Kickstarter Highlight: Arena Mode

By Tatiana Christian The Page 02/17/2013

Blake Northcott, author of the Amazon bestsellers Relapse (the Vs. Reality Series) and Vs Reality has launched her Kickstarter, Arena Mode with great success. Within 1 day and 10 hours of her 30 day campaign, Blake has reached 200% funding and there’s still plenty of time left. Her new science fiction/super hero novel with a “Ready, Player One, Joss Whedon-y” feel to it has a somewhat familiar plot:

“In the near future the government announces that super-humans are real. But unlike the iconic heroes of comic book fiction, they never put on capes and venture out to save the world; most keep to themselves in an attempt to blend in with a society that fears their abilities, and considers their very existence a terrorist threat.

One day, billionaire Cameron Frost makes a shocking announcement: the latest in his series of increasingly-violent sporting events will be a no-holds-barred fighting tournament. It will take place in a secured urban combat zone – known as The Arena – where 13 volunteers battle for the largest cash prize ever awarded.

The catch? To participate, you have to be a superhuman.

Comic book enthusiast and lifelong underachiever Matthew Moxon is excited to watch real-life superheroes clash for the first time, but a series of unforeseen circumstances find him tossed into the tournament, forced to fight the most dangerous human beings on the planet. When the game begins his only chance of survival is to outwit the competitors, all while he tries to unlock the mysteries buried within The Arena itself.”

But the real clincher for Arena Mode is that there will be illustrations by well-known Marvel and DC artists:

BARRY KITSON (Incredible Hulk, Amazing Spider-Man, Fables, Fairest)
DAN PANOSIAN (Spawn, X-Men, Green Lantern)
DAVE JOHNSON (Deadpool, Punisher, Superman: Red Son)
DEREK LAUFMAN (Marvel vs. Capcom, World of Warcraft)
MARK McKENNA (Star Wars, Justice League, Combat Jacks)
THOR MANGILA (Iron Age Animation, Advent Comics)

This is pretty amazing and is certainly more than enough reason to pledge if you’re a fan of these creators and would love to see their work in a different arena (pun slightly intended). In fact, this is an image of Serafina, a character in Blake’s novel, done by Dan Panosian:

Now that Arena Mode has passed its funding goal, there are only stretch goals :

$15,000 : All the superheroes will be illustrated and there is a profile for each character listing their stats, power ratings and back story.
$20,000 : Every character illustrated in the book will get professionally colored. These colored pages will be included in the hardcover, HD wallpapers, AND digital images for anyone who pledges (even at $1).
$25,000 : A tabletop RPG available for free to anyone who pledges at $10 and above that will include a PDF rule book, color illustrations of the characters. It’ll feature an all new combat system and 13 heroes for you to play with and printable sheets to make your own characters for the game.