Final FINAL call for address updates! Shippin' startin'!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 10:34:24 AM

Ahoy, my nautically saddened GHA fans! 

The books are finally done! They reprinted the pages they screwed up and now it's all bound in the hardest of covers--special editions with pages stitched inside--custom boxes have been made, and now, finally, SHIPPING.

Uh, to NON-North American backers for now. Those will be going out very very soon, directly from Korea, so this is the…

LAST CALL FOR ADDRESS UPDATES!

Messsage me directly through this kickstarter with your address update (include your name, please. Kickstarter only shows me your name in the eyes of the great Kickstarter god) if so needed. I haven't learned yet how the printers will be providing me tracking for these packages, but I'm giving your email address with the shipping address so hopefully they will autogenerate those. I'll keep you posted.

ALSO! WE GOT A BOAT!

We've been given a spot on a freighter leaving Korea on December 15th! Here's the timeline update I got  from the printer--this is not my favorite thing I've ever read--but at least it's a thing…

• The printing on the HC edition is done and it will be shipping out from Korea on or about 12/15
• It will arrive at the port about 1/8. But that’s the problem area. We’ve been waiting up to four weeks for the boats to actually dock and unload. Sometime it’s only one.
• So let’s assume the worst and say our warehouse gets them on 2/15.
• It will take us about a week to get all the books shipped out, and then let’s give the books a week from there to arrive into backer’s hands.
• That puts our date on 3/1 when all backers should have them in hand in the USA.

YEP! SUCKS! But (hopefully) all of those dates are worst case scenario with full delays factored in--and as we've all learned over the last two years, the worst case scenario is the likely scenario--but maybe it isn't this time? FUN!

In cool news, the printer sent me proofs of the signatures they had to reprint so I could insure they weren't, uh, totally dumb this time. They're kind of fun to see! Double sided, 8 pages a side…

Yeah! They got it right this time!

ADD-ONs HAVE ALL BEEN SHIPPED OUT! 

So happy to have that all wrapped up. If you have any issues, or got the wrong shiz, just message me here and I'll straighten it out. I can finally untransform my basement from a fulfillment station.

C2E2 NEXT WEEKEND!

First show since the last C2E2. I'll be at artist alley table P8 (or something) and I'll have fun new stuff--INCLUDING…

That's right! I absolutely loved doing issue 2 so I just kept going straight into issue three--and probably more to come on the horizon. It's been a ton of fun making these low print-run zines. Some day I'll have enough to make a new, big ole color collected edition, but that's probably quite a ways off.  Anyways, Blast Furnace is back and I will have all three new issues at my table! 

AND AND AND! 

Charles Soule and I have been cooking up a new Image series for a while--and it's almost time to announce it to the world! C2E2 weekend we will be announcing the title at our spotlight panel and releasing these exclusive, super fancy, super limited, numbered preview issues! If you can't attend, have no fear--we will have any of the left over issues on our webstores for a very limited release. I'll keep y'all posted!

That's it for now. I'm going to export those addresses very soon so please PLEASE update if need be. Almost outta da woods here and I can't wait for all of us to finally see these dang hardcovers!

YOU GUYS RULE!

Ryan

This Sounds Like a Job For Boatman and Rowbin!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 11:51:17 PM

Hello all. I have good news, and boat news. First the good news--

I got an advanced copy from the printer and it looks (almost) great! Check out this video of the softcover Image Edition (they finished these while working on the hardcover cover). Yours will be harder and fancier…

Pretty cool! I didn't screw anything up! But, uh, the printer kind of did.

SO! There were some pages in this book where the ink levels dropped way low OR went way too high. Strangely inconsistent for them--they perfectly printed the Curse Words Omnibus, Blast Furnace OGN, GHA The Completely Complete Edition, and the 3-D Cowboy Special. The Image softcovers were already bound--nothing to do about that--but I got them to reprint the crap pages for your hardcover WHICH will cause an up to two week delay in finishing the books. Why two weeks? Well, apparently the paper has to dry after it's printed and they only have so many drying racks.

