TIME'S RUNNING OUT!
8 months ago
– Sat, May 04, 2024 at 07:16:20 AM
A Few Very Quick, Very Important things:
DEADLINE to get YOUR NAME on the IMP Vol 2 ULTRA-COOL COLLECTORS EDITION "THANK YOU" Page is MONDAY, MAY 6TH!
Please fill out and return your BackerKit Survey by then if you want to be listed on the page. Good news is: 91% of the surveys have already been completed! That's OUTSTANDING!
If you cannot find or did not receive your BackerKit Survey, please let me know. I will re-send it.
Sadly, I cannot guarantee your name will be on the THANK YOU page if you respond after MAY 6th. Time and tide and printers wait for no man, I'm afraid! The sooner I get this book in the PRINTER'S hands, the sooner I'll get the book in YOUR hands!
HEY! Today is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
If you're in the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA area, please stop by I LIKE COMICS between 11 and 1. I'll be there (along with RON RANDALL and RANDY EMBERLIN) with a special FREE POSTER for the FIRST 100!
And if you can't make it because you, say, live thousands of miles away— well, that was your choice, wasn't it? Ha ha! But seriously— I'll try to squirrel away a pile of these posters and make them available somehow, at some point. But the best way to guarantee you'll get your is to stop by I LIKE COMICS today! Besides— I'd really love to see you!
Which reminds me: I can't think of a segue into this next thing…
Yes, this is awesome ARTHUR ADAMS Fold-Out— fully pencilled and partially inked! Most likely, this will be the very last thing finished before I put the book to "bed" (as we say in the biz)— but I believe you'll agree that it will be WORTH THE WAIT!
Elsewhere on Kickstarter…
RICHARD STARKINGS— Ace Lettering and Design Genius— has launched his first Kickstarter! It's a brand-new story featuring the ELEPHANTMEN— genetically altered animal warriors! Think JAMES CAMERON does KAMANDI set in BLADE RUNNER'S world.
There are plenty of ELEPHANTMEN comics out there— but this is a stand-alone story focusing on one of the book's breakout characters— YVETTE! A perfect starting point to get into the wild, wonderful world of Richard's ELEPHANTMEN!
(Plus, that poster by ERIC POWELL is pretty sweet, too, you ask me. And it's HUGE— as it should be!)
RELEASE THE HOUNDS! I mean—SURVEYS!
8 months ago
– Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 07:14:10 PM
I JUST HIT THE "SEND ALL SURVEYS" BUTTON!
Meaning: probably slightly BEFORE this email is another email about the BackerKit Survey. Look for it right now. If you don't see it, look in your SPAM. It's there somewhere.
I strongly recommend filling out this survey ASAP. Otherwise in a few weeks you'll be "Didn't I have to do something for IMPOSSIBLE JONES?" and "Where is that email, anyway? I thought it was right here." It'll cause more stress in your life. Sleepless nights. Relentless, aching guilt.
I don't want any of that for you. Not when it's so easy to avoid! Simply fill out the survey.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO ANSWER THE SURVEY ASAP IF YOU WANT YOUR NAME ON THE "THANK YOU" PAGE(S).
If you want to see your name in lights— or at least in ink— then I need to know how you want your name listed by NO LATER THAN MAY 6th. Shortly after that the book will go to the printer, and once it's at the printer I won't be able to add anything to the book— not even the name of someone as wonderful as YOU!
(If you don't want your name listed, there's an opt-out choice, too. Nothing wrong with that. I'll assume you're doing so because you're a wanted fugitive— but your secret's safe with me.)
The survey is also where I collect your mailing address, postage costs, and give you a chance to get that IMPOSSIBLE JONES thing you really wanted during the Kickstarter, but decided not to get, but wish you had.
Because if IMPOSSIBLE JONES is about anything, it's about SECOND CHANCES.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Thank you, again, for supporting IMPOSSIBLE JONES.
KK
MAY 6TH to be on the THANK YOU Page!
8 months ago
– Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 06:55:09 AM
The ever-vigilant Patrick Ditton pointed out I listed the WRONG DEADLINE for responding to the BackerKit Survey to get your name on the THANK YOU Page. I mistakenly said April 6, but since I haven't gotten my in-home time machine yet, I assume you haven't either, and the real deadline is MAY 6TH.
MAY 6th SURVEY DEADLINE to be on the THANK YOU PAGE!
(Cut me some slack. I've had pinkeye, dammit!)
If you haven't gotten the survey yet, it will probably be coming your way later today (April 20th).
KK
Incoming: Surveys!
8 months ago
– Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 06:22:20 AM
The BackerKit Surveys are Ready!
THESE ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE: It's how I collect your mailing addresses so I can, y'know, mail you something someday. Like, to choose an item totally at random, the IMP Vol 2 ULTRA -COOL COLLECTORS EDITION!
It's also where I collect the postage costs for mailing you said hypothetical, Ultra-Cool book.
