Hi, Everybody!
Today is the day!
Anyway:
Previously-recorded-at-an-earlier-date from
the Off-White House in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, It's:
Aardvark-Vanaheim Founder and President:
Dave Sim, with his Weekly Update:
From Update #369:
Dave says the email is: SnyderandDitko@icloud.com, but Dave doesn't do email, but I do KickStarter...and Hey Look! They're doing a new one: Cheyenne Kid #100.And if you click on Robin's profile there are a couple of websites. ditko.blogspot.com ditkoclub.com
Rigamarole:
_________________________________
Carson is Auctioning off Strange Death of Alex Raymond art. Current bid is $100 (USD!) to Ted Adams. (Wait, THAT Ted Adams? I dunno. Guess we will find out...)
_________________________________
_______________________________
The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe is on sale:
Your store will be on sale:
Jan 13 – 16
Jan 27 – 29
Tell your fans! Remind them that everything will be up to 35% off! That means $13 tees, $20 phone cases, $30 hoodies, and way more.
________________________________Anyway, I'm selling something on the eBays. A big bundle of "rare" Cerebus in Hell? comics, including a copy of Vark Wars and Vark Wars: Walt's Empire Strikes Back that I took with me on vacation so they've been to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
________________________________
51 comments:
Site actually went live around 12:05. Ordered! Confirmed! (And thank you Matt)
That was bad ALL Western Europe sold out but other geographical locations ok???? !!!!
Wow those Prime Minister Editions went FAST!!!
Went thro' the shopping cart twice for different editions and got bounced (so stock not allocated until you tried to complete the order). Then couldn't order any edition in Western Europe although stock exists in other regions. So preference given to US customers.
I've ordered a US version but I expect that may get cancelled. Not very happy with how this was implemented. Not happy at all.
I suspect either robot ordering or some insider knowledge of an earlier start time. I started at 11:09 CST and lost out.
As Dave predicted: "a mess".
At least I got a Candidate edition. Now I get to wait God knows how long while they roll around in our money.
I just hit refresh every minute starting @ 12:00 and got in @ 12:06. I agree looks like a mess. There's going to be more demand that the planned supply.
They should also limited the PM editions to one per customer. Could be somebody knew to start five minutes early and ordered all 20.
Hinky as fuck. Look for PM editions on Ebay soon, with at least, at least 100% markups.
To be fair, this is just a regular, "Ticketmaster online" kind of mess, and not a logistical snafu of the kind that was the SDOAR fundraiser edition,
I'm hoping the speed of the sellout will convince Dave that there is definitely a market for hardcover Cerebus (if not the entire series, at least certain volumes) at a friendlier price point.
I got 1 US PM edition. So it'll never be on eBay. Lets see if they attempt to straighten this out.
There's the possibility that people at greater geographic distance from the servers where the site is hosted may have greater lag time, which is the sort of thing that's only a problem in time sensitive scenarios like this. I'm in suburban New York, so I'm assuming I'm close to one of the Squarespace servers (they're the host). Without a doubt, that's going to disadvantage those in rural areas in the States, and also overseas.
For me the servers are not the problem. All the way over here in England. You can still get US copies, but you can't buy any version in Western Europe. Surely the only difference is that we have to pay greater postage costs. Why are the number of available copies allocated geographically?
So copies to order if your in America but not Western Europe ?
Sloppy is the word that springs to mind.
Ordered the American copy anyway I'll she if I get it. What I *won't* do is pay flippers / gougers on eBay a obscene price.
How to leave a bad taste in people's mouths 101.
I see the proof copy is already on eBay.
They're not different editions as much as different shipping/pricing scenarios, so maybe the widget to calculate that for Western Europe has gone askew on the treadle, as it were. Not entirely sure why it was set up the way it was - normally, the pricing/shipping stuff is sorted out on the cart level, not the product level. So that's not great.
Hopefully they will honour a UK order for a us edition, adjusting the postage cost.
I'm still maybe a little confused as to why Waverly isn't selling this on their primary site, but I believe they are the owners of the 'CerebusDownloads' domain so I'd also assume it's the same etail set up (looks like the sites were built on the same template).
