After a successful Kickstarter during 2013, the My Gal, the Zombie (MGTZ) team’s second one lasts from April 21 to May 21, 2016. This time they’re raising funds for the second season their hit indie TV series and launching a new comic series in My Gal, the Zombie: Hurts and Kisses, to which www.mgtz.co is a shortcut.
Rewards not only include My Gal, the Zombie episodes and comicbooks, but you can chose rewards like have their team write, illustrate, or create your own comic or film, at levels as low as $500!
For Hurts & Kisses, there is a big focus on the women involved in the comics and horror. My Gal, the Zombie creator, Dan Conner, has said, “To me, ladies have much more to offer in the genres I enjoy than we see represented.”
“Once I started working with Justine [McKinney] and Patricia [Krmpotich],” he continued, “we achieved things I could never have done on my own. I also get a lot of the jokes we use from my wife when we watch the movies. They all bring perspectives to things that I just don’t have.”
During the previous MGTZ Kickstarter, at the first Horror House Fest, Dan was approached by a studio about developing a film. This happened to to be the same night he met Justine McKinney, who went on to not only star in what became a horror movie host television series, but also to do all of her own special FX makeup. She was even named an Instagram AmazingMakeupArt Shooting Star in December 2015 (with her profile @mygalthezombiefx).
After a few film shoots, Patricia Krmpotich, well known in the Denver comics community, was invited to join the team as an associate producer. It was not long before she was also writing and co-hosting the show as well.
This Kickstarter marks the first time Krmpotich is writing for the comic series, with one story illustrated by Conner, and another illustrated by Aaron Ancheta (junior art assistant of the New York Times best seller Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour).
“Patricia is the first person other than me to write for the comic and I gave her just one instruction,” said Conner, “to write as herself, as a ’20 something, goth emo girl.’ While I can write all sorts of characters, I cannot write from that place. I can’t have had the same experiences.”
It is that background which gives Krmpotich’s writing for My Gal, the Zombie authenticity and she is not alone. McKinney’s portrayal of the My Gal, the Zombie character has received rave reviews (as highlighted on the new Kickstarter) and she is the perfect actor for the role. Even off the set, she brings the same vibrancy, especially with younger fans.
“I do get a lot of kids coming up and asking for pictures when we go to events… they seem to really respond… [I look] bright… friendly… kind of creepy, but not scary,” said McKinney during a Kreepy Kastle radio show interview, from December 5, 2015 (https://kreepykastle.com/radio-show/).
This celebration of ladies in the popular arts does not stop with the MGTZ production team, however, as their episodes highlight other women in these fields.
“We’ve been able to do segments on the careers of women like Sandra Knight from Frankenstein’s Daughter and The Terror and Jill St. John, who was in our episode with Vincent Price’s A Christmas Carol,” says Conner, “Then it was a dream come true when we got to actually interview P.J. Soles of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School, Carrie, and Halloween and Judith O’Dea from Night of the Living Dead, two icons, in person.”
Another women interviewed on the show was Chelsea Heart, with her band Forever Dead, and ladies from the Jekylls, the Undead, and Kitty in a Casket are featured, too. More of such interviews are promised for the second season.
The good news is that you can be a part of this show and comic, by backing the My Gal, the Zombie: Hurts and Kisses Kickstarter by May 21, 2016 at 11:59 PM MDT, www.kickstarter.com/projects/crazygoodconner/my-gal-the-zombie-hurts-and-kisses is the full URL for the campaign. Every backer, even at the $1 level, will receive an episode download, even before the campaign is through, before any pledges are collected, as well as other benchmark goals, including comics.
