Two more books by Didier Cassegrain -- now available on Backerkit!
5 months ago – Tue, Dec 05, 2023 at 10:18:45 AM

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since we've posted an update on this project, and in getting this one ready we were shocked to realize that this campaign ended a year and a half ago...! Time sure flies when you're putting out awesome book campaigns one after another! 😁😎

Which brings us to the headline of this update, one that we think you in particular will find very interesting:

We just launched a campaign on Backerkit for TWO MORE EXCITING BOOKS BY DIDIER CASSEGRAIN!

We can only assume you (hopefully) loved BLACK WATER LILIES and TRAPPED ON ZARKASS as much as we loved publishing them... Well, we're back with two more books by the same artist: DON'T LET GO and TAO BANG!

Based on another best-selling mystery thriller by novelist MICHEL BUSSI, this whodunnit reunites the award-winning team behind BLACK WATER LILIES, again adapted by artist DIDIER CASSEGRAIN and writer FRED DUVAL! If you loved the twisty mystery of BLACK WATER LILIES, this one will also keep you guessing as you piece together an intricate tale of passion and revenge... 

 Reunion Island is a runaway paradise for rich vacationers and a faraway hideout for those who wish to disappear. When a young mother disappears without a trace from the upscale Hotel Alamanda, an investigation uncovers a wealth of unanswerable questions, with all suspicions leading to her husband. When that suspect then disappears with their daughter in tow, the chase begins to save the girl and locate the wife. But this suspect has a lot more historical knowledge of this island than anyone is aware of...

DON'T LET GO marks Didier Cassegrain's newest release, and to bookend his latest offering, we're also releasing his FIRST graphic novel, the high-fantasy TAO BANG!

This high fantasy adventure is Didier Cassegrain's first hit graphic novel, the one that set his career on its celebrated trajectory. Written by the legendary OLIVIER VATINE and DANIEL PECQUEUR, this tale has all the thrills and excitement you might expect from a world of pirates and flying lizards!

The trading port of Xarnath is the leading destination for pirates, profiteers, and scoundrels. Ruled with an iron fist by the Dragon Sheikh Ad Arphax, it's an uphill climb for any ambitious businessman (or woman) to get a leg up on the competition... especially when that competition is Ad Arphax himself. Lady Ellora has an idea to boost her brothel's business by recruiting some Sirens from the Island of Mermaids but to find this island, she'll need the help of a down-on-their-luck trio of adventurers and the notorious pirate Tao Bang! Can she trust this crew? And can they survive pursuit when Ad Arphax finds out about this scheme?

You will note that this campaign is also offering BLACK WATER LILIES and TRAPPED ON ZARKASS again, as there are plenty of folks who missed this original Kickstarter. All four books are available individually (with campaign exclusive postcards) or as a complete discounted set, but for YOU ORIGINAL BACKERS, however, we made sure to include a special "Pick two" tier so that you can specifically grab these two new, awesome books on their own to complete the collection you started with BLACK WATER LILIES and ZARKASS!

Plus, if you pledge in the first 48 hours (today or tomorrow), you'll get not one but TWO bonus color diecut bookmarks!

This is a relatively short flash-campaign to end the year -- 10 DAYS ONLY, ending December 15th (one week from Friday).

The campaign is now live on Backerkit! Please take a look! There's a reason he's one of our favorite artists (and celebrated throughout Europe)... 😎

UK/EU shipping update, plus: BLACK BOX CHRONICLES!
11 months ago – Mon, May 15, 2023 at 12:44:00 PM

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday! We're reposting most of this from the recent GIANTESS campaign update since the shipping news for our EU and UK backers is the same: we're happy to say that Spiral Galaxy has reported MOST GIANTESS+ZARKASS+TEMUDJIN pledges have (finally) shipped! Only a handful have been further delayed due to some additional shortages being reported. We are waiting for their report of what items they are short on and why (we made certain to send enough, plus extras), so hopefully we will know what needs to be replaced this week. Once we have that list, we will add those missing items to the upcoming MONKEY KING freight expected to ship to Spiral before the end of this month. Apologies if yours is one of the handful of pledges further delayed, but we'll get through this asap! 🙃

