Kickstarter: Echoes From the Drift 2!

Above: Jenni and Zayf, the stars of the comic series, Echoes From the Drift by Craig Petersen. Copyright Craig Petersen 2017.

Echoes From the Drift, the sci-fi comic series by Craig Petersen, continues with a brand new Kickstarter campaign for issue #2! After the successful funding of Echoes From the Drift #1, the story continues as dimension-jumpers Jenni and Zayf find themselves stranded in a post-apocalyptic city under attack. Some of the city inhabitants look familiar, but will they help of hinder our heroes' chances of survival? The only way to find out is to support this Kickstarter by pre-ordering Echoes From the Drift #2!

If you like sci-fi fantasy movies with an 80's vibe - think The Terminator mixed with Guardians of the Galaxy, then you're love Echoes From the Drift.

Above: Artwork from Echoes From the Drift #1 by Craig Petersen. Copyright Craig Petersen 2017.

With the success of the first Kickstarter for Echoes From the Drift, Craig Petersen has proven he can deliver a top-notch comic book and deliver some great rewards for his backers. If you'd like to pre-order issue #2 and missed issue #1, don't worry - there's a combo pack available in the rewards. You can also upgrade for some awesome rewards like an art print, or an original sketch, or even a page of original artwork from the book!

Check out the full Kickstarter campaign for Echoes From the Drift 2 HERE, and all the great reward options available. I also did a review of Echoes From the Drift #1, that you can read HERE. The printing goal for #2 of $5062 is over the half way point now, with 15 days to go, so make sure you show your support and pre-order Echoes From the Drift 2 today!

- AK!

REVIEW: Echoes From The Drift by Craig Petersen

Above: Promotional artwork for Echoes From The Drift by Craig Petersen. Copyright Craig Petersen 2017.

In the mid-90s I discovered Southern Tribe, a sci-fi comic book series produced locally by writer/artist Craig Petersen. At the time, when I wasn't attending high school, I was hard at work practicing writing and drawing my own comic books. It was a big inspirational boost to see that someone else was out there publishing comics in NZ, and essentially living the dream! Towards the end of that decade I moved to Auckland to attend university, and got to meet Craig in person at Armageddon Expo. Along with Zak Waipara, Craig was one of my first mentors, who helped welcome me into the DIY world of the NZ comics community.

Flash forward 20 years later: Craig now lives in Europe, and last year launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for his new sci-fi comic series, Echoes From the Drift. The series follows two young adventurers - Jenni and Zayf, as they explore parallel worlds. Thanks to this funding, issue #1 of the series is now available and can be ordered HERE.

Above: Character designs for Jenni and Zayf. Copyright Craig Petersen 2017.

The first issue opens in 1987, we meet Jenni, a punk styled twenty-something coming home after a long day working at a video store. Her flatmate, Rhonda, is on her way out the door for a hot date, leaving Jenni to indulge in an evening watching tapes of her favourite sitcom, One Knight Stand. Her viewing party is soon interrupted by the opening of an inter-dimensional rift, which drops an alien beast into her living room, followed by drift traveller, Zayf. Jenni and Zayf manage to force the beast back into the rift (and in the process destroy her apartment), at which point Zayf prepares to make a hasty exit...except Jenni - a huge sci-fi fan - wants to come with him. After a quick discussion, Zayf agrees to bring her along and they jump into the next dimensional rift. On the other side they find a dystopian wasteland, and seek refuge at an outpost known as 'Respite'. Inside Jenni notices some familiar faces: her friend Rhonda runs a robot repair shop, and isn't that her building's cleaning guy? Zayf warns her that they should move on, he wasn't expecting to see 'echoes' so soon...

Echoes From The Drift has a great sci-fi set-up, with plenty of opportunity for world building and fun character interplay. The dimension jumping sub-genre of sci-fi is fairly well traveled at this point (Fringe, Sliders, Quantum Leap etc), but Craig has remodelled it with a retro 80's skin that feels fresh and fun. The opening of the comic riffs on Cameron's original Terminator, with nods to anime cartoons, 80s sitcoms and Mad Max sprinkled throughout. Craig's artwork has improved greatly since the 90s, with confident storytelling and a rugged texture to the inking and colouring which suits both the 80s punk vibe of the first half of the story and the dystopian locations of the closing. If there's any draw back to the first issue, it's that it ends on a cliffhanger. But there's also an 8-page prologue story included, Ruins, which fills in the back story of the dimension they now find themselves in, so it's hard to complain.

I highly recommend checking out Echoes From The Drift #1. You can purchase it directly from Craig's website HERE. While you're there, you can also download a FREE PDF version of the prologue story Ruins to get a taste of what the series has to offer.

- AK!

Kickstarting Echoes From the Drift

Above: Echoes From the Drift by Craig Petersen.

Echoes From the Drift is a new comic book series that expat NZ comics creator Craig Petersen is hoping to launch via a currently underway Kickstarter campaign. Petersen was a prominent local comics creator in the 1990s, producing the fondly remembered superhero series, Southern Tribe (1995-98), and more recently the horror/comedy strip, Close To Midnight (2008-09), for Rip It Up magazine.

Above: Jenni and Zayf, from Echoes From the Drift by Craig Petersen.

His proposed new series, Echoes From the Drift, follows two young adventurers - Jenni and Zayf, as they explore parallel worlds. Jenni is an impulsive, adventure-seeker from the 1980s. She totally loves using '80s slang and uses way too much hairspray. But when the chips are down, Jenni has one of the best hearts around and will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in a fight. Zayf is from a far-flung future. He's driven and determined but has a habit of flying by the seat of his pants. However, Zayf has a strong sense of what's right and what's not and will act upon those feelings. In Echoes #1 you’ll discover how they first met and follow them on their adventures through the dimensions. 

Inspired by his love of TV shows from the late 1970s and 80s, Petersen hopes to infuse this comic series with the same spirit of fun and adventure, with a health dash of drama and tragedy on the side!

With this Kickstarter, Petersen is planning to create the first 22-page issue of a five issue story arc. As an added bonus, he'll be including the 10-page In Ruins prequel to the first issue.

The main goal of this Kickstarter campaign is to create a digital copy of the first issue, with exclusive artwork and prints as Rewards. If the first Stretch Goal is hit, then additional behind-the-scenes content will be added to the digital comics. If the second Stretch Goal is hit, then print copies of the comic will be created for 'Visionary Backers' (€20) and above.

To get an idea of what to expect, you can check out the 10-page prequel comic, In Ruins HERE.

Above: He's a breakdown of how the Kickstarter funding will be used.

There are some great rewards for this Kickstarter - including original pages of artwork from the completed comic! You can visit and support this Kickstarter HERE. It's almost halfway to its goal after one week, so support this project and grab an awesome page of artwork while you can!

- AK!