Digital Rewards have been sent! Plus: BLACK BOX CHRONICLES
12 months ago – Sat, May 13, 2023 at 02:16:49 PM

Hello, everyone!

Hope you're having a great weekend! We've had so much going on these past few weeks, not the least of which was the (fantastic) end to our recent DRACULA/FRANKENSTEIN campaign over on Backerkit (you can still check it out here: https://bit.ly/40gFhKs -- late pre-orders coming soon!), while also getting our next campaign ready to launch next week (more on that further below...) But of course, we've also been hard at work getting the final bits of SHERLOCK HOLMES ready to start assembly by the end of this month (hopefully)! The final "Sleuth edition" items are on their way from the various vendors and manufacturers, and the books are due any day now... So it's about time to get the digital files posted and distributed!

You may have already received the email, but if not --

Check your inboxes for a notification from Backerkit!

Or simply log into your Backerkit at https://sherlock-holmes-a-study-in-scarlet-by-vincent-mallie.backerkit.com/ and you should see a big blue button in the middle of your dashboard screen that says "Get Your Digital Downloads." From there, you will see your items and links with instructions for downloading your files.

The books are hosted on Gumroad, so you will need to follow the links in the instructions and then use your 7-character discount code to get them for free. It's really easy, but let us know if you run into any trouble.

While everything is expected to be in hand and ready to start packing by the end of this month, we're hoping to put some lessons from the last 3 years of fulfillment (over 20 campaigns!) into improving some of our turnaround time and packing practices...  Our goal is to have ALL packages out by the end of June if possible, including international orders. More on that as we get closer to those dates...

In the meantime, if anyone here is a speculative sci-fi and/or comic book fan, we'd like to direct your attention to our next exciting campaign launching on TUESDAY:

This is a bit of a new type of project for us: a brand new, original science fiction anthology produced by some absolutely amazing comic creators under the creative direction of design studio Horrible Future! 

"Centuries of exponentially advancing technological discoveries have ultimately ushered Mankind to the stars and beyond. Each new star, each new planet, each new lightyear traveled reveals wonders never imagined. But for all the distances explored, there lies one unreachable domain, a mysterious destination we all go to eventually… THE GREAT DARK...

Each starfaring spacecraft is equipped with a comprehensive data recorder: a BLACK BOX that records every layer of collectible data within its fixed perimeter. Salvaging the remnants of a crashed spacecraft can be a highly lucrative business, and recovering the details behind a tragic disaster can reveal hidden truths and untold personal stories… as well as hints towards greater secrets…"

Written by Horrible Future cofounders MARK SCHEY and CHRIS NORTHROP, this stellar volume includes artwork by celebrated award winners and nominees such as David Mack (Daredevil, Kabuki), Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Bulletproof Monk), Zach Howard (Hellboy, Wild Blue Yonder), Eryk Donovan (Memetic, Quantum Teens are Go), Marco Fodera (Nathan Never), Gavin Smith (Star Trek: Mirrorverse), Toru Terada (Small World), David Messina (Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca, 3Keys), Giovanni Rigano (Global, Artemis Fowl), Drew Moss (The Crow, Red Sonja), Christian Dibari (Revolvers, Providence of Madness), Taki Soma (Sleeping While Standing, Bitch Planet), Mario Alberti (Spider-man and the Fantastic Four, The Wall)., SARAH BASLAIM, FLAVIO DISPENZA, K. MICHAEL RUSSEL and M. SEAN MCMANUS.

In addition to the anthology, we're producing a world-building Art Book entitled BLACK BOX: DESIGN SPACE featuring an encyclopedic look at the various devices, locations, and technologies that make up this new future setting. Illustrated by concept artist Shane Molina, this supplemental book is full of amazing, rich cutaway schematics and lore that add further dimension and layers to the mysteries explored in the anthology.

This really is a sci-fi lover's FEAST, and we hope you'll check it out when it launches on TUESDAY! We'll have the usual assortment of premium exclusives and exciting Stretch Goals to make it another thrilling campaign you will not want to miss! :)

Go to www.blackboxchronicles.com to pre-register for a FREE double-sided star map poster, then click over to the Kickstarter page now to be notified when we launch.

