Published 18 November 2024 in News
Kickstarter
Uncharted Waters: The Graphic Novel
Kickstarter
Goal Deadline: 14 December 2024
Pirate Captain Van Hunks is in a race against the devil himself, but supernatural forces & mystical creatures aim to foil his plans.
The Story
Uncharted Waters is a thrilling action-adventure story that weaves together legends, myths, and supernatural forces in an alternate mid-17th century setting. Set on the edge of Southern Africa’s rugged coastlines and the vast, mysterious oceans beyond, this tale plunges into a world of ancient spirits, supernatural creatures, and mysterious beings with mystical powers, and the man who would tame them all.
Campaign Aim
All greyscale artwork has been completed and was previously published as part of an anthology comic called SECTOR. The Kickstarter is to enable Moray Rhoda to complete colour work on the project and to collate it into one full colour 84page graphic novel.
Moray is scheduled to complete colour art on the book by Mid-April 2025, and have it shipped out to backers in August/September 2025.
The Legend
One of the enduring legends of Cape Town, South Africa is the legend of pirate Captain Van Hunks and how he challenged the Devil to a smoking contest. Table Mountain in Cape Town often gets covered/draped as if with a tablecloth, with mist, which led to the creation of the myth of Van Hunks and his smoking contest with the Devil. Part of the mountain is even named for this legend – Devil’s Peak.
Similar to many “deal with the devil” tales in folklore, the hero of our story, Captain Van Hunks, once encountered a strange man with pointed, sharp features on the mountain, and after exchanging pleasantries they challenged one another to a smoking contest.
Van Hunks soon realised he was in a contest with the Devil and the prize was his soul. Neither smoker would give way until the mountain was covered under smoke.
This was the inspiration behind Jayson Geland and Daniël Hugo’s The Souvenir graphic novel. Daniël and Jayson created an alt-version mid 17th century Cape Town as a backdrop for the story, where they imagined how this meeting would have played out.
Artwork from The Souvenir by Daniël Hugo below.
Fast-forward a few years later, and Daniël Hugo and Moray Rhoda had the opportunity to collaborate on another story for a new indie comic called SECTOR. They had previously collaborated on many other short stories for various anthologies such as Clockworx and The Velocity Graphic Novel Anthology. SECTOR was a bi-monthly anthology comic that was created to give writers and artists a space to create serialized fiction in an anthology-style book similar to the UK’s 2000AD.
Since the world of The Souvenir was largely unexplored, it made sense to do a story that would serve as a prequel about Captain Van Hunks, his deal with the Devil and the events that led him to settling in Cape Town. The unexplored world element led to the eventual Uncharted Waters name.
Uncharted Waters chronicles the adventures of a much younger Van Hunks, and his quest to find the mystical sunken city of Urr, and the great treasure that lies there – as well as the Devil’s attempt to catch him. We also meet a new character Sharazade, a deadly pirate captain seeking revenge against Van Hunks for a dreadfully evil act he did to her, and a host of other mythical creatures Van Hunks must contend with.
Uncharted Waters pages from the SECTOR Anthology
Uncharted Waters was written by Moray Rhoda, with plot assistance from Daniël Hugo, occasional guest writing by Jayson Geland, and illustrations by Daniel Hugo.
Motif Studios, a Cape Town-based VFX studio were huge early fans of the story and started a conversation with Daniël and Moray about creating a proof of concept trailer for the story once it was finished. This was a conversation that carried on through the last year of production for Uncharted Waters, after which Motif put their money where their mouth was and created the kickass proof of concept trailer at the top – fun fact, Moray, Daniël and Jayson are all actors in the video (try to spot them if you can). Motif are currently shopping it to various producers and streaming platforms in the hopes of getting funding for an Uncharted Waters TV show. You can check out how they brought the world to life here.
The Creators
Moray Rhoda is well-known on the independent/underground scene in South Africa. He was one of the founding members of the Igubu Comic Book Collective and was the man behind Insurrection Studios in the early 2000s, but is probably best known for producing Velocity Graphic Novel Anthology in partnership with Neville Howard and a host of the best artists from Australia and South Africa (and other international artists).
