Just King

To all potential supporters of the project!

Just King (Kong Lov) is a 80 page, full color graphic novel/comic book that has spent 10 years in the making. I now want to print and distribute it.

I have found a good deal at a printing place in Slovenia. I am looking for half the amount it costs for the printing – I am putting up the other half myself. I am looking to print 1000 copies: 500 in Norwegian and 500 in English. It will cost around $4000 so I'm looking to raise $2000. I hope you will support my project!

How does this work?

Bascially it's like a presale with additional rewards. You "preorder" the book at various prices depending on the rewards you want. If the fundraiser fails no books will be printed and you will not be charged. If it succeeds, I print the book and ship it to you in the mail. Easy!

Description

I started early in 2003. It was around the time of the invasion of Iraq.

Read the first few pages!

I remember I already had a couple of characters and themes ready: the Clark Kent-ish news journalist Richard King, the multi-ethnic photo journalist Liberty Lee; themes such as post-colonialism, cut-throat capitalism, prejudice, racism, Islamophobia, as well and an all encompassing metaphor: sex.

Read the first few pages!

As if this was not enough, I had ambitions of expressing it all through a completely new graphic language: I would use collage and innovative composition rather than panels, access a wide variety of styles, use logos and icons alongside normal illustrations. All mimicking the very advertising aesthetic I was hoping to criticize. I also wanted to collapse the symbolic and narrative layer of my story into one big jumble of everything. With all these ideas burning inside me, the war added the extra fuel I needed to my fire, and I worked and worked. For 4 years. Took a break. Worked again for a few months. Took another break. And then I finished it, just now, 10 years later.

Read the first few pages!

Looking at it now, I find to my surprise that most of I wanted to achieve is somehow there. Everything from the ambitious themes, to the innovative styles, to the sexual metaphors. Cohesive yet sprawling, tight but epic, ironic but explosive. And above all timeless.

Read the first few pages!

Special rewards!

If you decide to support the project with $250 you will receive this limited edition print in addition to the signed book with your name inside.

If you decide to fund the project with $100 your name will appear on this page in the book!

I'm a visual artist living and working in Oslo, Norway. I have previously written and illustrated two picture books for children, written a radio play, a short film and am currently working on a project where you can manipulate sound using your brainwaves.