Almost There!!!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 03, 2022 at 04:33:44 PM

Howdy!

David and I just wanted to drop a line and tell you where we are at. The book is 99.9% ready to be sent off to the printer. All we need is for you to tell us how you would like your name to be credited in the CONTRIBUTORS page. That will be a question on our survey which will be sent out in the next few days. Once we lock that in, we just have to wait for the books to arrive so we can send them out. They will be printed over seas and the boat trip is what will take the longest. Luckily they will be delivered to a warehouse near my place so I can go and grab them and skip the final shipping stage. 

We had space for pin-ups, so we got some of our favorite artists to contribute a few. You already saw the one by Craig CK, but we also got ones from the incredible Jake Smith (Blood Force Trauma, Into the Radness), 24x4 (An amazing up-and-coming American mangaka), John Coats (Dino Beasts) and John Bivens (Spread, Dark Engines). Here is a taste.

The intro by John D. LeMay, star of Friday the 13th the Series and Jason Goes to Hell has been written and it's pretty, pretty, pretty...pretty great. You'll just have to take my word for it and read it when you get the book.

The bonus story is wrapped up as well. It came together spotlessly. I'm so happy that you all got us to the stretch goal for the expansion. Here's a sneakity peek at art from that disturbing tale.

That's about all the news that's fit for print. Keep your eyeballs peeled for the surveys in your inbox. They will be super important for getting us past the final hurdles. 

Best,

Chris (and David)

Before you go, please consider backing these two other campaigns that are on fire right now.

The first is "Tales to Enlighten: The New Testament" by mastermind, Matt King. I was asked to do a 19 page story in this phone book sized sequel to the first TtoE. It's bonkers. Here's one image I did for the story. Click to back.

Also running right now is the latest installment of G.H.O.S.T. Agents: Man of Action, by Rocko Jerome and our own Pin-Up artist, Craig CK. I have been a part of all of the G.H.O.S.T Agents installments up to this point. This is the prequel story that started it all. Get it while it's hot. click the image to back this baby.

Work in Progress
over 3 years ago – Tue, Aug 02, 2022 at 08:51:43 PM

Hey folks! 

Chris and I just wanted to give you all a quick update on progress. Kickstarter has collected the pledges, and aside from a few that didn't go through, we are now officially funded and ready for next steps. 

We're now working with Backerkit to prepare surveys, which we should be able to send out in the next few weeks. 

If you're unfamiliar, these surveys will calculate shipping and allow you to add-on some additional items if you wish, as well as providing you space to answer questions about the specifics of your particular pledge (e.g.,  which glove puppet you want, what you want drawn for your art commission, etc.). 

At the same time, we're working away on the final pages of the book. As I write this, Chris has maybe 5-6 pages left to draw, as well as some additional illustrations due to our expanded page count. 

These pages all come from the "PuppetShow" sequence that sits between the stories, so we thought we'd share a couple of images below to tantalize you with what's coming. As the writer, I just want to say that Chris' designs and character acting for our eerie puppeteer, Professor Spectral, are just NEXT LEVEL. So good! 

Check out these two pages...  

Pretty amazing, right? I cannot WAIT to get this book in your hands! 

More soon!

Dave (and Chris)

Kickstarter complete! Next steps....
over 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 05:06:56 PM

From the tips of our DevilSkins to the bottoms of our WitchHearts...

 We did it!

And by we, I mean ALL of us. Chris and I wanted to get this book made on our own terms, and with the support of all of our amazing backers, we’re now able to make it happen!

We also wanted to take a moment to give a very special shout-out to Andrew Jenson of Son of Jen Puppets, who is a crucial part of this team. The Kickstarter simply would not be same without Andy's puppets.  And, really, the book wouldn't be the same! Our framing sequence is completely inspired by Andy's designs. 

There's also another member of our team that really helped us in this endeavor, and that's Melissa Meszaros of Don't Hide PR! Melissa has been working behind the scenes throughout this campaign to help us raise awareness and promote the book and the campaign. 

So... what happens next?

First, the dust needs to settle a bit as Kickstarter collects and processes all of the pledges.

Meanwhile,  Chris and I (and editor Marissa Valentini) will be working on several fronts:

• Prepping Backerkit surveys that will allow you to finalize your rewards, select add-ons and also calculate shipping.
• Finishing the final book art, layout, and edits. Now with our expanded content, we've got some artwork to finish, some text to edit, some layout and design work to finalize. We’ll be working on this through the month, making sure everything is perfect and ready to go out the door. 

And then our next stage involves sending the files to the printer. This is where it leaves our hands and goes into the printing process. We’ll be as transparent as possible as to how long this takes, but there are a lot of variables that are well out of our control.

That said, once we deliver final, proofed files to the printer, we will also be delivering you the DIGITAL rewards! This means PDF copies of SPECTRAL and whatever additional books you’ve backed or added via Backerkit.

A LOT of work ahead of us, but we’ll be sure to keep you all informed as to our progress along the way.

Thank you all so much, and we'll keep updating you as we make new progress!

Dave (& Chris)

We hit our Stretch Goal! on to the next with a few hours to go!!!
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 11:11:03 AM

Holy beans!

Thank you all so much for getting us to the next stretch goal! The book will now be expanded to 128 pages. Next up at 14k, Stickers for all! Now, I know what you might be thinking. Stickers? What am I in third grade?! And to that I say, yes. We are all perpetually in third grade. Once you peel the back off of one of these babys, you will be transported back in time to when you got most of the answers right on that one worksheet and you felt the warm sunshine of your teacher thinking to themselves that this kid might graduate after all one day. Just me? Anyway, they're nice stickers.

But that's not all! if we can get up to 16k, we will make all of the books HARDCOVER!!! Who wants a pesky bendy book when you can have one that doesn't bend? Seriously, though. This book would be nice as a hardcover. I want this. Help make this happen.

Lastly, Josh Gorfain and J.C. Grande are kickinin' their new project called Frozen Angel Symphony. It's a weird cyberpunk/Fantasy story of weirdness. Anyone who knows me knows that weirdness is the baseline for showing me something you think I might enjoy. I think YOU might enjoy this. click the image below to check it out.

Funded! With just hours to go!
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 05, 2022 at 11:17:45 AM

We did it! 

This has been an absolute nail biter, but as I type this, we're currently at $12,357.00 -- which means we are fully funded! We can't bring this book to life without all of you, so please know, from the bottom of our collective heart, we are incredibly grateful! 

That said, we've still got two days left in the campaign, so there's still a chance to give all of you an even better book than what you're already getting. If we can bump this baby up to $13,000.00, we'll expand the page count and give you an extra illustrated prose story, some cool behind-the-scenes process stuff, and other little goodies! 

A Good Review

It's also worth noting that we sent around an advance (slightly incomplete) copy of the PDF for reviews, and we got a really nice review from Comicon.com, which perhaps gives you a little insight into what to expect! I love this last line of the review:

"While the collection is still being completed, it shows promise. Collectors of horror who prefer quality storytelling over gore will want to contribute to the book’s creation."

That's it for now -- let's rally and keep spreading the word, and see if we can't hit that first stretch goal! 

Thank you  all so much!

Dave (& Chris)