THIS WEEK IN KICKSTARTER COMICS (1/24/22)

 Another week, another crop of Kickstarter campaigns to support. Check out these four new and upcoming comics that are definitely worth a look. 

Another Reason to Smile: A short miniseries by Javier Cruz Winnik

In the spinoff comic to the "A Reason to Smile!" series, Kwame Dada gets the spotlight and endures a battle with self-worth.

Back in 2014, I self-published my very first book, "A Reason to Smile! Vol.1," hoping to bring a positive example of Puerto Rican people to pop culture! Luiza Brillante was brought to life and she has since starred in 3 books which have helped to reinforce the idea that we all bring something amazing to the world. Along the way, Luiza's supporting cast, her friends and family, were introduced. We got to meet Mami and Papi, her brother Luis, and her friends Taina, Josephine, Yuen and Quentin. But I realized I didn't want my supporting cast to just be supporters. I wanted them to be in the spotlight and have the chance to be supported as much as they can support their friends. With this new series, each of Luiza's friends will be getting their own 8-page short story in which they deal with a personal issue and come out the other side, not with a solution, but with an experience that can help them continue to put one foot in front of the other and be the best kids, they can be!

The Dancer #1 & 2: A Psychological Martial Arts Thriller by Kat Calamia – launching 1/24

Twitter: @ComicUno 

A dancer/assassin is forced to deal with her childhood trauma of witnessing her parents' deaths.

“They Call Her...The Dancer” is a story that focuses on the beauty and brutality of dance and martial arts, delving into the morally gray psyche of a professional dancer and assassin. Dance is seen as beautiful, but many don’t think about the pain that is done to one’s body to truly be a dancer. Martial arts are thought of as violent because it’s a form of “fighting,” but there’s also a dance-like quality to this work of art. Once you dig deeper, the reader will quickly realize that “The Dancer” is actually a story about mental health. Mia is forced to face her own childhood trauma of witnessing her parents’ murder when she becomes the enemy that she once dedicated her life to fight against. “The Dancer” is a morally gray story that shows that good and evil aren’t so black and white.

 

The Adept #2 by Tasha Huo – launching 1/25

Twitter: @Tasha3point0

In the return of this epic Shaolin series, Amy deals with the fallout after the mysterious attack on international popstar Sasha True.

The Adept is about Amy, a young Chinese-American woman with a troubled past, now returning home years later to reset her relationship with Ali, the younger sister she left behind. As we pick up the story in issue 2, Amy is overwhelmed with questions and determined to figure out the motives of the mysterious, terrorist organization known as The Wheel. What did they want with Sasha? What does it have to do with the Shaolin monk? And why did they pull Amy into all of this? Most importantly, Ali is even more estranged, once again questioning whether she can trust her older sister.

Area 51: The Helix Project #1-4 by Trevor Lenkiewicz, Marcelo Salaza,  Marcio Luis Freire, and Taylor Esposito

Haunted by the death of his father, a child of two worlds gets dragged into the extraterrestrial conspiracy of The Helix Project.

Kent Armstrong passes for human during his day-to-day life, resenting every moment of it. He despises the very thing that makes him special, living his life by the standards of a dead man. When Kent is contacted by the mysterious, M, his life gets turned upside down. With the ghosts of his past hot on his trail and his sense of identity falling apart at the seams, he'll have to figure out what's worth fighting for and what's not. Meanwhile, how does the secret government Helix Project factor into all this? Take the journey with Kent and find out.