You'll not want to miss this one!

HOLMES production update, and our next great classic adaptation coming TUESDAY!
about 1 year ago – Sun, Apr 23, 2023 at 12:32:15 PM

Hi everyone!

We hope you are having a great weekend! We wanted to check in here to let you all know that things are moving right along -- Books and slipcases are en route to our warehouse, and the extra "Sleuth bundle" extras (specifically the 221B keychains and magnifying glasses) should be on their way to us very soon. We should be pretty close to shipping by the end of May as projected, but if for any reason there are minor delays into June, we will of course let you know here right away. We have been looking at ways to streamline and improve our fulfillment turnaround, and I am hoping we can get those implemented this month so that things can be processed and in your hands tout de suite! 😊

In the meantime, as fans of illustrated classic literature adaptations, we think you may be VERY interested in our next classical adaptation project launching this Tuesday at 10a CST!

The definitive graphic novel adaptations of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA and Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN by artist Georges Bess!

Known internationally for his extensive body of work with notorious writer and director Alejandro Jodorowsky, GEORGES BESS established himself as a premiere visionary and stylistic chameleon at the height of the European comics renaissance during the ‘70s and ‘80s. Now, Georges brings his immense talent to classic horror, adapting Bram Stoker’s DRACULA and Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN into two bold and powerful graphic novels that retell these seminal tales through lush and unparalleled illustration.

If you have backed our recent premium slipcase edition campaigns, you know that these will be top-of-the-line deluxe art books worthy of any bookshelf. George's work is simply breathtaking, and our 9x12" gallery-quality artist's editions will be a must for any horror, graphic novel, or illustration fan!

Please check it out and pre-register by going to the pre-launch landing page (https://bit.ly/40gFhKs)!

Why Backerkit? Why not Kickstarter?

Good question, and we have a few good answers:

1) We can only run so many projects on Kickstarter at a time -- it takes several weeks to prepare a campaign, several more to run them, and several more afterward to fulfill.  While we have admittedly been quite active on Kickstarter these past 2+ years, we can only squeeze in so many projects per year. Testing out a backup platform like Backerkit might provide an opportunity to slide in additional excellent projects in between. 😊

2) Frankly, we were planning to launch this project on Kickstarter, but we were caught by surprise by another DRACULA/FRANKENSTEIN graphic novel adaptation on Kickstarter that beat us to the stage. We won't bother linking to it, but even though we believe our adaptations stand clearly on their own in terms of presentation and quality, we felt it was unfortunately too risky to promote such a similar-sounding project on the same marketplace so soon afterward. The chance of campaign-confusion was just too great to ignore. We are quite confident that our adaptations measure strongly on their own (and will ship months before the other project is expected to), but we needed to be prudent about our position on the platform. Backerkit may be a smaller forum, but they know what they are doing with years of crowdfunding experience (and data), and we think our project can be a standout there. We shall see! 🤞

3) We have another super-exciting Kickstarter campaign in the works that will hopefully debut in the next few weeks... 😉 Stay tuned!

Yes, it is elsewhere. And it is different. But the pledging process works the same way, and chances are (especially as a Backer of MEZKAL or any of our other campaigns) you are already familiar with how Backerkit works. In fact, as a backer of this campaign, you are already registered there!

Are we trading in Kickstarter for Backerkit? NO WAY! Kickstarter has become our primary pre-sale platform and a cornerstone in all of our new project strategies. But having access to alternate successful platforms can be beneficial for everyone: more excellent projects can be offered, tailored to each one's strength and appeal. We'll likely keep our "Premiere Headliners" here on KS, but having a second stage will give other projects a chance to capture an audience and grow...

We'd really appreciate it if you would check out the pre-launch landing page and join us when it launches there on Tuesday!

Thanks, everyone!

MY FRIEND TOBY launching on Kickstarter tomorrow! 🐾
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 01:04:59 PM

Hi everyone!

