Following on the heels of the successful L’Amour Supreme’s ZEN Kickstarter—the first crowdfunding campaign in Zen Intergalactic Ninja’s 37-year history—1First Comics has launched Zen: Bounty Wars, by writer/creator Steve Stern and Bill Maus, who has illustrated more Zen stories than any other artist.
“I wrote this story to be the ultimate statement on what it means to be a bounty hunter,” said Stern. “Zen: Bounty Wars explores the profession from several angles, a profession that had its start in the Old West, but has since become a major theme in sci-fi.”
Following a standoff with a bounty killer who never hesitates to murder his quarry, Zen questions what he does for a living. Master Satva suggests Zen owes it to himself to get to know some of his fellow bounty hunters before making any decisions. In a lodge run by the Bounty Hunters Federacy, that process is cut short when Zen accepts a bounty on an arms dealer. Enter Nira-X, and together they become involved in a Bounty War of epic proportions.
Maus, whose character Nira-X was created in the pages of Zen’s Alternity Saga in 1993, said, “This is Zen and Nira-X’s biggest adventure ever, and it’s giving me the opportunity to illustrate more characters, more locales and more action than in any previous story. And of course, Steve and I worked together on the seminal Zen: Bounty Hunter, which launched Zen into the profession.”
The Kickstarter campaign includes variant cover editions by Bill’s daughter, rising talent Kat Maus, and Thad Rhodes III, whose Zen art has graced the back cover of Heavy Metal magazine. Other items include posters, sketch packs and unique metallic art prints.
1First Comics publisher and The Boys executive producer Ken F. Levin said, “Zen: Bounty Wars is the sequel to our bestselling Hard Bounty series. We’re looking forward to Zen’s next thirty-plus years, including finally seeing him come to life on the screen.”
The Zen: Bounty Wars Kickstarter campaign can be found at http://kck.st/3IHasZ0
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