Bones of the Coast is a 220-page full-colour comic anthology of horror inspired by the Pacific Northwest, featuring indie cartoonists!
Bones of the Coast is a full-colour, 220+ page comic anthology, chock-full of horror from the Pacific Northwest. Simultaneously haunting and hauntingly beautiful, BOTC is guaranteed to tickle your fancy.
The anthology features 35 different creators from British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, and abroad–and the stories within are sure to thrill and terrify.
Bones of the Coast will be published by the Cloudscape Comics Society, a non-profit comic collective based out of Vancouver, BC. Cloudscape seeks to promote and publish independent comic creators in British Columbia. The society has successfully published eight books to date, including six anthologies (Waterlogged, Mega Fauna) and two creator-owned projects.
While Bones of the Coast does hope to frighten and unsettle you, we explicitly did not accept sexual violence. Nevertheless, Bones of the Coast is not recommended for younger readers and contains body horror, strong language, and one instance of self-harm.
Bones of the Coast was edited by Shannon Campbell, Jeff Ellis, and Kathleen Jacques, and will feature the talents of:
– Kelly Aarons
– Chloe Chan
– Anastasia Chernaya
– Michael Elliott
– Kevin Forbes
– Mindy Fraser
– Britt c. h.
– Abby Hontiveros
– Abby Howard
– Lindsay Ishihiro
– Sean Karemaker
– Emily Lampson
– Christian Haruki Lett
– Reetta Linjama
– Sam Logan
– Nina “Space Coyote” Matsumoto
– Angela “Jam” Melick
– Sfé R. Monster
– Cameron Morris
– Renée Nault
– Alina Pete
– Yuriy Plisenko
– Jess Pollard
– Kalyna Riis-Phillips
– Simon Roy
– Kris Sayer
– Aliena Shoemaker
– Kris Straub
– Bevan Thomas
– Adam Tuck
– Jeri Weaver
– Oliver McTavish Wisden
– Pam Wishbow
While Cloudscape seeks to promote primarily British Columbian creators, we know that comics are works of collaboration. Each story in the anthology features at least one BC creator, but our full list hails from around in the world.
Our initial goal is for $29,200 Canadian, which, at the time of posting, is about $23,000 USD. The breakdown is such that The largest chunk of this fee (37%) goes towards reimbursing contributors for their time and talents. Roughly 24% goes towards printing fees for the 220+ page full-colour anthology, with 27% allocated to help subsidize the cost of shipping. (Canadian shipping is very, very expensive–especially for a book the size of BOTC. While we are asking you to pay additional shipping fees, this is with reduced cost baked into the total for the Kickstarter.) Finally, an additional 12% is reserved for Kickstarter fees & unexpected expenses.
But wait! The actual cost of producing Bones of the Coast, a labour over a year in the making, was actually more than that. BOTC has just already been the recipient of a $3000 small-press publishing grant from the Government of Canada, helping to promote & publish independent creators. So thank you, Canada! (We forgive you for the terrible shipping)
The full list of rewards can be seen in the column to the right, but may we highlight, for your temptation:
The Sasquatch Sighting ($35)
With this reward tier, you’ll receive a physical copy of the book along with a digital PDF and a set of digital wallpapers featuring art from our various contributors. In addition, you’ll also receive three limited-edition Bones of the Coast postcards.
Cadborosaurus & LIterary Cadborosaurus ($60)
With these reward tiers, you’ll receive the same items from the Sasquatch Sighting in addition to an original, one-of-a-kind sketched monster illustration (provided by Kelly Aarons, Mindy Fraser, Abby Hontiveros, Abby Howard, Emily Lampson, Christian Lett, or Sam Logan) or an original, one-of-a-kind beautifully handwritten horror story (written by Michael Elliott).
Original Commissions ($100 and $150)
With these reward tiers, you’ll receive the same items from the Sasquatch Sighting as well as an original commission provided by Emily Lampson, Abby Hontiveros, or Lindsay Ishihiro. Funding at this tier is split between the artist and the campaign; restrictions apply based on the tier and artist selected, and you should expect a 1 to 3-month delay in receiving your completed commission–more depending on your communication with the artist!
Abby Hontiveros – $100
At $100, Abby Hontiveros will draw an original digital black & white commission based on your request, as per the example below:
Abby Hontiveros – $150
For an additional $50, Abby will paint a full-colour commission for you, which can be done by watercolour & gouache or copic marker:
Lindsay Ishihiro – $100
At $100, Lindsay Ishihiro will draw you a full-colour bust of a character of person or your choosing, coloured digitally and printed out as a hi-res art print:
Emily Lampson – $100
At $100, Emily Lampson will draw an original black & white commission based on your request, as per the example below:
Emily Lampson – $150
For an additional $50, Emily will draw a full-colour commission for you, done in traditional media or digital and printed out, as per your preference:
An Original Comic Page by Renée Nault ($350)
In this tier, you’ll receive all items found in the Sasquatch Sighting package as well as an original, watercoloured 9.5″ x 14″ page from Renée Nault’s Bones of the Coast story “Sandpipers”, pictured above. Renée’s comic pages typically go for $400 on their own, so this is an excellent and delightful steal. Funds at this tier are split between Renée and the campaign. Thank you, Renée, for this gorgeous contribution!
BOTC is Cloudscape’s most ambitious project to date, and as such we are delighted to think of ways to make it even more ambitious. However, our biggest priority is in ensuring that our incredibly talented artists get the compensation they deserve, so that they can continue to make incredible stories–in this anthology, and the next. As such, our first three stretch goals will be modest, but will ensure that contributors receive further compensation for their time and talents.
Afterwards, we have plans to make our monstrous anthology even more beautiful to behold: including a spot gloss, spot foil, additional postcards, and even a hardcover edition! We’ll be releasing these stretch goals, and more, as the funding progresses.
The anthology is 100% completed and edited, and the stories are ready to go pending funding.
The biggest challenge for this anthology is the funding itself. While Cloudscape has years of experience and seeks to promote & support independent cartoonists in whatever way it can, this will be the first Cloudscape anthology to offer its creators a page rate. This is CRUCIAL as artists simply cannot make time for dedicated, beautiful comics without the funding to do so.
That said, our $29,200 funding goal ($22K USD) is very much on par (and even slightly below) most successfully crowdfunded comic anthologies, and we’re confident that with our stunning line-up of comics, we’ll be able to hit that goal. We hope to bring you the best anthology possible through exciting stretch goals!
Thank you tremendously for your support and encouragement, and we hope that you love Bones of the Coast as much as we do!