***AND MORE! All funders $20 or over now get exclusive Hairy Steve bottle opener keyrings too! (more details in the 'updates' tab***

***JUST ADDED! All funders $20 or over now get stickers and badges too! (more details in the 'updates' tab***

THE COMIC

They say he was created by darkness itself, a manifest of the shadows he now confines himself to. The Monstrum of our town. The Hunter. Where he walks, darkness follows. Where darkness lays, death comes upon.

Thats what I heard anyway. Or it might have been a movie.

Hairy Steve is a dark brooding beast, a freakish hairy hero just trying to keep himself to himself. Hiding away in the dark. Bothering no one. An outsider trying to ignore the world, but constantly being dragged back into it.

Steve finds humans annoying, despite spending his days pulling them from the jaws of danger. See, humans dont understand Steve, and he thinks theyre idiots, but one thing he hates more than humans is injustice. So if someones in danger or there is a crime afoot, Steve reluctantly emerges from his hiding to help.

Tonight, however, events are about to spiral rapidly out of control and drag him right down with them. As Steve accidentally crunches a zombies skull, the city begins to fill with the walking undead. And an elderly Nazi socialite, buxom nurse and seemingly random crime increase all have something to do with it. As we crash, smash and explode our way to the finale, Steve might just have to save everyone in this godforsaken town, or die trying.

'Hairy Steve vs. The Zombie Army' is a 24-page black and white comic book, written by Jamie Smart and illustrated by Steve Bright. It's both hilarious and brutal, featuring lashings of swearing, violence, and other glorious wrongdoings.

THE STORY OF HAIRY STEVE, AND HOW YOU CAN HELP

(by Jamie Smart)

Here's the rub. I worked alongside Steve Bright quite a few years ago on a popular UK children's comic and was always blown away by his artwork. I'd been writing a more grown-up comic book called Hairy Steve, but didn't feel like it was something I could draw myself. It needed real OOMPH in the art, and Steve's style would be perfect for it, so I took him the idea and was chuffed when he agreed to have a crack at it. As the first few pages of finished artwork came back I was convinced this could really be something, the partnership between us produced work I'm incredibly proud of. However, after only completing four pages, time and circumstance conspired to leave Hairy Steve behind and we both returned to doing paid work instead.

I often yearned to see Hairy Steve fully realised, and poked mister Bright about it a few times over the years. But although Steve enjoyed the idea of completing this comic as much as me, realistically he couldn't afford to take such a huge chunk of time out to devote to it. So this year, I suggested the idea of funding this project online. It seemed absolutely ideal, with your help this goes from being a whimsical side-project to a paying gig for Steve (who is as hard a working self-employed illustrator as anyone), meaning he can spend the time on it that it deserves. I get to see my idea made (hairy) flesh, and you get a cracking comic book out of it. Everyone wins!

Our goal was set at $2,000. A small chunk of this will pay for the limited-run printing of the Hairy Steve comic, and all that's left will go to the artist Steve Bright. I will take no profit from this, I want to see if this system works and if the incredible work Steve's putting into our comic will reap reward.

********************* UPDATE!***********************

We reached, and passed, our goal in just the first three days of our campaign! Thank you so much to everyone for your support and goodwill, needless to say we really appreciate it. Oh and as of tonight, Indiegogo had us on their frontpage as a featured campaign!

The campaign is still open for the rest of its run, to see just how far we can take this. We were bowled over by the response, so anyone who still wants a copy of the comic, or the original sketches or other perks, are very welcome to still help the fund. It all goes to keeping Hairy Steve going!

We said that when we reached a quarter of our goal, we'd start putting Hairy Steve online as a webcomic. Since we long since passed that, the webcomic is now live at http://www.hairysteve.com come and have a read (a new page every week)! We believe free comics to read on the internet are a wonderful thing, as such we're happy to showcase what we're working on, in the hope people will enjoy it, spread the word, and may be inspired to contribute.

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WHAT YOU GET FOR HELPING US

a) You have brought Hairy Steve online as a webcomic quicker.

b) You receive a variety of benefits (listed on the right), including a copy of the exclusive printed comic (which will include extra material such as development art)

c) You ensure this model works. And if this model works, it means comic book artists struggling to find a balance between webcomics and paid comics find a middle-ground where it works for everyone. From our point of view, we'd love to further the adventures of Hairy Steve, and are hoping this campaign will allow us to consider it!

And if you can't contribute, please help us spread the word, everytime you tell someone or share it online it really helps our campaign! And check back for news of when the webcomic version goes live, along with previews and extra bonus incentives added as we go along!

You can contribute via paypal or by card (using paypal - you don't need an account!)

Note all rewards for contributions will be sent out as soon as we can, once the total is reached and we know what is going where. Please allow time to produce sketches, get the comic printed, etc.