Final 24 hours! Coin unlocked! Gilding revealed! and FIBD pix!
about 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 02, 2023 at 03:15:46 PM

Hello, everyone!

We're at the 24-hours-to-go mark, and we're excited to confirm that you have unlocked the Challenge Coin! If by chance you have backed any of our previous campaigns, you may have already seen or received one of these precious collectible beauties already -- they are nice, hefty metal coins minted especially for each campaign, and only at a quantity to satisfy backer demand. We have produced 16 of these so far, and they really are genuine rewards for your support (and becoming more and more collectible)! Take a look at just a few of the early ones:

With that reward now behind us, we have revealed the final stretch goal: FOIL GILDING on the page edges of the slipcase books! If you're not familiar with the term, gilding is when the edges of the book pages are printed with ink or metallic foil. We have done this on several previous titles to beautiful effect -- they look something like this:

For this set, we are thinking about a gold foil for MEZKAL and a metallic red foil for CONVOY, something like this mockup:

Our printer is looking into different foil options now, so if we hit $45k before closing at 5pm CST tomorrow, we'll be ready to make the boxed sets EXTRA-SPECTACULAR! If you are on the fence about whether to pledge or upgrade to a boxed set, DO IT! Trust us, it will be a gorgeous limited edition set of two amazing graphic novels by Jef, and they will ONLY BE PRODUCED FOR THIS CAMPAIGN! When these 500 slipcases are gone, THAT'S IT! 😎

We'd like to apologize for the extended silence over the past week -- we had hoped to post more updates earlier, but we were out of the country for the last 10 days exhibiting at the big Festival International de la Bande Dessinee (FIBD) in Angouleme, France. We had every intention of posting whenever we could during the week, but between manning the booth, a marathon of meetings, a dizzying parade of things to see, the time difference, questionable wifi in varying locations, and simply trying to respond to business matters from half-a-world away, we just weren't able to report here like we had hoped.

But boy, was it a show! This was our 8th year attending since 2012, and it is always a fun and eye-opening excursion. It is where we find most of our amazing titles and meet with the majority of the fabulous authors who make up the Magnetic stable, and we're excited to say that we found even MORE awesome books that we'll be bringing to US shores in the months/year to come!

While we have attended the show many times over the years, this was our first time exhibiting inside the Marche International des Droits, or "International Rights Market" -- that is where publishers from all over the world show off their titles and products with the purpose of partnering on future licensing opportunities. We brought a number of our premium hardcovers, slipcases, and tabletop games with us, and they drew a lot of attention. We'll admit, we heard several authors (and even a few publishers) say out loud that our editions of their material is the best in many cases. 😎 The extra TLC and production value we put into our releases really does stand head-and-shoulders above what most other publishers have to offer, and we were quite proud to be there.

The show itself was as crowded as ever -- unlike American conventions, the festival is spread out across the city of Angouleme under several large tents, with huge lines of fans and attendees filling the streets to see the thousands of books on offer...

The festival also features spotlight galleries of some of the greatest comic artists and authors from  around the world. From Chris Ware to Katsuhiro Otomo, they have honored some of the greatest talent worldwide. This year's featured authors included Junji Ito and Ryoichi Ikegami, as well as a showcase of works by the legendary Jean-Claude Mézières who passed away last January. There was even an amazing audio-visual installation inside a gorgeous church dedicated to his work:

(You really had to see it live... the video doesn't do it proper justice...)

We managed to tag on an extra day in Paris for some quick sightseeing before hopping back on a plane ahead of the transit strike that kicked off on Tuesday. (We had hoped to be back at the desk getting caught up yesterday, but an unexpected trip to the ER pretty much devoured our first day back... all is well, just a minor intestinal bug, but hardly a souvenir I'd recommend...)

The pix above may not seem that exciting, but believe me, it is a fun show if you ever get the chance to attend -- quite different from an American Con experience, and the books you find there will absolutely blow your mind. We're happy to bring the best of those books to you directly, however... stay tuned! We think you're going to love what we have in store for 2023! 🤩

A GREAT start! Stretch Goals, Soundtrack links, and more!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 09:46:49 AM

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to the MEZKAL/CONVOY Kickstarter campaign! 

We're four days in and sorely overdue in expressing our DEEPEST GRATITUDE for your early support! We've put a lot of work into this campaign, with inexpressible excitement for both books. We've been huge fans of Jef's work since we first laid eyes on BALLES PERDUE (Published in English by Titan Books as "Triggerman"), and he has just gotten better and better with each new project. These two relatively recent releases, co-created with writer Kevan Stevens, showcase him at his A-game, and we are proud as hell to be able to offer them in this premium, English edition.

While the two tales are pretty different in terms of setting and tone (one a gritty drug-cartel action-drama, the other a satirical, explosive sci-fi dystopia), the pure imagination and distinct visual presentation of both make them each stand out on any shelf. You will not be disappointed, trust us. 😎

We will be posting deep-dive looks at each in future updates, but in the meantime, we've also prepared a couple of Unofficial Soundtrack Playlists on Spotify, the first of which was posted today:

We compiled this from a long list of mood-setting music while working on the layout and translation of the book and campaign, and we think it'll put you in the right zone for the story. We'll post a similar playlist for CONVOY in the days to come. (Note: these are just our own curations -- neither Kevan nor Jef were involved with this playlist, although a bit of fun trivia: Jef is the lead guitarist on the music that plays in our trailer video!)

We've already blown past the first three Stretch Goals (the first one unlocked on day-1, before it was even revealed...!)

At the current pace, we might unlock the next one by Monday, at which point we'll reveal the next bonus freebie. (If any backers from past campaigns are wondering if there will be another collectible Challenge Coin in the mix... let's just say that could be a safe bet... 😉)

We wanted to also take a moment to thank everyone who took the time to complete the optional survey that is sent after making a pledge. It is sent on our behalf by Jellop, and while the wording may sound like it is necessary to complete your pledge, it is totally optional -- it is not the official backer survey that will come after the campaign (from Backerkit) that will actually be necessary to complete your order. We really do review and value all of your responses and have taken a lot of the feedback into careful consideration for this project and future projects. We see Kickstarter as a community and not just a marketplace, and your voices truly do matter. (To that end, we have also heard from a few previous campaign backers who would prefer not to get new project messages from Jellop -- that is totally cool, and we can appreciate the desire to cut down on "spam"... We're reviewing our different marketing methods, and while communicating with previous supporters is vital to our growth, we'll try to be more sensitive to how many messages are posted where...)

That's all for now -- more to come soon! Thanks for your support! Please spread the word!