Rainy Road Warrior Newsletter - July 19, 2021
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JULY 19, 2021
Life is strange. It never turns out exactly the way you thought it would, no matter how much you try to plan it out.
At least, not mine, anyway.
In 2020, my family had planned on leaving Asheville, North Carolina and starting over again in a new city. But neither my wife nor I could find a new job in any of the cities where we looked. Then my wife got offered a job back in Asheville and she was determined to take it.
But since neither of my kids could go to school because of Covid-19, that meant someone had to stay home with them. And since my wife was now working a full-time job with a decent salary, that “someone” was me.
It also meant I would have a little free time to dedicate towards producing all the comic book ideas that have been bouncing around inside my head.
So, that’s why 2021 has become the year for me to go for broke with this whole comic book thing. Otherwise, I’ll probably never have this opportunity again.
Hopefully, you’ll decide to join me on this adventure because this is about to be a wild ride!
~ Michael T Gonzalez
“BOOK OF LEGEND” launches!
The Kickstarter to fund printing “Book of Legend” launched on July 7th. This is a 52-page anthology which collects the stories from Ashcan Anthology #1 and #2. But in this print edition all the stories are in full color!
Click here to go directly to the Kickstarter campaign page.
You can also check out our Facebook page here to see teasers and previews I put out along the way.
As of this writing, the project is at 100% funded with 19 days to go but, obviously, we would like to achieve more than the initial goal because that will help fund future projects.
“Indie Kicks” on The Comic Binge podcast.
I recently had an interesting conversation with Paul Hermann on his Comic Binge podcast. We talked about the Book of Legend campaign as well as just comic books in general. Click the link below to check it out and don’t forget to like, love, adore and subscribe to his channel. He’s all about promoting indie comics!
Creators Outlet
I also had a chat with William Pace on his Creators Outlet podcast. Consider supporting his channel as well since he’s also an advocate for indie comics and creators.
CRoM Con 16
On August 1st at 2pm EST, I will be presenting on CRoM Con 16. This is a virtual convention on Facebook/Youtube. It runs on both Saturday and Sunday so check it out to discover indie creators and their projects.
Matilda’s “Agents of S.H.H.”!
Another book I recently added to the “Book of Legend” Kickstarter is my daughter’s mini-comic, “Pea, Bea and Jay: Agents of S.H.H.”
She came up to me a few months ago and asked if she could make her own comic. Of course, I said, “Yes!” and so we brainstormed her idea until we came up with what I honestly think could be a fun series of comics for kids.
The premise is that there are numerous objects around the world that are imbued with mysterious powers. These objects can either be used for good or evil purposes and it’s up to the Agents of S.H.H. to secure them before they fall into the wrong hands.
The books have humor and action similar to what you might find in Dog Man, Captain Underpants or Geronimo Stilton.
We print the book at home on premium paper to give it a nice look and feel.
We also have plans to include Pokemon-style trading cards that showcase the mystical objects from each book.
I should be able to include pictures of the actual card from the first book in the next newsletter.
COMING ATTRACTIONS!
GunEngine Zero
As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, the next project I’ll be throwing at ya’ll is a little something called “GunEngine Zero”.
This is a planned 6-issue miniseries with line art by Ian Waryanto, who did the line art for Alterna Comic’s Mighty Mascots.
This project has been in development for a long time and I’ve gone through several different artists trying to nail down the design of the main character.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the finances right now to fund production of the book out of my own pocket. (Unless the BoL campaign is wildly successful!) So, I’ll have to rely on crowdfunding for that.
However, I will be producing the first 6 pages of the first issue so that everyone can see Ian’s art and be assured that I have every intention of seeing it through.
Of course, I’ll be including much more details about this project in future newsletters so stay tuned!
Indiegogo bundle
Put this one in the “maybe” column.
After the Book of Legend campaign concludes, I am considering heading over to Indiegogo to offer some kind of bundle deal. This would be offering people on that platform a chance to get copies of whatever books I have left. I figure this might work better on Indiegogo since they take backer’s money as soon as they pledge. That way, I can ship the books out immediately.
Stay tuned for more info about this.
HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
Rainy Road comics and graphic novels you can get right now.
Neotheric Volume 1 — This 96-page graphic novel collects issues #1 - #4. Anthropomorphic dinosaurs escape their alien slave masters and return to modern-day Earth to live free but their actions cause chaos across the cosmos. It’s a scifi/action/comedy for mature readers. Buy it on Amazon here.
Comixology — Digital versions of our books can be found here. (For now, at least. I’ve never received a dime from Comixology so I’m debating whether to remove all of my books from their site.)
Comichaus App — If you prefer your digital comics “sans-Bezos”, you can also get them here and for much cheaper!
SHAREWARE
So, at one point back in the 90s, the Cartoon Network ran a contest where anyone could submit their ideas for new cartoons. Out of this contest came Johnny Bravo, the Powerpuff Girls and something else I can’t remember.
Anyway, my delusional self tweaked a very old idea I had from middle school about a Mexican mariachi player and his Native American friend who were also superheroes.
It was meant to have slapstick, absurd humor and a hyper-kinetic visual style like an anime. I’m pretty sure I also drew storyboards but I may have set them on fire in a rage because my idea wasn’t picked. Hey! At least I still have these character sketches to share!
GIVEAWAYS!
If we can reach 100 subscribers to this newsletter, I’ll start giving away random stuff, like comics (or sets of comics), posters, sticker sets, artwork (Oh, my!)
So tell your family, your friends, your enemies, your pets, your pet’s enemies and your social media followers to visit rainyroadmedia.com and sign up for the newsletter.
The more the merrier!
Feel free to share any feedback or questions you may have via the email link below.
Copyright (C) 2021 Michael T Gonzalez All rights reserved.
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