If you liked GIANTESS, you will LOVE these new books!
about 1 month ago – Thu, Mar 14, 2024 at 04:13:31 PM

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since we've posted an update here, but we wanted to mention our latest campaign on Backerkit that is ending tomorrow:

If you're a fan of the surreal fantasy of Studio Ghibli films, or the dark twists and drama of Satoshi Kon's films, then you'll love these two new graphic novels by award-winning author Jim Bishop!

Gun-toting fish mafia, sea-plane dogfights, and a whole lot of family issues!

LOST LETTERS is a surreal coming-of-age story about a boy waiting for a letter from his mother and a girl trying to prove her worth to her own mother by going undercover inside the fish mafia. This 200-page tale won several awards, including the Silver Medal at the 2022 International Manga Awards!

This heartfelt adventure is as exciting as it is heartbreaking...

Not your typical fairy-tale romance or teen-witch fantasy...

MY DEAR PIERROT is the story of Clea, a noblewoman betrothed to a local Count's son, but she sets off in search of her own destiny and freedom, following a charming street magician named Pierrot to his home in the woods. There she discovers that magic is real... and dangerous. As she falls in love with Pierrot she starts to wonder if the most insidious evil in the world might in fact be Love itself...

Jim Bishop eschews all expectations with this twisty fantasy that goes in psychological directions you won't expect...

Both books are available individually or as specially priced bundles in multiple formats, including digital, paperback, hardcover, and exclusive translucent plastic slipcase set.

ALL STRETCH GOALS UNLOCKED!

Look at all these bonus items already unlocked -- BONUS STICKERS, a DIE-CUT BOOKMARK, a 2-sided MINI-POSTER, a POSTCARD PACK, and a 2" metal CHALLENGE COIN are now included FREE with all physical pledges! When the campaign ends, these bonuses will no longer be available!

This campaign ends at 5pm PST TOMORROW (Friday)! Please check it out so you don't miss out on these exclusive FREEBIES!

UK/EU shipping update, plus BLACK BOX
11 months ago – Mon, May 15, 2023 at 12:35:27 PM

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday! To our UK and EU supporters, we're happy to say that Spiral Galaxy has reported MOST GIANTESS+ZARKASS+TEMUDJIN pledges have (finally) shipped! Only a handful have been further delayed due to some additional shortages being reported. We are waiting for their report of what items they are short on and why (we made certain to send enough, plus extras), so hopefully we will know what needs to be replaced this week. Once we have that list, we will add those missing items to the upcoming MONKEY KING freight expected to ship to Spiral before the end of this month. Apologies if yours is one of the handful of pledges further delayed, but we're going to get through this asap! 🙃

As we're not sure what they are missing, we can only assume replacements will be available. If for some reason something is out of stock and no longer available, we'll be sure the rest of your orders are sent promptly and refund you for any paid item that can't be included. We don't expect that to affect most of you, but until they tell us what is short and what orders would be affected, we are stuck waiting. This is still the lingering effect of the freight damage that caused this huge UK/EU delay in the first place, but hopefully, this is the end of it.

While the number of backers still waiting is very small, we don't want to discount the immense patience you all have shown while we work through this. It is for that reason that we share our next campaign with you with complete humility and excitement -- LAUNCHING TOMORROW:

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 TOMORROW! We'll have the usual assortment of premium exclusives (including a sweet magnetic-flap slipcase set) 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.

If you love sci-fi, you won't want to miss this one!

UK/EU update, and MY FRIEND TOBY!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 12:23:19 PM

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday! We've been really busy these past several weeks, not only continuing to sort things out with QML and Spiral Galaxy to get the delayed UK/EU pledges out the door soon but finishing and lining up other great projects as well. While most of you received your pledges some time ago, this recent fiasco with the damaged UK/EU inventory transfer has opened our eyes to a number of inefficiencies and potential optimizations we are seriously investigating for 2023 and beyond. With 22 successfully fulfilled campaigns under our belt, this situation with the UK/EU portion of this campaign (along with ZARKASS and TEMUDJIN, which were traveling with the GIANTESS inventory) has made the need for improvement a paramount consideration for us. Rest assured, this unfortunate misadventure is being taken very seriously, and some of the options we are looking into will help not only ensure much quicker delivery but perhaps some reduced shipping rates as well. There is a fair amount of due diligence required to implement some of these new practices, but we are hoping to have them in place before June.

In the meantime, the replacement inventory has been delivered to QML who are now transferring those items to Spiral Galaxy. We await confirmation of that inventory reaching Spiral, and then a ballpark date from Spiral as to when they expect to have those orders finally out the door. I wish I had those bits of information right now, but that is one of the (frustrating) inefficiencies referenced above that we are aiming to solve moving forward. Right now, they are suggesting that UK/EU packages should go out in the last half of April, but we will confirm once they provide more concrete info.

While we understand the extraordinary patience our UK and EU backers have shown, please know that we have not taken that for granted, and are pushing to get this sorted for you asap.

In the meantime, we do have a new campaign launching tomorrow that we hope you might consider supporting... 😊

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!

AU/NZ and EU/UK shipping updates
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 08:45:50 AM

Hello everyone!

We hope you are all doing well, and we especially want to thank our backers in Australia/New Zealand and EU/UK for your patience. We have received some news, and for the most part, it is good! 😊 So we will start with that first:

AU/NZ orders have shipped!

