the series feel accessible to new readers. We took a similar approach with HAUNTING #5 (subtitled HAUNTING: On the Run). And also with Like Father, Like Daughter #8 and The Dancer #4, emphasizing the “grand finale” aspects of those issues.
Secondly, we introduced our first spin-off with Slice of Life: Anime Adventure.
We talked a lot about our strategy with this book in a previous newsletter. But in summary, we were really excited to build on the hype of the main series with an exciting AU spin-off. We learned the power of known IPs from The Beast & Snow, and thought that a book full of homages to popular anime series would be a fantastic tool for attracting new eyes to Slice of Life. And finally, we loved the idea of a smaller, cheaper Slice of Life book that would turn a profit pretty easily.
So far, everything has come together as we hoped with this spin-off. We’ve gotten plenty of new Slice of Life fans from this oneshot already and have gotten lots of positive feedback from our existing fans. We’ll see in the coming months how this comic performs post-Kickstarter. But we’re especially excited to have it at cons - especially Anime Conventions!
What we learned from our Exclusive Variant Cover Kickstarter
Our “Pride 2024” Variant Cover for HAUNTING/LFLD campaign is only a couple of days old, but we’ve already learned a lot from this project.
We already knew that we had fans of exciting (and limited) variant covers. But it was great seeing proof positive that fans are willing to come out for a project built around an exciting new cover.
The reason we did this project was to create synergy for different sectors of our audience (existing and new). We have tons of horror fans, tons of superhero fans, and tons of queer folk. Conventional business wisdom would look at these sectors as distinct and not overlapping. But the truth is, they overlap a lot.
You need look no further than Conventions, Prides, and our Reward Surveys. We consistently have our queer fans and readers tell us how much they love HAUNTING, The Dancer, and Like Father, Like Daughter. So we wanted an exciting cover for our crossover oneshot that would catch the eyes of queer horror/superhero fans and potentially get them into our two longest-running series.
Time will tell if this is a success at our Pride events next year. But we’re happy to report already that this has worked out very well on Kickstarter!
How this helps us in 2024
There was a lot to learn from 2023. And while we’re going to try to employ all of these lessons, let us immediately tease some of the things you can definitely expect to see next year:
More NSFW queer romance comics - including an exciting new one slotted for February
A brand-new queer anthology, Transphoria, featuring trans and non-binary stories
Another limited-edition Variant Cover of one of our most popular properties
Us continuing to innovate and learn from every project we launch and every bit of feedback we hear from our fans!
Top 10 Comic Books of 2023
Kat gives a run down for her favorite comics of the year! And here’s a video version if you need something to watch during your lunch break.
10. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (BOOM! Studios)
Written By: Melissa Flores
Art By: Simona Di Gianfelice
Franchise comics are hard, especially long running books with 100+ issues. There have been four major writers on the Power Rangers flagship title including: Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott, Mat Groom, and Melissa Flores. And these four writers have done the impossible…they’ve created one cohesive voice for the franchise (this goes for the visuals as well).
They aren’t trying to reinvent the franchise like many new runs will try to do. Instead, they’re building on what has come before. It’s the perfect balance of new and old, and Flores continues to the carry the baton to victory by leading one of the best franchise books on stands!
9. Superman (DC Comics)
Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Jamal Campbell
I’ve never been a big Superman fan. I like the character. He has a solid supporting cast, but there has never been an ongoing series that has truly stood out to me…until now. Williamson and Campbell are the perfect team as they jam-pack every issue with plenty of action, plot progression, and character beats to create a perfectly balanced series. It’s a modern take on the character that dares to tell fresh stories without sacrificing the core of the character.
8. The Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
Written By: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art By: Nic Klein
I never thought I’d like a Hulk series as much as I enjoyed Immortal Hulk, and then comes in Johnson and Klein. In a similar vein to Immortal, Incredible Hulk fully leans into Hulk’s monster mashing horror roots. But this isn’t a carbon copy of Immortal Hulk, the book adds its own twist by using Charlie as the series’ POV character. We get to see the Hulk through fresh eyes, all while creating a whole new mystery with Charlie’s hidden backstory. It makes for a solid character piece with bone-chilling visuals to match!
