Fan comics might have a stigma in the United States, but in Japan they reach an audience that exceeds the entire American comics market. And now longtime American manga artist Fred Perry is looking to create his own.

Based on the popular MMORPG Final Fantasy 11, Fred Perry's LVL UP! is a webcomic that follows the adventures of the cartoonist's character Calcula Mihgo as she explores the video game world of Vana'diel. Perry has been producing LVL UP! since 2005, and is turning to Kickstarter this month to finance a print collection of the long-running series. As of this posting, Perry has raised roughly $6,500 of his $13,000 goal, and has until Oct. 2 to generate the rest.

Although Perry might be new to Kickstarter, he;s comics veteran who works in a subset of the industry many people overlook. Perry got his start in 1989 with a pin-up for the series Ninja High School and later worked on several manga imports before making a name for himself in 1993 with the launch of Gold Digger. Although Perry has done some moonlighting into the "mainstream" American comics world, Perry's remained entrenched with Gold Digger and various other side projects, mostly through Antarctic Press.