MOST TIME-SENSITIVE RIGHT NOW: The Survey is where I collect YOUR NAME for the THANK YOU SECTION in the book! So if you want to appear on those prestigious page, please fill out and send in the survey ASAP! I would like to have all names by APRIL 6, which would give me a few days to get them sorted and slotted in place.
A "smoke test" for the survey has already gone out. This is where we reach out to a random 5% of the Backers to see if there are any glitches that need to be fixed before it's unleash on the rest of the world.
So if you've already received your survey as you're reading this, you’re one of our “smokers” and it's doubly important for you to respond right away! (I will probably be sending out the survey to everyone else Saturday afternoon or evening, depending how quickly people respond to the "smoke test" and I'm cleared for take-off.)
THE SURVEY IS ALSO where you could grab another T-Shirt or Enamel Pin or similar IMPOSSIBLE paraphernalia, if you are so inclined, thanks to the fact that this time around I'm making the survey part of the IMPOSSIBLE JONES BACKERKIT STORE— which is NOW OPEN! And not just open to you, but to EVERYONE!
IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO MISSED THE KICKSTARTER— now they can pre-order the book and get it at the same time you get your copy! (Minus the sweet swag that people like you are being showered with for supporting it from the start.)
NOTE: For some reason I'm having trouble getting ImpossibleJones.com to forward to the IMPOSSIBLE JONES STORE. So until I get that sorted out, the easy-to-remember link is: bit.ly/3xMMWaY. (Rolls trippingly from the tongue, doesn't it?)
I'm also giving this QR-thing a go. Could someone let me know if it works?
ALSO: If there's anything you want that's NOT in the store, let me know. As long as it isn't sold out, I can make it happen.
"When Will I Get The Book?"
Excellent question! A bad bout of pinkeye (inadvertently shared by one of my daughter's "friends") threw my inking schedule off by a week or so, so now I'm looking to have the book in the printer's hands about mid-May, which would have the finished, printed book back in my hands by some time in JULY.
People Make Plans. God Laughs.
8 months ago
– Sun, Apr 14, 2024 at 07:48:52 AM
Don't Panic— Things Are Going Quite Well.
The Kickstarter money was deposited in my account a week or so ago.
With money in the bank, I felt comfortable signing a contract with a printer— PrintLore. I've never used them before, but one of the Godfathers of Kickstarter Comics, PAT SHAND, sings their praises (with quite a nice tenor voice, I might add) and their rep SAMANTHA AMBORN has been a true pleasure to work with.
I also ordered the POLECAT and CAPTAIN LIGHTNING enamel pins. Here are the printing guides that I OK'ed:
I've been putting together/designing more of the non-story pages of the book. For instance, here's the starting point for all the BACKMATTER spreads:
Each IMPOSSIBLE TEAM-UP comic gets a double-page to fill with all sorts of behind-the-scenes goodness (none of which is in place here, obviously). In the upper left is the KS Project Image to identify the spread, and running across the bottom is a band with 7 of the ads/promo pieces I used on social media during that book's campaign. In total I've produced hundreds of these pieces and while most of them are forgettable, some are quite nice. And I like how it gives a snapshot of the campaign— what was being talked about, and talked up.
I've also been INKING the final 12 NEW pages of story. Which, I'll admit, has been going a bit slower than planned, mostly because of the Big Man having a few chuckles. (Hence this Update's title.)
A couple weeks ago I had some serious dental work done. That cost me some time. And then one of my daughter's "friends" gave me pinkeye which made it impossible to see well enough to draw/ink anything properly. (Sadly, I'm still suffering from it, as I write this.) AND I was rear-ended the other day. No one was hurt, minor damage, but it's still another thing to deal with. AND my blood pressure has decided to spike. No idea why. It's not like I'm under any stress! So there are extra doctor visits involved with that…
I had been aiming for the end of the month to get files to the printer, but now it's looking more like mid-May. Which we might have to wait until, anyway, since ARTHUR ADAMS is still working away on his Fold-Out…
It'll be worth the wait, believe me.
What's Next?
My top priority is getting the BackerKit survey done. It's a lot less fun to put together than designing pages, but it's essential so I can collect names for the THANK YOU page. I'm hoping to have that coming your way in the next 7 days or so.
One Last Thing…
Don't Miss Out On New Projects!
We used JELLOP to help get the word out about IMP this time around, and part of that was IMP appearing in their FIRST BACKER NEWSLETTER, which got Our Gal in front of a lot of people who had never heard of her before.
We'd like to invite you to join the FIRST BACKER NEWSLETTER and its growing community of Kickstarter backers— you'll receive fresh Kickstarter projects, and amazing early bird offers, as well as awesome freebies delivered right to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.
I get this newsletter myself, and it's kinda amazing what shows up in it. Stuff you never knew existed— that didn't exist until someone dreamed it up! Perfect to peruse with a morning cup o' coffee…
