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Also, why haven't you backed the latest Kickstarter?
Last summer, my series artist, Tiah Ankum, sent me the first six pages for issue #5. I was floored with how stunning they are.
You can see the pain in Mei Yin’s face from her battle last issue, and Alicia’s concern over her friend’s injuries. But what really made me fall in love is the drawing of the White Crane Temple. How it comfortably intrudes into the art, as if to say: “you’re in a safe place.”
On page four, the reveal of Mei Yin’s tattoo to her friends (and the readers finally see it in its entirety) perfectly captures the vulnerability of the character I was going for. Mei Yin has been, up until this point, an inscrutable character. Certain of herself and her abilities. Now she’s revealed and this opens her up to finally talk about her past.
On the next pages, we get to see Mei Yin growing up and how she lost her parents and stayed lost in China for ten years.
Again, we go from a relatively straight-forward depiction of events to the crash at the bottom of page 6, with the word “Crash” rudely inserting itself into these happy moments.
I sent a few changes/suggestions for those pages, but had a lot of radio silence on Tiah’s end. Then finally, in November, I got this email:
“Hey hey I finished, I still need to add the the tattoos but overall finished while I work on the tattoos…sorry this took me longer than usual but I really wanted to work on the details for this one, since there wasn’t action. Let me know me know if you have any questions.”
Time well spent, and I agree with her. There isn’t a lot of action —more intrigue— in this issue and having the art on-point is key. But this book is beautiful and I can’t wait to get it into reader’s hands.
I launched the Issue #4 Kickstarter after Tiah finished her pencils, but before Laurie, Lala, and Andy would start the work. Unfortunately, it took almost an entire year for issue #4 to get completed after the Kickstarter closed due to scheduling issues, Laurie going through a personal hell, and Lala having a baby. All fine excuses, but after that I was determined that I wouldn’t launch the Kickstarter for #5 until that book was completed.
Of course, I have one problem. I want my art team paid for their work, and that usually takes a Kickstarter campaign to raise those funds (as I’m not independently wealthy).
However, as we wrapped up issue #4 last year, I had come into an inheritance and had money put away to pay everyone. I had enough, as a matter of fact, to cover everyone for issues #5 and #6.
Then I was laid off from my job of nearly 10 years in April and didn’t find a new job until September. My unemployment benefit couldn’t cover my bills, so I was forced to drain my savings and, eventually, my business account where I had the money for my artists stashed.
I had just enough left over to pay Tiah when she finished her pencils. But now I need to pay Laurie and Lala for inks and colors.
I thought about launching the #5 Kickstarter and doing what I always do, but I am hoping the #5 Kickstarter will pay for #6, and then #6 could pay for #7, and so on (that’s still my back-up plan).
I realized, after doing a few conventions this past year that I have my “all-ages special editions” that I’ve sold strictly at the cons. Why not, I thought, offer them as a Kickstarter? So I have.
I also, like an idiot, launched a Kickstarter a week before Christmas.
People usually don’t know (or they forget) that Kickstarter doesn’t take your money until the campaign closes (in this case 30 days). I would hope most people will have $40 available on January 15, but I’m pretty sure people just don’t want to think about anything but the silly season. So the campaign is stalled.
But you, I know, are smart, kind, intelligent people, who want to get the latest book in their hands as soon as possible. Will you help me out?