Hi, Everybody!
Last year, on April 28th, I asked the Cerebus in Hell? team, if we/they could get a FOURTH digital, free issue of Cerebus in Hell? done in time for Free Comic Book Day 2020. Well, we/they pulled it off, and now, over a year and a half later (in the midst of the fourth(?) wave of COVID-19), The League Of Extraordinary Corona is finally seeing print:
I helped write both League and Vark Wars, so it's a "Matt Dow-pallooza" ("Matt Dow's a loser?" Jerks...) in yer Cerebus in Hell? this month...
I'm more proud of The League Of Extraordinary Corona than I am of my kids. (They haven't been pulling their weight lately. Maybe take out the trash, "Bullwinkle", and earn Daddy's love!!!)
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For the next little while, EVERYTHING on CerebusOverload.com is 30% off (with the code: 30OFF).
Offer ends when The Waverly Press launches Cerebus #2! (So, in a couple weeks.)
Hey, look what Heritage has.
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And a Strange Death of Alex Raymond Update:
Dear Backers.
So sorry for the radio silence. We haven't really had anything to report.
The printer has been trying various means of salvaging the misprinted books, all of which Sean and I found to be unacceptable.
Sean got word yesterday that they have FINALLY approved a reprint. But, now, we face the supply chain issue within the print industry that everyone is facing with paper. It is hard to get any paper for anything right now, and the nice stuff that we need to make SDOAR look its best is even harder to come across, so we still have no ETA.
We are absolutely devastated by this. Sean has dealt with so much unnecessary hardship over the last month-plus trying to get this resolved. He is far in the red in terms of hours spent vs. potential earnings. Bless him for remaining passionate and committed to this book.
It would have been very easy for Sean to take the easy way out at many points since the misprint happened, all of which would have led to the book being deliverable sooner at the cost of downgrades in the quality of the product. This continues to be the case with the issue of paper. Worse paper could get this to us all faster, but it would not be the high-quality product that we promised to you and it would not be the product that I, as a fan who got lucky enough to contribute to the final product, has been dreaming of owning all of these years.
The story in Strange Death is often about quality of reproduction, so it seems absolutely critical that we stick to our principles even at risk of losing future sales, which we very well could given that too long of a delay will force Diamond to re-solicit the book. There is no guarantee shops that got and sold misprints will chose to place the same number of orders for the proper printing. It seems many shops do not even know they sold bad copies, so would probably view a re-solicit as a second printing.
It was looking like we would be close to sold out on release day, now I worry we will never see a second printing.
The best thing to do now is keep spreading the word of the misprint and the reality/mythology - however you want to think of it - of this being a cursed book. Whatever it is trying to keep this from coming out in the proper format will not win. The book will come out. Hopefully that cursed book narrative is enough to continue driving interest up in a time when we risk to lose all steam.
Thank you all backing this project and for continuing to be patient with us through this disappointing delay.
Best,
Carson Grubaugh
P.S.
Bucha is getting so big and floppy!
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Up to 35% off site-wide:
Sometime in September... (Labor Day maybe?)
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!
Next Time: I talk about a Canceled Comic Creator, maybe?
9 comments:
Carson, Sean & co.,
Sorry to read about the challenges of getting this printed, hang in there and I know you'll succeed. SDOAR is the most excited I've been for a new comic book/graphic novel in years, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.
Since there's no vocal and visual cues here I'll preface this next part by saying I'm completely sincere: I think it's a mistake to view this as a "cursed" book or to even promote it as such. I could be wrong but I think it's too negative an approach even though I understand the possible sales hook.
I don't feel like it's my place to offer an alternative but viewing your own creation as cursed or "cursed" seems like it could create a bad vibe or energy. I can appeciate when Dave says "God willing" in relation to things. I believe in the power of prayer to God but I'm not here to proseltyze.
Regardless of your personl beliefs or whatnot, I don't think viewing it as cursed is going to be helpful.
Has any winning Hockey Team gone out on the ice with the mindset they're going to lose? You get my point and I don't mean to belabor it.
Maybe you don't even need to have a marketing hook aside from the work itself. Easy for me to say, granted, but I figure the readers interested in this can patiently wait and casual ones will eventually find it on their own. I would hope comic shoppes are understanding as well.
In closing, more Johnny McPhanbot, more Bucha, and less, much less or actually, no pale Grubaugh leg.
Good luck!
A Fake Name
It's true that at least some comics shops don't even know that there is an issue. Even after I told mine about it, they were unable (they said) to find any information about the problem. I had to send them a link to the discussion on the Facebook page. Maybe there is some way for Diamond actually to inform individual retailers of the problem, rather than expecting them to spot an announcement printed ... somewhere, I don't even know where it was.
As for cursed book, I suppose it would never occur to anyone that maybe GOD was trying to send Dave a message? (In case it's not obvious, I don't believe that.)
Amazon sent me this yesterday:
Please be advised that we have a revised delivery date for the items you ordered on April 27 2021 (Order ~~ ).
Sim, Dave "The Strange Death of Alex Raymond"
Estimated arrival date: September 27 2021
I don’t know why they’ve suddenly plumped for this new date or how it relates to the news in this article!
At the risk of being insensitive, I thought the wrist was God sending Dave a message: Stop trying to be Alex Raymond/Al Williamson. Be Dave Sim.
Or maybe I'm projecting...
Carson and Sean, thanks for all your headaches. I for one am willing to wait as long as it takes to get it right, and I'm as excited as A Fake Name about SDOAR.
All Diamond distributeur Retailers got an e-mail about two days prior to the book being shipped, telling them to destroy the copies. It seems like bad practice to me if you do not read e-mails from your distributor. Apparently, to these people, if it ain’t trending on Bleeding Cool, it ain’t worthy of their notice.
Weeeelll ... even after I TOLD my retailer about the problem, she began looking into it and said she could find nothing about it. I wonder whether every retailer who ordered it REALLY did get that email.
I just received an email from Forbidden Planet telling me my copy of SDOAR has been despatched today. Does this mean they're sending me a faulty copy?
-Jason
Jason,
Unfortunately the entire run was misprinted. Thank you for letting me know about this vendor, I have contacted them and I've asked Diamond UK to contact them as well.
Thank you to everyone else for all of your feedback and thoughts and well-wishes! I really do appreciate it. This has been a very trying time but to make sure that we get the right book to you.
"Whatever it is trying to keep this from coming out in the proper format will not win," -- hee hee hee! I'll go further than Tony D.: god is telling you he's done with you, Dave. Every project since Cerebus has failed, and he didn't take the hint. God took away his ability to draw, and he didn't take the hint. Take the hint, Dave: retire, shut up, and you may be able to save a fragment of your legacy.
-- Damian
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