I held off writing this yesterday, hoping that it would be a temporary situation, but by new it’s pretty clear that Square is stumbling in the Convention Center. Wednesday night was a dream, transactions flying through, credit cards approved, signatures captured in the blink of an eye. The beginning of the day Thursday was likewise smooth and unremarkable, but after a few hours transactions took longer to approve, then gave way to connection failures.

While the various Wis and Fis and Gs are chugging along at sometimes widely different speeds, connectivity is not the actual problem. I am writing this post on the same WiFi signal that is showing connectivity issues with Square, but which is browsing at a practical (if slightly pokey) rate.

Reports from vendors across the floor are similar: random pockets of decent responses from Square interspersed with an approval time measured in whole minutes. Performance did get better towards the end of the day on Thursday, but it wasn’t obvious if it was due to sales tapering off or Sqaure adding transactional capacity. Given that the slowdowns kicked in earlier today than yesterday morning, it seems the former is more likely.

Here’s hoping that Square’s capacity problems (it is a very common sight on the floor: phones and tablets with the ubiquitous white dongle) doesn’t impact the sales of creators. SDCC is just one weekend in one city, but there is a disproportionately large ratio of total merchants:Square users right here and they deserve not to be let down by technology on their most important sales weekend of the year.

TIHYD autograph count: 17 total (picked up Rhiannon Kelly, Rebecca Black, Carly Monardo, Lissa Tremain, John Chernega, Bill Chernega, Tony Cliff, Claire Hummel, and Ryan North and David Malki ! each signed a second time).

The City of San Diego must rotate which of its fire stations respond to emergency calls; Engine 4 has been dispatched a half-dozen times or more since I left the convention center at the end of Thursday’s show hours (a significant amount of this period coincided with when I was trying to sleep), a situation that I don’t recall occurring in the previous days. Let’s do this.

One of the things that gets lost in Comic Con is interaction at the personal scale; even when the crush of the day is done and you aren’t surrounded by thousands of attendees, the desire to catch up with every friend, don’t waste a minute of time, where can twelve people get dinner together is strong. I got away from that tendency at several points during the day, taking the opportunity to talk to just one person:

• Aaron Diaz was giddy about Dresden Codak’s current storyline, Dark Science, approaching the halfway point, and about changes coming in the story structure, and about how things will get interesting (read: blow up). When Diaz is enthusiastic, it’s contagious.
• Kris Straub was contemplative about boothing alone (the missing Penny Arcade and PvP have merged booths into a joint satellite booth with t-shirt vendor We Love Fine, leaving Straub solo), and desirous of figuring out exactly when the lulls would come on the floor which means you can run to the bathroom. He remains incredibly humbled and grateful for the ongoing success of the Broodhollow Kickstarter, which is proceeding apace.
• Ryan North was willing to confess that his contribution to This Is How You Die was essentially a gender-swapped Ryan/Joey [Comeau fanfic, with a healthy dose of the history of Henrietta Lack and the most literary use of the phrase dick move in history. He’s also been gifted with copies of his own head (seeing as how it’s open source and all), including a test strip of different sizes, the smallest of which would fit on a chessboard and you guys we need to get Joey’s head scanned and make a chess set of Joey heads and Ryan heads and then have Grandmasters contend with that set forever.
• Andy Runton just because he is the nicest guy in the world. Seriously.
• Randy Milholland and I spent hours on a wide-ranging conversation that centered on the past fifty or so years of comics; I have a broad but shallow knowledge of a lot of comics, having heard that a particular character, title, or story arc exists and knowing its basic outline; Randy’s actually read all of those and will kick your ass in any showdown of comics trivia knowledge. It was perhaps a tactical error to have dinner with just one person and hope for a quiet night after a day of talking and wear/tear on my throat because when that one person is Randy, you end up talking more than if you were shouting to be heard in a loud bar with ten other people, and you like it. It was perhaps the most purely comics experience I’ve ever had at Comic Con.
• Vijaya Iyer, the publisher of Cartoon Books, you may recall spent some of last year’s SDCC going through the webcomics section, asking how things work. Her husband, Jeff Smith, has spent decades as a dead-tree publisher but now they’ll be making the leap to the give-it-away-sell-stuff-on-the-back-end model with Tüki Save The Humans on November first. Honestly, if this isn’t a monster runaway success, it’s because we let Smith and Iyer down; we know the he’s going to turn out an outstanding comic, so let’s not let this experiment fail. It will help determine the particulars of Smith’s career for the near- to middle-term, and he’s earned our attention and consideration many times over.

