Welcome to a new world in comics -- the world of Cartozia. Created by a who's who of indie cartoonists and up-and-comers, this world is being created, defined and explored in an epic 10-issue anthology series titled Cartozia Tales. Editor/cartoonist Isaac Cates has brought together an assortment of creators to act as the base of the series -- among them, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Ming Doyle, Meredith Gran, James Kochalka, Dylan Horrocks, Jason Lutes, Maris Wicks, Kevin Cannon and Jon Lewis -- to help map out this world in short comic stories. And now with the first issue available for order online, the Cartozia Tales crew is turning to Kickstarter to continue the journey.

"Cartozia Tales is created collaboratively by a group of indie cartoonists working together to discover and invent the world of Cartozia and its secrets," Cates writes on the project's Kickstarter page. "We share the creation of the world of Cartozia by a process of chance, setting our stories in different parts of the map randomly with each issue. As the months progress, we trade characters and locations, picking up and expanding the stories started by our fellow contributors."

To date the Cartozia Tales Kickstarter has raised about 44 percent  of its $39,000 goal with 13 days to go. If the campaign is successful, that money will go toward funding the entire series from printing to postage, and paying the creators for their work. The backers who've stepped forward are an impressive lot, from recently announced contributor Kelly Sue DeConnick to Kurt Busiek, Bryan Q. Miller, Zack Soto, K. Thor Jensen, Ryan Dunlavey, and even IDW Publishing co-founder Ted Adams.