The AllStar team returns to Kickstarter to introduce GOTTHEM, and we have Milan Kovacs, the writer behind this incredible project, to talk about this new comic. We invite you to continue with us.
We previously had Milan talking to us about AllStar, a successfully funded kickstarter project.
Milan has returned to kickstarter with GOTTHEM and we have the opportunity to have him with us to talk about this new series, so we will go with the interview right away.
C506: Hi Milan, nice to have you here again! You previously had a successful campaign with AllStar, an amazing comic that we had the opportunity to read, what does it feel like to return to Kickstarter with a new project?
Milan Kovacs: To be honest it’s been a while. We hit several stone walls with AllStar and I didn’t want to start my next campaign before fulfilling that one. First the printing company cracked, then half of my family and me caught Covid-19 and I was essentially out of commission for more than a month because of that.
And to answer your actual question I must say I feel totally different this time. Frankly I thought it was going to be a cakewalk with our previous generous 120 backers and of course every time you launch a campaign there are plenty of new ones as well. But it was exactly the opposite. In the first week we had 10 return backers from AllStar and 40 new ones. I was genuinely surprised… Still am, haha!
C506: It is always surprising to see the development of projects, now, I would like to know a little more in your own words what GOTTHEM is all about.
Milan Kovacs: GOTTHEM is a superhero parody comic series I started way back in 2018 with artist Izsak Ambrus and guest artist Nora Vincze. If I want to be precise the first 2 issues are more of a Batman parody revolving around The Gargoyle who’s a mysterious figure and we don’t really know much about it. In the first issue the gags and jokes are mostly from mainstream media like Batman-related TV shows, movies and of course comics. We turn Batman’s universe inside out with the amazing cartooning skills of Izsak Ambrus who is the most like-minded artist to me I have ever worked with.
In the second issue (GORDO #2) we dive into an interesting folklore and local legend within the GOTTHEM universe about a second coming of Batman. We also have different guest artists Erno Juhasz of AllStar and idols.live (my future project in the works) and Szabolcs Pal with whom I also worked with on the soon-to-be-crowdfunded graphic novel named Absoluto. Issue 3 (GOTH HAM #3) is already in the works and I honestly can’t wait to get Izsak to draw those crazy scenes I cooked up for him. We’ll also have new guest artist(s) on the next issues.
I had this not-so-marketable idea to change the book’s name every issue because I think it’s funny so now we have GOTTHEM #1, GORDO #2 and GOTH HAM #3. All of which has its own a meaning if you read them.
C506: We could also see that you have an excellent creative team, would you like to tell us a little about it?
Milan Kovacs: Izsak Ambrus is a Hungarian painter, cartoonist, comic artist and illustrator who lives and works in Hungary as well. One if not my best and most favourite collaborators in comics ever. He is the kind of artist who draws stuff like I would if I could. He reads my mind and interestingly he does it through my often short descriptions and scripts. It’s always a pleasure to work with him and I always say if he was marketing himself a bit more he would be a international superstar.
Nora Vincze is also from Hungary, she works in the digital art field and often does comics and animation. I have known her for a long time now and it was such a pleasure to work with her and her creative layouts and funny, animated characters and facial expressions.
Erno Juhasz is a complete mystery to me how he does not work for big publishers yet. But maybe soon he will be! Hailing also from Hungary we often meet and cook up ideas and future projects one of which is idols.live which already has 10 pages finished. An ambitious project I’m really confident with after seeing how magnificent origin story pages he drew for AllStar.
Szabolcs Pal is – surprise – also Hungarian and although he started as a background painter he now does concept art and sometimes comics as well. I had to privilege to write his graphic novel Absoluto which was also his diploma work. I am certain that in 2022 Absoluto will see the light of day. The art is amazing for sure.
C506: It is possible to see that GOTTHEM has a different theme from All-Star, presenting GOTTHEM as a parody of superheroes, how did you feel writting this new kind of comics?
Milan Kovacs: I have to say I started this project way earlier than AllStar simply because at first I thought I had a good idea and I didn’t want it to go to waste. The English version of the book was never printed only in test copy format but the Hungarian version was widely recognized as a series everyone was waiting for. There aren’t any parody comic books anymore and people are getting less interested in them.
Frankly I always loved them because they not only make you laugh they add to the myth and folklore of certain characters sometimes in more creative ways than the original material. I have read countless good Watchmen parodies and they’re not just funsies, they are good, well-crafted books.
C506: GOTTHEM sounds pretty funny, have you already received any comments about GOTTHEM?
Milan Kovacs: When I started 3 years ago I sent some digitally printed press copies to several of my comic friends and to my big surprise they replied and almost all of them liked the idea and execution and art. I gave some of my idols copies in person like Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Frank Miller who asked me to sketch on his book and then he sketched on mine. I even have some quotes from some of them and the thought of they owning a copy really warms my heart.
‘‘I wish DC would publish it, though I’m doubting it.’’ – Dave Taylor, artist (DC Comics, Vertigo, 2000AD, Image Comics)
’’An exploding rainbow star of a comic!’’ – Jean-Paul Csuka colourist, artist (Image, Black Mask Studios)
‘‘I love GOTTHEM, it´ll be cool to see the next one. You can tell the artist is having tons of fun on it.’’ – Henrik Sahlström, artist (2000AD, Dark Horse Comics, Sergio Bonelli Editore)
C506: In the campaign we could see that it is not just one issue of the series, but that two new issues will be published simultaneously, does this mean that we can expect more from GOTTHEM in the future?
Milan Kovacs: So we are 92% funded at the moment with 2 weeks to go which sounds hopeful. Actually we might even hit some stretch goals in the end, I want to put them at £1666 and £1777 or £1888 depending on how well we are towards the end of the campaign.
Here’s my plan for the GOTTHEM miniseries:
- After this Kickstarter we publish and send out issues #1 and #2 and we start working on #3 and #4.
- A new Kickstarter coming later this year and we hopefully get #3 and #4 funded, printed and sent out. In the background we start working on the last 2 issues.
- Next Spring the final (?) Kickstarter coming for issues #5 and #6 and we end the series. Of course that all depends on how well it’ll fare in the long run because if we get a lot of reader following I wouldn’t want to deprive them of GOTTHEM and their laughs.
C506: Finally, the are something you would like to say to all of your fans out there?
Milan Kovacs: I would like to thank every fan and backer and everyone who helped me making this comic series and my previous graphic novel come true. And of course I would like to thank you for this interview. I have several comics and graphic novels in the work like TrashFormers, Bunaga!, idols.live, Absoluto, The Dearest and a completely new idea I’m working on roughly based on my Grandpa. I sure hope I’ll get to make these and you’ll get to read these in the next few years… I’d really appreciate that!
With this we conclude the incredible interview we had with Milan Kovacs. Next we want to show you some rewards that you can acquire through the GOTTHEM project.
If you want to acquire these rewards, or see in a complete way all the rewards that GOTTHEM has, you can click on the image below, and remember, all orders have free shipping around the world.
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