FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS!
By FRANCO
A little bit of a departure this week. Dan, our esteemed leader here at 13th Dimension — or as we all affectionately call it “13thD” (no one actually calls it that but I wanted to sound cool) — has been generous enough to give me this weekly platform to spew my meandering thoughts, vent on various subjects, and display my artwork.
I thought I would be a little selfish this week and give myself a plug. I have a gathering of projects that have seemingly all coordinated to be released at the same time (within the next few months). And I thought, I have this platform, so why not tell all the good people about them? The one thing you learn in the comics business, or any business actually, is that there is a degree of self-promotion for advancement. I’m usually not very good at it but I try. So here goes:
Just this week I launched my first-ever comic book on Kickstarter. It’s called The Greatest Little Luchador Ever and can be found right here.
We actually funded our Aw Yeah Comics books from our Aw Yeah stores on KS a few years ago, but we had a friend run that so technically it wasn’t me. Yes, I did launch a card game last year called LXT that a friend of mine designed and it technically came with a couple of books but those were prose. This one is an actual comic and I wrote it with my son, Nick.
I decided I wanted to try something specific with the artwork and story, and really dug the idea of Kickstarter to see if there was any interest. It was fun to do and I hope it gets funded. But at the very least, I find KS a place where I can have fun and experiment and see what I can cook up. Will it work? Who knows. But it was fun making the comic and other rewards with my friend and my son. I hope you give it a look and if you find it intriguing enough to help fund the campaign, that would be swell!
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You never know what’s going to happen. Case in point: I have a new book that was just announced called Ninja Kaiju, releasing in February 2026! You can give it a look and even preorder here.
This book with my buddy Scoot McMahon was actually conceived to be my first Kickstarter before the current one running. But one day, I happened to be talking to the (eventual) editor of the book about another book I was working on for him. (We’ll get to that one in a second.) We were discussing pages he needed and I responded that I would get him that ASAP. I was just finishing up something I had to send to Scoot. He asked what it was. Then asked if he could see it and then, within hours, asked me not to Kickstart it and said that they would be publishing it. Wow. That’s never happened before. Suddenly Ninja Kaiju found a home with Papercutz and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
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But I’m not done shilling yet! I have a book that I have been working on for a good number of years with a talented artist named Mike Hartigan. Chase Speedington and The Dragon’s Last Breath is being released in just a couple months. You can see it and order here.
All of this is amazing to me. Here are three projects, all conceived by me, and all very different, and all three have taken very different routes to publishing. But all three are near and dear to my heart as they are all creator owned. Not to disparage known properties in publishing, as I still do that as well. Case in point (Again! Gee, I seem to be very pointed in this column): Here is a link to Flash Gordon Adventures Vol. 2 that also hits in November. I did that one with Art Baltazar and a bunch of other really cool people.
There’s never been a time in my life where I’ve had so many projects all at once like this. There was that time long ago where I had multiple running monthly books at DC Comics and it was truly a unique time in my life. But it’s years later and the fact that I’m still doing this and getting to be creative in my day-to-day life is something that I treasure. I never thought it would happen. I’m so blessed to be working in a field that I had always dreamed of as a kid but never thought would come to fruition.
I hope you take a look at the things I’ve been working on and I hope you can help support in some way. I truly thank you for even considering it.
Happy Friday.
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Want more FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!
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MORE
— BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES — Still the Best of Them All. Click here.
— How I Learned to Appreciate JACK KIRBY. Click here.
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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.