I didn’t make it to any panels, but today I expect to see the Jim Zub panel on pitching creator-owned comics, which unfortunately starts at the same time (11:00am) as the This Is How You Die autograph session, so I’ll likely be a little late. By the way the TIHYD autograph count now stands at seven total, having added Ryan North, David Malki !, Becky Dreistadt, Aaron Diaz, Tyson Hesse, and Kris Straub).

Below the cut, the best cosplay photo of the day: Dr Venture and Pete White.

(more…)

Or, I suppose I should say, front load waste container-emptying truck since This Is How You Die has taught me that Dumpster™ is a trademark of Dempster Brothers, Inc. Thanks, TIHYD! Speaking of which, my TIHYD autograph count now stands at 1, Meredith Gran, who illustrated ROCK AND ROLL. I should also note that the first copies of To Be Or Not To Be are available at the TopatoCo book and a lovely fellow brought one by to get Meredith (and Jon Rosenberg’s) autograph, and one of Meredith’s two illustrations is for the ending where (spoiler alert!) Ophelia just starts killing the crap out of everybody until half of Denmark has personally been murdered by her and it is hilarious.

• Speaking of Ms Gran, I asked about her Gender & Comic Books panel, later today at 1:00pm in room 28DE and it turns out she never agreed to be on this panel and is trying to figure out why the heck she’s listed as a participant. I’ll be double-checking with her to determine if she’s going to participate, but at this point I’d kind of doubt it.
• Still at the Dumbrella booth, Rich Stevens has two samples (one hardcover, one softcover) of his Oni Press reprint collection, I’m A Rocker, I Rock Out (the first of a series of themed collections — this one focuses on Indie Rock Pete[r Gaylord Wiener]), and they are beautiful to behold. It’s my understanding that Oni have a limited number of copies of the collection at their booth, in the 1800 aisle, underneath the giant hanging banner that features Red Robot.
• The endlessly cheerful Kazu Kibuishi looks good; this time last year he had a health crisis that came pretty close to killing him, but he’s bounced back. I’ve known people to have faced bad health situations and subsequently fall into a never-ending cycle of worry about what goes wrong next; Kibuishi has decided to be happy.

  He’s happy to be working, happy to see the positive reactions to the Harry Potter book covers¹ he’s done (the latest gets released today), happy that he got to do back-cover images for the books², happy to be working on Amulet again, happy to see his kids growing up healthy and safe. He hopes to finish Amulet 6 by December or so (print lead times meaning we may see it in a year or so) and is working out ideas for volume 7 and beyond. At this point, there’s no limit to the series and he is full of stories to share; after knowing that he is well again, that’s the best possible news.

• As mentioned earlier, Kibuishi is sharing booth space with Gallery Nucleus, Olly Moss, Scott C, various Flight contributors, and the entirely adorable Becky and Frank at the back of the 2700 aisle.
  Becky and Frank have a limited number of a new resin toy (see photo at top) at their booth (sharing with ) in multiple colorways, and the possibility of vinyl later. They’ve also got a gallery show (arranged by Nucleus) in Pasadena that is launching near the end of the month, a show that will see Becky’s work shelved alongside Dr Suess originals. Details aren’t released yet, so keep your eyes open on that one.
• Back in Webcomics Central, there’s a lot of people thrilled by their recent/ongoing Kickstarter successes: Sam Logan, Evan Dahm, Kris Straub, Aaron Diaz, David Malki ! (who has an actual Machine of Death, ready to predict your demise), Ryan North — taken together they’re responsible for something on the order of US$2.5 million of creative commerce.