Things are chugging right along on SHERLOCK HOLMES, but we wanted to mention that our next Kickstarter campaign is launching at 10am CST tomorrow morning, and we'd really love it if you would check it out and support us on Day-1! 😊

It is quite different from HOLMES or any of our previous campaigns, but we love it just the same (and hope you will, too):

We love animals. We are big proponents of animal rights and wildlife exploration, with no less than 20 books in our catalog focused on animal tales. From kid's books to all-ages-wildlife adventures, we’ve got graphic novels for animal lovers of all types. April is Animal Cruelty Prevention month, and we are planning a number of things to support that noble cause, starting with our next Kickstarter for MY FRIEND TOBY!

MY FRIEND TOBY is a 144-page, wordless canine adventure about a simple terrier living a simple life with his human friend Marcel, a heartbroken artist who is having trouble making ends meet. But Toby doesn’t know anything about money or bills or electricity; he’s happy as long as there is food in his bowl and new territory to claim in the neighborhood. To him, everything is fine... at least until a stray cat appears, bringing all kinds of questions (and maybe a few unexpected answers)…

This book is adorable, and I’m not kidding when I say I laughed out loud a few times “reading” it. Yes, it is wordless, but it captures the language-less mindset of a dog in a way that seems both perfectly understandable and scientifically plausible. Triple-Eisner Award-nominee Gregory Panaccione (A SEA OF LOVE) is an animation industry storyboard artist turned graphic novelist, and his expert pacing and cinematic eye give this heartwarming story a truly cinematic feature quality.

To help tie MY FRIEND TOBY to our Cruelty Prevention efforts, we will be making an independent donation to the Anti-Cruelty Society based on the campaign’s performance. Kickstarter doesn’t allow pledge funds to be used for charity, or to make it sound like any portion of raised funds will be used as such, but we’ve worked with Kickstarter Trust & Safety Committee to approve our initiative to make a completely independent private donation based on how well the campaign does.

So please consider backing MY FRIEND TOBY when it launches at 10am CST tomorrow to not only get a wonderful graphic novel (or graphic novels, plural – we have several bundles with exclusive bonus items!), but to also help some needy animals find good homes in the process. 😊

Thanks, everyone! We hope to see you there! ❤

Finished product picture flood! Plus: Backerkit orders locking this weekend!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 04:35:38 PM

Hey, everyone!

Happy Thursday! We know it has been several weeks since our last update, but that's not for lack of progress... in fact, we just received finished advance copies of a bunch of stuff from the printer this week! We cannot contain our excitement over how beautiful everything has turned out...! 😃

Are you ready for a flood of actual finished product pix...? Strap yourselves in! Here we go...!

Let's not forget the book itself...

And the pièce de résistance... THE SLIPCASE SET!

Rather than jump to photos, how about an "unboxing" video first? This is how they will arrive in your order: shrink-wrapped with corner protectors --

Okay, now for photos...

The "+spacer" upgrade slipcase will be identical except instead of a copy of ARSENE LUPIN, there will be a slice of Styrofoam occupying that space and an "original backer" bookplate inside the shrinkwrap. Here's a photo from the factory (we haven't received a copy yet):

The other "Sleuth" bundle items are being printed and procured now, as are the stretch goal coins. Once we have photos of prototypes, we'll be sure to share those here.

Currently, we expect to have everything in-hand by the 2nd or 3rd week of May. Barring any obstacles, we should then be able to start shipping within just a couple of weeks of that. So right now, we're feeling relatively confident that shipping will begin by the end of May/early-June. Pretty close to on-time as-promised! 😊 

To that end --

We will be locking Backerkit orders this weekend!

Tomorrow evening, at around 5pm, we will press the "Lock Orders" button in Backerkit which will a) send out reminders to those (180) of you who still haven't filled out your surveys, b) send out a final reminder to everyone else who has filled out their survey, and c) start a 48-hour countdown to the automatic locking of orders.

