Robin & Cory here!  We are so UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED to finally be sharing Wavemen with you. 

Cory got the idea for Wavemen when visiting his grandparents in Hawaii.  His mother is from the Big Island, and Cory was raised on a mixture of Western and Eastern myths and legends.

"What if all the legendary heroes I grew up with, like Momotaro, Issunboshi, Kintoki, and Kaguya, were on one big team, working together to solve supernatural problems?"  he thought.  Eight years of work later, with the help of five exceptionally skilled and unique artists, we're getting to answer that question.

The short answer?  AN AMAZING ADVENTURE.

Scroll down for all the details, or check out page samples, interviews, and artist features in the gallery!

Wavemen will be a continuing series.  Episode 1 focuses on our main character, Momotaro, also known as Peach Boy.  In his legend, Momotaro and three animal companions sail to Oni Island, an island full of monsters who have been raiding Momotaro's village.  Momotaro and his friends face down the Oni King, kill all the monsters, and become legends.

Our story starts one year later and explores the question:  "What happens when you send a fifteen-year-old-boy off to kill an island of monsters?"

Momotaro is deeply conflicted over what happened on Oni Island.  Did he become a monster to defeat monsters?  He withdraws from everyone, even his parents, who are desperately trying to reconnect with this solemn stranger so different from the son they remember.  All Momotaro wants is to quietly retire, at age 16, and fade away.

Then a ghost starts haunting his village, killing people one by one, and Momotaro feels called upon to be a hero once more.

He's not sure he can.

This IndieGoGo is to help us complete and print Episode One as a 50+ page, magazine-sized, comic issue, while paying our artists the fair wage they deserve.  The amount of detail they're putting into every single panel is jaw-dropping INCREDIBLE.  This collection will be black-and-white, so you can savor every gorgeous line.

We are paying our artists $125 per page, because we respect their time, effort, and expertise.  They bring their best work to every drawing, and we love them for it!  Please join us in valuing the amazing work they do.  Scroll down past the rewards to meet our team!

Any excess funds will help us start work on Episode 2!

Here's what you'll receive for your contribution!

Cory Childs - Head Writer

Cory Childs is the Editor in Chief of Moko Press and the Head Writer of Wavemen.  He enjoys history and mythology, and has embraced the challenge of weaving them together for this tale of Japanese legends and fantastic adventure.  This story has been his passion project for the past eight years, and he’s pleased to finally be sharing it with the world. 

Robin Childs - Co-Writer

Robin is a storyteller, illustrator, editor, creative coach, former engineer, and incurable eccentric.  She's been making comics since 2002.  Her first project was completed in 2010, totalling 800 pages, and she managed to last an entire two weeks before she dove into a new comic epic, LeyLines, for which she's published three books, with a fourth on the way!  Robin is also a member of the Webcomic Alliance, where she publishes articles and podcasts with her fellow WA characters...uh, creators.  (In truth, we're both.)  She's SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED about Wavemen that sometimes she's a little concerned that she MIGHT EXPLODE but so far detonations have been minor and with minimal property damage.  She hopes that you come to share in her enthusiasm (but not the explosions, for the sake of your neighborhood's windows).

Jonas McCluggage - Cover artist and interior artist, Episode 1

Jonas draws comics a bunch and wears the same clothes everyday. He travels a lot but right now he's in Pittsburgh. Shout out to his road dogs, couch surfers, shock rats, and dear mother.  Follow his work on Tumblr.

Jackarais THE GREAT - Interior artist, Episode 1

Jackarais is a Canadian comic artist that likes dogs and has bad fashion sense. He rides bikes and explores and sings too loud.  His current project is a webcomic about a lost cyborg in the apocalypse, called Bicycle Boy.  You can see more of his work at dA and tumblr.

Joel Mercer - Interior artist, Episode 1

Joel Mercer is a published graphic-novelist and freelance illustrator based in the UK. After a 7 year hiatus, he returned to art in 2007 attaining a Masters in Illustration from the prestigious University College Falmouth. Alongside the development of his next book publication, Alice’s Adventures in Steamland, Joel is also a University lecturer in the subject of illustration.

Sarah Becan - Cover artist, Episode 2

Sarah Becan is a comics artist, author, illustrator and designer based in Chicago, and the creator of “I Think You’re Sauceome”, a food-centric autobiographical webcomic.

Khavy Tran - Interior artist, Episode 2

Bear enthusiast and art mercenary from Toronto, Khavy Tran has worked in film, comics, graphic design and illustration, doing everything from art direction and scriptwork to hand-painted signs and mural painting. Khavy has a vested interest in the intersectionality of feminism, representation, queer rights, racial diversity and global philosophies in her work, particularly as someone who is queer herself and first generation immigrant Vietnamese-Canadian. Khavy seeks to create engaging works that comment on the world around her and provoke thought as well as educate, represent and entertain.

You can find her at khavytran.tumblr.com, byz-antium.tumblr.com, or @byzantiuum on instagram and @khavytran on Twitter.

A NOTE TO ARTISTS

If you'd like to join our team as an artist for a future episode, please see our application page here! Artists of Japanese descent actively encouraged to apply!

The script is done and currently we have completed 23 of a total of 50 comic pages.  We have a strong and established working relationship with all of our artists and are confident that they will stay true to their commitments.   

Cory & Robin have successfully printed three books for Robin's LeyLines series already, so we're very comfortable with the process of creating and distributing books. 

This project will take some time.  There is a limit to how fast any artist can create a gorgeous piece of artwork, especially when many of our artists are also juggling day-jobs.  You can keep up-to-date with our progress by joining our bi-weekly mailing list, where we'll share with you every step forward that we make!

Thank you for taking the time to explore our project.  We hope you're just as excited by this story as we are!

We know that not everyone has the budget right now to contribute in a monetary way, but we would deeply appreciate it if you could share this project with your friends! 

We're so excited to be creating this comic and we can't wait for you all to see it.  Thanks so much for sharing in our joy and enthusiasm for Wavemen!

Additional Credits

Logo Designed by Dawn Griffin of Dawn Griffin Studios