Webcomics can often be in a tricky situation when they first come to print. They might have a steady stream of readers and site visits, but without a physical product it’s often a little difficult to make money. And without money it’s often difficult to make a print comic. Kickstarter has become a big part of the process now, with many creators going to the site to seek funding for their various projects.
“Deep Dive Daredevils” is a webcomic from writers Matt Heistand, Evin Dempsey, Dan Fifield, and artist Danilo Guida that’s coming to Kickstarter to fund the first issue of the collected webcomic. It follows the crew of a futuristic submarine as they experience action, adventure, peril, and much, much more in a throwback to the Golden Age comics that were just so much fun.
Read on as we chat with Matt Heistand about bringing the comic to print, the appeal of Golden Age adventure, the allure of Kickstarter, the project, and much more. Then head on over to the “Deep Dive Daredevils” Kickstarter page and check it out. If you’re on the fence, head over to the webcomic site and read the comic from the very beginning.
So, you’re asking for a goal of $3000 during the funding period. Where is the money going and what is the finished product going to look like that this money is making?
Matt Heistand: For the uninitiated, “Deep Dive Daredevils” is a Golden Age adventure webcomic set in the 1930s, and after two years of posting a new page online every Tuesday we’re hoping to make the jump to print. The Kickstarter campaign is basically a pre-order drive for a print edition of the first adventure, “Secret of the Beaufort Sea”. We’ll be using the funds to produce a professional off-set print run, other cool backer rewards, and to ship the comics and merch to backers.
If we hit our goal backers will get “Deep Dive Daredevils” No. 1, a 48-page, full-color comic book packed with action, heart, and a ton of old school fun! Under eerie arctic lights, it’s SUBMARINE vs. WERE-WHALE in a feature length, self-contained story about redemption and the power of forgiveness.
“Deep Dive Daredevils” is coming to Kickstarter, after over two years of online updates. What makes now the right time to finally get a story in print?
MH: Well, this is our first foray into print self-publishing as well as running a Kickstarter campaign so we took our time, doing a lot of research and planning to make sure we got it right. Now, we are finally at a place where we feel we can pull it off.
We’ve got Fonografiks (A.K.A. Steven Finch), who brings awesome Image books like “Saga” and “Trees” to press each month handling the comic’s design and production, so we are confident that we can deliver a professional quality product to our backers. And, we were lucky enough to get hooked up with Adolpho Navarro (http://www.n-ragedmedia.com/) who helped us make an awesome trailer and project video.
It just took time for everything to come together.
Matt, if I’m not mistaken, you write “Deep Dive Daredevils” with two others of the ThreeOneFive collective, Evin Dempsey and Dan Fifield. How exactly does that process work, working on a project with three writers?
MH: Yep, it a team effort. We all plot together, then Evin maps out the story bible and I write the scripts, which get revised by the whole group. I imagine it’s a lot like the a “writer’s room” works on television shows.
But, there’s a lot more to it than that. Dan handles anything tech, web or numbers related. If you dig the website, thank Dan, he built it from the ground up. Evin has become a really good graphic designer, and is responsible for pretty much all the graphic content outside of the actual comic itself (which is WELL handled by Fonografiks). I write most of the words, manage the projects, and am the point of contact for the outside word because we think it is easier for collaborators or editors to deal with one person, rather than a whole gaggle of dudes.
Continued below“Deep Dive Daredevils” is a bit of a throwback to those Golden Age adventure comics. There’s adventure, submarines, the supernatural, monsters, sci-fi, and much more. The stories are ostensibly all-ages and lots of fun, but still carry a certain weight and drama to them. What about the genre made you guys want to play around in it?
MH: I think a big part of the appeal of playing in the Golden Age sandbox and setting the story in the 1930s is the license it affords us to have fun. It automatically undercuts any irony or cynicism one would want to attach to the stories.
I’m also really fascinated by the economy of story in Golden Age comics. They packed so much plot into every page, telling stories in one issue that would be at least a 6-issue arc by today’s standards, and we thought emulating that accelerated pacing would be beneficial for a webcomic that updates one-a-week.