7. Klick Klick Boom (Image Comics)
Written By: Doug Wagner
Art By: Douglas Dabbs, Matt Wilson
If you have Doug Wagner on a book, you know you’re in for a creatively “out there” premise. Klick Klick Boom is no exception! The series relies on powerful visuals and a spunky sidekick to convey the story of a mute assassin that expresses herself through polaroid pictures. From start to finish it’s a high-speed ride of action and friendship.
6. Dark Ride (Skybound)
Written By: Joshua Williamson
Art By: Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas
From the same team that brought you Birthright, return for a whole new genre and…coaster with Dark Ride. As a fan of both horror and theme parks, this book feels MADE FOR ME! It delves into the deepest sides of theme park fandom, all while telling a gripping story about family and their “harmless” deal with the devil. This book has some of the best pacing in comics - 10+ issues in and Dark Ride looks very different than it did in issue 1 with every installment adding more and more layers to the mythos.
5. Dark Web: Mark Jane & Black Cat (Marvel)
Written By: Jed MacKay
Art By: Vincenzo Carratù, Brian Reber
Tie-ins to big events are hard to crack. How do you make it purposeful to the event all while telling your own unique story? Mary Jane & Black Cat is a perfect example of how to do an event tie-in! It has a connection to the Dark Web event, all while playing with threads from MacKay’s long running Black Cat saga. And ever since MacKay’s one-shot team up, Mary Jane has been a wonderful addition to Felicia’s journey. They have electric chemistry and a very underrated friendship.
This was the first comic book to introduce Mary Jane’s Jackpot powers, and the team does a wonderful job at integrating this new layer to Mary Jane’s character. There are some fun visuals the book plays with that keep MJ at the center of the action. I’m glad we’ll be getting even more from this duo in 2024.
4. Hellcat (Marvel)
Written By: Christopher Cantwell
Art By: Alex Lins, Kike J Diaz
Cantwell KNOWS Patsy Walker! This mini-series proves that as a love letter to the character. It’s a reverse murder mystery where Patsy has to figure out if she killed off her love interest. Patsy may have started out as a romance character, but throughout the decades she’s become darker (I mean, she’s even gone to hell). This series balances that light and darkness with Patsy asking, “am I a good person?” Alex Lins’ lines perfectly matches this tone, and makes for an intriguing, introspective title that Patsy fans new and old will find as a compelling new chapter to her saga.
3. Kill Your Darlings (Image Comics)
Written By: Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan
Art By: Bob Quinn
Kill Your Darlings delivered the best #1 of the year, and every issue following continued to hit it out of the ballpark. The book delivers a throughline mystery that challenges the reader on what’s real and fake as our lead blends reality and fantasy when her mom dies in a fire (a fire our lead may have caused?). The dialogue work is some of the most organic in comics as it showcases a realistic portrayal of family, friendship, and even fantasy. From artwork to scripting this is a near perfect book!
2. Punisher (Marvel)
Written By: Jason Aaron
Art By: Paul Azaceta, Jesús Saíz, Matt Hollingsworth
I’ve never been a big Punisher fan, but this run has really convinced me otherwise. It reinvents the character by still sticking to the roots of what makes him tick.
The most intriguing aspect of this series is the inclusion of Frank’s wife, Maria. Since she died before Frank’s story began, she never truly had a voice in Punisher. Frank always spoke for her. But in this run Jason Aaron and his team allow Maria to be her own character - making this a truly memorable run. We get to see her past and present beautifully presented by Paul Azaceta and Jesús Saíz, showcasing a poetic origin to a potentially important character moving forward.
