Mike Baron and Ben Henderson talk about CAUTIONARY COMICS

Throwing Caution to the wind, I ask our old friend Mike Baron about his new job as Editor-in-Chief/Co-Owner of Cautionary Comics. Mike brought Founder and Co-Owner Ben Henderson along to let our readers know all about Cautionary Comics.

First Comics News: Your the editor-in-chief/co-owner at Cautionary Comics what type of comics does Cautionary Comics plan on producing?

Mike Baron: They’ve already done Ravage: Destroy All Men with Chuck Dixon. Next will be Offworlder and The Wraith, two of Ben Henderson’s creations which I wrote. Next will be Florida Man, which is entirely my creation. We have plans beyond that, but let’s wait until see if these fly.

1^st: Who are your partners at Cautionary Comics?

Mike: Ben Henderson, Chuck Dixon, Brett Smith.

1^st: You have conservative creators on staff, will the comics have a more conservative point of view?

Mike: Our sole purpose is to entertain. You will be hard pressed to find a political message.

1^st: Will you all be working exclusively at Cautionary Comics?

Mike: No, well have other projects on which we are working.

1^st: You have a pair of comics that see different sides of the same event, Offworlder and Wraith, what are they about and how do they interrelate?

Mike: OFFWORLDER, Seventh century Scotland. Henry Gunn leads his clan in a ferocious battle with Viking invaders. But with victory in sight, he is ripped from space and time by an alien race. The Ananaki seek a champion to stop another alien race from conquering all known space. Aided by the Egyptian goddess Sa’Ra, Gunn undergoes a hideous transformation, becoming something other than human, able to move through time and space at will, yet unable to save his wife and child. The fate of civilization rests on the shoulders of a troubled demi-god.

In the tradition of The Stars My Destination and The Silver Surfer, Offworlder is a star-spanning science fiction saga that will keep you riveted from first page to last.

THE WRAITH, When Seminole policeman Patwin Gunn’s wife Nina became pregnant, it was the happiest day of his life. But joy turned to sorrow when doctors diagnosed the unborn babe with an incurable heart condition. What would you do to save your child’s life? Would you do anything? Gunn sets out on a seemingly hopeless quest to find Imagog, a mythical Latin American deity.

Gunn’s journey takes him to Honduras, a deadly encounter with bandits, and the discovery of a lost temple in the forest. Here, against all odds, Patwin contacts the mythical deity which agrees to save his wife and child on one condition: Gunn will become Imagog’s avenging angel. All Gunn has to do is foment war, famine, pestilence and death. But Imagog is not what he seems. He is the representative of an alien race, with ulterior motives. The universe is not what it seems. And last, but not least, Patwin Gunn is not what he seems.

In the tradition of Michael Moorcock and Doctor Strange, The Wraith will take you to place beyond space and time where the unbelievable becomes commonplace.

1^st: What can you tell us about Florida Man?

Mike: Gary Duba’s having a bad day. There’s a snake in his toilet, a rabid raccoon in the yard, and his girl Krystal’s in jail for getting naked at a Waffle House and licking the manager. With his best friend, Floyd, Gary sets out to sell his prized Barry Bonds rookie card to raise the five hundred needed for bail. But things get out of hand.

1^st: Is the publishing plan to launch the comics on Indiegogo and then follow up with traditional distribution?

Benjamin L Henderson: Yes that’s the idea with Ravage available through Diamond followed by our future Titles such as Offworlder and The Wraith.

1^st: Would that include Diamond distribution?

Ben: Yep! That’s the plan.

1^st: What titles do you have planned for 2019?

Mike: Ravagers, Offworlder, The Wraith, Florida Man

1^st: Will only the first issues on Indiegogo or will all issues be on Indiegogo?

Ben: We are launching each issue on Indiegogo First then offering a Collected Hardcover Edition Of issues 1-5.

1^st: Will the titles be ongoing or mini-series?

Mike: All series are five issues long. If we manage to pull this off, we will look further down the road.

1^st: Will they be monthly?

Ben: No with utilizing Crowdfunding to get these projects off the ground we think more issues released quarterly or all at once is the way to go.

About Author

Rik Offenberger

Rik Offenberger has worked in the comic field as a retailer, distributor, reporter, public relations coordinator, writer and publisher since 1990. He owns and operates the e-mail bases Super Hero News service, and his published works in print can be seen in The Comics Buyers Guide, Comic Retailer, Borderline Magazine, and Comics International. On the internet he has worked as a writer and/or editor for Silver Bullet Comicbooks, Comic Book Resources, Newsarama and First Comics News. He was the Public Relations Coordinator at Archie Comics for a decade. He is currently the Editor-In-Chief at G-Man Comics. For TwoMorrows Publications, Rik co-wrote The MLJ Companion with Paul Castiglia and Jon B. Cooke, charting the history of Archie’s superheroes, and for Gemstone Publishing wrote chapters of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide to Lost Universes.

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