Assassins, mayhem, and murder are at the center of a wonderful new comic series currently looking for Kickstarter support. Termed a “reinvention of the spaghetti western” by the creators, The Six Swords brings the flavor of an old Western to comic book form and adds a number of delicious twists that make it truly unique. Set in the United States post WWIV (yikes!), the story follows the adventures of a group of swords-for-hire as they introduce the audience to their rough and tumble world. 

The best news about this comic is that it is already fully funded on Kickstarter but still has a couple weeks to go. That means supporters can opt in on the ground floor knowing that they are guaranteed those sweet rewards available at the various tiers. There are some cool Kickstarter exclusives you will not want to miss out on. We had a chance to talk briefly with one of the minds behind the comic, Chris Massari, about the success of the campaign. 

What do you think contributed to the rapid success of your Kickstarter campaign? 
 
Chris Massari: I think it was a combination of things. We’ve been teasing this story for the last half a year, so it helped our audience wasn’t cold. I’ve listened and asked a lot of questions from successful indie creators like Dirk Manning and even took a course specifically for kickstarting comics with Tyler Vogel and ComixLaunch. I worked in “comic journalism” for four years under Ain’t It Cool News, ComicsVerse, Monkeys Fighting Robots and others, so I reached out to colleagues as well to help cover our launch. This also helped for making bigger connections and doing interviews with well-known creators, who I’d constantly ask for advice and direction, as well networking at cons and events constantly. 
 
Over the last couple years I’ve really tried to put in the groundwork by making face to face connections, asking questions of people who do this for a living and eating up every bit of information they could give me. Plus, investing a lot of money into a quality team, in order to create a professional looking comic because no matter how much leg work you put in if your product isn’t good no one will want it anyway. 
 
What is it about the content and story line that will resonate with the audience? 
 
CM: The story is a post-apocalyptic spaghetti western set in the Divided States, formerly the United States, post-WW4 that focuses on 6 anti-heroes who are brought together by circumstances and forced to work together because otherwise, they’d end up dead. It’s essentially Mad Max meets Samurai Champloo with a modern Seven Samurai style story, filled with colorful violence and just as colorful characters, where we don’t hold back in any aspect. 
 
I think what will resonate with audiences is the characters. Don’t get me wrong, the story is fun and entertaining and for those who like deeper tropes or ideologies, there’s that too. But, ultimately, it’s the diverse mix of characters in their personalities and backstories that make the series. Each character is unique in everything they do and are crafted to stand out from one another so, it’s their interactions and these characters themselves make The Six Swords what it is. Story or scripting is great and all but, there’s only so many different ways you can play with twists and turns. What makes a story memorable or gives it shelf life is the characters and that’s what we really focused on. 
 
If you had to pitch this comic book to a stranger in an elevator with only 30 seconds on the clock, what would you say to convince them to check it out? 
 
CM: I’d stick with “Mad Max meets Samurai Champloo with a modern Seven Samurai style story” added with lots of swords, graphic violence, dark humor, and f-bombs if you are into that kind of thing. It’s extremely fun, entertaining and lightens the mood of a dystopian future. 
 
We are excited to see where this comic goes! I can tell you that it is a wild ride from the very first page as readers are dropped immediately into the character’s world and from there the puzzle pieces come together to paint a full picture of what is happening. You won’t regret supporting this Kickstarter, so be sure to check out their page and let us know what you think in the comments. 

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