By Pat French
I freaking love Alice Cooper. I love his music. I love his radio show. I’ll even watch him play golf. A couple years ago I was fortunate enough to see him live (or was it undead?) and he freaking killed. Came to find out that just weeks before the show he had broken a few ribs doing a stunt, but let me tell you, you couldn’t even tell. I had seen Ozzy Osbourne a few years prior to this show and was pretty let down by his wooden performance which made me nervous that I would be similarly let down by Alice. Man was I ever wrong. Alice had full choreography for every song. He did all the classic stunts, and he sang his brains out. He is an American legend and we’re all so fortunate to have him.
So what’s he up to now? Well, teamed with Annoying Orange co-creator Tom Sheppard, he’s looking to break back into comic books. And they’ve turned to Kickstarter to fund it. Their concept is a Horror Anthology series called Uncle Alice presents. From what I can tell, Alice will be our host (Cryptkeeper style) as well as being depicted as characters within the stories. If you’re unsure about the concept then I highly recommend checking out The Last Temptation by Neil Gaiman. It’s a graphic novel that ties in with the Cooper album of the same name and it is incredible.
The series already has a few story ideas posted on the kickstarter page, and promises contributions from talent like Zeb Wells, Brendan Hay, Andrea Portes David Beauchene, Nate Watson and Tom Sheppard himself. The initial goal is to create a 12 issue series and then convert the best of it into a TV show hosted by Alice. In addition, if you are to pledge a mere ten dollars, you can submit a story idea of your own, to be adapted by Tom Sheppard. Submissions will be posted on the kickstarter page and contributors will vote to determine the top ten. I know I’m certainly going to try my hand at it. Additional rewards include signed copies of the graphic novel, A pimp looking Alice maquette created by the Chiodo Bros (of Killer Klowns from Outer Space fame) the opportunity to be drawn into the comics, a chance to pitch a television script to Tom Sheppard, and even the opportunity to play Golf with Alice himself.
The kickstarter is, as of the time of this writing, at about 40 thousand towards it’s 200 thousand goal. But with the prizes they’re offering, I’m sure they’ll have no trouble picking up the rest of it. If you’d like to contribute, or just want more information, check out the kickstarter here.