In 2006 Moray Rhoda and Grant Muller organised the Comics Brew Festival, a sponsored event that showcased invited foreign artists in local exhibitions and workshops. As part of this (and with the aim of promoting local artists) they produced The Outline Comic and a supporting launch and exhibition at the Alliance Francaise in Cape Town. At the same time, Moray was also employed by Media24 to run the art studio of Beat Comics, art directing Mzansi Beats, Unicity and Kasiwash comics.
Moray was a contributing member to SECTOR, South Africa’s now cancelled bi-monthly comic, The Lil5 comic and the Velocity Graphic Anthology. Moray, Neville and Ray Witcher hosted the first SA comic panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013 (and a follow-up panel in 2014, with Daniël Hugo replacing Ray). Moray was also one of the organisers of Open Book Comics Fest between 2012 - 2017 and organised SA Comics presentations at Design Indaba 2015, In Cape Town. Most recently Moray was a presenter at Fancon 2017/2018 as well as at the Comic Con Jhb and Comic Con Cape Town in 2023 and 2024 as a presenter and interviewer.
Moray’s background is in design and illustration and he shares his knowledge and opinions as a lecturer and on his YouTube channel. You can see samples of Moray's colour work below.
Moray tends to approach the colour for each story depending on the themes and style of the artwork. Moray also hates referring to himself in the third person.
The Preview
The Characters
Cover Variants
We will be printing two cover variants in both softcover and hardcover. Choose the one you like or choose both! The classic cover was illustrated by Daniël Hugo for the very first issue of SECTOR - it's your chance to own a little bit of history. Cover 2 was designed by Craig Parker from Motif Studios, and is based on the live-action proof of concept video.
Details:
Uncharted Waters will be a 6.85inches x 10.25inches, 84 page, full colour book in soft cover and hardcover variations.
Delivery Aims:
- Full colour art to be completed Mid-April 2025.
- Final art sent to print End of April 2025.
- Printing should be complete by the end of May 2025.
- Shipping from the printer to the fulfilment centre through June and July 2025.
- Fulfilment start date would be in August 2025.
Stretch Goals:
The Costs:
Comic books and what they taught me about storytelling have led to my multiple careers, and the one project that feels like the best expression of me coming full circle to give back to comic books, is the Uncharted Waters story. It remains my favourite story, with my favourite collaborator, Daniël Hugo. So, I aim to produce the highest quality work I can on this to bring it to more people around the world. But that comes at a cost…
Printing and Shipping: AU$ 17 800
As we are in South Africa and subject to draconian tariffs and taxes, books will be printed in China and shipped from the USA. Printing will be done through PrintNinja, an international company who have done (almost literally) hundreds of Kickstarter projects. Their work is of the highest standard and they also have preferential arrangements with fulfilment company, eFulfillment, who will ensure that all books are delivered on time and in mint condition.
This project will ship anywhere in the world.
PLEASE NOTE: Shipping to backers in other parts of the world will be subsidised by USA supporters, however, international supporters outside of the United States may be subject to VAT, GST, or other fees (Sorry, we have no control over that!). By supporting this project, international backers are assuming responsibility for any additional fees.
Production Cost: AU$ 3 450
This will cover the time needed for editing, doing colour and preparing for print, and the change in format.
Fees and contingencies: AU$ 3 750 (±15%)
This will cover Kickstarter fees, international credit-card fees and contingencies for fulfilment costs.
Risks and challenges:
The book is complete and the entire tale has been told. No page art needs to be done and all 84 pages were previously printed in greyscale as part of the SECTOR comic anthology. Having complete greyscale art to work on enables me to add colour faster, while (hopefully) staying true to the scenes as imagined by artist Daniël Hugo.
I have extensive experience creating artwork and running comic book projects in South Africa over the past two decades. This includes keeping projects (and artists) in line and on deadline. While we don’t know if a meteor will hit the planet before mid-2025, short of that I should get it done.
Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
For more information and to Back this Project please navigate to the Kickstarter website here