Crowdfunding Comics: Talking To Ten Creators Behind ‘Perfect Crime Party’ From Iron Circus Comics

Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Comics is currently running a Backerkit crowdfunding campaign for Perfect Crime Party, an all-new 300+ page crime anthology featuring “25 light-heart tales of criminal activity from over 40 incredible creators as well as a cover by Jeff Smith (Bone)”.

Absolutely criminal in my book. So we rounded up ten — that’s right, ten — of the reprobates involved in this project and marched them down to the station for questioning. Here’s the full list of those questioned under oath:

Amy Chase, Bevan Thomas, Chuck Harp, Erin Roseberry, Illuminated, James Wright, John Konrad, Nick Mamatas, Rodrigo Vargas, Van Jensen

And here’s what they had to say for themselves in our record-breaking round table:

Contributors (10): Amy Chase, Bevan Thomas, Chuck Harp, Erin Roseberry, Illuminated, James Wright, John Konrad, Nick Mamatas, Rodrigo Vargas, Van Jensen

Olly MacNamee: As a kid, what was the worst crime you committed? Or at least what you can tell our readers without pleading the Fifth.

Amy Chase: I am still quite embarrassed, but as a kid I skimmed off the top of a craft sale my friends and I did to try to raise money for endangered animals. I took about $5, mostly in quarters, and used it to cover the difference on a new Pokemon game I wanted. If any of my classmates from third grade (or any tigers) are reading this, I’m so sorry.

Bevan Thomas: I once accidentally shoplifted a guide to painting fantasy miniatures because I thought it was a free catalogue instead.

Chuck Harp: I grew up skating with a love of graffiti…I’ll let you do the math there.

Erin Roseberry: When I was about two years old, my little brother was born. I was so mad when my parents came home with him from the hospital I kicked my mom! That’s a pretty bad crime for a little kid to commit, assaulting her own mother over an innocent baby!

Illuminated: I’m the youngest of my family, my two older siblings were already teenagers when I was born. This meant growing up with four responsible adults to keep an eye on me. I never even had a thought of committing a crime.

James Wright: Maybe not the worst, but on the list was definitely shoplifting. There was a shop that sold cards for a very popular collectible card game, and this shop also had a bathroom for customer use. So one or two of us would keep a lookout, while another friend grabbed a handful of packs, took them to the facilities, and jammed them into his pockets. Though we had a rule that we couldn’t use any cards acquired in this manner in play amongst ourselves. There was some honor, I suppose.

John Konrad: I had a friend in elementary school who would let me come over to his house and play with his toys, and one day I stole his Spider-Man yo-yo. I’ve been carrying the weight of that guilt all this time. Omar, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry.

Nick Mamatas: I made black powder for a public speaking class; thankfully it was before the big wave of explosive school violence, so all I got was weird looks.

Rodrigo Vargas: I was a very hyper active kid, in school plays I would jump into the stage even when it was not my class’ turn. And since people enjoyed and laughed at it, I guess you could say I stole the show. Sorry, other boring kids!

Van Jensen: I think I was three, and I saw a dollar in my mom’s purse and took it. When she asked where I got it, I said my dad gave it to me. Not much of a criminal genius. I got busted within about two minutes.

MacNamee: Any crimes against fashion you might want to admit to now? Remember, you are under oath.

Chase: In the wearing sense? Too many, constantly. But in the care and keeping of clothes? I’ve never once separated white and color laundry, I just do it all on the same cycle and hope they sort themselves out. “It all comes out in the wash” is my excuse and personal philosophy on that.

Thomas: I’ve returned to the most infamous fashion choice of my childhood: wearing sweatpants whenever possible.

Harp: Wearing ridiculously large t-shirts and oversized jorts. But let’s face it, I’m probably still committing crimes against fashion.

Roseberry: When I was in middle school I was obsessed with the store Hot Topic, back during the peak of the 2000’s mall goth look. You know I was rocking those baggy Tripp NYC pants with all the straps, mismatched arm warmers, an Invader Zim t-shirt, and a terrible home hair dye job; and thinking I was cooler than all the other 7th graders for it.

Illuminated: It’s funny how this question brought back to mind a very vivid memory of a girl way back in elementary school yelling at me because “You’re not supposed to wear sandals with socks!” But I think it worked to get her attention, because then we dated for a bit when we got to our teens.

Wright: Oh, I was a weirdo in high school, and I tried to start a fashion trend by lacing a wristwatch into my shoelaces. No, I don’t understand it either, but I do get why it never caught on.

Konrad: I had a brief phase in high school where I decided I wanted to wear unique pants. I had these awful, baggy, white floral print pants that no one had the courage to tell me looked stupid.

Mamatas: Almost every shirt I own is a graphic tee from a defunct literary magazine and a failed smartphone app or other culture/tech company nonsense. I live in the Bay Area, you see.

Vargas: I’m a pretty regular guy when dressing up, but I guess I could confess of having used an all denim outfit as a kid. And I was very proud of it.

Jensen: In the early 2000’s I lived in cargo shorts. 

MacNamee: And what would your contemporary perfect crime be, if you knew you’d get away Scott-free, of course? 

