Hey There!
Happy Thursday! I hope you’re all having a good week! As always, feel free to keep on reading and/or watch my video to get all of this week’s updates. It’s a little bit of a longer video because I ended up going into more detail about some of the stuff I’m working on. I guess I was just in a chatty mood! I kind of enjoyed what felt like a little more of a casual convo. Let me know what you think. Do you like the longer videos, or would it be better for me to stick to the four- to six-minute range?
Okay, so like the subject line says, I need your help! I’ve been considering switching the crowdfunding campaign for No Spell Lasts Forever from Indieiegogo to Kickstarter. I started with Indiegogo because this is my first comics campaign. I did a previous one for My Human Experience,the web series I co-created with my dear friend Aimee Dansereau, and it went really well. But we had a whole team for that one, and the campaign for NSLF #1 will be the first one I’m spearheading myself. So I’ve had a *not small* amount of anxiety about it. And since Indiegogo allows you to keep whatever you raise, even if you don’t hit your goal, that felt like a safer bet to me. But there’s a much more robust and active comics community over at Kickstarter, and for the longer term, I think my projects will actually have a better chance of getting funded there. So I’ve kind of been thinking that, if it’s just fear keeping me at Indiegogo, that’s probably not a good reason to be there, lol. And if I believe in the project (which I definitely do!), then I shouldn’t let fear hold me back from giving it the best shot.
That said, I feel conflicted! So I wanted to ask your opinion. Do you have a preference between Kickstarter and Indiegogo? And if you signed up to follow the campaign at Indiegogo, would it be jarring to you to suddenly start seeing stuff from Kickstarter instead?
If you have one minute to take this survey and answer those two questions, I’d be super appreciative!
Either way, the campaign will officially launch on…drum roll… October 4! Woot!
Okay, in other No Spell Lasts Forever news, Aimee Hawley finished the pencils last week for NSLF #1 and she’s moving on to the inks this week, which I can’t wait to see! Hopefully I’ll be able to share some of the inks with you next week. Check out more of her art on her Instagram and her website.
I also made the decision to do a variant cover for it. The main character, Rosette, is heavily influenced in her life by the movie The Big Sleep, so the variant will be an homage to the original movie poster. I don’t know who the artist will be yet, but I’ll keep you updated about that! Digital and printed versions of the comic with the variant will be available as perks during the campaign.
Plus I’ve got all the materials I need — mailers, boards, and boxes — to make a package mock-up and weigh it so I can figure out how much it will cost to ship the comic. That may not sound super exciting but it’s basically the last bit of info I need to get everything in order before the campaign, so it’s exciting to me!
And finally, the Kickstarter pre-launch page for Concrete Arcanum is live! That’s the anthology where Olive and the Ogre, the four-page story I wrote (with beautiful artwork by Sara Setna), will be appearing. Check it out, sign up, and share it near and far!
As far as comics I’m reading, I’m still chugging along with the Snyder Batman stuff. I finished Superheavy (by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jock, and Danny Miki) last night. Today I plan to start Bloom (by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Yanick Paquette, and Danny Miki). I’m enjoying seeing Jim Gordon as Batman (as I’m sure you could have guessed if you’ve read my previous emails). And I am just delighted by the fact that Bruce has facial hair but Jim doesn’t.
Seeing Jim like this is like the summer between 9th and 10th grade where that one kid grows like four inches and changes their hair and comes back in the fall looking like a completely different person. It’s like that Zooey Deschanel meme where she has no glasses or bangs.
I also finished Displacement by Kiku Hughes. It’s semi-autobiographical but fictional, and Hughes looks at her family’s painful history during World War II through the lens of time travel. It’s really moving, and I recommend it.
And I bought of copy Embodied, an intersectional feminist anthology of comics poetry. I mean, it’s like it was created specifically for me! I haven’t read it yet but I’ll let you know what I think when I do.
Well, I think that’s it for me this week. As always, I’d love to connect with you on Instagram, @sarahcookewriter and @nospellcomic.
Have a great day!
Best,
Sarah