I don’t particularly enjoy being the last to hear big news, but Splatto Comics founder and independent comic book creator Richard C. Meyer has time and again confounded me with some rather unorthodox marketing techniques.

Yet another example of this came over the Veterans’ Day weekend, when Splatto Comics surprise-launched a crowdfunding campaign for First Kill, a 64-page Rambo origin story co-authored by Sly Stallone himself. No announcement ahead of time. No pre-launch hype. Nope. Nothing of the sort.

In any case, the project is already fully funded, having raised nearly $90 thousand at the time of this writing. As a matter of fact, the crowdfunding period is already closed, and the book is now in-demand following a truncated 72-hour campaign.

Co-written by Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Dixon, First Kill features the illustrations of multiple artists over multiple chapters, including Renzo Rodriguez, Butch Guice, Matt Bahr, Kenneth Loh, and Aaron Alfeche.

In addition to the main book, there is also a spin-off book featuring Colonel Trautman titled A New Kind of War, which is illustrated by Kenneth Loh and is the comic book debut of writer Will Jordan, aka The Critical Drinker.

Here’s the official pitch taken from the First Kill Indiegogo campaign page:

John Rambo’s First Tour Of Duty In Vietnam!

Before he was a Myth, he was a Man. A happy-go-lucky high school football star from Arizona who got into a scrape with the law.

Boot Camp sounded better than jail, so he traded in his football cleats for Army boots. Excelling in every aspect of soldiering, he arrives in Vietnam with his new group of friends just hoping for a little action.

A NEW KIND OF WAR is The Critical Drinker’s (Will Jordan) First Comic Book!

Will Jordan has built up a massive audience with his witty & insightful videos on THE CRITICAL DRINKER YouTube channel. But he is also an accomplished writer of action-packed novels and screenplays. We are proud to publish Will’s first comic book, A NEW KIND OF WAR. This tells the story of Rambo’s mentor, Colonel Trautman, when he was a young officer serving during the Korean War. Art by Kenneth Loh.

Backers can get a copy of First Kill for $35, which includes a set of dog tags and a pinup poster. If you have more cash to spend, you can also pick up the following:

• Multiple copies of the book
• Several variant covers
• A hardcover edition
• A New Kind of War by Jordan/Loh
• Other Splatto Comics books Rock N’ Roll Ninja and The Expendables Go to Hell

It is also worth noting that there is an additional shipping charge starting at $10 for those in the United States.

Interested? You can check out some sample artwork below or visit the full First Kill Indiegogo campaign page here.

Thanks for reading!

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