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Issue #1 - The Great Pasture Mart
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POTus Letter (Prologue Letters For Each Issue) You can view the letter in its full size here.
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Series Summary![]()
The Nobodies is a series that focuses on what would happen after an apocalypse that provides no physical catastrophic event. Instead of focusing on an external threat such as - zombies, asteroids, cyborgs, electrolyte-laden crops; billions of people have their souls purged in an event known as 'The Rapture'. The story takes place 20 years after the rapture, Iggy is thrown into this world with no memory of it. As he struggles to survive among the scavengers, Nobody slave traders, Nobody worshippers, marijuana bartering, and the POTus (see below); he has to figure out the mystery behind his memory loss. On this journey towards discovery, other larger dangers and questions are thrown his way. Can he survive it all and unlock the mystery behind his memory loss and the Nobodies before it's too late?
Issue Summary
Iggy wakes up in a harsh world where people have lost all cognition and emotion. He has no memory of how he came to be in Buffalo, NY of all places. Kidnapped, he discovers the brutalities of the world quickly. Scavenger groups murder for pleasure, his kidnappers have no regard for those left behind. Can he survive his first days and figure what is happening in this dispiriting world around him?
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John Vinson - Writer/Creator
The Nobodies is my first comic book project, but I’ve been a longtime comic book fan. Along with comics I’m just a huge fan of storytelling, and enjoy - books, movies, television, and video games. Given the opportunity I’d like to work in every storytelling medium. When it comes to comics, Brian Azzarello and Joe Kelly are major recent influences in my craft. Also, I’d read anything written by Jonathan Hickman. Within the old guard, I’m a Denny O’Neil, Frank Miller, and Harvey Pekar fan.
I’m a lifelong student of philosophy and enjoy fiction that dives deep into various aspects of humanity. Below, I’ll explain more of the influences regarding The Nobodies.
Ger Curti - Pencils/Inks
Ger Curti is a comic book artist based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His work has appeared in the two times nominated horror anthology Chillers, published by Transfuzion and Troma Films. He also worked in titles such as Legends of Steel Creek, Clown Fight and Stemsell, and the anthologies Tall Tales From the Badlands II and Ignition, from 215 Ink. He´s also a frequent collaborator of Terminus, a comic magazine published in his country. You can follow his work at: http://otisinhell.deviantart.com/ http://gercurti.blogspot.com.ar/ https://www.facebook.com/ger.curti or contact him at: gcurti@live.com.ar
Ariel Iacci - Greyscale
Ariel Iacci was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 28th 1975. He studied sequential art in Garaycochea Art school in Buenos Aires. His first published work was the short story "Lost Dreams", written by Kevin Clorey, for the Canadian anthology book "Dreams in texture" in 2005. Since then, Ariel have been working for several publishers drawing comics and illustrating children's books. He also worked as an inker and colorist.
Steven Forbes - Editor
Steven Forbes was born and raised on Long Island, NY. He is the writer of the weekly columns Bolts & Nuts and The Proving Grounds at ComixTribe.com. Follow his irregular postings on Twitter @stevedforbes.
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100% of the funding will go towards the publishing and printing of The Nobodies. The creation of the book is done, so even the lowest perk will come with a PDF copy of the comic, which will be sent immediately! The next step I need help funding is printing the comic. I’ve included a large variety of perks, since I know people have a diverse set of interests. So there are digital perks, print perks, swag perks, and higher end interests. I want to make sure there are levels for everyone!
Below is a breakdown of the funding, with the majority going towards the payment made to the creative team and printing.
Funding Breakdown
Creative Team - $2000
Printing/Shipping & Perks - $1,200
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The Nobodies story idea began nearly four years ago, after listening to Dancing Days by Led Zeppelin, of all songs. Like a lot of ideas in their infancy, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. Creating a “non-apocalyptic” end of the world tale. One where there is no external threat; i.e - zombies, aliens, nuclear winter. Instead I wanted to tell a story where people simply lost their humanity. What if the majority of the people in the world simply ceased being human? What would we be left with? Would the minority left behind become peaceful? War-like? Would the people left even want to remain? How would the minority left behind treat those who had lost their humanity? These questions and thoughts were the basis for the story behind The Nobodies. Another heavy influence for the themes of the story came from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Running with my non-apocalypse theme, I wanted to litter my world with interesting concepts and characters. With Iggy being the character we all see this different world through. I then crafted a story that saw Iggy being connected to this world in unusual ways, with his past being a central mystery to the tale. As you can see by the cover above, marijuana plays a factor in the world of The Nobodies. The story takes place 20 years after the initial event, “the Rapture”, which saw billions of people lose their humanity overnight. Instead of focusing directly on the event, I wanted to focus the story on a society rebounding from the event. Marijuana plays a key factor in society's recovery.
After developing the initial ideas behind the story, I set out to write the script. It was definitely a trying and learned experience, all helped by the editorial skills of Steven Forbes. You can read about Steven above in the creative team section. He not only helped with editing the script for The Nobodies but helped me with other aspects of the project. He has an extensive knowledge base when it comes to developing a comic book project, and his guidance was invaluable.
