Home › Comics › Creating Comics › Renegade Arts Entertainment: Adapting its Comics Publishing in Changing Times

Renegade Arts Entertainment: Adapting its Comics Publishing in Changing Times

By downthetubes Guests on July 19, 2020

Art from the Renegade Arts Entertainment project Necromantic

Operating from the Rocky Mountains in Canada, though members of the team are working from many different countries, Renegade Arts Entertainment publishes a variety of comics titles, including several from British creators. Lately, in response to the changing economic landscape brought about by the Coronavirus Pandemic, the company has accelerated its experimentation in different ways to publish its projects – including crowdfunding.

Publisher Alexander Finbow kindly gave us permission to utilise comments made in a post first made on LinkedIn discussing their first Kickstarter project, Necromantic…

Linkedin is a platform that I often forget about. It’s not the platform for connecting with family, friends, customers or colleagues. It is useful for connections with certain business associates, and that’s generally what I’ve used the platform for.

I realise it’s also a platform for discussing business ideas, though for me at least, those discussions are usually held in private. So, as we are all forced to experiment our way out of Covid-19, I’ve decided to use Linkedin to think about why, after 11 years in traditional comic and book publishing, we’re using crowdfunding for two of our books. Not to raise the capital to publish them, but to raise awareness as they come to market.

First up, have a look at the Kickstarter campaign for Necromantic: a love story disguised as a supernatural action thriller, proving that not even death is enough to stop true love, written by Lovern Kindzierski with art by Geof Isherwood, David Ross and Chris Chuckry.

Working with Kickstarter to virtually replicate the convention experience with the comic creators, the campaign has now closed and the resulting book is now on sale, and available to order from comic stores.

We usually launch new books at comic conventions, at book and comic store events and support our creators as they do the same. By launching this book through Kickstarter we had the chance to bring you the signed books, prints and merchandise that we can’t supply through stores.

As well as discovering new readers, the hope was that the campaign would bring vital funds to the creators who have lost significant income due to the cancelation of comic conventions.

More than that, more than anything, we were missing the interaction we get with you, the reader, at shows. So this was an experiment to see if we could make that closer connection with you online.

150 people paid to be part of the experience, Necromantic hit 204% of its $$ goal, and there has been increased traffic to our website to find out more.

Our focus now shifts to making those customers feel valued whilst our marketing moves to promote more potential readers to check out the book at comic and book stores.

Alexander Finbow
Publisher

• Necromantic is available from comic stores (Diamond Order Code MAR202070); Renegade; and online retailers, including, soon, AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

COMING SOON: NECROMANTIC

Jesse is a spook. Her latest foreign mission has landed her in a death trap. She saw something she wasn’t supposed to and now her “assignment”, a Warlord, wants her dead. Jesse learns from her boyfriend, Blake, that the warlord knows he is bound for Hell when he dies and his philosophy is it’s best to rule Hell than just be there to suffer. The Warlord has turned to necromancy to build an army of souls to take Hell. Will Jesse and Blake be able to stop him? Or will they join the Warlord’s ranks of hell-bound souls…

Necromantic is a new 144 page graphic novel. An action packed thriller with a steaming-hot love story that not even death can stop.

Written by: Lovern Kindzierski (Shame, Tarzan, Spider-Man) pencil and ink art by Dave Ross (Star Wars, Spider-Man, Catwoman, Punisher) & Geof Isherwood (Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Conan), colour art by Christopher Chuckry (Spider-Man, The Unwritten, Batman) lettering by Taylor Esposito (The Flash, Supergirl, GWAR), edited by Alexander Finbow (Renegade Arts Entertainment).

• Necromantic is available from comic stores (Diamond Order Code MAR202070); Renegade; and online retailers, including, soon, AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

As Publisher, and Director of Operations, it is Alexander Finbow’s responsibility to run the day to day operations at Renegade. Part of that role includes finding authors and artists to work with, figuring out publishing schedules, and working with the distribution, marketing and promotion chains to find readers for our books.

Before moving into publishing, Alexander worked as an actor, writer, director, and producer. He directed the movie 24 Hours In London which became a cult hit around the world, before going on to work with producers in the UK and the US. Amongst his credits, creating the internet comedy show Before I Get a Job ranks as one of his favourites.

His freelance directing career included commercials Microsoft and Vodafone, and films for the UK’s department of education, as well corporate movies for firms on both sides of the Atlantic. As an actor, Alexander worked with people you may have heard of including; Madonna, Alan Parker, Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Ewan McGregor. But he will not reveal any secrets or gossip, ever.

When not running the day to day operations at Renegade, Alexander can be found behind a camera, on a mountain bike trail, or enjoying being alive.