MY FRIEND TOBY launching tomorrow! 🐾
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 01:00:00 PM

Hi everyone!

We don't have any new MONKEY KING news -- things are rolling right along -- but we wanted to mention that our next Kickstarter campaign is launching at 10am CST tomorrow morning, and we'd really love it if you would check it out and support the project! 😊

It is a bit different from many of our previous campaigns, but we love it just the same (and hope you will, too):

We love animals. We are big proponents of animal rights and wildlife exploration, with no less than 20 books in our catalog focused on animal tales. From kid's books to all-ages-wildlife adventures, we’ve got graphic novels for animal lovers of all types. April is Animal Cruelty Prevention month, and we are planning a number of things to support that noble cause, starting with our next Kickstarter for MY FRIEND TOBY!

MY FRIEND TOBY is a 144-page, wordless canine adventure about a simple terrier living a simple life with his human friend Marcel, a heartbroken artist who is having trouble making ends meet. But Toby doesn’t know anything about money or bills or electricity; he’s happy as long as there is food in his bowl and new territory to claim in the neighborhood. To him, everything is fine... at least until a stray cat appears, bringing all kinds of questions (and maybe a few unexpected answers)…

This book is adorable, and I’m not kidding when I say I laughed out loud a few times “reading” it. Yes, it is wordless, but it captures the language-less mindset of a dog in a way that seems both perfectly understandable and scientifically plausible. Triple-Eisner Award-nominee Gregory Panaccione (A SEA OF LOVE) is an animation industry storyboard artist turned graphic novelist, and his expert pacing and cinematic eye give this heartwarming story a truly cinematic feature quality.

To help tie MY FRIEND TOBY to our Cruelty Prevention efforts, we will be making an independent donation to the Anti-Cruelty Society based on the campaign’s performance. Kickstarter doesn’t allow pledge funds to be used for charity, or to make it sound like any portion of raised funds will be used as such, but we’ve worked with Kickstarter Trust & Safety Committee to approve our initiative to make a completely independent private donation based on how well the campaign does.

So please consider backing MY FRIEND TOBY when it launches at 10am CST tomorrow to not only get a wonderful graphic novel (or graphic novels, plural – we have several bundles with exclusive bonus items!), but to also help some needy animals find good homes in the process. 😊

Thanks, everyone! We hope to see you there! ❤

Digital Rewards and more!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 03:35:26 PM

Hello everyone!

Apologies that it has been several weeks since our last update, but things have been coming along steadily. The books are nearly here, the printed bonus materials (stickers, sketchbooks, etc) are all ordered, and the coins have passed prototyping and are going to mint. Just check out this image of the approved prototype coin we received this week -- it's SWEET!

Not only might this be the coolest coin we've produced to date, it's also the largest order quantity we've had to produce -- the woes of a wildly successful campaign, I guess...? With this being the largest number of orders we've had to fulfill, we didn't stop to consider how much extra time that might take for some of our vendors to crank out sufficient quantities... So while these coins look GREAT, they will admittedly take a few weeks more than originally estimated to mint the full run.

These will be the last items to arrive at the warehouse for fulfillment... and they are telling me they might not be delivered until the end of April. 😕 What that means, unfortunately, is that fulfillment looks like it won't begin until May.

Everything else will be there well before then, so these coins really are the final items setting the calendar. I understand many of you might not care about the coin and just want your books sooner, but we really must fulfill everything at once. (And once you hold your coin, you'll agree it was worth the short extra wait.) 

We know that May is a bit later than March, as estimated in the campaign, but we'll be perfectly honest -- this Kickstarter soared so much higher than we anticipated, and still the final products are turning out to be BEAUTIFUL. We really think the extra time has made everything even more amazing. This really will be our biggest and best offering so far!

In the meantime, how about some digital files? 😎

We feel terrible making you wait, so we've (finally) completed and distributed the digital rewards! You may have already received an email notification from Backerkit earlier this afternoon, but if not, check your inboxes, or check your Backerkit page directly.

