THE LAST FRONTIER
over 5 years ago – Wed, Aug 01, 2018 at 10:54:24 PM

Hello White Ashians,

Incredible. $19,000. With six days to go Stretch Goal #6 PUT ON THE SPOT is officially UNLOCKED. That means every backer getting our Funeral Cover will now receive a limited edition version, Kickstarter exclusive, Spot Varnish Cover. It’s going to look amazing. What’s also amazing is we get to finally unveil our last stretch goal…

Team Ash talked a lot about ways to upgrade your White Ash experience. Ultimately, we realized that maybe the best thing we could do is get you your rewards quicker. So here it is: 

STRETCH GOAL #7, EVERYONE HATES TO WAIT.

Normally our post-campaign printing process involves sending our books overseas and then having them shipped on a boat back to America so we can begin distribution. This takes a while. That’s why we’re promising delivery in November. However, if we can hit $22,000, then we can afford (because it’s pricey) to have enough of the books expedited via airmail. That way, you our backers, will get your books much earlier (October… possibly even mid-September if all goes well on the printing). This is something we’d love to be able to do as we can’t wait to share what we’ve built here in White Ash with you. We’ve smashed all the other stretch goals and we think we can hit this one too. So if you if have friends who like comics who haven’t checked White Ash out yet, please send them the link. 

And while you’re checking out kickstarters, we’d like to share three others we think are worth taking a look at.

First up is The Bawdy Tales of Lazlo Cale. 

This book launched about the same time as ours and needs a little push to get funded. A stylized, 48 page, sci-fi, art heist comic in the vein of the Thomas Crown Affair? Yes please.  

Batting second is The Crowding of Dragos, a comic about Weredragons. 

Do you really need more than that? If you do, know that Brian Hawkins who writes the incredible Angelica Reigns series is the wordsmith behind the large scaly beasts. Which is reason alone to go check out the campaign.

And last, but certainly not least by any stretch, is The Wicked Righteous written by Terry Mayo. 

Conor and I were lucky enough to table across from Terry for 4 days at SDCC. Terry’s been part of the amazing retro-newsprint movement over at Alterna publishing. But now he’s on Kickstarter for the first time collecting the six issue series in a trade on premium matte paper.  He just launched yesterday and the book is already just about funded.  There's a reason for that.

Thank you to all the newcomers, we're thrilled you've joined us in our little mining community. And thank you again to all the oldcomers, the newcomers wouldn't have found us without you, you literally put us on the Kickstarter map.  And so, we've got six days left of the campaign and a little more room in the town.  Let's see how many more people we can pack into White Ash. As you all know "The smaller the town, the bigger the amount they can hike the hotel rates during tourist season."

Best from Team Ash,

Charlie, Conor and Fin

Wave That Banner...
over 5 years ago – Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 10:38:53 AM

Hello White Ashians,

That was quick.  And also what we get for waiting so long between updates. Stretch Goal # 5, Take That Banner Home, is officially UNLOCKED. Every backer receiving physical rewards will also get a 6 x 9 inch print of the White Ash Tree from our SDCC banner.  

That also means it's time to reveal Stretch Goal #6,  PUT ON THE SPOT. 

We thought we'd try something different this time around and upgrade the book in a way we haven't tried before. So if we can hit $19,000, we’re going to add a spot varnish to our Funeral Cover.  Conor has some thoughts on how it could look incredibly sweet.  This will be a limited effect that we will be applying to only 300 or so books, pending on how many KS backers we get. Basically, we'll varnish just enough to make sure every backer who’s getting the funeral cover, will get one with the spot varnish.

Thank you again, the continued success of this campaign blows us away.  We're thrilled that so many people are finding White Ash.  Conor, Fin and I are going to do our best to keep upgrading the rewards, to make sure you all are even happier with what you're getting.  

So spread the word, only 13 days left to hop on the White Ash train.

Best from Team Ash,

Charlie, Conor and Fin

SHATTERED!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jul 28, 2018 at 10:15:08 AM

We did it! Stretch Goal #1, #2 AND #3 are already UNLOCKED (and we haven’t even had a chance to reveal # 3 yet). First of all, thank you. The enthusiasm and pace of the support for White Ash is incredibly humbling. For sure, Conor, Fin and I think our little town is the bees’ knees, but we’re thrilled you all might be leaning in that direction too.

So, what are we getting now?

Well, everyone receiving something in the P.G.O.F.M. (Physical, Good Old-Fashioned Mail) will now get a 6x9 card stock print of Conor’s Thank You From Team Ash. You’ll also get the Glarien Card.

