For years, Spike Trotman has been a leading light not only of independent comics publishing, but also crowdfunded comics publishing, to the point of being named as one of the initial wave of “thought leaders” for crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2017. With her latest project, Trotman is expanding the reach of her company Iron Circus Comics with a new multimedia campaign.
Trotman is partnering with cartoonist Tracy Butler and animator Fable Siegel for a crowdfunding campaign based on Butler’s successful webcomic Lackadaisy, with the ambition to create an animated short based on the strip, accompanied by a collection of artwork and never-before-published mini-comics featuring the property.
Debuting online in 2006, Lackadaisy centers around a speakeasy of the same name in St. Louis during the Prohibition era, frequented by the usual bunch of tough guys, crooked cops and femme fatales — except that each and every one is, literally, a cat.
“I’ve presented Lackadaisy strictly as comic panels and speech bubbles since its inception, but the story has all this time been playing out in my head like an animated film,” said Butler in a statement about the project. “It’s a side effect, perhaps, of a childhood nourished on Looney Tunes, Disne, and Don Bluth features, but I’ve been dreaming of sharing that living, breathing, musical version of it with readers and newcomers alike for so long.”
The campaign is seeking to raise $85,000 across its six-week run, although stretch goals exist through the $150,000 mark. Lackadaisy is Iron Circus Comics’ 24th Kickstarter project, with 21 already fulfilled and completed, and the rest currently in progress.
More information about Lackadaisy and the campaign can be found here.
