In the realm of pop culture stories and series that meld fantasy, role-playing games, and humor, the market gives fans a cornucopia of choices from which to choose. However, only a handful really rise to the top, selections that balance satire and action and hilarity without resulting to stereotype or over-tread tropes.

And even fewer of those selections hit that sweet spot like the hilarious webcomic The Weekly Roll. Created by Malcolm Thulin Carpenter—whose online handle is CME_T—The Weekly Roll is full of hilarity following a party of adventurers who are sometimes heroes for hire, sometimes folks who make choices that are less-than-sane or advised.

And after five years as a webcomic, The Weekly Roll is finally heading to print. Just recently, CME_T partnered with Rocketship Entertainment to launch a Kickstarter to put The Bucket Brigade: The Weekly Roll Volume 1 into the hands of fans old and new. I spoke with Malcolm Thulin Carpenter recently about the conceit of The Weekly Roll, the influences of the webcomic, the Kickstarter itself, and what the series has meant to his life.

The Kickstarter was my first introduction to The Weekly Roll, prompting me to check out the scores of past webcomic installments. Whether you’re a fan of fantasy, RPGs, and/or comedy, the series will be a natural roll of 20 for you!

 

 

FreakSugar: For folks who aren’t familiar with The Weekly Roll, what can you tell us about the series?

Malcolm Thulin Carpenter: The Weekly Roll is a D&D inspired comedy webcomic series that I’ve been making since late 2019, it follows a group of adventurers as they walk the fine line between heroes for hire and wandering murderhobos with a death wish.

FS: The characters feel so fleshed out from the jump. What can you tell us about who we meet in the comic?

MTC: We have:

  • The Paladin Becket, the straight man of the party. Bit of the classic Lawful character trying to rein in his more chaotic party members trope, with the twist that he’s done some DARK stuff in his crusading days.
  • The Sorcerer Trevor, the wild card of the party. Just an absolute loose glass cannon, fireballs and wanton vandalism galore. Wears the pelt of his adopted sentient badger mother as a sign of respect and love. Boyfriend to Grogna!
  • The Fighter Grogna, the barely contained barrel of violence. Arguably the most psychotic of the bunch but also had the brightest upbringing. No causation. Mute but thanks to Klara now able to speak using sign language.
  • The Necromancer Torvald, that guy who has VIEWS on the morality of taxation. A wizard who left his home since he was being hunted by a hit squad for some teeny tiny tax evasion.
  • The Warlock Klara, an optimistic and friendly lass who just happens to have sold her soul to an old-testament styled angel for a d10 cantrip and an enslaved demon familiar.

FS: The webcomic is genius and combines so many tones and styles and genres. First up, why RPGs? Why did you land on that for the series?

MTC: When I made the comic I was very much into D&D and spent quite a bit of time on the D&D related subreddits. I’m still very much into D&D but at the time, I was unemployed and our weekly game sessions was one of the bigger things that kept me sane during my job hunt. So, I had D&D heavily on my mind and thought, hey, let’s make a comic strip about what can happen in a game!

 

 

FS: Following up on that, beyond the RPG aspect, what are some of your influences for the webcomic?

MTC: I think one of the major influences beyond RPG tropes and some such would be the works of Terry Pratchett. The clever and hilarious writing, especially the City Watch series, was a great inspiration or aspiration when I was writing my comics.

Art-wise, I started getting back into comics in my first year of uni by reading Hellboy during lectures and I love Mike Mignola’s art, especially in the later issues. Looking at how he can draw in such a relatively simplistic style but at the same time get so much detail into his art blew my mind!

 

 

FS: Do you have a process with an installment or whole story that you follow? Or does it vary from story to story?

MTC: It varies. Sometimes I’ve written and drawn the comic week by week with no real “thought”, just shooting from the hip and seeing what sticks. Other times I plan out the arc and subsequent storylines months in advance in great detail. Sometimes I remember stuff I’ve written or even sketched out years ago that didn’t fit at the time and cram that into the latest installment!

FS: I know it’s like picking a favorite child, but do you have a favorite character? Or is there any that you connect most with?

FS: Becket probably because he’s the easiest to draw. But he’s my favorite I think, I really enjoy how his character has grown over the years from a one-dimensional paladin I designed in 5 minutes back in 2019 for a one-shot comic strip to a deeply traumatized magic brick swinging badass of a party mom!

 

 

FS: You’ve said on the Kickstarter campaign page that The Weekly Roll has changed your life. What does the comic mean to you?

MTC: It means a lot! Bit of a TMI, but I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome a lot over the years, I studied over five years to get my law degree only to spend a year unable to find a job and when I found work I didn’t really feel like I belonged in that field. To be fair, I started working three weeks before Covid and quarantine hit.  The comic has been quite popular over the years, read millions of times by thousands of people and knowing that so many people enjoy what I make has helped my sense of self-worth immensely!

FS: On to the Kickstarter itself, what can backers expect in terms of rewards and bundles?

MTC: A lot of the stuff is things that readers have asked me to provide for years! A printed collected volume, stickers, patches, bookmarks, pins, prints and just to appease the dice goblin within all of us; a book case that opens to be a dice tray with an included dice set!

 

The softcover The Bucket Brigade graphic novel

 

FS: You’re partnering with Rocketship Entertainment for this Kickstarter. Why Rocketship? How has that collaboration gone thus far?

MTC: Rocketship had done collected volumes of webcomic strips before, especially ones on Webtoon where I post the Weekly Roll. When I was starting to toss some feelers out there for publishers/folk to help me out make a Kickstarter, Rocketship responded RIGHT AWAY with a lot of enthusiasm. It was great to feel that my hype for getting this project off the ground quickly and with quality, was matched by these fine folks!

It has gone great so far! I’m very happy with our partnership and while I had no real misgivings or worries before the campaign started, I’m very happy I entrusted running the Kickstarter to them!

 

The Bucket Brigade graphic novel with a custom dice set, all inside a deluxe, leather-bound Torvand’s Spellbook case that opens to become a dice tray

 

FS: You’ve already hit your initial funding goal more than 40 times over! Congratulations! How does it feel that so many people love your work?

MTC: It’s absolutely insane! Especially when you consider that this is a Kickstarter for a comic strip that is available pretty much in its entirety online, for free!

FS: What are you reading right now?

MTC: Book-wise, I’m an audiobook guy, four-hour commutes converted me! Right now, I’m listening to The Ghosts of Barak-Minoz by Guy Haley. Love me some skyfaring dwarves!

FS: What’s the future of The Weekly Roll? Do you plan to Kickstart more volumes of the series?

MTC: I’ve got a whole lot of comics planned for the future and they won’t all fit in the first volume so I’m pretty sure it’s the law that there needs to be more volumes! And since this campaign has been such a resounding success, why not Kickstart them?

FS: If you had one last pitch for The Bucket Brigade, what would it be?

MTC: If you like TTRPGs, fantasy, adventure, comedy and morally questionable adventuring parties, there’s a fair chance you’ll enjoy The Weekly Roll and its roster of psychotic murderhobos, I mean, heroic adventurers!

As of press time, the Kickstarter for The Bucket Brigade: The Weekly Roll Volume 1 has hit its initial funding goal almost 50 times over, with 5 stretch goals unlocked and 8 days left in the campaign. Make sure to check out this hilarious comic that increases in laugh points with each roll and reading!