Interview with The Urn creator Patrick Kindlon

Well readers here I am with the last of our series of Kickstarter interviews. They have provided just a taste of the talent that is evident all over the site, and at the similarly focused IndieGoGo.  

To conclude the series I spoke to The Urn creator Patrick Kindlon. The comic focuses on recently released from prison, outlaw biker Lyle “Sun” Sexton. His ex-wife has died and he’s on a quest for revenge against the man who did it and on the way he’ll face a lifetime of unanswered questions and former lives.  

1)   As a creator how beneficial is a program like Kickstarter to getting your project off the ground?

Immensely helpful. The amount of money I’m trying to generate on Kickstarter isn’t immense -- conceivably I could find other ways to finance my project -- but Kickstarter is giving me the opportunity to tighten my timetable in a positive way.

2)   Do you believe it is now easier to get your project made, through programs like Kickstarter and the internet?

Absolutely. Ten years ago, people I know personally may have been more apt to LEND me money because the financial climate wasn’t as sour, but Kickstarter makes people feel good about GIVING money to a project without trying to INVEST in it. That’s huge for someone dealing in creative endeavours where promising a financial return is irresponsible.

3)   Does a program like Kickstarter present any problems and difficulties of its own? For instance what happens if you do not obtain the funding you require?

If I don’t generate the money I’m hoping to, I’ll be back where I started with only a loss of the 50 or so days I put my hopes in Kickstarter. I hate wasting time, but ultimately I’m not risking an incredible amount.

4)   How do you decide what rewards to give your backers?

I did my best to balance what I would want if I I was in their position and what I’m able to give. My hope is I hit a sweet spot where people who were inclined to give anyway now have that last incentive to push them over the edge.  

5)   Your looking to fund one issue at the moment but the series like it will be much longer than that, is that correct?

I’m treating it as a five-issue miniseries. My favorite comic books aren’t ongoing in the traditional sense and instead use miniseries to tell tight story arcs. I hope to treat The Urn the same way. The idea is to use the completed first issue as a pitch to publishers and hopefully find the right fit for this book. If I can’t find a deal that makes sense for The Urn, I’ll go back to the drawing board and find a way to self-publish.

6)   Sun is essentially a bad guy but he'll be the focus of the story. What was it like writing a character who is a little more morally ambiguous and able to bend the rules as the main character? Does it free up the possibilities for the story?

It’s immensely fun to write characters who don’t do the right thing every time out. It’s entirely more relatable, for me at least. I don’t often find myself breaking people’s arms for my bike gang, but I don’t always do the right thing.

7)   You state that you'd like to try and do something fresh in the comic book industry with this book but what else has motivated you to want to tell this story?

This story was a joy to cook up and I really think that will come across in the finished product. I’m excited to see it for that reason alone. But as you said, there is another motivation. I really want to believe that comics aren’t as dead as industry forecasters lead us think. The only way to find out, in my opinion, is to create stories accessible to non-comic readers. Direct market sales figures give us information on the 2,000 stores that encompass it, but so few people are serviced by those outlets that it doesn’t really tell us the strength of the MEDIUM and instead tells us the strength of the hobbyist market. People need to be reminded that comics are literature and can’t be filed away as a fetish.

8)   From the sounds of it The Urn will feature a lot of converging storylines. Is it hard to keep track of them, to make sure they come to fruition properly?

Part of the joy of writing a proper revenge story is it doesn’t need to be unduly complicated, it just needs to speak to the readers’ sense of justice. The Urn features a number of characters and they all have their own agenda’s but the focus of the book is intentionally narrow. It’s about a man who feels like he wasn’t there for the people he loves, and he projects the animosity that fosters onto another man. The fact that the man he’s blaming is, in fact, guilty, doesn’t ultimately matter. He’s out there chasing him because it’s easier than confronting his own failures. Everyone and everything else, no matter how good a job I do giving them life, are hurdles for him to jump on his way to what he hopes will be closure.

9)   From the description it sounds like The Urn could feature a little bit of the supernatural given Sun's transportation of The Urn and need to settle some unresolved issues?

Not supernatural per se, but in a manner of speaking Sun is transporting a ghost across the continental US. The memory of his wife haunts him and in many ways she is riding along with him.

10)   Finally, what makes The Urn stand out as a project people should get behind and donate money to?

I’m in love with other members of the team and hope they have the same appeal for readers, but I think an equally big attraction for potential contributors is the fact that this is a story worth telling. I love all sorts of comics. I just appreciate the medium a ton. That said, there are only a few titles that really thrill me these days and I think for readers like me The Urn has a lot of potential to rekindle some of that passion for comics we’ve let diminish.