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Crowdfunding Spotlight: The Legend of La Mariposa – Vulcan’s Challenge

By John Freeman on July 18, 2022

The Legend of La Mariposa - Vulcan's Challenge - Cover

Manchester-based, award-nominated comic creator James Lawrence is currently running a Kickstarter for The Legend of La Mariposa – Vulcan’s Challenge, the latest adventure of a plucky, impulsive luchadora, as she fights for justice in a fantasy landscape, inspired by the folklore and culture surrounding the art of Lucha Libre.

In this new, standalone adventure, La Mariposa is summoned to save an old friend from himself, and gets caught up in a contest of champions contained in the crumbling confines of a collapsed coliseum!

Will the purple powerhouse triumph over the odds? Can her friendship survive the challenge? And just what secrets lie behind the Mask of Vulcan?

For those who came in late, like me, La Mariposa is a rookie masked wrestler walking her Road To Glory, the pilgrimage every luchador must undertake as they seek to build their legend in a world of magic, strangeness and buried secrets…

The Road To Glory can take many forms, but for La Mariposa it means helping out whoever she can, however she can.

The Legend of La Mariposa - Vulcan's Challenge - Cast

The Legend of La Mariposa saga is a pulpy, colourful all-ages action series set in a world governed by the traditions and folklore of Lucha Libre. It’s best described as a cross between Nacho Libre and Samurai Jack, with a dash of Steven Universe. You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy it, you just have to like colourful characters, high-energy fight scenes, silly jokes and, above all, heart.

The Legend of La Mariposa - Vulcan's Challenge - Sample Page — *Some sample pages from The Legend of La Mariposa – Vulcan’s Challenge by James Lawrence*

If you like fun, no-holds-barred wrestling comics, then you will adore this – James kindly sent over a preview of the book, the standalone follow up to previous adventures, The Demon Gauntlet and The Climb and Other Stories, available here. The characters, good and bad, have spirit, a sense of depth, and I think you will indeed really care what happens to La Mariposa and friends by the end of the story, because James delivers the story so well.

This is a fun project – do check it out and, if you like what you see, give it your support right here on Kickstarter.

• The Legend of La Mariposa – Vulcan’s Challenge – Kickstarter

• Buy previous collections of The Legend of La Mariposa, and more, here on BigCartel

• Follow James Lawrence on Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.