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, you may have already received a tracking notification email from Aetherworks and/or Backerkit (or possibly even received your package by now). We are told that all have been sent out as of this morning. We have uploaded the tracking information they provided into Backerkit, so if you didn't receive anything by email, please log into https://giantess.backerkit.com/ to check your tracking status. I'm not sure how long AusPost takes to deliver, but take comfort in knowing that they are on their way. 😊

If you are from those regions and don't see any tracking information on your Backerkit, chances are your survey is still incomplete, was completed after the initial cutoff deadline, or your payment method is still having issues clearing the bank. Please address any issues that might still be open! 

If your survey or payment was received after the initial cutoff, we will be sending the 2nd wave orders to Aetherworks as soon as all hubs have completed their fulfillment (ie. Spiral Galaxy, see below). 

UK/EU status

We have sorted through all of the inventory that arrived at Spiral Galaxy and determined the extent of the damages and which damaged items can be replaced. Fortunately, we have sufficient inventory to replace almost everything that was lost, and those replacements are being shipped to Spiral ASAP. 

Unfortunately, they are short on just three items that are non-replacable: the bookplate and Postcards #1 and #2. They have some of each but not enough for all of the orders. We asked Spiral to ship as many complete orders as possible, but they will be filled in whatever sequence they process their packages (we're not sure what that sequence may be). Fortunately, those are mostly mere stretch goal bonuses, so your paid purchased items will still be arriving as ordered. 😊 If you receive your order and have any concerns, please feel free to message us and we will help resolve any replacement issues.

I'm not sure when that replacement inventory is scheduled to arrive so that they can proceed, but once we have a timetable from them, we will let everyone know.

That is the news as of this morning. We will share updates as soon as we have more to report! Thanks, everyone!

UK/EU Shipping Update (or “Not how we wanted to start the year...”)
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 10:26:36 AM

Hi everyone,

A belated Happy New Year! We hope you are all settling into a wonderful 2023, and that your holidays were full of cheer. Ours were restful, or as restful as we could manage. Being acknowledged workaholics, we couldn’t help but stay preoccupied with the current status and completion of the International orders, and there was no shortage of suspense to carry us through the holiday…

We finally received a report from Spiral Galaxy and Quartermaster Logistics on the status of the UK/EU inventory, and unfortunately it is not good. 😓 This is the most difficult campaign update I've ever had to summarize, but in brief:

The two pallets of inventory containing the goods for GIANTESS, ZARKASS/WATER LILES, and TEMUDJIN were picked up from QML by FedEx on December 9th. Everything looked good and was expected to reach Spiral Galaxy the following week, as reported in the last update. The delivery date came and went with no tracking update from FedEx, however. When QML reached out to FedEx to inquire, they were told the pallets could not be located.

😳

There was, admittedly, a nation-wide string of blizzards and polar conditions that week (not to mention a major holiday) which played havoc with FedEx’s normal delivery service, but not being able to locate a shipment – particularly one that big, two pallets – was mindboggling. The matter was immediately escalated to top management at QML and FedEx (or however high up at FedEx something like this could be escalated).

Two weeks later, a single pallet arrived unannounced at Spiral Galaxy. It was abnormally tall and looked like it had been repacked by FedEx somewhere along the way. According to Spiral, it was bound with some metal supports to keep the unusual height from toppling, but the cartons within looked to be in bad shape. If those cartons could recount their experience, I’m sure it would be the stuff of nightmares…

Spiral has since reviewed what was delivered, and the reports do not sound good: broken cartons, torn and marred books, water damage, and scores of items that are simply missing.

We are currently waiting for the full inventory of what is missing and what is intact, not only to hold FedEx responsible, but to see what we might have available to rush ship to Spiral for immediate replacement. Spiral can’t begin shipping out any orders until the full project is assessed and ready, so this has become top priority. 😩

As you can imagine, for a small publisher like us, this is the worst possible scenario we couldn’t have even imagined. Over 300 orders from 3 different campaigns affected by FedEx mishandling of freight. We want to be hopeful and optimistic that we can still refill and ship the majority of those orders as quickly as possible, but until we know the full extent of the shortage, we can’t evaluate our next move. If we don’t have enough remaining inventory to replace those missing items, we will evaluate whether reprinting certain items is a viable solution. That will, of course, take a little more time, but we appreciate your patience to date while we sort this out. 

Certainly, if your order cannot be fulfilled, we will refund your money. While we hope FedEx will take financial responsibility for this fiasco, they will likely only cover the manufacturing cost of the goods, which is only about %20 of the actual value. The balance will come out of our pockets. 😓 (Don’t worry, we promise not to scarper off and disappear on you... We have a reputation to maintain, and want to keep doing business here for years to come...) We would certainly prefer to complete the orders as promised, however. Otherwise, you can safely expect your money back.

So that is the current UK/EU situation. Aetherworks should be transferring the AU/NZ inventory for these campaigns from their US consolidation warehouse shortly; we’ll report as soon as they have confirmed an update. Everyone else: we hope you have enjoyed your items since receiving them some time ago! 😊

In the meantime, we would humbly mention our current, new campaign for MEZKAL and CONVOY that launched on Tuesday. We’d love for everyone to please check it out! It is a pair of beautifully gritty and explosive noir/SF tales by Kevan Stevens and Jef that we’ve been excited to share for quite a while…

UK/EU backers, we understand if the above status of those prior, outstanding campaigns has you wary to back another, but we can say that this situation is definitely not at all normal – this is the first time in our 25-campaign history that something like this has happened, and it is not typical for us or our fulfillment partners. We pride ourselves on seeing things through responsibly and will always take whatever measures necessary to deliver as promised.

Thanks for your support and attention, everyone. We hope to have more (good) news soon!