There are plenty of comics about fictional heroic types of every stripe, but certainly not enough about the real superheroes of history. Hopefully that’s about to change. Probably many of you out there reading this have heard the words “The Simon Wiesenthal Center ” at one point or another on the news without really knowing who Wiesenthal actually was. Wiesenthal was an artist who was also one of the world’s most famous Nazi hunters, and who brought many war criminals to justice. Now two comic book creators named Andre Frattino and Jesse Lee are looking for help via Kickstarter to bring Wiesenthal’s fascinating story to life in a new graphic novel called Simon Says.

Simon Wiesenthal was an architect from Austria who survived the Holocaust, mostly thanks to his artistic ability. Because he was he was employed to paint swastikas on train cars by the Nazis, he escaped execution during the war. After World War II ended in 1945, he  he and his wife found out that they had lost over eighty members of their family in the concentration camps. Wiesenthal then dedicated the rest of his life to hunting down notorious war criminals who were part of Hitler’s forces.

According to the official Kickstarter page Simon Says: Nazi Hunter #1 is “inspired by the real life story of Simon Wiesenthal, and is not only a dramatization of his experiences alone, but also takes from many aspects of various other Nazi Hunter stories following World War II. The tone of the comic is a mixture of noir and pulp fiction which was prevalent in the 1950s and ’60s. Other influences include the James Bond Series as well as films like Schindler’s List, Inglorious Basterds and TV series like Sherlock and The Man in the High Castle.”

The comic will be 32 pages long, serving as the first issue of Simon’s life as a Nazi Hunter. It will be done entirely by artist Jesse Lee. The creative team is looking to raise $5,000 on Kickstarter before February 28. 75% of this will go toward production costs, with the remaining 25% going to printing costs and delivery. The duo are hoping to finish this comic by the end of the year, and if enough interest is created, they will continue onto issue #2, with the goal of creating a full-fledged graphic novel.

To read some sample pages of Simon Says, be sure to check out our gallery below. And head on over to the project’s Kickstarter page to see how you can help bring this important series to life.

Is this the kind of graphic novel you’d like to see more of? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: Jesse Lee