The Samurai Slasher Collected Edition Kickstarter
Running now on kickstarter is a campaign for The Samurai Slasher Collected Edition. If I remember rightly, back through the dimness at time, I was first introduced to Mike Garley at ICE Birmingham by Jon Laight (Brethren Born). I staggered home from that event under the weight of a huge pile of new books, and among them was The Samurai Slasher. This 80s-tinged horror comic series quickly became a solid favourite (as the image below will attest).
Clare’s Samurai Slasher Collection (missing the t-shirt which she was wearing when she took it)
It’s gory, campy, over-the-top in the best possible way fun. Lovingly poking fun at the very best of the slasher movie genre. One of my absolute favourite things about the series is actually the lettering, courtesy of Mike Stock, which adds an extra level of flavour, especially in some of the pun-tastic, and often onomatopoeic sound effects.
Written with relish by Mike Garley and illustrated by a cornucopia of indie comics talent, The Samurai Slasher series is epic. Artistic contributions from Gavin Mitchell, Rachael Stott, Jim Lavery, Andy W. Clift, Matt Rooke, Caspar Wijngaard, Chris Imber and so many more make any Samurai Slasher collection a who’s who of the small press world.
Sprawling over 3 main volumes, several mini-stories in other anthologies, and even a Choose Your Own Adventure style game book, Mike has made the decision to bring together all of the strips so far, plus a couple of never-before-seen tales, into a gargantuan Samurai Slasher collected edition. I got in touch with Mike to ask him a few questions about the project.
What made you decide to put together a collected edition of The Samurai Slasher?
I love the Samurai Slasher and was really proud of the original trilogy, so the opportunity to create a collected edition, and include a bunch of brand-new content was too good an opportunity to turn down. It’s also a dream of most creators to see your work collected, and I’m definitely no exception. Bringing this book to life would be a dream come true!
Does this mean the end of the Slasher…for good?
I hope not! This tells the end of one (big, fun, and messy) Samurai Slasher story, but I’ve got another direction that I’d like to take the Slasher in the future.
The collected edition of the Samurai Slasher contains a frankly astonishing amount of work (over 250 pages!). For those who might already own some of the material included, what would you say to entice them to back the collection?
Well, aside from the collected edition there’s a Survive-your-own-adventure book, a critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical comic that features a killer samurai, and a social game that they can play with their friends. But the collected edition itself still includes some great new content – two all-new stories, and four Christmas/halloween/charity specials, plus some additional artwork! It isn’t only available in the book though – you can get it as a digital download to save you from double dipping.
Do you have a favourite story from the collection, or is that like asking you to pick a favourite child?
Yeah, the Slasher gave me the opportunity to work with a lot of incredible artists, and I tried to write to suit their styles. Which means I love the stories all in their own ways – from the Slasher taking on Santa in a Christmas special with Jim Lavery, to him tracking down previous survivors at a survivors anonymous meeting in a story with Rachael Stott.
Can you tell us some more about the new Slasher social game that backers can get?
It’s designed for a group of friends – even friends who don’t normally ‘game’ – to get together (either online or in person), and roll a few dice, and drink a few drinks, as they try to survive the Samurai Slasher. The game is narrative driven with one player acting as the Slasher and reading the story, and everyone reacting with dice rolls and catch phrases. It’s super easy to pick up, and designed for gamers and non-gamers alike. It was heavily play tested and I was delighted that the non game/comic inclined in the group had a great time too. The Slasher is really ‘clear’ as a character (he’s a big, bad slasher) and lends itself to dumb fun and was the perfect foe for a game like this.
The Kickstarter
Funding now, The Samurai Slasher Collected Edition is Mike’s most ambitious Kickstarter to date, and with good reason. The collected edition will weigh in at over 250 pages! And that’s without the Choose Your Own Adventure book, the Late Fees limited edition story, or any of the other goodies available. There are six days left to run on the campaign at the time of writing, and still a host of tiers available. Everything from a PDF of the additional material not previously collected, right the way up to original art tiers. You can also tailor your own tier, adding in soundtracks, backer credits, pin badges and other goodies. I urge you to consider backing this campaign to bring the Samurai Slasher Collected Edition to life. The Samurai Slasher, Mike and all of his phenomenal collaborators deserve it. You can check out the campaign and all available tiers HERE.
