A Prime Minister strides into a boiling sea. And disappears. Plunged into a slippery nightmare, he must face the consequences of an environmental war we’ve waged on a terrifying abyssal world.

This 56-page black-and-white undersea sci-fi graphic novel follows in the inkstains of Moebius, Alberto Breccia and Katsuhiro Otomo and is a love-letter to devotees of hand-inked stories.

This first issue of Infernal Regions has been more than five years in the making. Thousands of sketches, research at Point Nepean, snorkelling the deeps of Port Philip Bay, hours at the State Library of Victoria and litres of black ink have been spilt. Now, art production is complete, lettering is underway, and it’s almost time to press ‘print’.

Infernal Regions has spent a long time slithering along the sea floor and now I must ask for your help to bring it to the surface!

Internal pages - setting the mood

As someone who first learned to swim at the Harold Holt Swim Centre (yep, a real place), like many Aussies I’ve always been fascinated by the tale of the Prime Minister who went for a swim before lunch and never came back. What if he’s still down there? Is he drinking cocktails, making friends? Is he lonely and in a dark place? From this point I got thinking how far, or how un-far Australia has come since Holt’s halcyon days.

Combining all our worst, complacent Prime Ministers into the one character seemed the best way to convey my disgust at the climate inaction that’s been…inactive my entire life. Written in a dark fury at the bleak future of our environment, Infernal Regions was spawned.

Internal spread - a Prime Minister falls

As you can see, the chunkiest cost is printing. This ensures a top-quality offset perfect bound print from a fabulous local printer with green credentials! Other fees include:

• Crowdfundr and credit card fees 
• Packaging from PackQueen, Aussie Post and Sustainable Printing Co.
• Lettering invoice (50% is already paid)
• Fine art giclée prints from SMLXL Fine Art Print Studio in Prahran, Australia. I'll need to run off a few samples for the Melbourne launch on 11th November.
  
  

With your contribution, hitting that big print bill is going to get me well on the way to getting Infernal Regions into your moist, clammy flippers, claws, tentacles and feeding tubes! Will you back me? My studio just before a Nicholas Building Open House, Melbourne

To get this graphic novel printed and distributed I'm offering a number of rewards. From a digital download to framed original artwork, hopefully there is enough of interest for fans of ink!

There are SIX different types of A4 print available (only 5 editions of each). These are all beautiful black-and-white giclée prints of the Infernal Regions inside artwork. Simply select your preferred option when checking out.

If you really feel like going wild on your comics patronage, there are three top tiers - the Queequeg, the Moby-Dick, and the Kracken backer tiers. Check them out!

You also have the option of buying this gorgeous FULL COLOUR A3 print of the cover wraparound art. This is coloured by Simon Robins and as you can see his work is very WOW. Also printed by fine art printers SMLXL in Prahran, Victoria.
If I can crack that $4k goal, I’m able to unlock so much more for backers.

• Once we get to $4,500, I’ll create some super-fancy stickers for your laptop or bumper bar. Either old Tubehead or the titular PM, I'll let you know. Every backer who pledged a physical book or print will receive this little extra in their package.
• $6,000 allows us to delve into the world of risograph printing. It’s a cool Japanese printing process involving soy-based inks and really wild colours. I’ll be able to bring out some prints of bee-yutiful colour spreads from the book for every backer who ordered a physical product.
• And $8,000 means I can donate 10% of all proceeds to the Australian Marine Conservation Society to help them protect our ocean wildlife. Every single backer on this list will be mentioned with a thank you in the next print run.

After then, who knows? Colour versions, variant covers, anything is possible with more backers and readers.

Letters by Simon Robins, incredible stuff!

Internal page - reality or psychedelic nightmare?

Premium quality print is integral to Infernal Regions. While you’re looking at this on a screen, I've designed it primarily as a touchable, high-quality, printed graphic novel. Digital print is not possible for two reasons: I’ve designed it to a custom size (340 x 245 mm), and shiny digital inks are not to my taste! This means it’s offset printed and perfect bound with a spine. I've seen a print sample and not only is it GORGEOUS, but it is GIGANTIC and LUXURIOUS. You will enjoy the art! 

My print guru and all-round design superstar is, and always has been, my sister Emma Stewart of Geronimo Creative Services, a giant of the industry with over 30 years of print production, packaging and layout experience. With her guidance and pre-press advice I’m able to confidently bring this beast of a project to fruition, knowing it won’t let down fans of grouse comics and art.

And I am so close to realising that goal. Can you help get Infernal Regions over the line? Internal page - an underwater cargo cult drowning in human rubbish.

Rebecca L. Stewart – creator and artist

I’m an illustrator and comic book artist working from a studio in the historic Nicholas Building in Melbourne, Australia. I’m deeply inspired by any artform where you can see fingerprints and the indelible mark of the people who created them – psychedelic worlds like Fantastic Planet (1973) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) are close to my heart. With these marvels always in the back of my mind, as well as modern ink maestros such as Jeremy Bastian, Anand RK and Molly Crabapple, I create book covers, album covers, sci-fi magazine illustrations, tattoos, zines and prints, editorial cartoons and private commissions of all kinds. You can see more of my work here.

Simon Robins – letterer

You may be wondering why the lettering, cover colours and logo look so good – it’s because I paid a professional to do it. Simon Robins is a bona fide comics legend in Melbourne, with many publications under his belt, like Image Comics’ Slumber series, Doorman, and many more. While he’s a colourist, he has loads of lettering experience and kindly agreed to letter my first graphic novel and colour the front cover thank god. Simon is online here.

You got this far? Great! Check out the 'Risks and Challenges' and 'FAQs' tabs above, or just checkout in the Perks section to place your order :)