A Post Mortem for the Crows

Last week’s newsletter was written before Feed Them to the Crows #1 wrapped on Kickstarter, but it was sent after the campaign finished so I didn’t get a real commentary on the wrap up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had a few more backers come in, including one that backed for a higher reward to put us close to $2,200 in funding.

To compare this to my other experiences on Kickstarter, it’s actually not bad. This campaign finished with 111 backers. My first go round with A Real Slobberknocker #1 had 133 and the second issue brought in 104. So, while this is my lowest raised on the platform, it’s not the campaign with the fewest backers. I can’t even name 100 people so that’s definitely a win. I would love to have everyone follow each campaign, but there is always attrition. This shows that I’m still able to reach a good amount of folks and I’m happy with that. (Note: Slice(s) of Life is not included in the above analysis as it was a different project aided by a much larger creative team.)

I acknowledged previously that this campaign didn’t have the same rewards available as A Real Slobberknocker did as the comic was completely done. We didn’t have the opportunity to draw someone in as a cameo. That meant that a lot of the rewards were at a lower price point. The second issue will have catch up tiers available for those that missed this campaign so I will hope to raise a bit more then.

Up next, we are finalizing a few design elements while we wait for the Kickstarter funds to come through. We have 22 story pages, a credits page, a bio page, an ad for the next issue, and a front and back cover. That leaves one extra. I will likely use that for an ad for Clean Up Crew #1.

Speaking of Clean Up Crew #1, I do not have a set launch date yet, but will aim for mid-July at the earliest. That way I’ll be sure to have Feed Them to the Crows #1 out to backers. I will spend this time promoting the campaign to get people to sign up to be notified when we launch and finishing my redo of the ComixLaunch course to best prepare. I’ve already lined up my variant cover artists for this and I’m really excited for them. More to come there.

Finally, I started rewrites on the first draft of Project Pirates. There were some holes in the story that I quickly identified when writing it, but needed to finish first before making those changes. It has a good flow now. I will take another look through it in a couple days to see if it hits the beats I’m looking for, mainly driving home some key character moments. That will be integral to the story as well as the emotional elements. I need you to care when I put these poor characters through Hell.

Something I’ve been doing lately is revisiting games and comics that I started years ago, but never finished. That is why I was lugging around the massive 1,440 page Ex Machina omnibus, collecting the entire series from Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. This series was coming out right when I got back into comics in the mid-2000s and it was fascinating to see some of the parallels to modern day politics, particularly in New York City.

Ex Machina centers on Mitchell Hundred, a former superhero called the Great Machine turned Mayor of New York City after he stopped the second plane from hitting the Twin Towers. The last page of the first issue is an absolutely jaw dropping image that immediately sets the stage for what to expect for the rest of the series. Vaughan has a real talent for this. I remember a similar reaction to Paper Girls.

The series bounces back and forth between the past and the present, juxtaposing Hundred’s adventures as a super hero with the trials and tribulations of running the City that Never Sleeps. I lost track of the amount of times I would verbally exclaim “Wow” while reading this, especially since you get a glimpse as to how things turn out for Hundred in the early pages of the series, so you are left wondering how he got to that point.

Harris’ artwork is filled with heart. You can’t help but love Hundred. You want him to succeed. That makes the events of the series, especially the last arc, so emotionally fraught. It did feel like the ending was a bit rushed, but that could be because I didn’t want the story to end. I could have read so many more issues of this story to follow this character and his fascinating life.

Saga and Y The Last Man are often what comes to mind when Brian K. Vaughan’s name is mentioned, but do not sleep on Ex Machina. It’s a fantastic read. What a ride.