What that means is if you wish to make any final adjustments to your order (final add-ons, address changes, or payment method), please do so before Sunday!  Any changes after that will need to be made manually and with special permissions so as not to mess up any of the fulfillment preparation.

There will be another final "Address Lock" date closer to shipping, so if that is all you need to adjust, we  should be able to make that change for you. But the "Order Lock" deadline is so that we can finalize item quantities and start final planning.

With orders locked on Sunday, Credit Cards will be charged on Monday.  Please, for the love of mercy, if you have any questions about a balance due or charge that is made, contact us here on Kickstarter and we would be happy to answer any questions.  We will be online all day Saturday and Sunday, so hopefully we can reply to you quickly. (If you are confused by something and jump directly to challenging the charge with your bank, it starts a lengthy inquiry process that puts your order in suspended hiatus, so please, let's try to avoid that misunderstanding... )

If the payment method you originally entered into your survey fails, Backerkit will reach out to let you know to please address the problem. They will keep trying daily until they are able to complete the order. (And we can only include your order with the fulfillment data once it is complete.)

Looking ahead...

We expect to have Digital Rewards ready in mid-April, and, as mentioned, shipping ready to begin by the end of May. We are looking at some new shipping efficiencies with this campaign (and all future campaigns moving forward), so we're hoping that everyone will have their stuff promptly once shipping has begun. That includes all International Backers. We know that some of our previous campaigns from last year involved a painfully long wait for overseas backers, but we have been looking at alternate strategies that we hope will mean everyone getting their packages within just a few weeks of each other. After 24 successful campaigns, we're excited to put some of the many lessons we've learned over the years into improving the experience for everyone. We have several very cool projects lined up for the months ahead, and we would love for everyone to feel confident enough to follow us along for each adventure! 😊

Thanks everyone! More news to come soon!

Back at the desk and things are coming together!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 05:56:36 PM

Hey everyone!

We are back from FIBD, the big comic festival in Angouleme, France, and while I would like to say we are rested up and back in shape, I think I've already forgotten what relaxing felt like... 😜 The last two weeks have been a blur getting caught up again from our week-long absence, but a lot of exciting things have been happening since. Not only did we find a bunch of FANTASTIC new titles at the show that we hope to publish this year (offers are already made, fingers crossed...), but other exciting developments have popped up since our return. We can't talk about some of those things just yet, but we CAN share the pre-press proofs that we received this week for the HOLMES/LUPIN items currently in production!

We received a wet proof of the slipcase wrapping (the sheet of printed paper wrapped around the slipcase box boards). A "wet proof" refers to a test print that it is made on actual target paper stock with final special processes, in this case, the textured linen graining and gold foil stamping applied to the matte laminate. Here's how the actual printed sheets might look before being wrapped and glued to the box boards:

The linen texture is very nice, and if you've held any of our previous titles that have used such textured graining, you'll agree that it adds a really premium tactile quality to the production. And you know us -- we're all about premium quality. 😉

While these images above may appear a bit "fluid" (ne "wrinkled"), the final wrapped and cured boxes will be SWEET. We hope to receive advance finished copies around mid-March which we will of course share here with excitement and pride. 😊

Along with the slipcase wrap wet proof, they sent a sampling of the gilding that will be applied to the page edges of the HOLMES books. The pix below show the ink color and density of the gilding that will be applied, but this sample has been applied to a smaller sheath of pages; the actual book itself is thicker.

Last but not least, they included "plotter's proofs" of several of the bonus and ancillary "Sleuth bundle" items. "Plotters Proofs" are basic inkjet productions meant to confirm the proper size and assembly of a printed item. These are not on the final paper stock, nor are they color-accurate, but they are the first (well, second, actually) stage in the proofing process.

These may not be the most exciting pics, but they show that progress is definitely being made...! In a few weeks, you'll see a dizzy degree of difference!

That's all for now. As mentioned above, we hope to have some finished items to show in the next 3-4 weeks, but until then, we'll keep on cranking along!

(Above video from a toy store window in Angouleme...)