  Speaking with Make That Thing Benevolent Dictator For Life Holly Rowland, we ballparked an estimate that MTT may hit US$1.5 – 1.6 million of project shepherding in 2013, their first year of operation. While we were having that bit of conversation over booth construction, the hardest working man in comics, Jim Zub wandered by and we were able to talk about Samurai Jack and Skullkickers.

• With respect to the former, it’s hopefully going to be an ongoing title, not just the five-issue limited that’s been announced. As Zub put it If they keep buying, we’ll keep making it. He’s excited about the storytelling and visual experimentation that Jack (which was experimental on both counts) will lend itself to, and noted a model for a five issues/one issue production pattern (much like Skullkickers, which consists of five issue story arcs, followed by one issue of guest short stories) that I’m not entirely certain I’m allowed to share right now, so let me just say that you want this 5/1 model to come to fruition. You don’t even know how much those 1s will rock.

  Speaking of Skullkickers, the fourth story arc just wrapped, the fourth guest issue is on deck, and Zub is busy working on the fifth arc (we’ve seen the basic sword/sorcery arc, the urban intrigue arc, the pirate arc, and the jungle arc; this one will be the frozen north/viking/barbarian arc). He’s hoping to mostly get the two remaining arcs (the sixth will be … the kitchen sink, throw everything in there, find out what the hell has been going on …) done in 2014, which means that 2015 can be the wrap-up tour, comprehensive omnibus collections for everybody, and letting the next project (there’s always a next project with Zub) come to the fore.

  If the timing works out right, the online MWF reruns of Skullkickers will catch up and finish about the same time the last issue sees print. That’s not only a neat way to wrap up the project, it may be a necessity: Zub’s primary artistic partner, Edwin Huang, has been getting a lot of inquiries and requests on various projects, and may be very busy if Zub doesn’t get him on the remaining issues quickly. Dang, good work leading to attention and more work — doesn’t suck.

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¹ The request to do the covers came along at a time when after-effects of his illness made writing difficult, but drawing was still possible.

² He had an image that he really loved for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but was perhaps too subtle for the cover; he offered to rework it as a back cover image, and it worked so well that he continued the experiment for the other six volumes.

It’s the little touches that you notice, the ones that say I’m paying attention, like turning a piece of wall art into an impromptu superhero in a classy, understated way. Well done, San Diego.

• For those of you in (or coming to) San Diego, you now have one more thing that you should include in your to-do list: on Friday morning at the Hachette booth (#1116, around the corner from Webcomics Central), there will be a This Is How You Die signing, with eight of the writers and artists from the book in one place for your convenience. Additionally, there will be another eight contributors on the show floor at various places and times, a checklist of which David Malki ! has helpfully provided for you. One possible correction to that checklist: it has Braden Lamb at booth #2734 and he may in fact be at booth #2235 due to the previously-mentioned Great Booth Swap of Aught-Thirteen. I’ll check around today and get back to you on that.
• Speaking of booth #2743, Scott C will be there, and you may want to ask him about something cool coming in October. The only thing that could make a second volume of Great Showdowns better is if it included the amazing Pacific Rim Showdown from yesterday, but an October release date means these books are already in the printing pipeline. Oh well, guess that means that there will have to be a third collection in a year or so. Darn.
• Finally, those of you looking past the end of SDCC and who will be in New York in a couple of weeks, and are sick of the extremely hot summer already, Kristen Siebecker has announced her latest learn to drink the good stuff class, this time on the topic of pairing wine with warm-weather foods. You get booze, you get snacks, you get a convenient new location at the West Elm Market in DUMBO, Brooklyn, you get 10% off the class with the code EMAIL10, and 15% discount in the market after the class. August 7th, 6:30pm, at 50 Washington Street in Brooklyn.

For the rest of the week, expect postings throughout the day, as often as I can make them happen.

If all is working correctly, I am on a flight from Newark to San Francisco, and thence to San Diego as this post goes live. This will also serve as a reminder that I’ll be on Pacific Daylight Time for the next while, and postings may be later than you are used to. Then again, I may just post throughout the day rather than try to stick to one update per day, so come back here regular-like and you’ll be fine.

