"[3]The project was officially announced by organizational spearhead Matt Pizzolo in Wired Magazine on October 13, 2011, several weeks after the occupation of Zuccotti Park began on September 17, 2011.

Now Pizzolo is interested in providing illustrative and material support to protesters through a Kickstarter project whose contributors would donate all proceeds to the Wall Street occupiers.

"[4]Occupy Comics launched on Kickstarter November 9, 2011 with a minimum funding goal of US$10,000 and a roster of 30 professional artists and writers, including Charlie Adlard, Marc Andreyko, Kevin Colden, Molly Crabapple, J.M.

The plan is to graphically document the Occupy movement with the help of a roster of respected comics creators and artists, then funnel the proceeds directly to the protesters taking hits and making history for the 99 percent.

"[3]Early in the campaign, the project got an unexpected boost when Frank Miller attacked Occupy Wall Street in a controversial and polarizing blog post.

[5] As the campaign closed in on its funding goal, 13 additional contributors were added to the roster, including Vito Delsante, Dan Goldman, Amanda Palmer, Darick Robertson, Mark Sable, and Salgood Sam.

[7] Shortly after passing its funding goal, six additional contributors were added to the roster, including Mike Allred, Shannon Wheeler, Eric Drooker, Ryan Ottley, Dean Haspiel, Guy Denning, and David Lloyd.

[19] According to Comic Book Resources: "Initially I was hoping we could partner with a publisher or retailer to work with us on distribution, but we weren't happy with any of the deals we were offered," said Pizzolo on the project's Kickstarter site.

"[20]Wired reported that Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and Brett Gurewitz (guitarist-songwriter Bad Religion, owner Epitaph Records) joined with Pizzolo to found Black Mask: The mainstream comics industry has spawned another alternative supergroup.

30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles and Epitaph Records owner and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz have banded together with Halo-8′s Matt Pizzolo to form Black Mask Studios with the stated aim of disrupting the comics market.

Inspired by the controversial but influential 1960s anarchists Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers and Edgar Allan Poe's class-conscious gothic short The Masque of the Red Death, Black Mask Studios was teased Sunday during WonderCon's spotlight panel on Niles, who serves as creative director.

The cover featured a new and iconic illustration by V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd pitting his seminal character V against the Wall Street Charging Bull.

[23] Lloyd told Wired: "I was massively impressed by the great camaraderie and strength of will [the Occupy movement] showed in New York last October when I went to see what they were doing, and I hope that they can somehow survive all the blows they've suffered since then… They've got a hard job to do and it's not going to get any easier.