Ger Curti was an easy find. I sent out feelers to various places, and the moment I saw Ger’s work, I knew he was a perfect fit for The Nobodies. Ger took the script I had written and created a wonderfully dark, and imaginative world. Coupled with Ariel’s greyscale work, both artists brought The Nobodies to life the way I had in my mind for years.
Upon completion, I released the comic book as a PDF. After a couple of months it released on Comixology, where it has 4 Stars on five reivews. It received good sales, and the critics enjoyed it as you can tell from the reviews below. The next step was to print the book and sell physical copies. This step was definitely the biggest struggle. I reached out to some publishers and found one I made a deal with, however, they fell through before the book could be printed. This campaign, and in turn you, is how I wanted to fund the printing in the first place. I’ve always liked the idea of crowd-funding, there’s something about people actively supporting a concept and being a part of making it happen that feels so refreshing. No matter how much you donate, you’ll be helping complete a project that has been years in the making, and I can’t thank you enough.
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"Vinson and the other creators have put together something truly intriguing here, and a title I’m looking forward to reading more of as soon as it becomes available.” - BigComicPage.com
"John and his team have an interesting gem on their hands. Page by page John displays a solid grasp of comic book story telling that made it a joy to read. The choice of revealing Iggy’s identity late was smart and John’s display of suspense building and establishing mystery along with using clues given to strengthen his story were phenomenal. John has much potential in the world of comics. Ger’s artwork has a bit of grime that resembles what I would expect of The Walking Dead which adds a flair of filth needed to truly get our cast. Easily this comic is a must read for comic fans and while it won’t change the medium it is exactly the kind of story that is missing; an honest, throat grabbing draw into an unknown world." - ImpulseGamer
"I think Vinson made a good choice in getting all the ideas out there and hoping he can intrigue readers with some of the notions he’s come up with. It’s got me interested in seeing more. Now it will be a matter of seeing how the creative team can develop and explore these ideas as they build the story and further flesh out the world they’ve introduced." ComicsSpectrumDigital
Here is what various reader reviews of the digital version have said:
"Hey just purchased and read The Nobodies comic, I love the artwork and the story line is very interesting."
"Orision is a good read I loved it along with The Nobodies which has a unique storyline!"
"I personally liked The Nobodies as well great comic John!"
A Q&A, providing more insight into the comic book, you can find the website here
Set in the future, The Nobodies is about a man named Iggy who wakes up in a garage, attached to all sorts of medical equipment. He wanders outside into a different world than he saw last. Lifeless people known as the Nobodies roam the streets. Iggy runs into a group of survivors who explain to him what is going on. What follows is action, mystery, and suspense and some dark humor. The concept sounds familiar, but Vinson and artist Ger Curti put a great amount of detail into the world Iggy now inhabits. Vinson also peppers the comic book with storytelling that will get you talking.
The first thing I had to ask Vinson about was the cover. The one with the giant marijuana leaf on it. It definitely is an eye catcher and is one of the things that makes the comic stand out.
Here is my interview with John Vinson. Enjoy!
Steve Hash: You look at the cover here and right off the bat, amongst the great artwork is a giant marijuana leaf...
John Vinson: (Laughs) Yeah, There it is. It's pretty apparent.
SH: One question that comes to mind is the comic being used in anyway, even in small ways, to comment on politics of marijuana?
JV: Um, not the politics really. It's basically... the marijuana aspect, it's a part of this world now in a different way than we know of. Because in this world, there is no law. There is nothing to say that marijuana is wrong. There is nothing to say that this is wrong or that is wrong. Which, you know, is pretty standard with any post apocalyptic tale. I guess the marijuana for me was the way to say, without the law to say that this is wrong, it could just as easily become a staple of society as it could be seen as detrimental. You know like alcohol! Alcohol is a part of our society. It's legal. There are bars. There are places you can go to drink this alcohol.
SH: Well even alcohol was illegal at one point....
JV: Even that was illegal! Right? They turned that around... it is so arbitrary in a lot of ways. But in this world, marijuana is actually a currency. I don't really dive into a lot of that in the first issue. I think the only marijuana use in issue one is Tom and Dr. Edeman smoke a joint and pass it back and forth with each other. But you'll see more of it as the book goes on. That is just kinda the details of the world I wanted to establish. Marijuana is very prevalent. Everyone smokes it. Everyone is fine with it. It has become a part of society.
SH: Do politics in general even enter into the the theme of the comic?
JV: Politics some. It's not the main drive of the book. There are going to be a couple of storylines later on in the book... it is a seven issue miniseries. So I think around issue three or four, there is going to be a little more politics involved. I don't want to dive into that too much, but it does get somewhat involved but nothing heavy handed really.
SH: So how did this idea come to you? Where did the story come from?
JV: Actually, it was started by two things. First would be a book called The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I highly recommend it. To me it is the greatest piece of fiction ever and there is a chapter in the book where they talk about humanity and the loss of it. One of the chapters in that book is called "The Devil. Ivan's Nightmare.' One of the characters, whose name is Ivan, has a hallucination of Satan. It talks about how Satan uses out aspects of humanity against us. That was kind of what drove me to write this book because the essence is about humanity. What makes us human. What are the negative things that makes us human? What are the positive things? If you take that all away, what are you left with?
