Marty is stuck at his dead-end job at Burger Lord and the last 15 years have passed him by. What happens when he accidentally steals a supernatural weapon from an insane cult full of violent lunatics, led by a monster in human form? Will his manager and best friend Bernice roll her eyes and fire him? Will hopeful employee Alison get roped into Marty’s unholy troubles? Will cashier Sonja just make out with her boyfriend Rat Blood in the parking lot and miss all the excitement?
That’s the pitch for TRVE KVLT, a four-issue series by writer Scott Bryan Wilson (“Batman: Gotham Nights”), artist Liana Kangas (“She Said Destroy”), colorist Gab Contreras and letterer DC Hopkins that launched today and is already fully funded on Kickstarter.
Some pitches you can’t say no to. So we asked Kangas and Wilson to tell us more about their book, their plans and what a virtual night out for burgers with them would entail.
First off, the pitch for this comic is rad AF. What’s the origin story for TRVE KVLT? When was the idea conceived, and how did the team assemble?
We (Scott and Liana) had done a story together for “The Good Fight” anthology, and we were talking on the phone one day and Liana mentioned she wanted to draw a heist book. Scott said, “Well I just so happen to have this fucking weird Satanic heist pitch I’ve been working on” and we slowly started building the project from there. Later, when we had pages in, Liana brought Gab Contreras—who colors most of Liana’s creator-owned work these days—and Scott brought DC Hopkins on to letter.
Have you ever worked a job in fast food, and if so, got any good nightmare stories?
Scott did a bid in fast food in high school, and there will be nightmare stories from those days published as back matter for each issue of TRVE KVLT; the one in #1 is revolting and hilarious. With a revolving door of low-cost labor and no one having any reason to give a fuck or try and do a good job, it’s obviously fertile ground for lots of stories of depravity and hilariousness. Liana’s personal experiences being a sandwich artist in a food court of other fast food chains still haunts her to this day. I think she’s channeling those experiences into her work.
What makes TRVE KVLT a Kickstarter project vs. pitching it to a publisher?
We had interest from several publishers—no kidding—a week before COVID hit and lockdowns started. We kept making the comic, finishing the first issue, and then as the comics industry slowly started getting back on its feet, we realized from what we were hearing from publishers that we’d be looking at at least a year before TRVE KVLT could be in the readers’ hands, so we went with Kickstarter, which was something we’d always talked about as a likelihood/possibility anyway.
As of Tuesday night – before the Kickstarter had even officially launched – you were about halfway to goal. What do you do for an encore? How do you keep that momentum up for a month?
Not going to sleep, I’m guessing! This is the first Kickstarter for either of us, so we’ll see. Our nerves were rough before launch and we both wanted to vomit into the abyss, so we’re obviously thrilled at the reception in these early days.
In addition to the traditional comics building blocks of writer, artist, colorist, letterer, etc., you’ve got a marketer on the team. How does having Jazzlyn Stone built in to the KS change how you folks are doing things?
We are both too busy making comics to do the job of prepping and running a Kickstarter (on top of marketing the book itself) by ourselves, so we brought in some outside help, and she’s been a dream to work with. A big challenge for indie comics these days—since there are so many comics on the stands you’re competing with, and you’re also competing with every comic, movie and book ever released—is finding an audience and spreading the word. Jazzlyn is crucial to this book, allowing us to focus on making TRVE KVLT as insane and weird and funny as it can be.
On the subject of backer rewards, what kind of a delightfully hot mess can someone who backs at the Zoom burger dinner tier expect?
You, the backer: Zooming with us from a Wendy’s parking lot, crushing a Baconator. Scott: Zooming with you from a Shake Shack parking lot, crushing a double Shack burger. Liana: Zooming with you from a McDonald’s parking lot, crushing a large fry and double Diet Coke.
Are there plans for physical editions of the other three issues, or perhaps a collection?
First, we just wanted to get the story out and find its audience. Let’s see how the Kickstarter goes. But eventually, yes, a trade paperback collecting this book in all its greasy glory is the goal.
Liana, are you still itching to do that Drunk History but for comics podcast?
Hell yeah! That podcast is done and soon to be released—especially a TRVE KVLT specific episode, but both Matt Emmons, my cohost, and I didn’t want to steal the show away from TK, which is over a year in the making!
Back TRVE KVLT on Kickstarter.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