Chase: For legal purposes this is a joke, but I’d really like to hold some folks for ransom until Netflix reinstates filming for GLOW Season 4 and releases the final season. That show getting canceled is one of the biggest crimes against television of this decade.

Thomas: Stealing a billion dollars from some evil corporation that’s mistreating its workers and destroying the environment, such as the Roxxon Corporation from Marvel Comics. I’d keep a million or two for personal expenses and distribute the rest honorably. 

Harp: For those who know me, it’s pretty obvious. I’d love to steal the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Not for any money purpose, just so I can listen to it.

Roseberry: I would break into a zoo with lots of adorable baby wild animals. Not to steal them, just to give them a quick snuggle and be on my way. How else am I ever going to live out my dreams of cuddling a baby red panda? Have you seen how cute they are?

Illuminated: I’d rob someone who can afford/deserve the loss, and just enough to ensure I don’t have to do anything but work on comics for the remainder of my time on this earth.

Wright: Playing the long con on billionaires. They have so much money that I don’t know if they’d even miss some if it was redistributed. Also, I love The Sting (1973) and most movies involving cons, so it would be a fun way to spend time with the homies on top of getting rich/revenge. 

Konrad: I want to orchestrate a museum heist in broad daylight. I don’t know what exactly I’d steal— some small artifact or artwork—but it doesn’t seem that hard to get away with. Even if I got caught and the museum recovered it, I would be forever tied to the history of whatever I stole.

Mamatas: I would definitely kidnap the leader of every country and make them settle geopolitical conflicts through armed combat in a gladiatorial arena. That would be round one. Round two would be the survivors versus members of various endangered predator species.

Vargas: Definitely would love to steal Elon Musk’s twitter handle. And have him try to log on only to find that he just can’t. I wouldn’t even use it. To just have that one thing they can’t own forever.

Jensen: I’d dynamite Mount Rushmore to smithereens.

MacNamee: When reading up on the news of the day, what types of crime stories fascinate you? From serial killers to serial bigamists. What floats your boat, and why?

Chase: I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of true crime! Or at least, I don’t really follow it for entertainment. But once, I ended up reading a news article and discovering that the orthodontist who had done my braces was arrested for robbing a number of banks in the region. That was weird, to say the least. For crime fiction, I do love a good old fashioned murder mystery.

Thomas: The crimes committed by celebrities. It’s fascinating to see the once mighty have their horrid secrets revealed and then fall from grace. It feels so satisfying when that karmic justice happens to celebrities I despise, and it feels horribly shocking when that happens to celebrities I loved. But even in that shock, there’s a lot of fascination.

Harp: I’m definitely not into researching serial killers. I probably like learning more about organized crime. Whether that be the mafia, Yakuza, Russian gangs. You know, wholesome stuff like that.

Roseberry: I think true crime stories where people create and inhibit elaborate fake identities as part of cons–like an adult pretending to be a teen to play high school sports, or a healthy person pretending to have a terminal illness–are fascinating. I really wonder what drives people to create these false identities, and how they think they are going to get away with it long-term? I want all the behind-the-scenes details!

Illuminated: This might be a very milquetoast answer, but I do not find real life crime and criminals that fascinating at all. In the world of fiction, criminals are charismatic and entertaining, you have the gentleman thief, or the genius killer with his labyrinthine plots. Often, crimes befell those that deserve it, in a cathartic karmic retaliation. In real life, this is quite different.

Wright: While technically, by the letter of the law, this is a crime, I am always so intrigued and excited by the stories of art thieves who focus on repatriating the culturally important works that were stolen from them by colonial powers. I don’t consider this a crime at all, especially since many of the institutions hoarding these works have been doing so for centuries and have no intention of returning them proactively.

Konrad: True crime stories about murder are too intense for me, but I love reading about con men and scammers. Every high-profile scam is one charismatic person doubling down on lie after lie until their entire empire crumbles. Con men are almost always their own undoing, which is beautiful.

Mamatas: I “enjoy” fine art forgers, Fyre Festival-like scams, Anna Sorokin-style con artists, and people who drive cars backward through shop windows afterhours. Also, that weirdo who taught herself how to dig tunnels and who might end up destroying the homes of her neighbors. Oh, and cults, especially if they have weird little outfits.

Vargas: Okay! Okay! I confess! I don’t really like crime! I’d rather just read about people hanging out in peace! I’m a crime poser.

Jensen: I was a newspaper crime reporter at the start of my career, so I spent every day living that stuff, seeing corpses and talking to grieving families. It’s all a little too real to me for any of it to float my boat.

MacNamee: I suppose it would be criminal if I didn’t ask you about your own Perfect Crime Party contribution. Tell me more about the story and what crime your strip humorously delves into.

Chase: I worked on “Play It Again” with co-writer and artist Tango, colorist Xenon Honchar, and letterer Noah Stephens. Our short is a punk rock vampire heist story, as our beloved bloodsucker has to steal back his own property from decades past when it ends up in the clutches of a collector. Tango and I co-created the pitch and wanted to use the conventions of vampire lore, like requiring invitation into a home and being unable to touch silver, as obstacles in an action-packed theft sequence.