You will find all of the links and instructions in your personal Backerkit page (which you can access at https://the-monkey-king-graphic-novel-saga-by-chaiko.backerkit.com/). Once logged in, you should see a  big blue button in the middle of the page that says "Get Your Digital Downloads" -- click on that to see your individual links for each item due.

Some items are "Direct DL" -- these are files hosted by Backerkit directly that can be downloaded with a single click.

Some of the addon books, however, are hosted by Gumroad -- you will have to follow the (simple) instructions to use your unique codes to download your files from Gumroad for free. THE MONKEY KING SAGA itself, however, is a Direct DL, since this special digital edition includes the big list of backer thanks at the end. 😊 We hope we got all of the names right -- we had to make a few adjustments to some requests that were just too lengthy to include in full... if your requested listing was truncated, we apologize, but we were asking for names, not full sonnets. 😋

If you have any questions or problems grabbing your digital files, please send us a message or ask in the comments below. We'll do our best to help you out as quickly as we can!

Thanks, everyone! We'll have more news in a few weeks as we take that last step to begin shipping!

Addresses (soft) locked
about 1 year ago – Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 09:00:30 AM

Hi everyone!

Getting caught up from another short trip this past weekend, and just wanted to let everyone know that we have initiated the Address Lock in Backerkit as mentioned in the previous update. A bit later than we had announced it would be, but happening now nonetheless.

As mentioned in the previous update, this isn't the absolute final address confirmation -- you will receive another final Address Verification message from Quartermaster or your regional shipping hub about a week before your package is actually ready to ship, so if you aren't sure where you will be in May, don't fret. We'll be here to help you if you need to update your address before then. Just message us here on Kickstarter or through Backerkit and we'll get you sorted.

Thanks, everyone! More news soon!

Advance copy pix! Plus: Locking addresses on Friday
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 05:26:57 PM

Hello everyone!

We've been extremely busy these past few weeks since returning from FIBD, the huge annual comic festival in Angouleme, France where we find many of our titles. We've been attending the show since 2012, but haven't been back for 3 years due to COVID cancelations, so it was a thrill to get back there and to see many friends and authors that we haven't seen since 2020. 

This was also our first year exhibiting and while the tiny 10' stand was only modestly populated with a handful of our deluxe editions, they caught a lot of eyes and we had a lot of great meetings! Hopefully, we'll also be able to secure a number of truly AMAZING new titles that we set our sights on... offers have been made -- fingers crossed! 🤞😊

The show was full of thrills, not the least of which was spending time with amazing creators such as Frederic Brremaud (LOVE, BRINDILLE, LITTLE TAILS, LETTERS FROM ANIMALS), Matthieu Bablet (SHANGRI-LA, CARBON&SILICON, ADRASTEA), Antoine Ozanam (TEMUDJIN, KLAW), Olivier Vatine (INFINITY 8, HELLBOY), Tony Sandoval (DOOMBOY, WATERSNAKES, 1000 STORMS), and many more who we haven't (yet) published... Personally, my biggest thrill, however, was actually finding some original Carlos Meglia STAR WARS pages from the project he and I created for Dark Horse years before his passing! 😲 I never dreamed I'd come across any of those original pages lo these many years later, but a gallery dealer had several of them for sale! (So naturally, they had to be bought...)

The weeks since our return have been filled with getting caught up once again -- it's amazing how a single week away from the office can lead to nearly two weeks to get caught up again... But we're starting to feel level again, and I'd attribute some of that levity to a sweet package we received from our printer two days ago... 

Actual advance copies of the hardcovers and slipcases!

We've shared some advance pix of the paperback edition, as well as some production stages along the way (unprinted dummies, unwrapped slipcase proofs, etc), but now we can proudly say THE BOOKS AND SLIPCASES ARE FINISHED! AND THEY LOOK MARVELOUS!Brace yourselves for a flood of beauty shots...

The linen texturing on the covers and slipcase is really lush and tactile, and the gold foil absolutely radiates. 😎 We couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out!