• In the now-ish timeframe, I am thrilled to report that Kris Straub’s Broodhollow Kickstarter cleared goal around the six hour mark, is already knocking down stretch goals, and is trending high on Kicktraq¹. Speaking of spooktacular Kickstarts, Abby Howard’s campaign for The Last Halloween is in its final minutes and may well hit the US$130,000 mark. The C and the D could not be any more cranked.
• Also happening roughly now, Paul Southworth recently spent some time drawing people that responded to him on his Twitterfeed, and is now opening the opportunity up to all:
  

  Digital Cartoon Portrait Studio’ is open for business! http://southworth.bigcartel.com/ Digital cartoon portraits starting at $35.

  Speaking as the owner of a Southworth original (from the Ugly Hill days), that’s a frickin’ bargain. If you get a portrait from him, see if you can talk him into including the Eyes of Liquid Rage.

• The Cartoon Art Museum will again be hosting some of the greatest talents in comics at their SDCC home, booth #1930, and will also again be hosting the CAM Sketch-A-Thon. For a suggestion donation of just ten bucks you can get a drawing from your favorite creator! Preliminary schedule now up on the CAM website, although circumstances may require last-minute changes, so check back there regularly.

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¹ Obligatory disclaimer: the early Kicktraq predictions are wildly higher than almost any project will actually make good on; give it another 24 hours and apply the Fleen Fudge Factor and we’ll have an idea where it’s headed.http://www.jspowerhour.com/li

Of course it does, just as I’m trying to get things together for SDCC 2013. Well, let’s see what we’ve got.

• Probably the biggest news of the day is the release of the official Harvey Awards nominees, wherein indy- and web-type creators are killing it:
  • Creator-owned SAGA takes seven nominations, including Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Colorist, Best Cover Artist, Best New Series, Best Continuing or Limited Series, and Best Single Issue or Story.
  • Longtime independent creator Terry Moore has been justly recognized for Rachel Rising, which has unfortunately now gotten fully into the “critical lauded, but nowhere near widely read” territory. Seriously, if you backed The Sleep of Reason or read Broodhollow you should be reading Rachel Rising, which is nominated for Best Cartoonist and Best Continuing or Limited Series.
  • Ed Ryzowski, who colors Evil, Inc, The Gutters, Looking for Group, and Terminals, is nominated for Best Colorist alongside colleagues from Marvel, Image, and Archie.
  • Adventure Time is tabbed for Best New Series (against the aforementioned SAGA and the critically-acclaimed breakout hit of the year, Hawkeye), Special Award for Humor in Comics (okay, that’s actually a nomination for writer Ryan North, who is competing with Jim Zub for Skullkickers among others), and Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers.
  • That last category, Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers? Other nominees include Cow Boy (where artist Chris Eliopoulos is also up for Best Letterer), Amelia Rules, and Drama; this category is an embarrassment of riches.
  • Most directly relevant to this page, the nods for Best Online Comics Work have been given to:
    • Bandette, Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
    • Battlepug, Mike Norton
    • The Dreamer, Lora Innes
    • Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
    • Sheldon, Dave Kellett

  And that’s just scratching the surface. Every year there’s talk about the Harveys getting gamed by publisher block-voting, but this year appears to feature a hell of a lot of strong work. Fleen congratulates all the nominees.

• Speaking of Broodhollow, it just keeps getting better and better, and the first arc of the ongoing story finished up today and oh man did Kris Straub deliver up a satisfying twist to the story. End of the arc seems a good place to make a book, and coincidentally the Kickstarter for Broodhollow Book One: Curious Little Thing launched about four hours back.

  My guess is that as good as Broodhollow is (and it is very, very good) three days a week, it is going to be even moreso to devastating degree in large chunks. It is one of the most prickling-unease-crawling-at-the-back-of-your-brain stories that you will ever read, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to back it now. Also, to keep the patterns and check all the doors and look directly at that which haunts you because then it can’t get you.

• Speaking of Ryan North, The AV Club gave an absolutely glowing review to This Is How You Die, which North edited along with Matt Bennardo and David Malki !. Remember, TIHYD drops tomorrow, and if you’re flying to SDCC your mission is to see if it can be purchased in an airport bookstore.
• Speaking of Jim Zub, I’m a little late on this one, but did you see that he’s going to be writing a Samurai Jack comic series for IDW? I don’t feel so bad about him getting jerked around by DC back in January now, since I imagine he’ll have far more creative independence working on Samurai Jack than he would have in an environment driven by editorial fiat.

