Earlier this week, the crowdfunding campaign for Florida Man hit its initial goal with 40 days remaining in the campaign at the time of this writing. The project got a funding boost after one of the creators and all discussion of the book were banned by Reddit for one of the creators being linked to Bleeding Fool, a website that gives fair coverage to projects associated with the ComicsGate movement.

ComicsGate is the name of a loose network of comic book creators and consumers disillusioned with plummeting comics shop sales and concerns of political/ideological encroachment into the professional practices of the comics industry. As a result, several comic book professionals including both freshman creators and seasoned veterans have turned to crowdfunding to market directly to their audience, and have been very successful in doing so.

Predictably, both mainstream comic book creators and websites have pushed back against the ComicsGate upstarts, with their responses ranging anywhere from labeling CG a hate group to refusing to cover it altogether. Reddit’s banning of Florida Man is just the latest example.

Fortunately for the Florida Man team, the Streisand effect went into full effect, and the Cancel Culture at Reddit helped push the campaign over the “fully funded” threshold.

But enough about Cancel Culture, what the hell is Florida Man, anyway? Written by Mike Baron (Nexus, Punisher) and featuring illustrations by Todd Mulrooney (Heavy Metal) and colors by Ichsan Ansori, Florida Man is a 56-page comedy graphic novel following the exploits of the titular Florida Man named Gary who finds himself in over his head as he tries to bail his girlfriend out of jail.

Here’s the plot summary taken from the Florida Man Indiegogo campaign page:

Gary Duba’s having a bad day. There’s a snake in his toilet, a rabid raccoon in the yard, and his gal Krystal’s in jail for getting naked at a Waffle Castle and licking the manager. Gary is just a southern redneck living in a trailer down by the swamp, but he’s got dreams, big dreams. But it seems like every time he tries to get ahead, fate deals him a low blow.

Then one day he gets lucky…

Along with his best friend, Floyd, Gary sets out to sell his prized Barry Bonds rookie card to raise the five hundred bucks needed for Krystal’s bail, but like always, things find a way of getting out of hand. In fact, Duba’s got a way of getting caught in all the wrong places.

Backers can get a physical copy of Florida Man for $25. If you have more money to spend, you can get a t-shirt, lunch box, beach towel, postcards, signed copies, a digital version of the book, a prose novel version of the book (also digital), and even the chance to have your likeness drawn into the final product.

In summation, fuck Cancel Culture, and congratulations to the Florida Man team. If you’re interested in backing the project, you can check out some sample artwork below or visit the full Florida Man Indiegogo campaign page here.

The postcard image