The good news is that the Hardcover Covers are all finished so it's just a question of reprinting the fuck ups and then binding the whole thing.

AND HERE'S THE BOAT NEWS…

 SO THEN I SAID,
 "okay, well I'm fine with the production delay as long as people can get their books this year."
 to which they said
 "Oh, well that was never going to happen. Not even close."
 and so I said
 "Wait, you told me last month that they would be here by mid December."
 and then they said
 "Yeah, that was the case then--but every single day the freight situation gets worse. We are in a queue to get on a boat--but perishable goods are getting precedent in shipping and offloading so we have to wait."
 So then I said
 "Can't you just you print on the boxes 'Fresh Oranges' or something? Also, Image solicited the softcover for the end of January."
 and they said
 "Oh that's not going to happen."
 So then I said
 "Wait, how fucking long is this going to take!?"
 and they said
 "Honestly, we have no idea."
 AAAAAAAAND SCENE.

Sooooooooooo. Hmm. I just don't know what else to do except wait and hope we get on a boat and the port of LA lets us through. For you non-North American folks, your books are not freighting to the states and are being shipped via air out of Korea--so when the books are finished (now looking like early December) they will be shipped out to you in those cool custom boxes. 

WHAT THIS MEANS IS, for the first time ever, international people will get their books first--possibly by a large margin. Y'all in Belgium will get to see this finished book way before I do--and you have better beer. Double win.

I know this is happening with anything manufactured that needs the port of LA. I never thought a top news story would effect my dumb ole' comic book--but there you go. I'll keep you updated as I get updates and I can't apologize enough for the wild delay. I have several projects in the pipeline and all of them are being printed in the states--no more boats. So there's that.

IN OTHER NEWS…

I just got the printed version of Blast Furnace Two, Issue Two and I'm super proud of the results. I made a color cover, which I had always wanted to do for the first issue. Also, I reprinted the first issue with a new color cover as well since the first printing is almost sold out (Preorder here if so desired). About 90 of you preordered BF2, #2 and I am currently numbering, signing, doodling and packing them up with all your add-ons. Should get shipping notifications soon. Thanks again for your patience and I hope it'll be worth the wait.

ALSO! I'm doing C2E2 (my first show since the last C2E2) where Charles Soule and I will be debuting a preview of our new Image Comics series and I'm releasing a new sketchbook called…

So there's that. Absolutely I understand it's weird to throw new product out there when I haven't delivered on the GHA Omnibus's yet, but I like making new things and the Omni seems to be completely out of my control for the time being. Sigh.

If any of you would like a refund instead of waiting for the book, just hit me up with a private KS message. No worries there and totally understandable. 

OKAY. AGAIN, I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU AND YOUR SUPPORT. YOU MAKE MY JOB POSSIBLE AND I LOVE YOU FOR IT.

Love n' comics to y'all,

Ryan "Boat Hater" Browne

Last call for updated shipping addresses
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 03, 2021 at 05:09:05 PM

Howdy, Astro-Nuts! 

Got word from the printer that the 1750 copies of the 696 page hardcover are back in production and should be finished by mid-November! So! Please update your address as need be. International orders ship mid-November, North American orders ship, um, late November? Mid-December? Late-December (!!!)? That'll all depend on when the freight will be able to offload at the port of L.A.--a place that's been in the news a lot!

MESSAGE ME THROUGH KICKSTARTER WITH ANY ADDRESS UPDATES. Please include your full name and address--Kickstarter only shows me your backer name. North American people, use whatever address you will be at December/January.  Non-North American people use wherever you will be November/December. If you have no changes since August surveys you are all set.

Did you know there is a paper shortage that made book printing dumb? Well, there is--mostly due to the incredible amount of boxes that have been produced during the pandemic to ship shit ordered on the internet. Global supply chains all outta wack and production was on hold! But we are back printing as scheduled, making guts for the hard covers to wrap around. 

And the custom, crush-tested boxes are under production. Here's the final design!

So! The printer is requesting all non-North America addresses by the end of next week. 

