‘How to Kill a Spider,’ a ‘killology’ by Brett Brooks has been turned into a card game similar to UNO. Brooks is set to sell the game and his graphic novels at the upcoming Dragon Con’s Artist Alley in Atlanta, Sept. 2 through 5.
The “How to Kill a Spider” books have spun off into a card game similar to UNO, Porterdale artist Brett Brooks said. A player turns over a card, revealing a spider of a certain suit and value – “all of whom are spouting some disagreeable, tongue-in-cheek opinion,” he said. Other players get to use cards depicting common household items – a jackhammer, Brooks said, a spiel to convince the spider to join a cult, or some other outrageous tool – and put it on top of the spider, killing it.
“There are up to five suits — smash, element, predator, trump suit and desperation,” Brooks said. “One of the [trump] cards is ‘burn the house down.’ You reveal the spider [card] and put your value suit down to trump the spider. In the second half, [players] can play cards on top of other’s weapons to sabotage their advantage in the round.”
The game is in production now, but will be ready by the time Brooks takes his seat in Artists’ Alley at Dragon Con, Sept. 2 through 5. Artists’ Alley is populated with independent artists, like Brooks, and industry artists from Marvel, DC Comics, Image and Disney.
Brooks’ first graphic novel, “Dust Bunny,” is set in Basement City, built in dust particles, cobwebs and lint. In the forward to the book, Brooks writes the story came from a fleeting idea that sprang into existence in his head. The city is built of cardboard boxes, milk cartons and other discarded items.
The graphic novel is done completely in black and white, an artistic choice Brooks made when illustrating the story. The crime story follows Dust Bunny and his partner, Mite, as they investigate a number of murders in Basement City.
The graphic novels have sold better than Brooks expected.
“I’ve probably sold 1,000 copies of ‘Dust Bunny,’” he said, admitting he was surprised it sold out. He said sales started off by word of mouth, readers telling others about the graphic novel. He asked for pledges through Kickstarter, an online funding platform for creative projects. Brooks’ three projects generated a lot of pledges.
“Dust Bunny,” attracted 156 backers who pledge $7,240, over $5,000 more than Brooks had requested. Another 698 backers pledged $29,330 to help produce the “How to Kill a Spider” card game.
