Beasts of The Black Hand vol 2: The Viking League

Two new rewards, one great day!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 08:17:52 AM

Welcome to Friday, Beasts! Glad we all made it through another week together!

We're continuing to make great progress towards our funding goal, over 11k in pledges thanks to all of your support! At the rate we're going, we should be at 50% funded just as we hit the halfway point of the campaign next week which is kind of perfectly symmetrical, if you think about it.

Today, we're unveiling not one but two new rewards, one of them inspired by one of your own, backer David Chamberlain, who suggested a reward tier of all four covers, regular and variant, of both volumes of Beasts Of The Black Hand. Well, we know a good idea when we hear it so thanks to David...

But wait...THERE'S MORE!

Rachel Stott's variant cover for the Beasts Legacy Edition #1 is officially unleashed upon the world and now available to be added to your pledges!

If either of these options appeals to the discerning readership that makes up our Beasts backers, just adjust your pledge accordingly and drop us a comment. We'll add them on the back end of your accounts. And if you're not sure how to adjust your pledge, let us know and we can help you with that too.

Everybody stay well over the weekend. Tom Mandrake (and his daughter Sian) will be joining the Beasts party next week. We'll see you then.

In the meantime, stay safe out there. Wear a mask and wash your hands!

Your pals at Ominous Press/Creation.Ink

Climbing the mountain
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 09:23:17 AM

 Happy Wednesday, Beasts!

As I write this, we're inching closer to 50% of our funding goal on Beasts Of The Black Hand volume 2: The Viking League. There's still some ground to cover before we hit that particular milestone but we're fighting the good fight to get the project there. 

 As part of that never-ending battle, the chefs in the Kitchen Of The Beasts (hmmmm...maybe that should be the title of the next chapter of the Beasts saga) recently sat down for a Zoom interview with the Comics Multiverse Youtube channel. If you're the type that's into learning more about the background of Beasts, as well as Paul, Ron and Matthew, give a click below:

The Comics Multiverse interviews Paul, Ron and Matt 

While you listen to that, we'll be getting Rachel Stott's finished artwork prepped and ready for its official unveiling on the campaign page tomorrow. We'll be offering Rachel's gorgeous Beasts art as a legacy edition variant cover. It will also become a part of the Ultimate print set we'll be unveiling shortly. Don't worry, you guys that have already backed us will get the first look. 

Stay tuned, much more Beasts news coming soon! Thanks for all your support, we couldn't get anywhere without you guys in our corner.

Stay safe, wash your hands!

Your pals at Ominous Press/Creation.Ink

Harding Horror Show
over 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 07:52:53 AM

Beasts! Your dreams have come true.

Due to popular demand, we've added a new reward tier this morning, the Harding Horror Show, to the campaign. This is one that many of you have asked about, a level where backers can grab the Paul Harding's stunning variant cover editions to both Beasts volume 1 and Beasts volume 2 in one fell swoop. 

We have a very limited number of copies of Paul's cover to volume 1 still available so this tier is limited to 30 backers, first come, first serve and once they're gone, we won't be able to offer any more.  If you're one of the devoted Beasts that have messaged us about this, act fast! We'd hate to see you get left out in the dark and cold. 

Back tomorrow with more exciting Beasts news! Stay safe out there. Wash your hands and wear a mask!

Your pals at Ominous Press/Creation.Ink

The Two-Headed Beast roars!
over 5 years ago – Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 09:05:04 AM

Happy Monday, Beasts!

Over the weekend, Beasts Of The Black Hand vol 2: The Viking League smoothly sailed past the 9k mark, meaning that we're officially (a little) over a third funded as we finish off week one of our monstrous little campaign! We're pretty excited about the progress we've made so far but there's still miles to go before we sleep on this one. No rest for the wicked or the weary, as they say.

We've had more than a few people ask about how to get copies of both volumes, one and two, of Beasts now that the initial early bird reward ran dry. Well, wonder no longer, my friends! The new TWO-HEADED BEAST reward tier went live this morning which will enable backers to pick up the complete Beasts reading experience. 

Now, you might be asking yourself, "hey! I've already pledged for volume 2; can I pick up volume one too?" 

Well, wipe that anxiety-induced sweat from your brow, my friend, because the answer is yes. You'll be able to add most anything offered on the page to your pledge through backerkit after the campaign ends OR just leave a comment on the Kickstarter page with the item you'd like. If you've got a hankering for blank sketch covers, a statue or a t-shirt (just to name of few of the very cool rewards being offered), we'll get in touch about increasing your pledge to cover the additional swag and will add it to your account behind-the-scenes.