Thomas: “The Good Word” was written by me and illustrated by my wife Reetta Linjama. It tells of a young con artist selling healing elixirs in Mississippi by claiming they were originally used by the prophets of the Old Testament to keep themselves healthy and spry. He’s a guy who got into the snake oil trade for the thrill and challenge, but discovers how easy it is for the tables to turn on him. It’s a comic about the ways we exploit people’s expectations and faith, and how the person who can tell the best story is often the person who wins.

Harp: My story “Racked” delves into petty crime, specifically graffiti, trespassing, and theft. The story is about a group of young graffiti artists who must find a way to gather new supplies after they mistakenly lost their previous stock the night before.

Roseberry: In my Perfect Crime Party story, Koronis the witch faces a problem: the town she’s been hired to magically protect is experiencing a drought, but her weather magic skills totally suck. Rather than admit to weakness and ask the academic-rival-turned-neighbor witch for help, she decides to steal one of her rain clouds and pass it off as her own work. Of course, this is Perfect Crime Party, so nothing about this cloud heist plan is going to go right, but you’ll have read my comic to see just how ridiculously wrong it goes!

Illuminated: “Psikotika Will Strike at Midnight” is a comedy heist story with a Naked Gun energy, about a malicious masked lady and the lawman trying to take her down. It is a parody and homage to Italian ’60s crime comics, the kind that exploded in popularity after the first appearance of “Diabolik”.

Wright: Jackie Crofts‘ and my story, “The Ninth Life of Tabitha Tuxedo,” focuses on the titular Tabitha, who hails from a long line of cat burglars. Only she has bucked the family business and decided to live a life on the straight and narrow, taking on a series of regular, non-criminal jobs. When her incarcerated mother sends her a guilt-trip ridden letter, Tabitha has to decide if it’s worth using what she’s learned in her honest jobs to break her mother out and do the family proud. At its heart it’s a lightly humorous take on never being able to measure up to a mother’s expectations.

Konrad: My story, “Darling Doesn’t Know,” is a noir screwball comedy set during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s about a celebrity couple that resort to murder to inherit each other’s fortunes. What they don’t realize is that both of them are flat broke. 

Mamatas: A pair of sisters, one of which is a true crime nut, are shocked to hear that their parents love them both the same, no matter what they do. How to resolve this except with a duel of sorts that tests out the “twenty-one foot rule”—the belief that a knife-wielding assailant can stab a gun-wielding defender before the gun holder can get off a shot within twenty-one feet. This belief forms the justification the police give when they shoot people that later turn out to have been unarmed.

Vargas: Coni Yovaniniz and I wrote this little story of people making counterfeit TCG cards to take down a school bully. It’s inspired by taking down unfair systems and a whole lot of anime tropes. It’s a fun comic!

Jensen: Fittingly, I wrote about a newspaper crime reporter who has covered every crime and decides to commit his own perfect crime. It…doesn’t go well.

MacNamee: Finally, before you are free to go, give me one good reason why I should back this campaign.

Chase: With so many amazing stories by some truly incredible names in indie comics, the anthology is an absolute steal! Readers will be making off like bandits with almost 300 pages of lighthearted hijinks, capers, and whodunnits to enjoy.

Thomas: Because Iron Circus has recruited an incredibly diverse team of criminals, and almost every crime imaginable is committed within the anthology’s pages: everything from guerilla gardening to copyright theft to liberating a sacred bull from Minoan Crete. There’s something here for everyone.

Harp: For the amazing and diverse group of creators! You get to hear fantastic stories from all amazing creators, each working their hardest to present you a completely different story than the one before. It’s a must read for sure.

Roseberry: Going back to my previous subject of adorable animals you wanna cuddle: my main character has a flock of crow familiars. They’re cute. They have big googly eyes and silly expressions and are always getting into mischief. Don’t you want to read a comic with adorable corvid hijinks? Well you gotta back the Perfect Crime Party campaign then!

Illuminated: Only one? When you’re supporting anthologies like this one, you’re helping smaller voices get their foothold in the industry, planting the seed of greater stories you will read and enjoy in the future. You’re actively contributing to making the industry a bigger, more varied place. 

Wright: The best reason to back this campaign is that it’s filled to the brim with incredible creators, all doing fascinating twists on the premise. And if that’s not enough, Iron Circus has been putting together quality anthologies with interesting themes for years now and this looks to be another for your library.

Konrad: There is genuinely something in this comic for everyone. Every creator comes from a different background with different inspirations, and the stories cover a huge range of genres. If there is a type of comic that you love— whether it’s shonen action or pulp Italian comics or dry satire— it’s in here somewhere.

Mamatas: I want Charles Adrai to notice me.

Vargas: Would be a crime not to. And you’d go to jail. And then you’d feel stupid. Because I warned you.

Jensen: It’s a book created by a bunch of people who are obsessed with crime. Do you really want to risk making us angry?

MacNamee: Thank you for your time. If we have any further questions… well, we do know where you live. That will be all.

You can back Perfect Crime Party here now.