Torsobear: Yarns from Toyburg Hits Kickstarter

If you find yourself in Toyburg, there's two people you can trust. The thing is though, they're not exactly people. Ruxby and Hazbrow are childrens’ toys who are thrown into a chilling noir cycle of murder, deceit and intrigue, where the horror of events stands in stark contrast to the bright and cheerful world in which they take place. They've previously appeared in Torsobear as part of the Outré anthology, but now they're hoping to get some more action, courtesy of Kickstarter.

Expanding on the original short story, Yarns From Toyburg pulls a host of new and established creators into exploring the twisted world of Fluffy Noir. The toys of Toyburg blissfully enjoy their waking lives. Most will never encounter anything nasty. But when they sleep, all will experience the strange and sometimes disturbing violation of The Playtime. Sometimes, they remember. The book will be offered via a Kickstarter campaign and first week pledges will get a special extra reward of a sketch from the creator on the inside front cover of the book, in addition to any other rewards for their pledge level.

The work will include a bunch of short stories, including

Clean heart, dirty paws – Brett Uren
Dress to impress - Frank Martin/Joel Cotejar
Rich toy, poor toy - Grainne McEntee, Matt Rooke
Some assembly required - Cy Dethan/Peter Mason/Nic Wilkinson
She sang for buttons, she unstitched my heart – Brett Uren/Harold Saxon/Mick Schubert
The collector - Glenn Møane/Carlos Nicolas Zamudio/Jon Scrivens
A new hopelessness - Kieran Squires and Faye Harmon
The big wind up - Janos Honkonen/Saoirse Louise Towler/Mick Schubert
Home invasion – Brett Uren/Brockton McKinney/Harold Saxon
Sour in the sweet - Jake Young/Randy Haldeman/Brett Uren
We all fall down, playing it the hard way – Brett Uren

The stories all welcome readers to the city of Toyburg, where the streets are teeming with crime, passion, and murders most foul. They are walked (for the most part) by grim detectives, burned-out has-beens, femme fatales and tragic heroes. The dismembered bodies of teddy bears are being found in back alleys of Mindy Mile district, and it’s up to our hero, rookie detective Ruxby Bear and his partner officer Hazbrow to solve this string of murders, no matter how high and far the clues take them. Between cases, we take a look into the lives of Toyburg’s citizens, police and criminals. No matter where you turn, this city has something sinister hidden just behind the storybook surface.

While the Kickstarter isn't live yet, you can sign up to get an alert when it is at brethren@hotmail.co.uk. Full press release below.

Torsobear: Yarns From Toyburg Brings Fluffy Noir  Comics To Kickstarter

Torsobear is a story about the inevitable loss of innocence in a brutal world, first created by Brett Uren, for the digital anthology, Outré. Expanding on the original short story, Yarns From Toyburg pulls a host of new and established creators into exploring the twisted world of Fluffy Noir.

Torsobear introduced the character of Ruxby and Hazbrow, childrens’ toys who are thrown into a chilling noir cycle of murder, deceit and intrigue, where the horror of events stands in stark contrast to the bright and cheerful world in which they take place.

The toys of Toyburg blissfully enjoy their waking lives. Most will never encounter anything nasty. But when they sleep, all will experience the strange and sometimes disturbing violation of The Playtime. Sometimes, they remember.

The book will be offered via a Kickstarter campaign and first week pledges will get a special extra reward of a sketch from the creator on the inside front cover of the book, in addition to any other rewards for their pledge level.

The basic pledge packages for the book alone will be:

Digital price - $10

Hardcopy price  - $25

‘In the fluffy noir world of Torsobear, not all toys play nice!

Welcome to the city of Toyburg, where the streets are teeming with crime, passion, and murders most foul. They are walked (for the most part) by grim detectives, burned-out has-beens, femme fatales and tragic heroes.

The dismembered bodies of teddy bears are being found in back alleys of Mindy Mile district, and it’s up to our hero, rookie detective Ruxby Bear and his partner officer Hazbrow to solve this string of murders, no matter how high and far the clues take them.

Between cases, we take a look into the lives of Toyburg’s citizens, police and criminals. No matter where you turn, this city has something sinister hidden just behind the storybook surface.

Remember, it’s always fun until someone gets hurt... ‘

Stories Included are:

Clean heart, dirty paws – Brett Uren

Dress to impress - Frank Martin/Joel Cotejar

Rich toy, poor toy - Grainne McEntee, Matt Rooke

Some assembly required - Cy Dethan/Peter Mason/Nic Wilkinson

She sang for buttons, she unstitched my heart – Brett Uren/Harold Saxon/Mick Schubert

The collector - Glenn Møane/Carlos Nicolas Zamudio/Jon Scrivens

A new hopelessness - Kieran Squires and Faye Harmon

The big wind up - Janos Honkonen/Saoirse Louise Towler/Mick Schubert

Home invasion – Brett Uren/Brockton McKinney/Harold Saxon

Sour in the sweet - Jake Young/Randy Haldeman/Brett Uren

We all fall down, playing it the hard way – Brett Uren

You can find out more and keep up to date at:

The Torsobear blog – http://torsobear.comOn Twitter with #torsobear

Sign up to receive via brethren@hotmail.co.uk <mailto:brethren@hotmail.co.uk> to receive an email alert when the Kickstarter goes live.

Contact any of the creators you may know to be put on the alert list so as not the miss the first week pledge reward.

Read the original Torsobear story for free: http://outrepress.com/?p=1216

Expected Release if Kickstarter is successful: 14/07/2014
Page Count: 104
Format: Full colour