Two high concept comics wrap up on Kickstarter this month. They both sound terrific and possibly stand-alone despite being the latest volumes in their respective series. Kodoja offers a terrifying kaiju story while Three Protectors carries a heavy 1970s Hong Kong cinema vibe. Together, in the words of the Invader Comics press release, they’re a “Kick-Ass Kung-Fu and Kaiju Double Feature.”
Kodoja follows the DNA of the earliest of kaiju movies, calling out Gojira and Rodan specifically. These kinds of monster stories have slowly drained of their original menace, though Toho absolutely brought it roaring back in Godzilla Minus One. Writer Keith Foster collaborates with artists Will Perkins, Tony Gregori, and Carlo Romero for a near-apocalyptic combination of kaiju, mecha, and Lovecraft. It’s the fourth volume in the Kodoja series, but Invader Comics vows it makes sense on its own.
For the Kung-Fu portion of the double feature, Three Protectors is volume 2. It sounds as much Mortal Kombat as Shaw Brothers movies, but then, that videogame franchise owes a lot to the latter. Invader Comics describes it as
Intergalactic Kung-Fu gods have kidnapped masters from across the galaxy with one purpose: all-out war! The prize? The collective Kung-Fu knowledge of the entire universe.
Artist Jhomar Soriano collaborates with Foster on Three Protectors, and if it strikes your fancy, you can purchase both books with special VHS-style covers. This is a double feature after all.
“I’ve always loved this kind of cult classic cinema,” says writer and creator, Keith Foster, “and there’s no better way to take these stories to the next level than within the pages of acomic book. We don’t have to worry about budgets, safety equipment or special effects–we just create the best damn stories we can and let them come alive in readers’ minds. I couldn’t have done any of this without my incredible creative partner Rory Smith who helped me launch both series, and now we’re bringing them home with a jam-packed creative line-up to capture the magnitude of these stories.”
For anyone trying to break into comics, it’s daunting just getting noticed. Case in point — and I’ve triple-checked myself — Invader Comics. This publisher has been around a while, and their catalog looks solid and interesting. Yet I’ve never seen any of these books before. If I travel, I find a comic shop and ask what they have that isn’t widely known. I cover Comic-Con International and WonderCon, as well as occasional other conventions when possible, and somehow I’ve missed them. But they did just sell three volumes of Kodoja to me so I can be ready for this fourth.
Fanboy Planet is not affiliated with Kickstarter nor Invader Comics. We are affiliated with Amazon, Super7, and other online vendors. Purchases made through links on this and other pages MAY generate revenue for this site.
