Bloody Good: Ostrander and Mandrake’s Kros Kickstarter

You probably know Tom Mandrake as the best Batman artist to never have a proper run on the series. You will know John Ostrander for his writing work, often with Mandrake on art, on series such as The Spectre, Martian Manhunter and Grimjack. Now the team behind one of the best runs on The Spectre ever have their own Kickstarter campaign: good news, it’s creepy as hell!

KROS: Hallowed Ground is being crowd funded through Kickstarter because Ostrander and Mandrake wanted to deliver the kind of story and genre material not often seen in comics these days. They say:

“War is hell and vampires have brought their own hell to the war between the North and the South. By day, the armies of both sides clash in bloody conflict: by night, the vampires emerge to feast on the wounded and the dying as Blood calls to Blood.

“Against this army of hungry undead rides one man, a vampire slayer known only as Kros. Alone against a vampire army, Kros, a dampyr with an inborn hatred of vampires, knows that if he fails he could become one of the creatures he loathes. “

Inspired by films in the genre of John Carpenter’s The Thing and stories like Ambrose Bierce’s Occurrence at Owl Creek, Kros: Hallowed Ground melds history and horror. Writer, John Ostrander, says, “ Kros is THE story we’ve been wanting to tell! Neither of us are afraid of the dark or taking you there with us! Kros: Hallowed Ground isn’t only about the war between North and South—to a vampire, you’re all part of the feast!”

Kros: Hallowed Ground Kickstarter is in progress at Kros kickstarter

There is a remarkable list of cool stuff available with the Kickstarter, including sketches, many prints, postcards and huge amounts of eminently desirable collectables. Particularly attractive are pages of original art by Mandrake, including Batman, and The Spectre. All of these pages make you wonder why he is not currently occupied on an ongoing high-profile series.

Let’s not overlook the obvious though: Mandrake’s art on Kros is exceptional, as the preview pages that are up will show you. He captures the eldritch quality of horror and combines it with the nightmare quality of war. Ostrander’s writing is of the “show not tell” type, and the dialogue is inspired, capturing the dialects for the various characters with accuracy and ease. There are a lot of Kickstarter campaigns for graphic material these days, but you should try not to miss out on this one, it is one of the highest quality pieces of work you’ll see in any year. There is not a lot of time left folks: the Kickstarter finishes on Thursday, July 30 2015!

The Spectre Volume 1: Crimes and Judgements TP Spectre Volume 2: Wrath of God TP (The Spectre)