Dragon Fly #3 Kickstarter
As we prepare to launch the Kickstarter for Dragon Fly issue 3, we realize this character is probably brand new to most of you reading this. So you may be asking yourself, “Who is this Dragon Fly character and why should I be reading it?” Well you’ve come to the right place to get those answers. I'm Jay Sloan, creator and story developer for Dragon Fly as well as co-founder and art director for Unparalleled Comics. If you are new to this series we can get you caught up and this would be a great time to jump on board!
Dragon Fly is the story of an ordinary man obsessed with exacting revenge against the crime family responsible for his father's death. Under the armored suit is a young man in his mid-twenties named Dominic Lombardi. In order to take on a criminal outfit such as the Cusanelli Mob, he steals a hi-tech armored suit from a black ops program that focuses on extending the abilities of warfighters thru technological enhancements. That program wants their suit back and has operatives hunting him down.
Go to the KICKSTARTER now!
After creating my characters and story concept for this series I needed to put together a worthy team of creators to help me bring it to life. That started with the script. So I brought in the rising talent of Brian Hawkins to be the writer. Brian Hawkins is an editor for Mad Cave Studios and writer of such titles as “Devil’s Dominion” from BlackBox Comics, “Black Cotton” from Scout Comics and the forthcoming “Vineyards” from Aftershock. Here’s an excerpt from Brian’s recent newsletter about his experience writing Dragon Fly.
“For the past couple of years, I’ve had the pleasure of writing the DRAGON FLY series for indie comic book publisher Unparalleled Comics. DRAGON FLY is created by Jay Sloan and has been entrusted to me to help tell the inaugural story. Dragon Fly has been an incredibly fun series to write. It’s allowed me to play in a superhero sandbox that I don’t too often get to do as a writer. Writing a “superhero” comic comes with a host of different nuances when it comes to storytelling. In my opinion, the pacing differs from — lets say — a horror story; action scenes are written in a way that doesn’t temper the story beats but instead drives you towards them (again, this is just my opinion). Additionally, the protagonist of the story is usually clearly defined and his or her or they’re role is to overcome the obstacle that is put in front of them in an archetypical fashion.
For Dragon Fly, he’s facing the corruption of his city, how it connects to his losing his father, and the new larger threat that’s growing from the underworld of crime. This very much hits on what the title of my Substack is: CHARACTER + OBSTACLE = STORY.” ~ Brain Hawkins
Next I needed a dynamic artist to illustrate the pages for Brian’s script and that artist was Flavio Rodrigues. I found Flavio on instagram and was an instant fan. His first art piece I saw was a commission he did featuring Wolf and Crow from Hickman’s “East of West” series, of which I’m a huge fan of. So we initially had hired Flavio for a short story featured in Stellar Odyssey issue 1 and he delivered, big time. He was also great to work with and I wanted to keep him working so I brought him on board for Dragon Fly and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
And of course, on colors and letters we have our reliable and talented go to guys in Avery Ferdinand and Francisco Zamora. Avery has colored all our books and 95% of our covers and pinups. Zamora has lettered all our books and they both are immensely talented and a pleasure to work with. Both continue to step up their game and skill level as well.
In issue 1 Dominic Lombardi, aka Dragon Fly, has a chance encounter with a charismatic jazz singer named Cana when two rival motorcycle gangs shoot up the streets of Baltimore. One gang carries a mysterious metallic box while the other gang attempts to take it from them. Dominic reacts on instinct to cover Cana and her son from the stray bullets that riddle their surroundings. Dominic can't help to be smitten when they first meet but soon finds out the club Cana performs at is Seldano's Cellar, which is run by the Cusanelli Mob.
In issue 2, Dominic dives deeper into the criminal underworld as he tracks the package that the biker gangs were fighting over in issue 1. Also his date night with Cana doesn't go exactly as he would like as he inadvertently puts her life in danger when he confronts Don Mastiff of the Cusanelli Mob. And now, in issue 3, the military program that Dominic stole the Dragonfly armor from shows up to take it back no matter the cost. Trying to wage war against a local mafia alone all the while being hunted by cybernetically enhanced soldiers from a black ops unit and trying to have a social life may be a bit much for one man. But Dominic Lombardi doesn't think too much about the odds, he just acts on instinct and endures with tremendous fortitude. But has he bitten off more than he can chew? Check out our Kickstarter campaign to reserve your copy before it goes on sale anywhere else and find out for yourself!