Toffsbury is a British nobleman, sworn to protect the British Empire from her deadliest enemies with sword and flintlock. A bit of Bertie Wooster and a bit of James Bond, he and Henry, his Chinese manservant, battle for Queen, country, and Earl Grey tea against ruffians, scoundrels, and all manner of high-tech evildoers.
Though he lives in the present, his mind is stuck around 1910. Still, he holds his own against Machiavellian misanthropes with murderous machines, and mechanically-armored henchmen with troubled marriages, all with a certain amount of flair and elan.
...
Toffsbury will be a graphic novel, broken into 12 issues at 22 pages apiece. The project started in 2007, when I was reading the DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. I read a passage, saying (and I paraphrase), "Nobody wants to see your hero waking up, getting dressed, and having breakfast." I thought, "I could make that interesting." And I sketched out a page. Then the page became an issue. Then that became two. Then that became a plot for an entire graphic novel of tremendous ambition. Seven scripts of 12 are written, waiting to drawn.
Unfortunately, due to my lowly status as a student, I have never been able to afford to hire an artist to make the project happen. I've had a few very interested freelancers agree to a royalty-sharing deal, but all had to drop out when paying gigs came along.
I'm hoping now to use Kickstarter to help bring this story to life. I've placed ads and received submissions from quite a few extremely talented people, and hopefully I can raise the funds to hire one of them on. I'll be using this space to keep track of the search and the funding situation.
Here, meanwhile, are a few concept drawings, courtesy of Bryan Lawton, my first supporter on the Toffsbury project.
Toffsbury (The clothes look good, but the man should look a bit more heroic)
Professor Entropy (Original sketch - yes, the proportions aren't great, but I love that face and that pose)
Professor Entropy (Closer to complete - needs an adjustment in the back)
Destructo (Nearly there. The hair's not quite it, and he needs a few adjustments around the crotch, torso, and shoulders)
Gertrude (Destructo's wife)
Lord Borrington
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