Ace Kilroy on Kickstarter - FINAL WEEK!

Just thought I'd let everyone know, that my Ace Kilroy Volume 2 Kickstarter campaign is now in its final week! And even though we met our funding goal last week, every dollar we raise over that amount will be used to fund other Ace Kilroy projects, so we want to run up the score as much as we can in these last few days.

So if you were interested in supporting Ace Kilroy, now's the time! Don't delay, and pledge now!

The Ace Kilroy Volume Two Kickstarter campaign can be found by clicking here. Thanks everyone!

Ace Kilroy on Kickstarter!

As some of you have no doubt noticed, I generally keep a pretty big wall up between the Shrine and my webcomic Ace Kilroy. With the Shrine's large daily audience, you'd think it'd be a no-brainer to use it to create more awareness for the strip, but I've always tried to be mindful of that fact that people who come here are looking for Aqua-content, not endless plugs for my other projects.

That being said, I feel compelled to mention now that Ace Kilroy has completed its second season, we are running another Kickstarter campaign to collect it into a print edition, along with other super-cool rewards that are also available. Many of you that I've met through the Shrine have gone on to become Ace Kilroy supporters, and for that I'm extremely grateful. I'm very proud of the strip, and have tons of stories I want to tell in the Ace Kilroy universe, but it won't continue without reader support.

So even if you can't pledge, please spread the word about the campaign, because by helping me with Ace Kilroy, you're helping the Shrine stay, er, afloat.

The Ace Kilroy Volume Two Kickstarter campaign can be found by clicking here. Thanks everyone!

The Aquaman Shrine Thanks...

As you can see from the widget at right, our Ace Kilroy Kickstarter campaign, which ended last week, was a big success! Not only did we reach our goal of 2K, but we smashed it, ending with a little over 4K--meaning we ended up being 200% funded!

Before taking the widget down, I wanted to publicly thank all the members of F.O.A.M. who generously contributed to the effort:

Brent Almond
Jason Motes Bowles
Russell Burbage
Luke Daab
Ray DeForest
Ed & Dina Evans
Andrew Kapellusch
Joe Mello
Glenn Misztal
George Rears
Butch Rosenbaum
The Irredeemable Shag
Steve Spatucci
Sean Tiffany
Glenn Walker

...not only have you all been helpful contributors to The Aquaman Shrine, but you have been instrumental in helping me achieve one of my lifelong creative dreams, and I thank each and every one of you!

Ace Kilroy on Kickstarter!

As most (all?) of regular Aquaman Shrine readers know, last year I and my co-creator/artist pal Dan O'Connor launched our online daily comic strip Ace Kilroy. Starting on October 31, 2011, Ace Kilroy featured daily black and white installments with an extra-large "color supplement" on Sundays, just like the classic American comic strips of the mid-20th Century.

During its initial story arc, Ace Kilroy managed to rack up some nice attention from various news outlets and some great reviews (from places like The Onion A.V. Club, Robot 6, Geekadelphia, Rue Morgue, and more), as well as an Eagle Award nomination for Favorite Web Comic. I'm sure I can speak for Dan when I say we were truly touched at the reaction our efforts got; working on Ace Kilroy has been enormously satisfying and it's been great that so many people enjoy it.

But as anyone even modestly involved in the world of comics knows, putting out an independent comic book--either in print or the web--is a money-losing proposition, unless you get really, really, really lucky. And while a decent amount of luck has fallen in Ace's way, we're still working hard at making the strip successful financially as well as creatively.

To that end, one of the things we're trying is a Kickstarter fundraising campaign, which went live on April 16. We're hoping to raise $2,000.00, and we're already over 50% there in less than one week, which is fantastic. But I would be a fool if I didn't try and maximize every advantage I had to get the word out about Ace Kilroy in general, and the Kickstarter campaign specifically--which is why I'm interrupting the Shrine's normal laser-like focus with this commercial announcement!

The Aquaman Shrine is not, and never has been, a moneymaking proposition. Because I don't own the character (oh, if only...), I cannot take advantage of the numerous, potentially-lucrative merchandising opportunities a blog with the Shrine's large and dedicated audience could have. When I first started the Shrine back in 2006, I had no idea I'd still be doing it six years later, and that it would grow into a multi-platformed brand, and would demand so much of my time, energy and, yes, money, to keep going.

Ace Kilroy is one of the ways I've been trying to come with something I could be proud of (like the Shrine), something I'd love working on (like the Shrine), that could potentially bring in some income (not like the Shrine). So I am asking everyone reading this to at least consider heading over to the Ace Kilroy Kickstarter page and help us reach our goal. Short of that, consider the spreading the word on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed about the strip. By doing so, you'll be helping independent comics, helping me, and helping the Shrine.

