Today In Local Kickstarter Projects: Jill Thompson's 'Scary Godmother' Doll

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 4, 2013 3:00PM

Local artist Jill Thompson is known for her comic book art during Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking The Sandman series, Wonder Woman and The Invisibles, but her best-known and most cherished character is “Scary Godmother.” Originally created as a gift for her niece, Thompson parlayed Scary Godmother into a series of comic books and children’s books, as well as two animated specials on Cartoon Network and a stage adaptation.

Thompson’s fans have long begged her for a Scary Godmother figurine but she signed the merchandising rights to the character away when optioning the character for television. Those rights have reverted back to Thompson and now she’s working on developing a Scary Godmother fashion doll, which she describes as “Barbie but much, much cooler.”

Thompson is determined to retain the rights to the character and the bills have mounted as she’s worked on developing the figure. She estimates it would cost $40,000 to tool the mold for the doll and accessories, paints, packaging and other costs will add to the total. So Thompson has turned to Kickstarter for assistance in finishing the project.

As far as Kickstarter projects go Thompson’s offers plenty of bang for the donation. A $20 pledge will get you a Scary Godmother audio book narrated by Rich “Svengoolie” Koz and featuring the voices of WWE superstar C.M Punk (Thompson designs Punk’s t-shirts), wrestler and podcaster Colt Cabana, and Bake and Destroy’s Natalie Slater. A $50 pledge gets you the Scary Godmother doll. For $150 Thompson and Northwestern University history professor Bill Savage will take you on a four-hour Chicago history tour.

Thompson is less than $40,000 short of her $150,000 goal with eight days left in her Kickstarter campaign. If you’re interested in chipping in, click here and see the reward offerings for the various pledge levels.