Best artist to bring Sacramento comic relief

After a failed attempt on Kickstarter last year, writer Eben E.B. Burgoon’s new comic-book project, B-Squad: Soldiers of Misfortune, is finally coming to fruition.

“After it didn’t get funded the first time … I told myself I would take any kind of tax return I get, bundle that all up, and I’m going to back B-Squad [myself],” Burgoon said.

Money in hand, he approached artist Lauren Monardo.

“I took about $3,000, went to Lauren and was like, ’All right, Lauren, illustrate [this] and get paid to do it.’”

With Monardo, who had previously illustrated for Cartoon Network series The Venture Bros., at the artistic helm, Burgoon put B-Squad on Kickstarter again in August—this time with more success. The second campaign raised $6,718.

Burgoon is the mastermind behind the story of a group of Sacramento-based cut-rate mercenaries taking on the dangerous and ridiculous missions the A-Squad won’t touch. For a perilous twist, each issue Burgoon will kill off a character at random, chosen by spinning a six-sided die.

“In comic books, they always kill characters, and then they come back,” said Burgoon. “They aren’t willing to just part with them. I thought, I can just make a ton of characters and just start killing them off one at a time.”

He also aims to highlight his favorite parts about Sacramento in the comic, including his collaboration with Tapigami creator and artist Danny Scheible. Scheible will show up as a supervillain in B-Squad’s second issue.

“There’s a whole scene in the second issue where the squad is going to be chasing Danny’s business partner Tre [Borden] around town in, like, a car chase,” said Burgoon.

He’ll also take on notable local spots.

“We’re going to try to highlight local businesses that I like. You know, they’re going to drive by LowBrau, Bows & Arrows, and they are going to drive through Midtown,” Burgoon said. “[It will] highlight as much as I can about what is cool about Sacramento.” http://bsquadcomic.com.