Rainy Road Warrior Newsletter
Short and Sweet
This one will be a quickie since the main point will be to share a preview of the Epic of Darkness Kickstarter campaign (see below) and get some feedback before launching.
One other thing I will mention is that I’m putting together a “making of” PDF that will be a Kickstarter exclusive, just like I did with six:eight and Neotheric.
Some of the characters that will appear in EoD have roots that go back 30 years. But don’t worry! The silly characters you see below are NOT in the book. They are just the inspirations (the rough draft versions) of characters that will be. You can get the whole, messy story (and a lot more of my crappy artwork) in the “Making of EoD” PDF.
Change of Plans
As I’m finalizing the Kickstarter campaign and making sure I’ve got all my ducks in a row, I did another check on the printing cost of the book. While doing so, I discovered that a saddle-stitched book can only be a maximum of 64 pages. I checked this with two different printers.
So, if the campaign hits the stretch goal to add “Lady X: Part 2”, that would bring the book to 66 pages. This would require it to be a squarebound book and double the printing cost. But, at only 66 pages, it would be extremely thin. Something like a tenth of an inch, which might not even be enough space on the spine to include any trade dress.
What to do? What to do?!
Considering also that one of the artists has been dragging his feet and waiting for him to finish would probably push the campaign launch into 2023, I decided to break up his story (Roketto-Man) into multiple parts.
This will solve several problems. First, I don’t need to wait for him to finish the artwork. Second, it drops the page count down so it can still be a saddle-stitched book, even if the 10 pages of Lady X are added.
So the book will either be 48 or 60 pages. Total page count has to be a multiple of 4. There will be 6 stories, 3 of them complete and 3 of them serialized. 3 of them will be in full color and 3 will be in black and white.
And I still don’t have a set launch date yet because I’m still waiting for a few pages of artwork for the “King Dead Jed” story. But I’ve been thinking that it might be best to launch the campaign so that it ends sometime in the middle of a month. My reasoning is that I think some people might pledge to a campaign without truly considering their finances. Then, when their end of the month bills come, they realize they don’t have enough in their bank account and they pull their pledge. So, if the campaign ends in the middle of the month, that situation won’t occur.
Obviously, this is a guess on my part. But, again, I’m just trying different strategies to see if they might make any difference.
EoD Campaign Preview
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rainyroad/epic-of-darkness-1-adult-horror-anthology?ref=9kjvdw&token=823362bb
That link will take you to a rough draft of the campaign so you can take a look at everything and give feedback. You can either write directly on the campaign page or you can send your thoughts via email (rrcomics@outlook.com) or on FB (@rainyroadcomics).
Remember, nothing is finalized and not everything I plan on including is in there yet. And I’ve often made changes based on user feedback so if there’s something you don’t see and would like to or if there’s something you do see and would rather not or if there’s anything you think is out of whack, let me know. I welcome any and all opinions!
The Amazing Con-Man - Farley Con
Another reminder that me and the kids will be at Farley Con on August 13th. This is in East Ridge, Tennessee which is just outside of Chattannooga. (What’s with all the double letters, Tennessee? I got a cramp just typing that last sentence. Sheesh!) We’ll be at table C-8.
This Week in Randomness!
So, recently, there was a lottery drawing worth more than $1,000,000,000. That’s quite a sum of money. A life-changing amount of money. So much money that one could join the exclusive club of lords that live outside of any laws or moral codes and dictate to the rest of the world how to live. Spoiler alert! I did not win. Not even $1. But, alas, all is not lost. If I just keep hope alive until the next drawing, I may yet still sit on the throne of power alongside Lords Bezos and Gates. All hail the kings!
~Michael T Gonzalez