SH: That is fascinating. Was this always going to be a comic book? Or did you have something else in mind?
JV: Yeah it was always going to be a comic book. It's funny another inspiration was Led Zeppelin's "Dancing Days." That is where I got the idea that I didn't want to do zombies because to me... I didn't want the threat to be the undead. I didn't want it to be something supernatural.
SH: That actually was going to be a question I had. Where did the idea for the Nobodies themselves come from?
JV: It came from when I was actually listening to "Dancing Days." It's weird, it actually came when I was listening to music. It didn't come to me when I was reading a story, or watching a movie, or watching a television show. It happened while I was listening to this song. It made me think, the Dancing Days: You are having fun and it's free spirited, all these positive emotions. What would happen if all these emotions got taken away? All the emotions gone from a person. Like what if I am sitting across from a person. You know, I am not sad or happy or angry. I am just sitting here. Nothing is looking back at you.
SH: It almost would be traumatizing.
JV: Exactly! It is! Funny you say that because part of that comes into play too about how people react to the Nobodies when the Rapture happens which is the event that they call it in the book.
SH: You said that there are seven issues, are we ever going to see the actual "rapture" happen? It's mentioned obviously.
JV: No. This takes place 20 years after the event.
SH: So might we see flashbacks or anything like that?
JV: There might be flashback maybe. I think most of the flashbacks if they happen are going to be mentioned in the POTUS letter. Whoever has read the comic and seen the POTUS letter at the beginning, he actually is a character in the comic and he will talk about it and flesh out the world a little more. I have a couple of ideas for flashback stories later on. For the most part, I am not going to dive too much into the details. I am going to focus more on the world as it is now.
SH: So you come up with the idea of the comic, how did you go about funding it? Because self starting your own comic book has become a thing here lately. How did the process go?
JV: A lot of savings. A lot of... praying. (Laughs). Let me tell you one thing about comic making is that it is very expensive.
SH: Really? What's the ballpark figure on making one?
JV: Well if you don't do the art yourself, and you find a competent artist and a competent inker. Without coloring, $1,500 to $2,000. And that is if you are doing a single issue, which is usually 20-22 pages. For me it was pencils, inks, and grayscale.
SH: You planned for the no color then?
JV: Yeah. That decision wasn't made from the funding. It was made because I didn't think the story required color. I didn't think color would help it. It is not a very vibrant world. Like when you are reading Superman. You wouldn't want to read a black and white Superman book. To me, a lot of stories don't require color. I did grayscaling because I wanted to give it more depth. I looked at the inks and there just wasn't a depth on the pages. I gave it a little bit of gray scale just to kind of give the world a bit more layer to it.
SH: So who is the artist? How did you hire them?
JV: I put out a advertisement for this website called Digital Webbing (www.digitalwebbing.com). I highly recommend it if you are ever looking for artists. If you ever post there, you'll receive hundreds of postings there and they all want to work for you of course. So I posted it there, and I was going through the submissions and right off the bat you can just see... you know (shakes his head no)... and some people are good but they just don't fit your style. But with Ger (Curti, the artist for the Nobodies), it's funny in that you don't think with an artist that there is going to be so much back and forth, but you really want someone to get the gist of your book. So it was down between him and a couple of other artists and so I talked to each of them and kinda got their take on the book and if they were into it or not. But Ger and I clicked together right off the bat.
SH: Was it his art that just popped right out at you?
JV: Oh yeah! When you send out advertisements for these artists on the website, they'll send you something right back that they have worked on. Most of it is stuff that you know won't work at all but with Ger's stuff, I couldn't get it out of my head. You know, it is like with anything artistic that you like, it clicks. You don't think about it too much. It just works.
SH: So where is the story going to go? Is it going to go worldwide? Because in the first issue here, it pretty much stays in Buffalo, NY for the most part. Do you see it go to somewhere like London? Could we see this from a worldwide perspective?
JV: This actually is a tough question to answer. I can't give specifics because a lot of the places that Iggy and the other characters travel to are actually part of the story. So I don't wanna give away any of the story but I can tell you it definitely expands beyond Buffalo. I can give you a little more insight into the next issue. What's going to happen is that there is going to be a lot of violence in the next issue. A lot of movement in terms of things that are going to happen to the characters. So it is going to be... the second issue is going to be much more action packed. It definitely gets bigger that is for sure.
SH: So what is next? You said that there is seven issues but what is next after you finish this run? You got any other comics planned out ot any other ideas?
JV: I do have a couple of ideas for sure...
SH: What kind of genre you thinking about doing?
JV: Superheroes. I can say that. It's funny though. As hard as it is just to get one issue done, I can't even fathom.... unless this takes off where I can do it full time... fathom what the next series is going to be. But I do have some ideas to keep things going beyond The Nobodies that is for sure.
SH: Cool thanks very much.
JV: Thank you!