Slate & Ashe: A smart-ass cop and a cynical zombie fight the undead, their own demons and each other as they desperately try to save a young girl.
Basic Information
Format: Print Comic
Estimated Delivery: July 2014
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Book Overview
Forum: Slate & Ashe: A Cop and a Zombie
It’s always interesting to see one of the undead on the “good guy’s” side, especially if when paired with his partner, it produces one of the most interesting “unlikely allies” scenarios I’ve seen in a long time. I also want to point out that Ashe is a cop fighting zombies. In evil dead “Ash” also fought zombies. No connection. Just pointing that out.
Story
On the surface, Vickrum Slate and Marlon Ashe seem like two completely different people that have absolutely nothing in common and no middle ground. But the reality is, Slate and Ashe are just two people from different walks of life that are both trying to find their way and hopefully a little redemption. And in the end, what better way to form a brotherly bond than through bizarre hardship and excessive suffering?
Q&A
We’ve been working on a Q&A for Slate & Ashe. Here are the first questions asked, Ethan’s responses, and our opinions.
Can it be brought to the small screen?
Yes, we believe it would make for a great series on television. We’re huge fans of anime and would love to see this as an animated series for young adults and up.
Did you glean any inspiration from existing anime/comic works? (i.e. – The Walking Dead, Ghost in the Shell, etc)
We were definitely inspired by anime and video games. Our lead artist, Luigi Tereul, was influenced by Toshihiro Kawamoto’s art design and Ashe’s relationship with Slate parallels Mugen and Jin’s from Samurai Champloo. Resident Evil 4 is also my all time favorite video game. So Ashe is my version of Leon S. Kennedy in his early years.
(Mugen and Jin have a brilliant dynamic, and it should be fun to see it mirrored to some extent in Slate & Ashe. If you haven’t seen Samurai Champloo yet, then you should definitely check it out.)
What do they think of the reemergence/evolution of zombies in today’s pop culture? For example, they used to be lumbering, dumb thugs. Now they are portrayed as more organized, intelligent, and agile.
We’re all for the evolution of the undead in today’s media. By making today’s zombies more intelligent and organized you make them more formidable and compelling. A story that can be told from both sides of the trenches gives fans of the genre a chance to explore the difference between a “monster” and a victim of circumstance. After all, what would you do if you were suddenly turned into a zombie? How far would you go to survive?
Kickstarter Specifics
Goal: $6,500
Pledge Levels: 14 levels ranging from $5 – 500
End Date: Sat, May 3 2014 12:01 AM EST
Chances of success
Okay. Let me start out by saying that I like this project. It seems interesting and I want it to succeed. However, I have some major concerns about the campaign itself.
Slate & Ashe’s campaign is having a slow start. One reason might be a lack of advertising on Ethan’s part. It’s difficult to say at this point how much he’s done to get the word out. One glaring issue with the campaign itself is that shipping cost is not included in the tier price. It’s very awkward to have to add that additional amount after you pledge, and I’m positive a lot of people are going to miss doing so and so it’s going to bog down the end of the campaign.
I have to say that I’m also on the fence about whether or not pledge tiers are reasonable. $19 for a 22 – 25 page comic is a little high, even with the premium that backers are going to pay for rewards.
Now, Slate & Ashe does include a reward tier for having your character in the comic, and that’s great! However, this is yet another example of “have your character die.” This seems to be a rather popular theme by campaign creators. I’ve seen it in Rep&Red and The Sword. Ethan added some addition tiers for character development. With a reasonable premium, you can have a character that has the potential of lasting for quite a while.
3/15: Since the campaign is still moving along very slowly, there is definitely the potential of the first launch not going through. If this does happen, I would definitely suggest that Ethan cleans up the flaws and relaunches. The comic itself seems very interesting and we received a lot of positive feedback when asking others about it.