1. Second Coming: Trinity (Ahoy Comics)
Written By: Mark Russell
Art By: Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk
As an ex-Catholic School girl, I can’t express to you how much I LOVE THIS BOOK. Every volume tops itself, and “Trinity” is no exception. Each volume of Second Coming has explored the overall parallels of superheroes and religion through a modern lens but, this volume also throws in experiences of fatherhood. It showcases the similarities of God saying goodbye to Jesus and Sunstone having to possibly make the same decision for his son (sound familiar…*cough* like Superman). Second Coming is funny, brilliant, and more importantly relatable, which helps it skyrocket to my #1 spot.
Media
And let’s discuss some popular non-comics media!
Godzilla Minus One
Phil: I won’t say I’m a huge Godzilla fan, but I definitely appreciate the big guy. I’ve seen a handful of Godzilla movies over the years and really loved the Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee video game as a teen. But I’m far from an expert or a super fan.
One thing I really appreciate about Godzilla as a franchise (or rather, a collection of disparate franchises that share the same monster) is the variety of stories and styles we’ve seen. Sometimes Godzilla is the hero we’re meant to be rooting for. Sometimes he’s the villain we’re meant to hope the protagonists prevail against. Not too long ago, we got a beat-’em-up action movie crossover between Godzilla and King Kong that was a straight-up Blockbuster popcorn flick. And now two years later, we have a somber and thoughtful action flick with a lot of heart.
Godzilla Minus One utilizes its setting masterfully. The weight of the war on 1940s Japan is as much of a character as any of the human (or reptilian) characters. And it really ties the film together thematically - asking big questions about one’s willingness to die for one’s country and the people one loves that I honestly wouldn’t expect a Kaiju movie to tackle with as much screentime as this film does.
Godzilla himself (herself?) is spectacular. The creature design is one of my favorite iterations to date. It was some of the qualities of OG goofy-looking Godzilla (particularly in the face and how bottom-heavy the monster is). But also feels modern, and terrifying. Godzilla is an unstoppable force, and he feels like it the entire runtime. Particular praise goes to Godzilla’s fights in the ocean. The Jaws-like way that Godzilla moves through the water with its spines above the surface is downright terrifying at times. Bravo.
On the negative side, I’ll say that I think the movie is a bit overlong. While the characters and themes are super interesting, we maybe spend a little too much time lingering on certain moments. I can definitely appreciate the quiet moments in a monster movie, but I think a tighter movie would have been my preference in this case.
If you’re a fan of Kaiju movies, or of monster movies that make an actual effort with their characters and themes, then I definitely recommend checking out Minus One.
Kat: Believe it or not, this is actually the first Godzilla film I’ve seen (fully). I’m not usually a big fan of monster movies because they tend to focus more on mindless action than a human story. But I heard Godzilla Minus One put humanity first, which intrigued me enough to check it out. I’m not sure Minus One made me a Godzilla fan, but I appreciated it as a film. It ties into all the war parallels from the original Godzilla and sells it to a modern audience, all while dissecting what makes a monster movie truly tick.
Gen V
Phil: Gen V is exactly the type of spin-off I love. It feels like a part of The Boys universe, but immediately carves its own path. It helps that the premise of the series is completely different - focusing entirely on young adult supes in collect. But even the tone, character work, and human feel unique and fresh. It’s different from its parent series but strikes the perfect balance of not being too different. It feels like a completely separate part of the same universe.
As you’d expect with The Boys, there are tons of jaw-dropping moments in this spin-off and lots of really creative action. My favorite aspect of the show (as is often the case) is the characters. Particularly Maria Moreau, who makes for a fantastic lead. She’s tragic, she’s smart, she’s powerful, she’s flawed, and she’s unsure of herself. Almost immediately, she feels like a very lived-in and established character. And it’s a pleasure to have her as the focus character. Jordan Li is also a stand-out. Both versions of the character (who is gender fluid, alternating between a “masculine”- and “feminine”-presenting version with different power sets) are engaging and intriguing in both the big action-packed moments and the quieter moments. And the villain of the season is also incredibly interesting and nuanced (can’t say much more than that without spoilers).