As we're not sure what they are missing, we can only assume replacements will be available. Most ZARKASS/BLACK WATER LILIES campaign items are still in stock. If for some reason something is out of stock and no longer available, however, we'll be sure the rest of your orders are sent promptly and refund you for any paid item that can't be included. We don't expect that to affect most of you, but until they tell us what is short and what orders would be affected, we are stuck waiting. This is still the lingering effect of the freight damage that caused this huge UK/EU delay in the first place, but hopefully, this is the end of it.

Hopefully, the rest of you have enjoyed your ZARKASS and BLACK WATER LILIES in the meantime. While the number of backers still waiting is likely very small (less than a dozen?), we don't want to discount the immense patience you all have shown while we work through this. It is for that reason that we share our next campaign with you with complete humility and excitement, something we really think you'll enjoy if you enjoyed ZARKASS... LAUNCHING TOMORROW:

This is a bit of a new type of project for us: a brand new, original science fiction anthology produced by some absolutely amazing comic creators under the creative direction of design studio Horrible Future!

"Centuries of exponentially advancing technological discoveries have ultimately ushered Mankind to the stars and beyond. Each new star, each new planet, each new lightyear traveled reveals wonders never imagined. But for all the distances explored, there lies one unreachable domain, a mysterious destination we all go to eventually… THE GREAT DARK...

Each starfaring spacecraft is equipped with a comprehensive data recorder: a BLACK BOX that records every layer of collectible data within its fixed perimeter. Salvaging the remnants of a crashed spacecraft can be a highly lucrative business, and recovering the details behind a tragic disaster can reveal hidden truths and untold personal stories… as well as hints towards greater secrets…"

Written by Horrible Future cofounders MARK SCHEY and CHRIS NORTHROP, this stellar volume includes artwork by celebrated award winners and nominees such as David Mack (Daredevil, Kabuki), Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Bulletproof Monk), Zach Howard (Hellboy, Wild Blue Yonder), Eryk Donovan (Memetic, Quantum Teens are Go), Marco Fodera (Nathan Never), Gavin Smith (Star Trek: Mirrorverse), Toru Terada (Small World), David Messina (Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca, 3Keys), Giovanni Rigano (Global, Artemis Fowl), Drew Moss (The Crow, Red Sonja), Christian Dibari (Revolvers, Providence of Madness), Taki Soma (Sleeping While Standing, Bitch Planet), Mario Alberti (Spider-man and the Fantastic Four, The Wall), SARAH BASLAIM, FLAVIO DISPENZA, K. MICHAEL RUSSEL, and M. SEAN MCMANUS.

In addition to the anthology, we're producing a world-building Art Book entitled BLACK BOX: DESIGN SPACE featuring an encyclopedic look at the various devices, locations, and technologies that make up this new future setting. Illustrated by concept artist Shane Molina, this supplemental book is full of amazing, rich cutaway schematics and lore that add further dimension and layers to the mysteries explored in the anthology.

This really is a sci-fi lover's FEAST, and we hope you'll check it out when it launches TOMORROW! We'll have the usual assortment of premium exclusives (including a sweet magnetic-flap slipcase set) and exciting Stretch Goals to make it another thrilling campaign you will not want to miss! 😉

Go to www.blackboxchronicles.com to pre-register for a FREE double-sided star map poster, then click over to the Kickstarter page now to be notified when we launch.

If you love sci-fi, you won't want to miss this one!