Thanks for your attention!

Aquaman Meets Ace Kilroy!

Okay, Aqua-Fans; I'm sure most of you are wondering, who's Ace Kilroy and why is Aquaman saying such nice things about him?

Well, Ace Kilroy is the creation of artist Dan O'Connor and me; he's the titular star of Ace Kilroy, a brand-new online daily comic strip launching today over on AceKilroy.com!

Ace Kilroy is a project Dan and I have been working on for over a year. He and I attended the Joe Kubert School together, and from the beginning I was impressed by the quality of his work: Dan had a crisp, simple style, dynamic but not flashy--perfect for comic books, and I resented the hell out of him for it!

Anyway, over the intervening decades(!), Dan and I lost touch, and then we ran into one another again virtually on Facebook and then in something called Real Life at the 2009 New York Comic Con. Dan was telling me some horror stories (stories I was all too familiar with in my own life as an artist) about doing comic book work, and I was simultaneously angry and bewildered that a guy this talented has had to deal with some at times shady comic book publishers. Little did I realize, but Ace Kilroy was born on the ride home from the con.

Within a couple of months, I had formulated a basic concept of the strip, what it would be, what kind of tone I was aiming for, and I knew Dan would be the perfect artist to bring it to life: he and I are both aficionados of 30s and 40s culture (Americana specifically), and since Ace Kilroy starts off in 1937 and would be steeped in that world, I knew Dan could really sink his artistic teeth into it.

Luckily, he agreed, and within a few weeks we were already working on the strips, having a blast, but with no clear date set when it would officially launch. Since the strip has a prevalent horror theme, I thought October 31--Halloween--would be perfect.

The short of Ace Kilroy is: In 1937, the United States has learned two disturbing facts. One, that supernatural monsters--i.e., vampires, werewolves--are real. Two, the Third Reich, in preparing to start World War II, are trying to take control of these monsters and turn them to the side of the Nazis, making them unstoppable.

President Franklin Roosevelt commissions soldier of fortune, WW I veteran and all-around adventurer Ace Kilroy to head to Transylvania, where there are rumors of some sort of real-life Dracula, and stop whatever nefarious plot is being hatched!

Ace Kilroy will feature adventure, horror, thrills, comedy, political intrigue, and even romance, in (hopefully) the most fun and engaging way possible!


I normally never use the Shrine to pimp my outside projects, but Ace Kilroy is special: I am enormously proud of what we've created so far, and we're going to give it ol' college try in terms of making it a financially viable, ongoing creative project: its nothing less than a daily comic strip, just like the classic adventure strips of old, except Ace Kilroy will appear on the web, not on the back page of a newspaper sandwiched between Ziggy and Mark Trail.

Ace Kilroy will run a black and white strip six days a week, with an extra-sized Color Supplement on Sundays, again like the classic strips of old. Dan and I want to bring back that sense of pure adventuresome fun with the strip, and transport the reader back to a time when the daily adventures of Steve Canyon, Secret Agent X-9, or Dick Tracy were can't-miss, waiting-with-bated-breath-for-the-next-installment affairs for comics fans.

But since the daily newspapers of old are, essentially, gone (the comics pages especially), we're doing it in a very modern way: on the web, with all past strips available with the click of a mouse, with Ace appearing across a wide variety of social media platforms, which will occasionally feature bonus or special side material. Dan and I essentially want to hire ourselves as the artist and writer (respectively) of an daily comic strip...which of course means you!

Not to sound like I'm taking the Shrine hostage or anything, but if we can get enough people to support Ace Kilroy financially, then I can spend more time at home, leaving me the time and ability to subsidize my other, non-profit-generating efforts, like this one. And isn't that what we all want?

So if you're interested in taking a look at Ace Kilroy, and maybe even supporting it, you can do so at the following places, starting off with the official site, where you can learn more about the characters, the creators, and see the first strip:

...and finally, if you like what you see enough to financially support Ace Kilroy, you can visit the Ace Kilroy Fundraising Page on Kickstarter, where you can learn more about the strip, find out what kind of donations you can make, and even watch a short video all about Ace Kilroy. We hope to raise enough money to give Ace (and us!) and a good running start!

Thanks for your attention, Aqua-Fans!



(One last thing, since Ace Kilroy takes place in the 1930s and 40s, that's the Golden Age Aquaman posing with him, and as we all know the GA Aquaman is all about busting bad guys' skulls!)