r/comics • u/illustrator_Rob • Aug 03 '26

I cannot understand how this happened!

I got an ad to support a Kickstarter campaign for a comic book. Decided to look into it. Not only is ALL the art displayed A.I. generated, but the "artist" even has mock "hand drawn" clear tracings of the A.I. the Kickstarter creator has a "A.I." disclaimer saying they "only used A.I. for promotional work, but the actual comic will be hand drawn" (yeah right) and the artist themselves have absolutely NO social media, or any records of any kind. It's VERY CLEARLY a scam. I normally wouldn't care BUT they got 65 THOUSAND dollars of their only $1,500 goal, and they continue to get donations.

That is... insane.

I only see 3 outcomes here:

- Project never comes out and the creator runs off with the money.

-Project comes out and is completely A.I. which is NOT what they advertised but most of the backers probably won't even notice.

- Project comes out actually hand drawn and of MUCH WORSE quality than what actually is advertised.

Anyway - I reported it, but Kickstarter probably won't do anything. Worth a follow anyway if you're interested to see what the hell happens here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2118437440/barbarika-1-nsfw-graphic-novel/creator

11 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/Raygrit 3d ago

NSFW comics attract suckers, what else is there to say?

1

u/illustrator_Rob 3d ago

Well I understand the backers are suckers - this is an especially egregious case because it's so obvious it was a scam from the beginning. The creator of the Kickstarter even printed out images and has screenshots of themselves "Drawing" on the image.

I think there are some cases where Kickstarter should become liable for scams like this - Kickstarter gets a cut, and a processing fee. Kickstarter made at least 5k from this - some projects never come to light - but Kickstarter should do SOME LEVEL of due diligence before letting this happen.

If Facebook and Instagram are being held responsible for things posted on their sites/apps - then Kickstarter does far worse by hosting a platform that allows blatant scams. "There's no way we could have known" doesn't cut it here.

2

u/BOANW 3d ago

Wow! That is very disheartening. Very bizarre. The creator is probably a Cylon. No info on him.

1

u/Massive_Variation_97 1d ago

Gooner bait project and also a huge scam