My buddy Dean Haspiel Launches Kickstarter Campaign for COVID COP

Here's his pitch.

Award-Winning Cartoonist Dean Haspiel Launches Kickstarter Campaign for COVID COP, a New Romance Horror Comic

BROOKLYN, N.Y., March 1, 2023 – Today Emmy Award-winning cartoonist Dean Haspiel launched a Kickstarter campaign for COVID COP, his new romance horror comic book for mature readers.

The campaign kicks off March 1 at kickstarter.com/projects/deanhaspiel/covid-cop.

"A cross between Judge Dredd, Toxic Avenger, Mad Max, and Sin City, COVID COP is my response to a pandemic that never found its cure and has wiped out 98% of mankind," Haspiel says. The story follows a 21st century antihero in Brooklyn who's tasked to save what's left of humanity – and rekindle romance with his ex-wife, Fate Majeure.

Haspiel came up with the idea for COVID COP In 2020, around the same time he conceived and co-curated the Ringo Award-nominated PANDEMIX, which was the first comic book anthology to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I showed COVID COP to several publishers, and it received the same reactions: 'We love your idea, but we can't publish it,'" Haspiel says. "They were scared of how people would respond. I took that as a good sign. A major clue that I'd made something that might truly resonate.'"

Haspiel is best known for creating The Red Hook and Billy Dogma, collaborating with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames, and illustrating for HBO's Bored to Death. His award-winning career includes writing and drawing for Marvel, DC/Vertigo, Archie, Image, and Webtoon.

Billed as a "Dean Haspiel Deep Cut," COVID COP is also influenced by one of Haspiel's favorite cartoonists, Jack Kirby.

"Jack Kirby wanted to connect with readers and melt minds. Go big or go home. For all of his cosmic concepts, he never forgot about the heart of a story. Having fought in World War 2, I believe Kirby's comics were a product of battlefield PTSD. The things he saw. The things he had to do. Kirby was working out the best and the worst of humanity. He questioned the idea of God and then dared to answer it. And that's what art does best."

Along with print and digital editions of the comic, tiered rewards for the Kickstarter campaign include personalized and signed drawings of Covid Cop; a Zoom with Haspiel and surprise guests; a one-on-one comics consultation; and an original 9x12 drawing of any character the supporter chooses.

"This comic is bombastic yet heartfelt and wholly independent," Haspiel says. "An expression of a certain time and space for you and me. Something to cringe yet laugh at."