  In other news, that’s another book I’ll have to add to my pull list come October, and with any luck it’ll go from five-issue miniseries to ongoing. That’s more likely to occur if lots of us buy it, and more Zub is always a good thing, so write yourself a note to buy it when it comes out.

• Lastly, best of luck to the Team Venture crew (a significant fraction of whom are the creators of Little Gamers as they set out on the first leg of their drive to Ulan Bator. You can follow their progress here, where it seems that they’re currently in the Czech Republic, in a corner of the world where Western infrastructure (beer, wifi, democratic regimes) are reasonably common and the countries fit into single time zones. They’ve got a long way to go yet, and vast open countries to cross, and we at Fleen wish them safe travels and sane adventure.

The inestimable Scott C dropped a tweet this afternoon that may save a lot of confusion for those attending SDCC 2013 next week:

Booth change for #SDCC! @gallerynucleus will be #2743! i will be there with the gang… @ollymoss @sirmitchell @boltcity @beckyandfrank

Going back to our floor guide, it’s more than a case of just shifting around a couple of booth numbers, because Booth #2743 was already occupied by BOOM! Studios, which is now listed in the SDCC Exhibitor Guide as now being at Booth #2235, which was formerly occupied by … Gallery Nucleus.

Everybody got that? Gallery Nucleus and BOOM! have swapped places. Changes have been made to the earlier posting.

• Speaking of Olly Moss (who will be part of the Gallery Nucleus/Bolt City group in their new home), a lot of his work is done for Mondo, the in-house art gallery/design shop of Alamo Drafthouse¹, who will be situated at Booth #936 on the show floor. Mostly I’m mentioning this because that’s where you’ll be able to see the work of Moss and his fellow designers, retro-styled posters for movies that put the actual work of studios to shame. Seriously, check out Moss’s take on Spirited Away and tell me you don’t want to live inside that image.

In less SDCC-related news, webcomics seem to be making themselves known in quiet ways.

• On the one hand, the Humble Ebook Bundle II [link good for the next six days or so] is halfway through its two week run, and today announced four new books for those that pledge more than the average amount (presently sitting at US$10.24). Two of the four are xkcd volume 0 and the first Machine of Death anthology.
• On the other hand, WordPress today released an official theme just for webcomics; dubbed Panel, it features a mechanism for strip publishing, strip-related blogging, archiving, and integration with social media channels.

  It’s still too soon to tell if it will overtake the excellent Comic Easel plugin from Phil “Frumph” Hofer³ which focuses on functionality inside any theme; like so many other things, it will likely come down to ability vs ease of use. Those that host their comics at WordPress.com will probably find Panels to be a simple approach; those that run their own WordPress installations and like lots of rich features — and are willing to do more of the work themselves — will find that Hofer’s toolbox lets them build interesting and powerful things.

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¹ Possibly the greatest movie theaters in history, Alamo Drafthouse also sponsors Badass Digest² and promulgates what is definitely the greatest theatergoer behavior code in history. [A/V, NSFW]

² Who in turn run the work of possibly the greatest living writer on film, Film Crit Hulk.

³ Hofer has been very kindly aiding me in figuring out how to migrate Fleen to its new hosting for the past week; he is generous with his time and knowledge, and I can vouch firsthand that he knows what the hell he is doing and if you’re anything like me, he will save you days of flailing about and trial-and-error. And since time and knowledge should be rewarded, I clicked on the button marked Donate and sent him an amount equal to the value of the time he saved me.

We’ve mentioned a lot of webcomic-centric people and events at SDCC 2103 over the past week or so, and there’s still things to mention.