I also wonder if the European issue is some kind of Brexit related thing? Not in a paranoid way, but maybe the the cart widget they're using isn't fully up-to-date on new sales/shipping regulations? Lord knows.
Looks like they re-shuffled and everything is back in stock in all regions except the Prime Minister Edition. Good Luck.
I have had a good reply from them, so hopeful that it will be sorted.
Panic over.
If you have ordered a US version from elsewhere, I would suggest contacting them. I used the website's contact form.
I also got 1 (one) PM edition by being there and refreshing the page once a minute until it went live. Poor Jeff, always seeing a conspiracy around every corner. It wasn't a mess. It was a very in demand item and it sold quickly. Sorry if you didn't get one.
Oh-kay. So, at 11:33 a.m. CST, I called Dave and left two messages reiterating most of what I posted here. He returned my call 34 minutes later and we spoke for about 40 minutes. He asked some clarifying questions which I tried my best to answer accurately.
Not wanting to misrepresent our conversation (especially his side), I will limit myself to this:
Dave is aware of some of the issues that some of us have up to this point, in general, and mine specifically;
He told me that was going to send a fax to Dagon right after my talk with him (Dave) about the specific complaints that I lodged and the general complaints;
He said that he (Dave) was going to "strongly" suggest that Dagon respond to the issues here, in today's comments section and not through Matt Dow or any other forum or in a post tomorrow, etc. Here. Today. In this comments section.
So we shall see what we shall see.
Bully for Dave. Oh, and he thanked me for buying the book, so I can only assume (though he did not say it explicitly) that he thanks everyone else, too.
There was some unrelated discussion of other topics, not the least of which was a recommendation that I read a newspaper about which a friend of mine and I have been arguing for the last few days, so the timing of *that* was weird (of course Dave had no way of knowing about my friend and I butting heads over the newspaper), and then that was it.
So, there ya goes, friends. All the news that's pit to frint.
Oops. Dave did ackowledge that Dagon might be monitoring the sales, so might not be able to respond here today, but that he (Dave) would strongly suggest a response from Dagon here, in a timely fashion.
There seems to be some left as I just bought one at 11:22 Pacific time. Good luck all!!!!
Okay, I finally had time to go back and listen to the first section of last Saturday's Please Hold audio and, in the interest of complete accuracy, what Dave said about this project was that it could be a "potential mess". Which was at least somewhat prescient.
Hi everyone, The Waverly Press here.
First, I want to thank all of you who supported The Regency Edition. This was testing the waters for the first BIG book with Dave Sim.
We tried to make it as interesting and creative as possible. More importantly, we hope all of you are happy with the finished books and extras when you have them in your hands.
The online shop software was a little tricky and we had to keep an eye on orders and shuffle the limited copies around to different territories in real time. Some of you emailed that you were having problems getting your orders placed but so far it looks like we managed to get everyone covered.
The Prime Minister bundles sold out faster than expected.
It appears every person who ordered that edition only ordered one copy.
As of this writing about 3 hours from launch, The Regency Edition is nearly sold out.
If anyone has questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to drop us a note either through cerebusoverload.com, thewaverlypress.com, or through Mr. Dow.
Thanks again!
D. James
I had a similar experience as the earlier anonymous commentator (who was rude to Jeff) and kept trying every minute from about 11:04 CST onward until it was live. A book this limited with so many wanting to get one reminds me very much of logging on to Ticketmaster and trying to get good seats to a show only to see there's maybe 12 in the nose bleed section two minutes after they went on sale. Limited volume + high demand = not everyone is happy.
Okay, so, well, kudos to Dagon or his spokesperson for replying here in a timely fashion and was juuuust a wee bit P.R.-ish, but it was timely.
The most important thing is that it did NOT address my primary issue, which was that the sales started earlier than the stated start time of 12:10 p.m. EST.
But, hey, it's an effort. Blaming it on the software was a deft touch.
When I receive my PM (top tier) edition in the mail directly from Dagon, then I will have been assuaged.
Hi Jeff,
Regarding your comment about the launch time, our clock said 12:07 when we ran a live site test moments ahead of the 12:10 launch. When we confirmed the page was functioning properly we tried to pause the page for three minutes until the official launch time but at that very moment people started placing their orders and we were locked out of pausing the sale by the website software which was already processing multiple payments.