And, yeah, while “Deep Dive Daredevils” stories are generally fun, sci-fi adventures, they still have to be about something for them to matter and I think that is were the weight and drama you mentioned comes in. For example, the plot of the story we are hoping to bring to print through Kickstarter, “Secret of the Beaufort Sea”, is SUBMARINE vs. WERE-WHALE, but the story is about redemption and the power of forgiveness. To be successful and leave readers satisfied, I believe we have to hit them from both sides – the fun and the meaningful.
A lot of comic creators are turning to Kickstarter to get their comics made. What about the platfrom was attractive to the “Deep Dive Daredevils” team, aside from the whole “getting money to print this thing” aspect?
MH: Other than the obvious funding aspect, I think the biggest draw of the Kickstarter platform is that it makes your project into an event. There’s so much competition out there for people’s attention and launching a KS campaign and all the drama that comes along with it, I think, helps to raise a project’s profile and attract precious eyeballs to the material.
I’ve seen some webcomics have difficulty transitioning to print, especially when trying to give readers of the webcomic run something enticing and new in the print edition. What are you and the “Deep Dive Daredevils” team hoping to do with the Kickstarter campaign to make the print edition both exciting for new readers and for readers that may have been there from the beginning?
MH: Well, we’ve definitely set out to do more than just simply collect the pages we’ve published online. The plan is to produce a print edition of “Deep Dive Daredevils” that feels like a relic from Golden Age of comics with period accurate design and aging effects applied to the art work. The cover, which is exclusive to the print edition, will feature halftone color, faded ink and faux creases. The interior pages will be printed on lightweight, uncoated paper (the next best thing to newsprint, without the smudging and massive ink bleed), and will have an effect applied that gives the pages a yellow tinge, while still preserving the integrity of the art.
Though we do employ some limited aging effects on the web, in print it will be a much more unique, tangible experience that we’re betting will excite new and existing readers alike. And, that’s not even mentioning the cool swag – original art, trading cards, embroidered patches, posters – and opportunities to be drawn into the webcomic.
One thing I found interesting is that “Deep Dive Daredevils” picks up well into the life and overall journey of the crew. They all have established relationships and roles aboard the ship, which the reader has to pick up through various cues throughout the story. How much of the backstory do you plan on revealing over the course of the future stories as you and the rest of team take the Daredevils on more adventures?
MH: Whenever possible, I think throwing readers into the thick of a story and parsing out the backstory as it goes is the best way to immediately engage and immerse them in the material. With that being said, in 2015 we do have a huge “Deep Dive Daredevils” story on the docket that addresses some of the ongoing mysteries we’ve been building. So, if you’ve been wondering how such a technologically advanced submarine is sailing around in the 1930s or how the Captain became the Captain (I don’t want to say to much here for fear of spoiling the uninitiated), just hang in there a little longer. It’ll be worth the wait!
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Something I found really interesting while looking at the rewards is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to get a single print copy, that all the print rewards come with two copies of the comic. What’s the thought behind that?
MH: I’m glad you asked about this because a good deal of thought did go into giving every physical reward backer two copies of the comic.
In the reward text we describe the idea behind the two copies of the book as, “one to roll-up in your back pocket and another to share with a pal.” If backers do just that – spread the love and give a copy to someone they think might dig it – then not only do they help us bring “Deep Dive Daredevils” to print, but they also help bring new readers into the fold, which in turn helps make the project much more viable in the long term. I think a lot of backers will find that idea appealing because at its heart Kickstarter is more than just a retail outlet, it is a place where you can support artists and projects that you believe in.
And, from a logistics standpoint, packing and shipping one comic book costs pretty much the same as shipping two, so we (and backers) get more bang for our shipping buck.
Assuming this Kickstarter is successful, what other sort of DDD stories may we see hitting Kickstarter or in print in the future?
MH: Up next would be the 2nd feature length “Deep Dive Daredevils” story, “Pitch Black Day”. It’s the Daredevils vs. Dracula at the bottom of the ocean with the fate of the planet hanging in the balance! In addition to the 48-page comic there is also a prose element to the story that ties directly into Bram Stoker’s classic novel, which was a blast to write. Ultimately, it’s a little darker, more intense, and is about the ties of friendship/brotherhood – for better and worse.
And, like the story we’re funding now, “Secret of the Beaufort Sea”, you can read it right this minute at www.deepdivedaredevils.com. Plug!
