ON MARS, a graphic novel about colonization and conflict

Sylvain and Grun ❤️ our ON MARS
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 05:32:06 PM

Hi everyone!

We did some travel last week to attend the annual Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême (where, quite frankly, we have found most of the books we've been fortunate to bring to the States). This makes our 10th visit over the past 12 years, and this was perhaps the most relaxing of any trip we can recall... Not only did we find a bunch of great books we hope to bring to shelves in the year or two ahead, but it was just nice to see so many authors and artists who we're proud to call friends. That includes Sylvain and Grun, both of whom were really thrilled to see our deluxe treatment of ON MARS!

I've known Sylvain for a decade - WARSHIP JOLLY ROGER was one of Magnetic Press's early hits -- and we continue to conspire every year. He is so busy with so many projects in development concurrently that it is hard to keep up with what is new, but we do our best to keep up!

I only just met Grun this year, and briefly as he was running to another book signing, but I'm sure we'll be communicating a lot more in the months ahead... in fact, both he and Sylvain have another book together that we'll be revealing later this fall... 😉

They were both very pleased to sign the 450 bookplates or the campaign exclusive slipcases. They were both insanely busy at the show, but we're grateful they took the time for us!

The show was great, and we were proud to host our own booth in the rights tent for the 4th year in a row. It was a modest space meant primarily for showcasing some of our products and hosting meetings -- not a public "convention booth" as you might expect from a US convention, but more business-oriented. That said, we had some really good meetings with a lot of folks about quite a number of different things, and we saw a lot of great books that we hope to bring to you soon!

The books are nearly at our warehouse and the other bonus items should be in-hand soon. The unlocked coins are looking pretty sweet...

We'll post more news as it develops! Thanks, everyone!

A flood of New Year's eye candy!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 11:58:14 AM

Happy New Year, everyone!

We hope you've had a nice season of holidays and enjoyed some downtime with loved ones. We did, and it has been wonderfully relaxing. :)

Returning from some holiday travel, we were thrilled to find finished, advance copies of ON MARS from the printer waiting for us in the package room! They turned out GREAT! Take a look --

Slipcase sets will come shrinkwrapped with corner protectors, as shown below...

The hardcovers are AWESOME...

The hardcover books have a nice, luscious Martian surface texture, in addition to the foil logos...

The slipcases have the same texture graining, in addition to the foil logos...

The softcover edition turned out equally nice! We don't do the typical "cheap TPB" that most companies do... even in paperback, you're getting heavy cardstock covers and classy curved corners...

In addition to ON MARS_, we also got advance copies of the WARSHIP JOLLY ROGER Slipcase. They turned out great too!

As a reminder, these will come with a sturdy filler, with the two (previously published) books included in your order separately...

Don't worry -- the books fit inside the box perfectly!

These slipcases have a sweet linen texture and raised UV logos...

All of these items are now on a boat crossing the Pacific, and if all goes well, we should have everything in hand to begin shipping in March as promised! We're getting the ancillary stretch goal bonus items ordered within the next week (immediately after the New Year's break), so we'll keep you posted on how those turn out as well.

This month will be pretty busy for us while we wait patiently for the books to arrive. Not only will we be gathering those aforementioned bonus items, but we'll also be taking an exciting trip to France to meet with Sylvain and Grun to get the bookplates signed! We're all so grateful for your support -- we're very happy with how things are turning out and we hope you will be too!

Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2025!

Orders locking this weekend!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 01:11:52 PM

Hi everybody!

Happy Friday! Hope you’re getting ready for a nice warm weekend indoors… it's getting chilly outside!

This update is just a reminder that we have initiated the process to LOCK ORDERS on Backerkit today. This means that you will receive a notification from Backerkit to please verify that your information is correct within the next 48 hours. At this point, they will lock your order so we can finalize the quantities for manufacturing. We will charge cards on file for any balances due (such as shipping or additional add-ons you may have selected) next MONDAY, DECEMBER 16th. Please make sure your payment method is current and correct! If Backerkit runs into any trouble with your card, they will inform you right away, and will continue to try to process your order every few days. If your payment continues to fail for some reason, don’t worry – your order isn’t canceled or anything! You will be able to make payment corrections until we approach shipping in March.

If you need to update your address between now and then, you will still have a few opportunities, so there is no need to panic about addresses yet. There will be an Address Lock notification in February, and the fulfillment warehouse will also send an Address Verification notification a week or two before shipping your individual order.

The books are printing now and we hope to have some advance proof copies in hand by New Years to show you! (Fingers crossed -- it is a busy season for everyone...) We should also have some of the nifty stretch goal swag ready in January or February to show off... it's going to be a very cool load of stuff... 😎

Thank you, everyone! Hope you're having a great holiday season!

Oops - we forgot to mention the COOL NEW THING...!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 01:01:29 PM

Doh! In our excitement, we totally forgot to mention the "cool new thing in the meantime"...

We launched a new awesome campaign yesterday!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neurobellum/white-shadows

If you like surreal medieval fantasy as much as we do, especially when it's BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED, then you will love the three books offered in this campaign!

Three tales of fantasy lushly painted by illustrator and gallery artist ANTOINE CARRION, also known under the pseudonym Tentacle Eye. Imbuing each story with rich, hypnotic visuals and recognizable human frailty, he turns each book into a cinematic tour de force unachievable on any screen. You must see these books to truly experience them.

All three hardcovers (including CAMPAIGN EXCLUSIVE DELUXE COLLECTIBLE EDITIONS) are absolutely gorgeous and gallery-quality work. 

PLEDGE IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS TO RECEIVE THIS LINEN CARDSTOCK ART PRINT FOR FREE WITH YOUR PLEDGE!

Please check it out! You won't want to miss out on these deluxe editions!

Things on track as we enter holiday season... and something COOL in the meantime!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2024 at 12:43:40 PM

Hi everyone!

Hope you're having a great week -- a few of you have requested an update, so we're here to let everyone know that things are chugging right along as anticipated. The files have all been approved with the printer and they've moved the project into full production. We should have updated estimates from the shortly, but it should be reasonable for these to be loaded on a boat headed our way before the New Year! That would get them in our warehouse by the end of February, so we're good for a March ship date. 😎

Once we get some advance copies, we'll be sure to post photos. Same with the stretch goal bonuses -- we should have something to see in December or January.

Our plan is to lock orders on the Pledge Manager on Friday December 13th, and then charging credit cards for any balances due on Monday December 16th. You'll still be able to update your addresses after that, but we will need to lock the orders by then to make sure we're ordering the right amount of stretch goal bonuses. For those folks who missed the campaign, they can still pre-order through Backerkit until then! 

• Digital files will be distributed in January.
• We'll lock addresses in February for final shipping preparation.
• Assuming the world doesn't end before then, we should be able to ship in March.

Let us know if you have any specific questions and we'll do our best to help!