Kickstarter Preview--Area 51: The Helix Project

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet the creator of the new Kickstarter project: Area 51: The Helix Project, in my weekly Monday auction over on Meta4ickal's youtube channel.

If you are familiar with Trevor Fernandes-Lenkiewicz it's because he's been reviewing comics over at Dark Knight Nation for two years, and he decided to jump into the creative side of things!

Dark Knight Nation on Youtube

Back The Helix Project on Kickstarter

Dark Knight Nation and Pocketwatch Press on Twitter

A Quick Q & A with The Creator of The Helix Project

After some back and forth in the private chat, Trevor was willing to answer a couple of questions promoting his new kickstarter project!

CBP-Can you offer a quick summary of the story?

TFL--Area 51: The Helix Project #1 is a Noir, Sci-Fi story dives through the streets of 1970's New York to the depths of Area 51, where military test subjects are grafted with extraterrestrial DNA in the hopes of creating superior soldiers to take down the U.S.S.R. The protagonist, Kent acts as our emotional gateway into this intense story as we explore themes of mental health, identity, balance, and personal growth. Kent’s unique perspective allows us to take a deconstructive look at the hero archetype like Superman in order to get down to the bottom of his own trauma. With the inspiration of the works from Alan Moore, Dwayne McDuffie, and Ed Brubaker, you'll find you can’t get enough of this.

CBP-What became the creative inspiration for the story?

TFL--Frankly, the lack of consistency across most publishing lines. On my YouTube channel, DarkKnightNation, I breakdown, discuss, and provide in-depth analysis to comic book stories, and after being generally dissatisfied with the big two publishers, I knew it was time to throw my hat in the ring. If you’ve experience me via my channel, you know that my strength is my keen eye for effective storytelling and how it’s expressed through the sequential narrative. I’m looking to bring that into this project by evoking inspiration from Dwayne McDuffie’s Milestone Comics line, Ed Brubaker's crime-noir sensibilities, and Alan Moore’s deliberate scripting style. This story is also stylistically inspired by the highly artistic atmosphere birthed from 1990’s to early 2000’s Vertigo comics. The focus is to take an entertaining, high octane story, and to imbue strong theme with artistic vision between the pages. 

CBP--You’ve reviewed comics on YT for a while, what pushed you from the review side to the creative side?  

TFL--My peers tend to credit me with having a more critical eye for storytelling, and I figured it was about time to use that instinct to create my own. I’ve spent the last year or so really honing the craft. From reading books on screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and generally on writing, I felt ready to tell a story that I felt would tick most of the boxes that I’d normally check off if I were reviewing it. Now’s the time to put my money where my mouth is. 

CBP--Is this your first work in comics/graphic novels?  If so, what drew you to this medium of storytelling.  If not, what are some other works of yours we should check out!

TFL--This is my first work as a writer in comics. I’ve done freelance consulting and editing for private clients along with critical analysis on my YouTube channel DarkKnightNation. Otherwise, I want to try my hand in this space because comics are one of the most unique and underutilized mediums in all of storytelling. It’s an inimitable merger of cinema, prose, visual art, and draft design that’s capable of delivering narrative in such an incredible package. Some of my favorite stories across any media are found in comic book pages, and the way the creative teams engage the format raises them to unparalleled heights. I want to take everything that I love about what makes this medium unique and explore my own stories through it. 

CBP--Is there anything else you’d like to share with my audience?

TFL--I just hope that everyone gives this book a chance. If you watch my reviews on my channel or any of my discussions, you’ll see a passion, drive, and eye for storytelling, and I can promise to pour every ounce of that into this book. I’ve carefully surrounded myself with a top shelf creative team to do what comics do best and tell a story that means something while we’re at it. Aside from the story, I’ve done my best to give readers the best bang for their buck. At as low as $5 you get a SIGNED copy of the first issue with 24 pages (printed on thick, premium quality stock) of actual story and no advertisements. I absolutely refuse to compromise the experience that I want The Helix Project to provide for the sake of gimmicks or financial gain. This is my art. My job as a creator is to shepherd a journey through the craft of making a comic book and that is the only goal in sight. Each of the following rewards tiers for backers also provide stellar return for your money. From a producer credit and behind the scenes looks into the production of the book, to even being drawn into it yourself, I’ve done my absolute best to deliver. If you back this project and stand behind my vision, I can promise that you won’t be disappointed. 

In Conclusion

In listening to Trevor pitch his book during Meta's auction, I knew it was something I would immediately be interested in.  After heading over to the pledge page, I was in awe of all of the different things you could choose from, it was one of the biggest bang-for-your buck kickstarter's I've seen in quite some time.

After seeing the description, the concept art and the amazing team Trevor is working with on this project, I knew I was more than confident enough to back this at the $50 level.  With 19 days to go, this project sets just $1,432 away from its goal.  You really want to check out this story, go drop at least $4 to pick up the digital version.  Why?  It's the same amount of money you'd drop on a new number 1 you'd pick up on New Comic Book Day anyway.  So give this member of our review and youtube community a shot on his first book!