UK/EU update, and MY FRIEND TOBY
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 12:40:12 PM

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday! We posted much of this in the recent GIANTESS update, so we apologize if you are reading this twice, but the information is relevant here as well, since it pertains to the delayed UK/EU pledges that were traveling to Spiral Galaxy with GIANTESS. While most of you received your ZARKASS/BLACK WATER LILIES pledges some time ago, we won't rest until all of the hubs have completed their portion of the project.

In short, the replacement inventory for those UK/EU orders has been delivered to QML who are now transferring those items to Spiral Galaxy. We await confirmation of that inventory reaching Spiral, and then a ballpark date from Spiral as to when they expect to have those orders finally out the door. I wish I had those bits of information right now, but they are suggesting that UK/EU packages should go out in the last half of April. We will confirm once they provide more concrete info.

This recent fiasco with the damaged UK/EU inventory transfer has opened our eyes to a number of inefficiencies and potential optimizations that we are seriously investigating for 2023 and beyond. With 22 successfully fulfilled campaigns under our belt, this situation has made the need for an improved tracking system a paramount consideration for us. Rest assured, this unfortunate misadventure is being taken very seriously, and some of the options we are looking into will help not only ensure much quicker delivery but perhaps some reduced shipping rates as well. There is a fair amount of due diligence required to implement some of these new practices, but we are hoping to have them in place before June. We understand the extraordinary patience our UK and EU backers have shown. Please know that we have not taken that for granted, and are pushing to get this sorted for you asap.

In the meantime, we do have a new campaign launching tomorrow that we hope you might consider supporting... 😊

This new title is pretty different from ZARKASS/BLACK WATER LILIES, but it is no less wonderful -- if you’re at all familiar with the rest of Magnetic Press’s library, then you'll understand our excitement over this one…

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 tomorrow!

Shipping updates - AU/NZ + EU/UK
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 08:51:50 AM

Hello everyone!

We hope you are all doing well -- if you are also a backer of our previous GIANTESS campaign, much of the info below is copy-pasted from this morning's update there, since these two campaigns shipped together, and the updated AU/NZ and EU/UK shipping status is the same (albeit with campaign-specific detail differences below).

We have received some news, and for the most part, it is good! 😊 So we will start with that first:

AU/NZ orders have shipped!

If you are in Australia or New Zealand, you may have already received a tracking notification email from Aetherworks and/or Backerkit (or possibly even received your package by now). We are told that all have been sent out as of this morning. We have uploaded the tracking information they provided into Backerkit, so if you didn't receive anything by email, please log into https://zarkass-water-lilies.backerkit.com/ to check your tracking status. I'm not sure how long AusPost takes to deliver, but take comfort in knowing that they are on their way. 😊

If you are from those regions and don't see any tracking information on your Backerkit, chances are your survey is still incomplete, was completed after the initial cutoff deadline, or your payment method is still having issues clearing the bank. Please address any issues that might still be open!

If your survey or payment was received after the initial cutoff, we will be sending the 2nd wave orders to Aetherworks as soon as all hubs have completed their fulfillment (ie. Spiral Galaxy, see below).

UK/EU status

We have sorted through all of the inventory that arrived at Spiral Galaxy and determined the extent of the damages and which damaged items can be replaced. Fortunately, we have sufficient inventory to replace almost everything that was lost, and those replacements are being shipped to Spiral ASAP.

Fortunately, they are only short on one non-replaceable item: the ZARKASS Postcard. They have enough to fill all but 19 of the orders. We asked Spiral to ship as many complete orders as possible, but they will be filled in whatever sequence they process their packages (we're not sure what that sequence may be). Fortunately, those are merely bonus stretch goal items, and while we understand the disappointment if you are one of the few to miss out, but your paid purchased items will still be arriving as ordered. 😊 If you receive your order and have any concerns, please feel free to message us and we will help resolve any replacement issues.

I'm not sure when that replacement inventory is scheduled to arrive so that they can proceed, but once we have a timetable from them, we will let everyone know.

That is the news as of this morning. We will share updates as soon as we have more to report! Thanks, everyone!