The only minor software issue we faced with the pre-sale was managing individual sales to each territory which required going back and forth between answering emails and manually adjusting the limited quantities in real time for each territory to ensure everyone could get their orders in.
From our end everything went pretty well and as far as we know everyone was able to place their orders.
If anyone reading this is having problems ordering the book then let us know and we will do everything we can to help complete your order.
Everything is PR.
We appreciate your feedback.
Thanks,
TWP
Wow.
Well, um ... you're welcome?
Wow.
Oh, but, thank you for your candor.
(Guys? Shh! Keep it down! Geez!!! I'm guessing that my order has been moved to the sub-sub-basement of the fulfillment list. So, it'll be nice when I receive it in a couple of years. Looking forward to it. Really!)
And, remember, what did we learn today?
"Everything is PR."
No, what we learned is that you, Jeff Seiler, are an entitled baby. You think you can just roll your fat ass out of bed at 12:08 and expect to have your Prime Minister Edition with your *special* number on it and when you don't get your way you go running to Dave. "Oh WAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAA!!! Dave they didn't save one for me with my *SPECIAL* number on it!!" You are not special Jeff. You think you are special, you feeeeeeel that you are special but you are just another fan that has to get in line like everyone else.
-- a Dave Sim fan that CAN'T afford a $200 dollar book --
I tried to buy it in the prescribed manner and was unable to because others jumped the line. Irarely say "wah, wah, wah" nowadays and didn't about this. I merely described what happened.
My thoughts:
While I was hoping for a Prime Minister edition, I'm happy to get a Candidate copy. Especially since I'll be spending other people's money ~ courtesy of my eBay sales recently.
But I still have my own plans for my own custom High Society hardcover, professionally bound and all that, but my copy will include hundreds of pages NOT found in this edition, since I'll use the original comics.
And now I'll also be able to include the High Society Notebook as well.
It's easy enough to find a book binder, buy a run of High Society, and have your own unique edition ~~ and at fraction of the cost.
The appeal here is that these editions are done with Dave's approval and involvement, with the remastered art, superior binding, and some keen extras included if you're drawn to things like notepads and stickers.
But it's still missing HUNDREDS of pages of Cerebus material.
Steve
So, at 6:22 p.m., CST, Dagon James called me. After we established who we were, he said that it had been brought to his attention by Dave that I had had some issues with the way things went today with the rollout of The Regency Edition.
Before I go any further, I should note that: a) he is a very polite, engaging, nice person and 2) he listened (actually listened) to everything I had to say. It could not have been a more pleasant conversation.
We spoke at length about Dave, about the Regency Edition in general, about my very favorable estimation of the quality of TWP products (especially the Cerebus #1 reprints), etc.
He was gracious and, as I say, he impressed me first by calling me personally, but most by *listening* to me. Say what you will about the rollout, he is a class act. And, he told me that he was unaware of the two previous responses in this comments section today that had been posted first above his name and then by TWP, but that he would look into it.
I ended by asking him if I could post that he had called me, without getting into particular detail, and he responded that I could post whatever I liked.
I mentioned the "Everything is PR." line to him and he demurred slightly but said he would look into it.
The man came across to me as a consummate professional but also very friendly and genuinely nice and genuinely interested in making me happy. Which he did.
So, a win in Dagon's column.
Something that got a little lost in this discussion is the comment the Waverly rep made above: "This was testing the waters for the first BIG book with Dave Sim."
That's... tantalizing, no?
It's funny to me that anyone thought this would be a good idea or work well. After every one of these "sales", people are dissatisfied. Maybe Dave should try offering one item for sale and then selling that item.
-- Damian
"But it's still missing HUNDREDS of pages of Cerebus material."
Yes, let's imagine the Cerebus *TOME*, the entire Epic in one book (it is an Epic, no?), you know, that kind of gnarly metal-studded, metal-hinged binding (no, not "marble-encrusted")...
Jeff, I can sympathise with your problem, but at least you are lucky enough to not be in Western Europe/UK.