The books are now being handed off to the shipping vessel to make their way across the Pacific, a trip that will likely take about 8 weeks from port to our warehouse. We're hoping to have everything in Quartermaster's hands the first week of April so that they can start shipping that month! (A tad off our original estimate, but the amount of extra TLC that went into the manufacturing totally justifies the delay...)

We also spent the entire weekend sorting through all of the weapon replicas to start preparing them for shipping, too. I know we had mentioned that they are actual metal, but BOY ARE THEY HEAVY ! You may not believe it, but the box of Ruyi Jingo Bai staffs in the pic below weighs nearly 20lbs! They really do feel like the strongest, most condensed weapon imaginable... 😉

We're packing them with miniature stands and have to barcode each set for Quartermaster, but we still have some time to get that all done. 

Locking Backerkit addresses on Friday!

While we locked orders a few weeks back, we will be locking addresses in Backerkit this Friday. This is so that Quartermaster can better estimate how much inventory needs to go where as they prepare their shipping plan. If you can log into Backerkit (at https://the-monkey-king-graphic-novel-saga-by-chaiko.backerkit.com/) and confirm your address looks correct, that will be a big help.

Considering that actual shipping won't begin until April, however, fear not -- if you think you may need to change your address later, before shipping, you will still be able to update your address down the road. You can message us directly with any address change request, but also know that Quartermaster (or your regional Int'l shipping hub) will send a final Address Verification email the week before shipping actually begins. We won't leave you high and dry. 😊

If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot us a direct message or ask here in the comments section. We'll try to answer everything as quickly as we can.

Thanks, everyone! 2023 is off to a great start! 😁

Orders have Locked! Plus: Paperback pix!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 11:21:08 AM

Hi everyone!

As promised in last Friday's update, we have pressed the LOCK ORDERS button on Backerkit! You should soon receive an email from them with one final 48-hour window to make any final changes to your order (or to complete your survey if you still haven't yet... I'm looking at about 187 of you...) 

So around this time on Sunday, they will charge credit cards for any outstanding balance based on the contents of your cart at that time (eg. shipping or additional add-ons).

If you wish to make any further adjustments after that date, send us a message and we'll see what we can do. We can make most adjustments manually up until Quartermaster is ready to start shipping, so please don't fret if you aren't sure where you'll be in 3-4 months. (They will also send a final Address Verification Notification a week or so before they start shipping, so you will have an opportunity to update the address closer to actual delivery.)

Things are starting to come together quickly! The factory in China has closed for Chinese New Year, but they were able to finish the Trade Paperback edition and send us two advance copies -- they look great!

We were hoping to also have advance copies of the finished hardcovers and slipcase set, but a measuring mishap at the factory led to them having to reprint the slipcase boxes, which they simply could not re-do in time to beat their holiday. We should get those the first week or so in February, and we'll share pix of those once in hand.

We also received the majority of the weapon replicas -- we're still waiting on the stands, and then we'll have to assemble them into barcoded bundles, but we'll hop on that as soon as we're back from Angouleme. 😎

Did we mention that we're going to Angouleme next week...? If you're not familiar with the reference, there is a big comic book festival (FIBD, or "Festival International de la Bande Dessinee") in Angouleme, France, which we have attended for the past 10 years (minus the last two due to COVID). It is where we get to meet with authors and publishing partners, and where we have found many of the wonderful books we've released over the years. This year, we will have our first small display table in the Rights Tent to show off our premium, deluxe editions, so it feels a bit like "leveling up"... Not sure what to expect after three years away, but at the very least, we're looking forward to a (hopefully) pleasant and relaxing trip! God knows we can use a little time away from the stress...

So we may not be able to post any updates while we're gone, but we'll try to respond to any questions, comments, or messages if possible. Otherwise, we'll be back at the desk first thing February 1st.

In the meantime, if you haven't checked it out already, we would love for you to take a look at our current campaign for MEZKAL and CONVOY that launched on Tuesday. It is a pair of beautifully gritty and explosive noir/SF tales by Kevan Stevens and Jef that we’ve been excited to share for quite a while…

That's all for now. More exciting updates to come!