Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Comics — the premiere publisher of award-winning, critically-acclaimed graphic novels in the American Midwest, which has raised nearly 5 million dollars via crowdfunding — is launching a BackerKit campaign soon to publish PERFECT CRIME PARTY, a full color 300+ page anthology containing 25 light-heart tales of criminal activity from over 40 incredible creators as well as a cover by Jeff Smith (Bone). From club-style murder mysteries to anxious teens hijinx to acts of protest, PERFECT CRIME PARTY asks the immortal questions: What’s the perfect crime? And what do you think you could get away with?
We are delighted to announce exclusively three of the creative teams and their stories, all with a common theme of a twist ending.
– The Good Word by Bevan Thomas & Reetta Linjama – A snake oil salesman meets his match in a small town.
- Bevan Thomas: “I was intrigued by the idea of writing a story about a crime while perpetrating that same crime upon the readers. Our comic, ‘The Good Word,’ is about a con job, but the reader is also getting conned – tricked into believing the comic is about one thing when actually it is about something else.”
- Reetta Linjama: “The thing I enjoyed the most about drawing ‘The Good Word’ was getting to put these characters through very actorly comedic beats. The characters in the short are all putting on some sort of act, some of them better at it than others. It was an exciting challenge to keep it funny and also try to make that subterfuge read visually. “
– Spirit Duplicator by Rodrigo Vargas & Coni Yovaniniz – Fraud and theft are the only ways to stop this card-playing bully.
- Rodrigo Vargas: “I think there’s something very appealing about using crime as a tool to get justice. In that sense, Spirit Duplicator is secretly a tale about breaking oppressive systems and finding the tools to democratize the building of new, fairer ways to live together. In another sense, it’s a wacky play on Yu-Gi-Oh! and other shonen anime that take themselves very seriously. Coni and I love to find joy in silliness, so it felt like a perfect comic to make together.”
- Coni Yovaniniz: “Rodrigo and I love trying new ways to collaborate on our comics that aren’t just the classic writer/artist combo. For Spirit Duplicator we both worked on the script and then Rodrigo did the artwork, but I did the character designs and then colored the comic. It’s a fun back and forth and we think it gave good results!”
– Bluedolph the Dead Nose Reindeer by Tayson Martindale – Someone has murdered one of Santa’s Reindeer and there is only one detective who can find out which perp belongs on the naughty list!
- Tayson Martindale: “My favourite crime fiction stories are those wonderful locked room, whodunit mysteries—give me 8-10 seemingly strangers trapped in a mansion on an island in a snow storm as they get picked off one by one—that’s my happy place! The detective in my story (Bruce Justice) specializes in ‘mythical homicide,’ which opened up a really fun way to explore that type of mystery story with a murder set in the North Pole. I had so much fun making this little comic and I hope you have fun reading it, too! Watch for clues!”
To support the campaign on BackerKit, visit this link: Perfect Crime Party
For updates, follow Iron Circus Comics on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
About the publisher
C. Spike Trotman (she/her) – C. Spike Trotman was born in DC, raised in MD, and lives in IL. An artist and writer, she founded Iron Circus Comics in 2007, which has since grown to become the region’s largest comics publisher. Her notable work includes the webcomic “Templar, Arizona,” the Smut Peddler series of erotic comic anthologies, and Poorcraft, a graphic novel guide to frugal living. A Kickstarter early adopter, she pioneered the widely-adopted bonus model that’s since completely reshaped the pay system of the small press, jump-starting the current renaissance of alt-comics anthologies. Iron Circus is also the first comics publisher of note to fully incorporate crowdfunding into its business model, inventing one of the single most effective uses of new media in comics publishing today.
