Let’s talk Kickstarts for a moment, yes?

• Up first, Los Angeles resident Dave Kellett has started the campaign for the second Drive hardcover, and it’s burning up the charts.

  Well, kinda. It’s true that the funding is (as of this writing) at nearly US$34,000 of a US$25,000 goal, and LArDK only announced it about six hours ago. But! LArDK is also known for giving his Patreon backers first crack at things, so there’s every chance that it was up for a period of time before we got word. Which is to say, the early soft launch messes with the FFF mk2, so no predictions on how it will do. It doesn’t even show up in Kicktraq yet.

  Regardless, the strip is great¹, the books are pretty (and are offered in a more-affordable softcover from the get-go this time), and I’m hoping when fulfillment time comes around, I’ll be able to add on the Drive Corps challenge coin, on account of I don’t need the rest of the non-book stuff in the tiers that feature it.

  Like the first time around, stretch goals will mean including the Tales From The Drive guest stories² and likely fancifications of the books — spot gloss, ribbon bookmarks, embosses, etc. But the appeal is really the story, which is probably hitting the 50% mark by the end of Act 2. You’ve got a month to get in on it, and best of luck to LArDK!

• Secondly, we’re down to the final hours on the latest Smut Peddler collection, just over 26 hours to go as of this writing, and US$402 from a fifteenth stretch goal³.

  Each stretch goal means an additional five bucks per page to the creators. Fifteen times five is 75 smackeroos, and if you’re putting together a ten page story or so? Not chump change. It also means that each creator will be paid twice what they originally contracted for. Only Iron Circus Supreme Leader For Life C Spike Trotman knows exactly what the breakdown on her various anthology costs have been, and what percentage of the more than a million dollars she’s Kickstarted has gone to creator bonuses.

  But if I were a betting man? I’d say a third. Aside from the recognition that creators have gotten from appearing in such a high-profile project, apart from the cases of books they can sell themselves, aside from the work that they’ve gotten as a result, it is all but certain that Spike has introduced a sum well into the six figures to the indie comics community. That makes an impact in a rent and groceries for dozens of creators.

  There’s a lot of talk from terrible wannabe creators who, in between shitting on other people, are now bragging about how they’re remaking the industry. Aside from the fact that I’ve been reading self-published comics as far back as my high school days (that would be the first Reagan Administration), nothing these dipshits claims to be doing is going to have the impact on the industry that Spike’s had by following a simple formula:

  Find work you want to publish
  Pay people for it
  Pay them more when it’s a success.

  Have fun playing catch-up, dipshits. Y’aint getting in front of the black lady from Chicago and those who’ve been smart enough to learn from (and work with) her instead of trying to pretend she never existed. Smut Peddler: Sex Machine finishes funding around 5:00pm CDT tomorrow, 29 August. Get in now or miss out.

Spam of the day:

Studies performed at leading universities around the world revealed that tinnitus is actually a brain problem that destroys the auditory cortex. tinnitus doesn’t fry just the auditory cortex. It sends ripples out across the entire brain which over-stimulates neurons. This leads tinnitus sufferers to develop life-threatening diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, diabetes, hypertension and even cancer.

You might have stuck the landing on the brave researcher reveals what they don’t want you to know bullshit if you’d stopped after dementia — that would have still been bullshit but still vaguely related to brain things — but over-stimulated neurons don’t cause diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. And if it’s not an ear problem, why does my mild tinnitus manifest when I undergo pressure changes, and largely resolve when I perform the Valsalva maneuver (not to be confused with the Jendrassik maneuver)? But no, you reached too far and clowned yourself. Sucks to be you.

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¹ And yes, the campaign features a blurb by me, as did the back cover to Act 1. I never agree to receive anything of value for that blurb, and although LArDK sent me a copy of the Act 1 hardcover, it was after I’d received my copy from the last Kickstart. The extra copy had some adventures, but eventually wound up given to my local library. I’ve already backed Act 2 at the hardcover level. I think that’s all the disclaiming that’s needed.

² For which LArDK pays top-tier industry rates. Like, Marvel-and-DC page rates; one creator told me that their contribution was the single best-paying job of their freelance career, which now includes high-profile graphic ovel gigs and multiple Eisner nominations. More on page rates momentarily.

³ I’m pretty sure with the usual last-day bump, stretch goal sixteen will happen. And that’s in just two weeks of funding.