Pariah...It's Not a Person, It's an Entire Town!

It's our 100th post, so we thought we'd do something a little different...

..instead of presenting a classic Western comics tale, we'd look at an upcoming one!

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know of my love for cross-genre Westerns, either horror/fantasy or sci fi like Space Western, Wander, or Original Ghost Rider, and this upcoming series looks like a worthy addition to the oeuvre.

It's currently being presented on KickStarter to get financing for production and printing.

Here's what the creators say about the project...

1857.  

Pariah, Missouri is a riverboat boom-town and a haven for the unscrupulous.

The charismatic Hy Buchanan works undercover as a foppish cheat, and creates a rag-tag team to ferret out evil, both the corruption of man and the supernatural.

His first challenge is the arrival of a duo of thespians, whose intentions are not to entertain.

Pariah Missouri is a western (set right before the Civil War) with a supernatural twist.

Think of it as Deadwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

It leans on mysticism and folk-magic and if you enjoy settings that are heavily researched with complex characters this is for you! 

Our first story will be four 22-page issues.

This Kickstarter campaign focuses on the production of the first two issues printed as one double-sized issue (~50 pages).

Currently issue one is completed and we are in the middle of finishing issue two, which is on schedule for the end of December.

After this campaign, the team is scheduled to complete issues three and four by spring of 2013 and begin additional story lines in Pariah.

This is more than one story, this is the beginning of a rich world that is being created, and YOU get to be a part of it!

Illustrator Jose Pescador has a gritty, semi-realistic style well-suited to the genre (both Western and supernatural).

The art has a European comics "feel", giving it a kool Lt Blueberry/Lucky Luke look...

Multi-talented writer (and probably layout artist) Andres Salazar served as an assistant to Howard Chaykin when he wasn't doing stand-up comedy or filmmaking.

Trivia: This was a TV series proposal that, unfortunately, didn't sell, so writer Salazar decided to make it into a graphic novel.
Ironically, if it sells well (and I hope it does), it could be optioned as a TV series or feature film!

Judging from the 20-page sample available HERE, both the storytelling and rendering are easily on a par with the material from the big companies. (In fact, it looks better than some of the stuff the biggies are currently offering!)

It's well-worth checking out HERE, and there are some really nice benefits if you contribute.