And because one card seems a little paltry, with Stretch Goal # 3, Traded Again unlocked, Conor’s going to draw two more cards, Gunther and Kyle. So that’s 3 cards for those of you backing at the lower levels and 9 cards (3 new + 6 from the last campaign) for those at the Print Catch Up and higher tiers.

So what’s next?

Well, at $15,000 it’s time for another Deluxe PDF. For those of you new to White Ash, with our deluxe books, we really try to go above and beyond in opening up the hood and providing the thought process behind how we make the comics. If you want a taste of a bit of that insight, check out this FABULOUS PODCAST featuring Fin Cramb as he breaks down his approach to coloring a page. Also this time around in addition to providing the full script, Charlie will break down some of the process he uses to create the motion videos at the beginning of Kickstarter video.

After that…

We’re going to add three more stretch goals at $17,00, $19,000 and… if we can get there… we’ll have a HUGE one for $22,000. 

Promise.

So please help us get there so we can maximize your White Ash experience. Share the campaign with your comic book loving friends. We’re building something special here and we’d love to get as many people to our little town as possible.

And that’s really the wonderful thing about Kickstarter. By being on the platform, we get to find and meet such an amazing group of people to share White Ash with. Kickstarter has created the new viable distribution model for independent comics. And no creator I know is taking advantage of it like Felipe Cagno. If you don’t know Felipe, you should check him out now. He’s back on kickstarter with his 9th project, The Lost Kids: Seeking Samarkand Part 1

The one-liner is: Five kids are mysteriously transported to a fantasy world filled with magic and airships must find a mythical lost city to return home.

All of Felipe’s projects have been incredibly successful, amazing looking books. From his apocalyptic western series The Few and Cursed to more nuanced romantic fare like Too Good to be True, Felipe just tells tales that entertain. Based on his track record, I’m sure that The Lost Kids will be another worthy addition to his collection.

Wherever this post finds you this weekend, know how grateful Conor, Fin and I are for all the support.  We really couldn't do any of this without you.

Thank you again, we wish you very best,

Team Ash (AKA Charlie, Conor and Fin)

The Post-Con Stretch
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 06:57:48 PM

Hello White Ashians,

A very tired, post-SDCC greetings to all of you.

That. Was. Incredible.

Conor and I couldn’t have had a warmer greeting in San Diego. From the reception of the attendees, to being embraced by our fellow exhibitors in Small Press, there was really nothing more we could have hoped for in terms of a SDCC experience… well, except for having Fin Cramb with us. We’ll work on that in the future.

In the meantime, while we were in San Diego, the $15,000 stretch goal Digital Diamonds and Pearls was unlocked. Sorry it took us so long to recognize that. Every backer getting a digital PDF will now also get the deluxe version as well.

And it looks we’re very close to unlocking Stretch Goal #5, which we’re also long overdue in revealing. So here we go. As a few of you have commented, Conor drew a gorgeous tree for our SDCC booth. And as it would be incredibly selfish of us to keep it all to ourselves, Stretch Goal #5 is... TAKE THAT BANNER HOME. So if we hit $17,000, every backer receiving physical rewards will also receive a 6 x 9 print of the White Ash Tree featured on the banner.

Being in SDCC was really a “welcome to the big leagues” moment for both Conor and I. But one of the things that made that moment a little sweeter, was seeing that we were getting to share it with some of the friends we’d made on Kickstarter. From Boston Metaphysical’s Madeleine Holly-Rosing to Crossing’s Enrica Jang, The Hills of Small Press were alive with the sound of Kickstarter… But no louder were they ringing out, than over at the Mythopoeia booth. For those of you who don’t know Mythopoeia, they’re making some of the most beautiful books in all of comics right now. Like Skies of Fire, the  dieselpunk airship story of loyalty and revenge... which just launched a trade on Kickstarter.

I was lucky enough to get my copy at SDCC. And it’s an absolutely breathtaking hardcover.  If you don't know Skies of Fire, this is the perfect time to jump aboard. It is literally the book that made me realize that Kickstarter was a viable way to self-publish, high-quality comics.  Without Skies of Fire, there would likely be no White Ash on Kickstarter. So please, check them out.

All right, off to get my first taste of post-Con sleep.  

On behalf of Conor and Fin, thanks so much, we couldn't do any of this without you.

Charlie

Back from SDCC with more copies.
over 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 03:33:22 AM

Hello White Ashians,

We're back from SDCC, which was an AMAZING experience.  We'll have a longer update about that tonight.  But most importantly, we brought a few copies of White Ash 01 and the SDCC variant cover back with us.  As such, if you'd wanted to back at the Print Catch Up or Variant Trio reward tier, there are now a few slots available. These were sold out before and may sell out again.  So we wanted to give our backers first chance at them.

Thank you so much,

Charlie, Conor and Fin (AKA Team Ash)