The printer in South Korea will be shipping non-North American packages out from their factory. It's the first time that anyone has ever said this, but International orders will arrive before domestic. Weird!
 

Big huge boat freight has been booked and hopefully the White House will get things moving at the port of L.A. so it can offload in a timely fashion. US and Canada orders will ship from the printers warehouse in LA. All of your books will arrive in LA already packed in these custom crush proof mailers with the stretch goals shrink-wrapped inside, and, if you got a black bag, your book will come black bagged

  Thank you for your patience with all of this--seems the pandemic has been hard on shipping AND printing. WHOOPS!? But the end is in sight!
 

BLAST FURNACE AND ADD-ONS

I've shipped out over 400 packages of add-ons, but I haven't shipped out any packages that contain Blast Furnace 2, Issue 2. Why? Because I'm still making it--but the issue is drawn! Waiting for the domestic printing to be done on that and then the remainder of the add-on packages will be sent out. Thanks for your patience on this--in a perfect world I would've been able to hire an assistant to come and help, but, y'know, pandemic + unvaccinated babies in my home. D'oh!

GHA AT IMAGE!

Confirmed everything for the softcover version to hit stores on January 26th! It's in previews now NOV210120! This'll be identical to the hardcover, just, y'know, soft and less collectable--even featuring the pages of Kickstarter backer names. So! If you have a store you dig, please tell them to preorder GHA! Image being onboard gets the omnibus into stores and keeps it from going out of print immediately like Curse Words did. Gee, I wonder if Image will reprint that Curse Words omnibus…

So excited to finally see the book done! Fingers crossed everyone will have their books this year--a far cry from what was originally predicted by dumb old me, but, hey--I'm dumb!

Thank you all for the continued support!

Ryan

Here, have some Grimace!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 09:15:49 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

An update! I hate boats!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 02:55:06 PM

So I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a story about the worldwide international sea freight crisis. That dumb sideways boat seems to have caused quite a ripple and companies that import have been placing their holiday import orders way in advance--leading to mass boat shipping traffic.

Of course, as you know, I'm expecting 9500 pounds of God Hates Astronauts via big ole' boat, so I contacted the printer about this. Um, so, the short of it is "They have no idea when the books will make it to the states."--to which I said, "Will it at least be before the end of the year?" and they said "Probably. The boat could sit at port for months with a backlog of ships waiting to be unloaded"--sounds like we need some Frank Sobotka action up in here!

SO! Like that huge stuck boat, this'll probably cause a ripple that will require a lot of updating shipping addresses when the book is ready. Absolutely no problem to do that on my end--just message me through Kickstarter with your new address (including your name--Kickstarter only shows me your screen name).  I will send out more updates when I know when these books will be ready to ship to you so you'll have plenty of time to update your address with me.

Personally, I'm happy to say that this is the last omnibus I will ever make. As much as I love ports, and stevedores, and off-loading ships… all I know about this is what I saw in season two of The Wire. Also I don't know what the hell a stevedore is and I might be spelling that horribly wrong.

Boy! This is a great update. On to better news…

I've been shipping add-ons slowly but most of my time has been working on special editions and stretch goals! And they are all finished! 1300 individual kits of stretch goals, 300 black bags created with their contents, 100 no butters, 100 no burgers, 100 early bird black bag sketches, AND most importantly 95 much better sketches all finished! Quite the undertaking. These are all shipping today via the air (fuck you, boats!) to Korea to be packed in with books! You can see some of the Much Better Sketch fun on my instagram here. Here are some pics of add-ons.

In other news, I am finishing Grimace's Hamburger Atrocity and will send you the PDF/print it for add-on folks (domestically--so no boats involved). I will be sending out emails shortly about selecting art pages for you fancy folks, and I am going to continue shipping out all the add-ons. BOY! I need an assistant!

That's all for now. I hope this doesn't read as a downer--I love doing these huge Kickstarters and I appreciate all the support--just have to roll with the punches a bit when there are this many moving parts. 

More soon. I appreciate you all!

Ryan