1. Shaniqua-No-Ho (Goal: $2,000/Pledged: $102)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1116321106/shaniqua-no-ho-0 Right around the 2:17 mark in this video, what seems like a totally typical Americans-making-manga project hits a penny and careens off the rails. Yu-Gi-Oh wants to be the best at card games, right? Naruto wants to be the world's greatest ninja? Well, Shaniqua wants to be the world's best ho. Isaac Shapiro and Scott Ferguson were spot on when they discussed shonen manga's usual story structure and the unrealistic way it portrayed many professions, but wrong (oh, so
very wrong) when believing they could mix it with "classic tropes" about black sex workers. Supporting cast members included "Big Lips Dorothy, the trailer park ho, and Pimpsferatu, not to mention Shaniquas primary antagonist, The Vice Squad, as well as the evil, drug-abusing Gold Diggers syndicate." The art is decent, but the greatest entertainment value to be had from this project is watching two well-meaning, obviously sheltered white males say "ho" repeatedly as they try to explain how their vision of a ho isn't really a ho, just something pretty analogous to a ho, only not offensive and somehow empowered. It's like the arguments in defense of skimpy, ridiculous superheroine costumes ("she's expressing her strength and sexuality!") carried to their ultimate extreme. Within days, Shapiro and Ferguson's perspective caught up to everyone else's and they cancelled the project, issuing a
contrite and pretty classy apology. As some of the other examples here show, even the biggest failures can be learning experiences. Let's hope that proves true for John Campbell, too. Got a regrettable comics crowdfunding project we missed (on Kickstarter, Indiegogo or some other site)? Let us know in the comments!