Joseph Duis, the creator and writer of DOCTOR ORANGE, answers our seven questions about the Kickstarter for this 22-page full-color self-contained Halloween-themed psychological horror comic book in which nothing is a given launching on August 14th at drorangecomic.com.

After a woman with a history of hallucinations carves a jack o’lantern for Halloween, she discovers that it is stalking her in revenge . . . or is it all in her mind?

Why did you feel you need Kickstarters help to launch your project and will your goal if reached cover all the creative costs? 

Kickstarters are a necessary resource.  Without them I’d be dead in the water because it would be very difficult to raise the capital to make a book otherwise.  If reached, my goal will cover all creative costs but only a fraction of the non-creative/business costs.

How did the creative team behind this Kickstarter come together?  

We found each other on Facebook!  I knew Greg and Maulana from previous projects – Greg from our previous comic, the horror Western, BLESS THE CHILDREN, and Maulana from our horror manga, CAT & MOUSE, and I found Raul looking for work on Facebook and his style suited what I was looking for.

What do you believe separates your Kickstarter from the thousands of other Kickstarters out there?  

There are very few comics like this out there.  It rewards careful reading and the theme of existentialism is present throughout the narrative.  Reader interpretation is key and things are left ambiguous.

Is the Kickstarter the start of something bigger or is this a must have one-shot?  

One-shot!  That way you never know how it’s going to end.

 Are stretch goals something important to your project or just your way to give back to the backers? 

Ideally they should be a way to give back to the backers.  I don’t have any stretch goals right now but I’ll probably try to include a back-up story as a stretch goal if we get to that point.  That way you could get two stories for the price of one.

If you saw this project, pretending it wasn’t yours, what would do you think of it and how you would react to it and why? 

I would love it because it’s right up my alley – a psychological horror comic in which the nature of reality is in question.  Anyone who sometimes doubts his or her senses, likes horror, or appreciates Halloween will like this comic.

What is the inspiration behind this project?

I was carving a jack o’lantern by myself in October 2011.  I started thinking about what would happen if I accidentally killed myself, and then I started considering why I wouldn’t call the police.  It would have to be some reason why they wouldn’t believe me.  Then I thought it might be because I thought the jack o’lantern itself was after me . . .

OK, those are 7 great reasons, so give ’em that elevator pitch,  creator:

If Edgar Allan Poe wrote a screenplay about the Great Pumpkin and John Carpenter directed it!  Now head on over to drorangecomic.com and back it when it goes live on the morning of August 14th!