EU/UK shipping status -- rough news 😓
about 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 10:28:56 AM

Hi everyone,

A belated Happy New Year! We hope you are all settling into a wonderful 2023, and that your holidays were full of cheer. Ours were restful, or as restful as we could manage. Being acknowledged workaholics, we couldn’t help but stay preoccupied with the current status and completion of the International orders, and there was no shortage of suspense to carry us through the holiday…

We finally received a report from Spiral Galaxy and Quartermaster Logistics on the status of the UK/EU inventory, and unfortunately, it is not good. 😓 This is the most difficult campaign update I've ever had to summarize, but in brief:

The two pallets of inventory containing the goods for GIANTESS, ZARKASS/WATER LILES, and TEMUDJIN were picked up from QML by FedEx on December 9th. Everything looked good and was expected to reach Spiral Galaxy the following week, as reported in the last update. The delivery date came and went with no tracking update from FedEx, however. When QML reached out to FedEx to inquire, they were told the pallets could not be located.

😳

There was, admittedly, a nationwide string of blizzards and polar conditions that week (not to mention a major holiday) which played havoc with FedEx’s normal delivery service, but not being able to locate a shipment – particularly one that big, two pallets – was mindboggling. The matter was immediately escalated to top management at QML and FedEx (or however high up at FedEx something like this could be escalated).

Two weeks later, a single pallet arrived unannounced at Spiral Galaxy. It was abnormally tall and looked like it had been repacked by FedEx somewhere along the way. According to Spiral, it was bound with some metal supports to keep the unusual height from toppling, but the cartons within looked to be in bad shape. If those cartons could recount their experience, I’m sure it would be the stuff of nightmares…

Spiral has since reviewed what was delivered, and the reports do not sound good: broken cartons, torn and marred books, water damage, and scores of items that are simply missing.

We are currently waiting for the full inventory of what is missing and what is intact, not only to hold FedEx responsible but to see what we might have available to rush ship to Spiral for immediate replacement. Spiral can’t begin shipping out any orders until the full project is assessed and ready, so this has become the top priority. 😩

As you can imagine, for a small publisher like us, this is the worst possible scenario we couldn’t have even imagined. Over 300 orders from 3 different campaigns were affected by FedEx's mishandling of freight. We want to be hopeful and optimistic that we can still refill and ship the majority of those orders as quickly as possible, but until we know the full extent of the shortage, we can’t evaluate our next move. If we don’t have enough remaining inventory to replace those missing items, we will evaluate whether reprinting certain items is a viable solution. That will, of course, take a little more time, but we appreciate your patience to date while we sort this out.

Certainly, if your order cannot be fulfilled, we will refund your money. While we hope FedEx will take financial responsibility for this fiasco, they will likely only cover the manufacturing cost of the goods, which is only about %20 of the actual value. The balance will come out of our pockets. 😓 (Don’t worry, we promise not to scarper off and disappear on you... We have a reputation to maintain, and want to keep doing business here for years to come...) We would certainly prefer to complete the orders as promised, however. Otherwise, you can safely expect your money back.

So that is the current UK/EU situation. Aetherworks should be transferring the AU/NZ inventory for these campaigns from their US consolidation warehouse shortly; we’ll report as soon as they have confirmed an update. Everyone else: we hope you have enjoyed your items since receiving them some time ago! 😊

In the meantime, we would humbly mention our current, new campaign for MEZKAL and CONVOY that launched on Tuesday. We’d love for everyone to please check it out! 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…

UK/EU backers, we understand if the above status of those prior, outstanding campaigns has you wary to back another, but we can say that this situation is definitely not at all normal – this is the first time in our 25-campaign history that something like this has happened, and it is not typical for us or our fulfillment partners. We pride ourselves on seeing things through responsibly and will always take whatever measures necessary to deliver as promised.

Thanks for your support and attention, everyone. We hope to have more (good) news soon!