Here we had even LESS chance to get a PM edition. ALL 3 editions of the book had sold out of their Western Europe allocations in less than five minutes. That suggests we had an even smaller chance of getting a PM edition. We are already unavoidably penalised by postage costs.
We know now that Dagon shuffled numbers between the geo regions for the Collectors and Candidate editions. At the time time I didn't know that. I very nearly gave up in frustration, in which case I would have got no book at all. Thankfully biglou mentioned the "restock" in this thread and Dagon was very quick to respond to me and sort out the mess with my order. Thanks again Dagon.
Now consider the scenario of the "last book" (huffa huffa) left in the campaign. This will be allocated to one geo region (US I presume). So anybody in CAN, AUS, UK, WE etc. won't have a chance at getting it.
So from my point of view there are two suggestions for the future.
1) The geo allocation is a very poor and discriminatory system. This time it has penalised non US fans of Cerebus. It is unfair and will always cause problems when allocating small numbers of a limited edition like this one. As Dave Kopperman said above, the differences between the regions is postage cost and this should only be a factor at checkout, not at "product selection/allocation".
2) By it's nature, the shortage of the most premium edition was always going to be contentious. Checking the current situation, there are still a few Candidate and Collector editions left. So it is only the PM edition that has caused an issue. I would suggest if there are to be any future campaigns, they should just stick to 2 editions. A higher price premium and a lower priced basic, just like the Candidate and Collector editions. Those of us lucky enough to be able to afford either would have been able to get one in the first 12/24 hours without the first five minute mad panic, luck dip, "mob charge to the checkout".
Of course, I have even more sympathy for those who cannot afford either. Not getting a PM edition is a real "first world problem".
Afterthought: Torah style would work better?
Yes. Dagon confirmed to me that there are plans to do more hardcovers. Also, Dagon said that he was not aware of my having proofread the remasters but would try to make sure that I got credit in future hardcovers on which I worked (assuming, of course, that they are based on the remasters.
I'm really disappointed with the shipping options. I live in the Middle East and so cannot order at all?
As of almost-noon Saturday, the Collector and Prime Minister editions are sold out.
FWIW, I was very happy with the customer service from Waverly; they were nice enough to give me a credit for the "early bird" discount after I buffooned getting in the discount code on my order.
Ivan, assuming there are any copies left, Dagon is probably willing to arrange a shipping option for you if you contact him. He's already helped some other buyers arrange shipping worldwide.
Jeff-
High Society was proofread by Dr Mara, myself, and Dave. You didnt come on board until we were working on C + S II. The point is moot though-- the Waverly edition, at least how I've seen it, does not include the afterward or detailed credits from the remastered printings.
People looking for additional copies after this is sold out should note that the guts of the book are the same as the 2020 remaster, with a new bonus section in the back (replacing my essay, credits, thank yous etc).
I've got 4 copies of the 2020 remaster with the bonus sections Sean just mentioned. If anyone wants one let me know at:
cerebusinhell@gmail.com
I'll let anyone in North America get them for $25. For the rest of the world just the shipping cost once we figure it out. I've got a 9th printing (2003) and an 11th (2015) for $20 North America or shipping cost worldwide.
Help a man with an over-cluttered house help you.
Jeff, check your email
-Eddie
Birdsong, would any of those 2020 remasters you mentioned be of the Cerebus Campaign 2020 variety? If you got a JOE CEREBUS one I would kindly take it off your hands.
Sorry Brian, none of these are signed. Two of the 2020 remasters are gone, two left.
Apologies-- I mistyped above. Should be " C + S I".
Gotcha Birdsong. Thanks for clarifying there.
Sean--According to my production notes which, admmitedly, are sparse, I did indeed do proofreading on HS. I think that it was sent directly to Dave and then on to you. I did not do any proofreading on the remastered Vol. I. I have done proofreading on all of the other remasters and will soon proof "The Last Day".
Hey Jeff,
You did indeed proof V1, and I made many of the changes you suggested. I have your notes here. As far as I am aware you have never proofed HS-- as I said that was proofed by Dr Mara, Dave and myself, as reflected in the credits. And Eddie Khanna and Matt Dow both found a few remaining issues for rhe 2o2o edition.
It takes a village to raise a dead aardvark.
Post a Comment