On the negative side, Gen V gets a little bogged down by its mythology the longer the season goes on. This definitely feels like a series that would have benefited from another episode or two to breathe. At a certain point, a show that did a really good job of balancing its cast and spending individual time with its characters sort of devolves into a constant ensemble without much room to breathe. And without getting into spoiler territory, I’ll just say that the ending of the first season is nothing short of infuriating.
That said, I think the positives outweigh the negatives of Gen V. I really enjoyed the characters and powers introduced to the universe and look forward to seeing where they go in season two.
May December
Kat: May December is a master class in acting! I went into this film totally blind, and I’m glad I did. So, spoiler alert if you want to do the same…
…The movie follows an actress who is shadowing a family that was formed 20+ years ago with an older woman seducing a middle schooler. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore both hit it out of the ballpark with Moore’s “naivety” towards her wrong doings and Portman’s commentary on the dangers of method acting.
But the true heart of this film is Charles Melton’s performance as Joe. His body language sells the fact that this is a boy tapped in the body of a man. This horrendous relationship has stunted his growth to morph into a real adult, and his slow realization of how much time was stolen from him is truly heartbreaking.
I read a quote somewhere that this movie feels like one big inhale, and I couldn’t agree more. The cinematography is simplistic, helping amplify the characters’ voices. It’s a story that constantly makes you feel uncomfortable, leaving enough room for interpretation, restraining a true release.
If you want to hear more of my in depth thoughts on this movie, check out the latest episode of Legendary Ladies where we take a deep dive.
Comic Recommendations
And finally, we’ll recommend some comic books!
Below, we’ll spotlight one a Webcomic and Kickstarter Indie Comic!
Normally, we also shout-out a Marvel/DC book and a Direct Market Indie book as well. But since one of our main topics was all about those books, we’ll leave them out of this section this week.
WEBTOON: Boyfriends
“A comic about getting yourself a boyfriend... or multiple boyfriends! Four college students begin a polyamorous relationship and navigate the adventure that is their dating life!”
Phil: We talked about Boyfriends and its creator Refrainbow above in our Rainbow Canvas write-up, so we thought it would be a great time to talk about this series in our recommendations section!
It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s sexy. There’s a reason Boyfriends has become one of the most popular series on WEBTOON. It’s a very easily accessible slice of life romance that alternates between four distinct leads each named by their own distinct archetype (“Jock”, “Nerd”, “Goth”, and “Prep”). Their antics range from hilarious to incredibly sweet to surprisingly steamy.
Boyfriends is also really great in the representation department. It centers around a polyamorous relationship between four men - one of whom is Trans. And much of the story centers around them figuring out their unique dynamic as they fall for one another. There’s also a recurring group of “girlfriends” who are a lot of fun.
If you’re a fan of slice of life romance with (generally) lighter tones, Boyfriends is a great read.
Kickstarter: Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans
“A 144-page comics anthology featuring the real-life stories of trans people sharing relatable experiences of growing up, overcoming challenges, and discovering who they really are.”
Phil: If the first section of this newsletter wasn’t enough indication, WE LOVE QUEER ANTHOLOGIES! We’re even working on our own Trans/Nonbinary anthology right now. So, Becoming Who We are was an instant backing from us.
We absolutely love the earnestness of this anthology and the collaboration of nine members of the trans community sharing their real-life experiences. We also love the accessibility of this being a Middle Grade-appropriate book. Younger folks need stories like these and it’s an absolute pleasure to see it thriving on Kickstarter.
The project ends TODAY, so make sure you check it out before it’s too late!
Check out “BECOMING WHO WE ARE” Here!
In Closing
Thanks, as always, for reading our newsletter! If you did and you’re not already subscribed, definitely consider subscribing to our newsletter for future updates!
Current Kickstarter: HAUNTING/Like Father, Like Daughter Crossover PRIDE 2024 Variant
Next Convention/Event: Emerald City Comic Con (2/29-3/03)