The Cerebus-Ending Crisis: Can We Keep Going? - Part 10

CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER 6

A Portfolio of 10 Signed & Numbered Prints with Exclusive Commentary by Dave Sim

Raising Funds For The Restoration & Preservation Of The World's Longest Graphic Novel 

Kickstarter ends 10th December

HI! DAVE SIM HERE! ANNOUNCING THAT KICKSTARTER CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER 6 (CAN6) HAS LAUNCHED! CLICK HERE TO LINK TO IT! AND PLEASE JOIN ME HERE EVERY DAY AS I DISCUSS, WITH CEREBUS FANS, THE "CEREBUS-ENDING CRISIS" WE'VE BEEN IN SINCE JULY OF THIS YEAR:

CAN WE KEEP GOING? THE TMI ANSWER!

PART TEN OF FOURTEEN

More responses to the survey question "Do you have any suggestions for future Kickstarter campaigns?":

Alan S UNITED KINGDOM:
Better plan of stretch goals/bonus prints.

We're definitely working on having a better plan of our stretch goals -- having the digital rewards as stretch goals REALLY didn't work and sincere apologies to everyone who thought they got "burned" on that -- and bonus prints, Alan. And Step One in that is keeping everything 100% simple for the next two or three Kickstarters before we attempt anything else. We have to learn to walk before we try running.

BONUS PRINT KICKSTARTER

Stephen L Newark DE:
Since the bonus prints have been retired, perhaps a "bonus print only" Kickstarter, so I can obtain some of the ones I missed and had hoped to get with future KS campaigns.

Jennifer D New York NY:
It would be nice to be able to get the handful of prints I wasn't able to get last time

Sandeep and I are definitely having a lot of conversations about how to deal with the situation. As I indicated to Alan (above) having "bare bones" as the TOP priority lets out having anything to do with the Bonus Prints for the foreseeable future. However:

I guess my biggest question for ALL of the Pledge Partners would be: how much of a problem is this?

1) are there Bonus Prints that you would have purchased if we had continued to make them available?
2) How many Bonus Prints are you "missing"?
3) Which ones are they?
4) Would you be willing to pay a premium price -- say $25-$40 each -- for the ones you're "missing"?

The reason that I pose it that way, Stephen and Jennifer, is that it would involve a substantial amount of labour and -- because of the microscopic quantities involved -- really drive up the production costs. At the same time, I can understand that it's a major "loose end" to the Bonus Prints program for…a lot?…some?…many?…most? Just you two? Pledge partners. And if there's a way to "wrap it up" that benefits both sides of the partnership and can be instituted with a minimum amount of fuss, we'll see what we can do.

The Bonus Prints were definitely Hot Topic #1 this time around:

BONUS PRINTS

Morten E NORWAY:
Can we include cover prints in the rewards?

John C Lake Charles LA:
I LOVE the Bonus Prints, and hope to see more of them in the future.

Cerdic G London UNITED KINGDOM:
Would like to see the bonus prints again some time!

MICHAEL HUNT Chicago IL:
I really do like the bonus prints but their absence won't keep me from continuing to support future CAs.

Simon C H UNITED KINGDOM:
Please reintroduce bonus prints if possible. Thanks

David R Margate UNITED KINGDOM:
Bonus Prints! Even if it's only a few per CAN

Richard P Coldfield UNITED KINGDOM:
If you reinstate the bonus prints I would like to see some selected colour covers of individual issues.

John D Overland Park KS:
I would love to see more bonus prints... Maybe, considering the possible complications of continuing them, just the option of 2 or 3 per campaign. I love the cover art. It would be neat to see a cover available each time, possibly one from the time period of the particular campaign?

Andrew L North Chelmsford MA:
The Return of the Bonus Print!

Lee T Birmingham UNITED KINGDOM:
Bring back the bonus prints!

Matthew Barber Edinburgh UNITED KINGDOM:
I know they are hard work but I do like the bonus prints.

This isn't really the BEST time to be discussing the Bonus Prints -- with "bare bones" as our Top priority for the foreseeable future -- but our best thinking at the moment is that if we DID do the Bonus Prints at some point, it would have to be a mandatory, rather than optional, part of the package.

As an example that we explored: What if we made four of the MELMOTH covers the stretch goals? If we hit the $$ thresholds, you could order this cover and that cover -- as John D says, just 2 or 3 per campaign.

The problem is, for someone who can BARELY AFFORD the Portfolio as is, suddenly finding out that they're "on the hook" for 2 or 3 covers they don't particularly want -- or not enough to pay another 20 or 30 dollars on top of what they're already paying… Well, that's isn't going to fly. Likewise someone who just wants ONE of the covers. As soon as you introduce any element of "have it your way" into the equation, you IMMEDIATELY make both the execution and the ordering more difficult.

Which runs afoul of Hot Topic #2 -- people DEFINITELY liked the all-around simpler structure with CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER FIVE!:

KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Chris S Saint Cloud MN:
Keep it simple. Even this one is too complex.

Giorgio S High Wycombe UNITED KINGDOM:
No - you are doing great! I like the simplicity of this one.

Travis P Vestal NY:
I do like the bonus prints, but let's see what happens with this campaign! Otherwise, I dunno. Man, this was an easy survey!

Chris D Chicago IL:
I appreciated the simpler number of options and the digital rewards.

Scott L Gunnison CO:
No. I do like the simpler process this time.

Ari K Tampere FINLAND:
Keep it simple

William H Patterson CA:
This was better, more simplified. Keep it as simple as possible I feel.

If this was CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER EIGHT (let's say), and we were past the "bare bones" phase, I think we would start with the simplest form of Bonus Print possible: One. "The price has gone up by [fill in the blank] but in addition to the first ten pages of MELMOTH in the CEREBUS ARCHIVE, you're also getting a print of CEREBUS COVER No. ??". And then we would make that a Survey question: 1) would you prefer we go back to "bare bones" 2) does one Bonus Cover still fit your budget? and 3) do you want us to "double down" and do two Bonus Covers next time?

Just letting you know where we're headed well ahead of time.

THANKS FOR JOINING US! MY DISCUSSION OF THE "CEREBUS-ENDING CRISIS" CONTINUES NEXT WEEK ON A MOMENT OF CEREBUS:

CAN WE KEEP GOING? THE TMI ANSWER!

PART ELEVEN