Karl Kesel (Harley Quinn) and David Hahn (Batman ’66) have launched a Kickstarter for their new superhero comic Impossible Jones at impossiblekickstarter.com.
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Kesel, a veteran in the industry known for his work on Suicide Squad and The Death of Superman, recently reunited with his longtime Superboy collaborator Tom Grummett to revive their 2000 Gorilla Comics series Section Zero on Kickstarter as well. Those books have been arriving to backers this month, and copies of the collected edition were available at Baltimore Comic Con. Now, the writer is moving forward with his next project on the crowdfunding platform.
“She’s a criminal who gets super-powers and is mistaken for a super-hero,” Kesel explained. “So she runs with it! Why not? Comes with some great perks. The problem is she doesn’t want to give up her life of crime, so the trick is to keep up appearances enough to fool everyone. It’s just a lot trickier than she thinks.”
“I call it ‘Grin and Gritty” said Hahn in a statement, describing the books mix of humor and high-stakes.
“Think Harley Quinn meets Plastic Man in a Will Eisner world, with a little Dick Tracy thrown in,” Kesel said. “There’s action and suspense, a bit of a noir feel, and (I’d like to think) some clever, witty patter. Anyone who liked my work on the first Harley Quinn monthly series — ‘Classic Quinn,’ as I call it — chances are very good they’ll like Impossible Jones.”
While Jones is a new character, some of the supporting cast aren’t. “I created Captain Lightning and Polecat back in second grade,” Kesel explained. “Back when I didn’t draw necks on people, and didn’t know ‘Polecat’ was another name for ‘skunk!’ So I decided the character grew up in the city and didn’t know it either — and now he’s stuck with the name!”
As for the “Gritty” side of things, Kesel said that “The first arc’s a revenge story. Jones is out to get payback on whoever shot and tried to kill her. But blocking her way is a very nasty customer called the Saint of Knives. Not a guy who jokes around.”
The Kickstarter is for Impossible Jones #1— a 32-page comic-book with 28 story pages. It’s offered with 3 alternate covers: one by the definitive modern Harley Quinn artist Amanda Conner, another by comics legend Howard Chaykin, and the third by the winner of this year’s Ringo award for Best Cover Artist, Michael Cho.
The Impossible Jones Kickstarter runs through November 8th.
