Oni Presents ODB Graphic Novel On Kickstarter

Oni Press has announced a special book: their first to be promoted through a Kickstarter preorder campaign. It’s about ODB. If you don’t know who that is, read on…

Russell Jones was born on the streets of Brooklyn and grew up to become one of the founding members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. We wouldn’t have him for very long — he died at 35 — but he had a robust and successful career in his short life, branching off into solo albums under the name Ol Dirty Bastard (or ODB for you overprotective parents out there). 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of ODB’s death, and Oni is preparing a graphic novel in his honor.

ODB: Oddities, Discord and B-Sides – Lyrical Ruckus in the City is an anthology book hosted by ODB himself. How has he appeared from beyond the grave? Time travel and alternate dimensions. “In a fractured New York City, an elemental impact event has caused different versions of the city’s most infamous neighborhoods from across the multiverse to converge together into a single reality,” reads Oni’s description of the book.

“Spectral apparitions now haunt the streets of Queens. In the Lower East Side, a rogue artificial intelligence has seized the streets. A hundred blocks north, time travelers are throwing a block party in Harlem. And that’s only the beginning… Our guide through this splintered mutation of New York’s past, present, and future is none other than Ol’ Dirty Bastard himself. Follow him as he leads us through odd, urgent, and powerful tales that cast freedom and oppression, wealth and poverty, love and loss, and even life or death like so many dice in a cosmic game of chance.”

The campaign — which launched today — not only offers the book, but a 7-inch Super 7 figure of ODB’s Lyrical Ruckus character. A digital copy of the book costs a $15 pledge, the paperback costs a $25 pledge and the exclusive Kickstarter hardcover costs a $40 pledge. The figure costs $30 on its own, but can be bundled with the book at higher tiers. Oni is also offering other exclusive merch like an exclusive “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” 7″ vinyl single featuring all-new cover art by Ronald Wimberly (Prince of Cats).

The ODB graphic novel campaign will be open until January 11; the book is due for release in late 2024. Rest In Power ODB.