• ShiftyLook’s off-site events include hours-long Andrew Hussie autograph sessions (Thursday 4:00pm; Friday 3:30pm; Sunday 1:00pm); livecasts with Chris Hastings, Ryan North, and Alex Culang (Thursday 7:00pm), Rob Paulsen and Scott Kurtz (Friday 7:00pm), Zach Weinersmith and Jennifer Hale (Saturday 7:00pm); and spotlight sessions on Mappy with Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub (Saturday 6:00pm) and Wonder Momo with Jim Zub and Erik Ko (Sunday 12:30pm).
• The creators behind SMBC Theatre, Cyanide and Happiness, and other video chucklemongers are going offsite for an evening of japery, lessons learned, and sneak peeks. No Laughs Allowed is sponsored by Callback Comedy and will take place at Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15 Theater on 5th Street, Saturday at 7:00pm. Get yer tickets now.
• For the third year in a row, Tr!ickster will be providing an offsite space for creator-owned stuff to not be lost in the hell of giant media conglomerates. They’re going to be at East Village Tavern Bowl, about eight blocks from the convention center, from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday.
• For those trapped on the con floor and feeling all desire for continued existence slipping away, [Adult Swim] may actually have a solution for you. Yeah, yeah, panels, famous people, etc., don’t care. Here’s the good stuff:
  

  Fans can also stop by the Adult Swim booth #3721 to enjoy free mini massages and a place to escape from the hectic pace of the convention floor. [emphasis mine]

  Oh man, what if they had a little dark, sound-insulated room with comfy couches? That would rule.

In other news:

• Question of the Ages: Just how much do people like porn? Possible answer, going by the relative amounts raised by the Smut Peddler (porn) and Sleep of Reason (not porn) Kickstarts, run by the same person and featuring many of the same creators: the porn raised US$83,100 and the not-porn raised US46,925, meaning that people preferred porn by a ratio of approximately 1.77:1.

  Another way to look at things? Using the same more-money-raised-means-bigger-bonuses-for-creators scheme, porn makers got paid an extra US$650 to not-porn makers getting US$300 or a 2.17:1 incentive the next time your favorite creator is wondering what the next project should be.

• Finally, a quick note that Fleen should be completing its transition to new hosting this weekend; if you notice anything broken, you can be sure to let me know. Also, I’d like to thank Brad Guigar for putting up a WordPress Newbies Guide today at Webcomics Dot Com … after I’d learned most of his lessons through trial and error. Great timing, Brad!¹

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¹ Awww, like I could be mad at him. C’mere, Brad, give me a hug.

I gave you an extra post on Sunday, so I’m taking a day today; server migration is a process. Not hard or impossible, but precise and picky and detail-oriented, and it’s past time I should have learned all of this. See you tomorrow.

Oh, okay, one piece of news: Sam Logan raised the money for his Omnibus Collection within twelve hours of launch, is closing in on 200% funding as I write this, and has already added four stretch goals worth of extras to make the books nicer. Initial guess as to total amount in four weeks: US$130,000 to US$260,000 per the Fleen Fudge Factor¹.

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¹ Look it up.

Did you see the Friday and Saturday SDCC programming notes I posted yesterday? Because you totally got a weekend posting out of me. We’ll get to the Sunday programming down below, but first let’s get some other things squared away.

• Book Thing The First: Howard Tayler¹ has opened pre-orders for his ninth collection, Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic. Tayler’s comics always deliver highly on both the print quality per dollar and laugh-chuckles per dollar scales, so give ‘er a look.
• Book Thing The Second: David Malki !, Ryan North, and Matt Bennardo are aiming to make a whole passel o’ people official New York Times #1 best seller authors. Much like how the first collection of the Machine of Death became the #1 seller on Amazon and gave Glenn Beck a sad, This Is How You Die is aiming to front-load sales across all distribution points to debut in the Times in the top slot. Let’s let North give you the details:
  

  This will be especially awesome since, like the first volume, this will be the first publishing credit for most of the authors in the book. We honestly don’t know if this idea is possible. But we know it’s possible to try.

  Every sale from today onwards counts towards our NYT status. If this book at all interesting, and you think you might like reading inventive and memorable stories curated by a dude whose comics you like, then why not head over to Amazon.com (or .ca or .co.uk) and get the book? They’ve got it on sale for 30% off retail. [emphasis original]

  On top of that, publishers Grand Central Books have released a sweet, hilarious, mayhem-filled book trailer video that nicely explores the premise of the titular Machine and especially the fact that it has a cruel sense of humor. I liked the fourth segment (TIME TRAVEL) best because of an especially good twist, but you can decide for yourself after viewing².

