‘Mount Olympus’ Graphic Novel

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

'Mount Olympus' is a fictional story based in an alternative South Africa where a civil war broke out post-1994 resulting in the country going into a downward spiral of chaos, corruption, and lawlessness. Even though the story is fictional, the show shines a light on various socio-political issues and magnifies them through the world, the characters, and their different agendas.

A character who goes by the name: Nqaba, is caught in a tough predicament after realizing that his work as a policeman has become meaningless in a country where the government and powerful gangsters work hand in hand to keep the money flowing and the country running.

After discovering an underground fighting tournament held by one of the countries most powerful kingpin, where the winner gets to go against the kingpin himself, he decides to enter the competition as a last resort to get true justice against the powers that be.

THE BACKGROUND

I had initially written 'Mount Olympus' as a live-action mini-series. After realizing that the story is a high concept fiction that would not be very easy to understand without any visuals and also would cost a lot of money to make.

I decided that it would be a great way to tell this story as a graphic novel. This also could increase my chances of pitching it for a live-action as the show will already be well visualized after the graphic novel is made.

THE PLAN

To create 1 pilot issue of the 8 part graphic novel. I have already written all 8 episodes and also paid to create some of the artwork out of my own pocket.

I prioritized the posters for each episode just to give an idea of the style and tone of the graphic novel:

YOUR REWARDS

Pledge R50 = Reward #1! HD Copy of Episode 1 Poster & story synopsis
- HD Copy of Episode 1 Poster and story synopsis.
- A full character breakdown of the main character!

Pledge R100 = Reward #2! HD Copy of Episode 1 & 2 Posters & story synopsis
- HD Copy of Episode 1 & 2 Posters and story synopsis.
- A full character breakdown of the main character and the main villain!

Pledge R200 = Reward #3! HD Copy of Episode 1, 2 & 3 Posters & story synopsis + pilot episode script access
- HD Copy of Episode 1, 2 & 3 Posters and story synopsis.
- A full character breakdown of the main character and the main villain.
- Gain access to the full script of the pilot episode and get to give constructive feedback!

Pledge R400 = Reward #4! HD Copy of Episode 1, 2,3 & 4 Posters & story synopsis + episodes 1&2 script access
- HD Copy of Episode 1, 2, 3 & 4 Posters & story synopsis.
- A full character breakdown of the main character & the main villain.
- Gain access to the full script of episodes 1 & 2 and get to give constructive feedback!

Pledge R800 = Reward #5! HD Copy of ALL Episodes Posters & story synopsis + episodes 1,2&3 script access
- HD Copy of ALL Episode Posters & story synopsis.
- A full character breakdown of the main character & the main villain.
- Gain access to the full script of episodes 1, 2 & 3 and get to give constructive feedback!

Updates

Good afternoon Backers,

I am sending this message to say thank you very much for all of your donations. You have assisted me in bringing me closer to one of my dreams and I will make sure that all of you will be part of the journey. I will be sending an official message to give all of you your rewards for helping me.

I am very grateful and I will not let any of you down, Salut.

Kind regards

Menzi Mzimela

2 Comments

Reply

Marco Craveiro 3 June 2021

Hi great project. I wanted to help out from the UK but I could not find an option not to get any content (presumably the posting charges are prohibitively expensive). Do not worry if that’s the case. Best of luck.
Reply

Menzi Mzimela 4 June 2021

Good morning Marco,

thank you very much for reaching out. There is a ‘pure donation without a reward’ option that you can select when becoming a backer. I hope this helps.

Thank you very much, I hope you are able to make a donation. If not, thank you for viewing the project all they way from the UK. It means a lot, respect, have a great one.

kind regards
Menzi Mzimela

Project FAQ

About Me

My name is Menzi 'Anarchadium' Mzimela and I'm an experienced Content Creator and Creative Producer based in Johannesburg with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry for the last 7 years.
Skilled in Graphic design, Advertising, Adobe Creative Suite focusing on Premiere and Photoshop.
I hold a B-Tech degree in Digital Media Design focused on Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia from the University of Johannesburg.
I have worked on various projects for Channels such as BET, Comedy Central, MTV Base, SABC 3, and Lifetime.
I have also worked for various brands such as Standard Bank and Malibu.
I am currently A Creative producer and Editor for Weldun Media.
I also have a Youtube channel called 'Anarchadium' with over 20 000 subscribers.

Why Crowdfunding?

A great high concept idea is not easy to fund through government or private investors so I aim to convince the public through the work I have done so far to help bring this great idea to life.

What is the plan once 100% funding is received?

I have written all 8 episodes of the novel, so once the funding is received I will begin illustrating the story and bringing it to life with an illustrator that I have collaborated with.
Illustrating is an extremely labour intensive process and most of the money will be going towards that.

Why this Story?

There are a variety of Socio-political issues in South Africa that we do not explore enough through great storytelling and great fiction.
'Mount Olympus' is my first attempt at fictional storytelling that involves World-building, a profound perspective on an alternate universe, and escapism.
Even though most of my work is passion projects, I am always mindful of entertaining the audience.
I believe the story I want to tell is extremely entertaining, emotionally conflicting, intriguing, profound, and will leave you wondering and interrogating the definition of "Good vs Evil".

What is the Goal?

My goal is to become an established writer, director, and producer of Movies, TV, and graphic novels. Graphic novels are most important to me at the moment because the only thing stopping me from creating them is money.
There are fewer obstacles to consider but a lot more work to put in to ensure that I create something that will entertain and grip my potential audience. I see it as a first step towards the other mediums of storytelling that I would like to explore.
I have ideas that would be considered unrealistic and impossible but these ideas are important and necessary to me. I will find any way possible to express these ideas in the best way possible and I view this platform as just another way to assist me in bringing my 'impossible' ideas to life.
I will then proceed to use my graphic novels as pitch documents for live-action adaptations as well as show my abilities to tell a story. This might sound like a "long-shot" or "pipe-dream" to most people, but to me, this makes perfect sense.
Whether it works out or not, I will find great satisfaction in the process and knowing that everything was done in my power to take my imagination seriously and offer the world something that would be memorable and entertaining.

Thank you for your time.