Speaking of things you may want to add to your pledge, the King Of The Monsters himself, Tom Mandrake, dropped off the pencils to his Beasts piece the other day. We're thrilled to have Tom contributing to this campaign; his dark, moody art lends itself perfectly to a project like this. So keep an eye out for the inked and colored version of Tom's piece in the very near future (you won't have to look too hard, we'll be showing it off the second it arrives).

That's all for today. Thanks for all your help with the campaign thus far. Be sure to tag Ominous Press, Paul Harding, Ron Marz, Matthew Dow Smith or Creation.Ink on your social media when you share this project out. We've been known to reward those who help us with some pretty cool swag...

Stay safe out there! Wear a mask, wash your hands!

Your pals at Ominous Press/Creation.Ink

Ron Marz speaks!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 11:24:10 AM

Beasts! Or do you prefer to be called "Black Handers?" Either way, happy Friday!

With day two in the books, Beasts Of The Black Hand volume 2: The Viking League is currently about 25% funded! We're making great progress towards our funding goal but remember (you may have heard this before), every time you share this project, an angel (fun fact: Paul Harding is actually 33% angel) gets his wings! So anything you Beasts (or Black Handers, if you will) can do to help us spread the word would be amazing. There are 7-8 billion people on this planet, we only need roughly 800 of them in order to bring the beasts to life...

In yesterday's update, you may have seen mentioned that Beasts' resident keyboard warrior Ron Marz was even willing to talk to himself if it would help this project get funded. Little did Ron know but we secretly recorded him while he was talking to himself in the mirror while shaving yesterday morning. Our crack staff translated (Ron has his own language called "Marzian" that he prefers to speak in) and transcribed his mutterings. Here's what he had to say:

The characters in Beasts are based on real, historical figures. Which of them is most interesting to you, both personally, and also most interesting to write?

RM: Oswald Rayner, Biffy Dunderdale, Henry Johnson and Maria Rasputin are all real people. Oswald and Biffy were British secret agents, and Wilfred Albert “Biffy” Dunderdale is generally believed to be one of the people who inspired Ian Fleming’s creation of James Bond. Henry Johnson was an American war hero in World War I, who was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor for his deeds fighting in the Argonne Forest in France. 

Henry has a connection to the Albany, NY area where both Paul Harding and I live, and where Matthew Dow Smith used to live. Henry lived here for a good part of his life, and worked as a porter in Albany train station. There’s a Henry Johnson Boulevard that I drive by fairly often. His real-life story is worthy of a graphic novel all by itself.

What the hell is "Dieselpunk" anyway?

RM: It’s really the next step beyond steampunk, so a little less Victorian, and a little grungier and dirtier. For this story, the dieselpunk angle allows us to add another layer of the fantastic which makes it...fantastic-er!

What's the creative process on this project like? How do you and Paul break down story and creative responsibilities?

RM: Since Paul and I live about 30 minutes apart, we’re able to get together in person and kick around ideas, which is a real pleasure. Now we have to do it in a socially-distanced setting, but it’s still a lot of fun to thrash out story aspects in person.

Are you sure Biffy Dunderdale was a real person because that name can't possibly have existed in real life?

RM: Right? Proto-James Bond! I didn’t know about Oswald or Biffy. When Paul said one of our heroes is Oswald Rayner, I said, “Come on, I can’t have a another hero with the last name Rayner. (editorial note: Ron likes to brag that he co-created Green Lantern Kyle Rayner).” 

And then Paul explained he was a real dude, and is probably the person who actually killed Rasputin. 

Rumor has it as one of the stretch goals, you'll be writing a prose Beasts story. Is writing prose a "stretch" for you or something you enjoy?

RM: My original intent, when I was a kid, was to be a novelist. But I ended up doing comics. But in the last year or two, I’ve started doing more prose, some short stories, and even getting some concepts in place for a novel. It’s really something I want to get back to, it’s just a matter of time. So hopefully we can hit that stretch goal and give me a reason for some more prose...

(Editorial note: at this point, Ron started alternating between making Beast noises and singing Italian opera and our transcribers ears started bleeding so, unfortunately, we're not able to bring you more of his conversation).

In any case, that wraps it up for today's update. We'll return on Monday to give you the latest news from the world of Beasts Of The Black Hand. And who knows? We might even collar the mysterious Paul Harding himself and get him to answer the same questions Ron handled today. Anything and everything is possible in the land of the Beasts!

Stay safe out there and thanks for your support.

Your pals at Ominous Press and Creation.Ink