• Book Thing The Third: Sam Logan launched a Kickstart about four hours ago to fund the printing of what may be the largest webcomic collection to hit paper so far — a 1500+ page omnibus edition of the first seven years of Sam and Fuzzy. Naturally, in that time he’s hit 58% of a relatively hefty US$27,000 goal (those 1500+ page omnibii don’t come cheap), which should surprise exactly nobody.

  What is a bit surprising is the rather high per-backer pledge, which as of this writing sits at US$115.14; granted, some of that is because the basic version of the omnibus is gonna set you back US$49, with increasingly fancy versions at US$69 and US$95, but all of those fall below the average.

  Nope, the average can only be explained by the highly-personalized rewards (custom avatars and portraits) available at the US$160+, and the already-claimed tiers that promise original production artwork (US$750 and US$850). Lessons to draw from Logan’s campaign include:

  • Big, exciting projects capture the imagination
  • Having a backlog of demand for never-before printed material is good
  • One-of-a-kind rewards will elicit a siren song whose chorus is Give me money
  • If you’re going to have to send a bunch of books that weigh 3 or more kilos, it’s a good idea to have Make That Thing in your corner

  In fact, I’ll make one last observation here about Make That Thing (a division of TopatoCo) from their announcement³:

  After Kickstarter backers receive their rewards, the softcover books will be sold online through TopatoCo, who are fortifying their warehouse’s foundations this very moment.

  TopatoCo is the United States’ third-largest publisher of independent comics products. Based in Easthampton, Mass., TopatoCo creates books, apparel, gift items, and novelties for over fifty of the world’s most popular web-based creators.

  Did you catch that? TopatoCo is the United States’ third-largest publisher of independent comics products. I’m guessing that the first two have names like Top Shelf or Fantagraphics, and what’s more TopatoCo does far more than just printing comics. The scale of it all is a little boggling.

Sunday Programming

Funky Winkerbean’s 40th+ Anniversary
10:30am – 11:30am Room 8
I was going to list this solely to ensure that Chris Sims wouldn’t miss it, but sadly he tweeted this morning that he has a conflict. Even when he’s not reading the strip, Sims is crushed by the despair of life conspiring against him.

How and Why to Write a Great All-Ages Comic Book
11:00am – 12:00pm Room 28DE
By the time Sunday rolls around, you start to see some repetition in panel topics especially considering that this day’s programming skews towards kids. But you’d be a fool to pass up the chance to listen to Andy Runton, Jimmy Gownley, Katie Cook, and more.

Faith Erin Hicks in Conversation with Jeff Smith
11:30am – 12:30pm Room 8
The appeal should be self-evident.

Shattering Convention in Comic Book Storytelling
1:30pm – 2:30pm Room 23ABC
The title disguises the intent a bit — it’s about how there can actually be comics characters that aren’t white guys. Features Brandon Thomas, Gene Luen Yang, and Gail Freakin’ Simone.

Keenspot 2013: Red Giant Expands to Consume the Earth
2:00pm – 3:00pm Room 4
Wouldn’t be Sunday at SDCC without the Keenspot panel.

First Second: Gene Yang and Paul Pope In Conversation
3:30pm – 4:30pm Room 26AB
The title says it all; it’s a shame it’s been shuffled off to nearly the very end of the con when people are honestly thinking about getting home (if they haven’t thrown in the towel already).

Get Comics Anywhere
4:00pm – 5:00pm Room 28DE
Tablets and phones — are you making your comics look good on them? Why the hell not?

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¹ As far as evil doppelganger’s from a parallel universe go, he’s the best I could have hoped for.

² Other deaths: OLD AGE, PARACHUTE FAILURE, HOT GIRL, BEAR.

³ I would have written up this Kickstart regardless, but the announcement from MTT Public Affairs Supremo Sara McHenry is a work of beauty and it seems a shame not to share it.