More surreal witch-y goodness while you wait...
6 months ago – Thu, Mar 14, 2024 at 04:29:14 PM

Hi everyone!

While MIDNIGHT ORDER makes its way to the warehouse (expected in the next week or two), we thought we'd mention our latest campaign on Backerkit that is ending tomorrow:

If you're a fan of the surreal fantasy of Studio Ghibli films, or the dark twists and drama of Satoshi Kon's films, then you'll love these two new graphic novels by award-winning author Jim Bishop!

Gun-toting fish mafia, sea-plane dogfights, and a whole lot of family issues!

LOST LETTERS is a surreal coming-of-age story about a boy waiting for a letter from his mother and a girl trying to prove her worth to her own mother by going undercover inside the fish mafia. This 200-page tale won several awards, including the Silver Medal at the 2022 International Manga Awards!

This heartfelt adventure is as exciting as it is heartbreaking...

Not your typical fairy-tale romance or teen-witch fantasy...

MY DEAR PIERROT is the story of Clea, a noblewoman betrothed to a local Count's son, but she sets off in search of her own destiny and freedom, following a charming street magician named Pierrot to his home in the woods. There she discovers that magic is real... and dangerous. As she falls in love with Pierrot she starts to wonder if the most insidious evil in the world might in fact be Love itself...

Jim Bishop eschews all expectations with this twisty fantasy that goes in psychological directions you won't expect...

Both books are available individually or as specially priced bundles in multiple formats, including digital, paperback, hardcover, and exclusive translucent plastic slipcase set.

ALL STRETCH GOALS UNLOCKED!

Look at all these bonus items already unlocked -- BONUS STICKERS, a DIE-CUT BOOKMARK, a 2-sided MINI-POSTER, a POSTCARD PACK, and a 2" metal CHALLENGE COIN are now included FREE with all physical pledges! When the campaign ends, these bonuses will no longer be available!

This campaign ends at 5pm PST TOMORROW (Friday)! Please check it out so you don't miss out on these exclusive FREEBIES!

Status report -- things are rolling along...
7 months ago – Wed, Mar 06, 2024 at 02:50:13 PM

...albeit slowly.

Hi everyone!

Just here to give a quick status update on everything:

• The MIDNIGHT ORDER books are all printed and on the water making their long trek here from China. We received a couple of final production copies when the boats left in early February, and they look GREAT. Not much different from the assembly proofs we showed earlier, but these are the final, polished product:

• The BABLET BOX and new softcover editions of his previous books are also on their way. Those advance copies look great, too!

They are all expected to reach our warehouse between March 31 and April 8 or so, at which point we'll immediately begin prepping orders to ship.

• We're also expecting all of the stretch goal swag and limited edition items by that point too. The bronze ward bookmarks are in production and the proofs from the manufacturer look nice ...

Outside of those items in transit, there's not much to show or report. Mathieu is signing the bookplates which we hope to have back from him in a few weeks. Everything should be ready to start fulfilling in late April. I know that is a bit later than the original (optimistic) February ship date, but we're doing what we can to make up the difference.

Thanks, everyone! We'll have more to share soon!

Orders locking this weekend!
8 months ago – Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 09:55:10 AM

Hi everyone!

We're back from our annual pilgrimage to the FIBD (festival international de la bande dessinée -- France's version of Comic-Con) in Angouleme, France, and boy was it a great trip. Not just because, you know, FRANCE, but we had a ton of great meetings about a bunch of great projects that we're hoping to turn solid this year... if even only one or two happen, it will make Magnetic Press's 10th Anniversary even more spectacular... 😊

Before we go into some pix from the show, we wanted to remind everyone that we are locking orders this weekend!

We have initiated the "Lock Order" command on Backerkit, at which point they will send out a notification for you to make any final changes to your orders: add-on selections, address changes, payment methods, etc. This notification will start a 48-hour countdown to when your order will automatically lock down so that we can set final production numbers. 

If you haven't filled out your survey at all yet, now is the time to do so! If you can't find your email with the unique invitation link, try logging into this link with your Kickstarter-associated email address: 

If you still have trouble getting in, send us a message here and we'll be happy to help you out.

When the 48-hour window expires, your order will be locked and we will process any charges due on Monday.

You will still have an opportunity to update your shipping address before we send out packages (estimated to start in late April). We will send more information about that final address-lock deadline closer to that date.

For those international backers who requested bundling with your FRONTIER and/or CASSEGRAIN COLLECTION pledges, you will find the calculated savings applied to one or more of those pledges as Backerkit Credit.

If you have any questions, let us know.

Angouleme was GREAT -- this was our 10th year attending, and our second year exhibiting in the rights tent. We had a bunch of meetings with various authors and publishers about upcoming projects already on our calendar as well as projects we're hoping to sign soon. Mathieu Bablet was there and we were able to spend a little time with him at the 619/Rue de Sevres party -- we showed him the production proof of MIDNIGHT ORDER and he was very pleased. 😎
I took embarrassingly few photos during the trip, but here are a few from the Rue de Sevres party --

We also had great discussions and lunches with several other amazing creators who I won't list here, but let's just say that the year ahead is going to be AMAZING. We can't wait to reveal each project as they come around. 😊

At this point, the books are completed, and the factory is delivering them to the shipping company as I write this. They were able to get everything wrapped up before the big Chinese New Year break, so that should keep us on schedule for shipping (barring any other delays along the way). We're still looking toward a late-April/early-May fulfillment, but we will of course keep you posted.

Thanks again, everyone! More news as it develops!

Final proof copies are in! Sooo shiney....
8 months ago – Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 05:18:52 PM

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! 

We hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. Ours were great and almost enough to prepare us for the new year... I say "almost" because it feels like we've been scrambling non-stop since January 2nd! Lots going on!

First and foremost, however: 

THE BOOKS ARE NEARLY DONE!

The factory sent us final assembly proofs of both the softcover edition and the finished slipcase, and they look GREAT! Here's the softcover --

One thing we should point out: these proofs don't include the curved corners yet. Now that the binding is done, they will all go through the corner-curving machine.

Next: The Slipcase is GORGEOUS --

We are SO HAPPY with these! We think you'll be too. 😊

We also got a proof of the new softcover edition slipcase set of Mathieu's previous titles (SHANGRI-LA, CARBON&SILICON, and ADRASTEA). While the books inside are just unprinted dummies of the finished books, the box itself is looking great!

The factory will have the final touches (gilding, curved corners) on the finished books and on a boat before Chinese New Year and we hope to have them in our warehouse by the end of March. Assuming those dates happen as expected, we will lock addresses in March so that we can hopefully have these shipped to you in April!

To that end, we will be locking orders in Backerkit on February 2nd!

You have until then to make any final adjustments to your order (or to complete your survey if you haven't already). Backerkit will then collect any balances due from your provided method of payment.

We will try to have the Digital Rewards ready and distributed around February 23rd.

In the meantime, may we interest you in another awesome graphic novel campaign to consider...?

We just launched our first campaign of 2024, this one for the fabulously retro NO FUTURE by Corbeyran and artist Jef! 

It's described as "THE FIFTH ELEMENT meets BLADE RUNNER and IDIOCRACY" but we pick up big hints of CYBERPUNK 2077, BRAZIL, MOEBIUS, BILAL, TIME COP, MAX HEADROOM... it's like Corbey and Jef camped out in our brains for a few years and cherry-picked all of our favorite things!

If any of these things sound up your alley, you will not be disappointed in NO FUTURE. Not only is the book fantastic, but we've got a beautiful Limited Edition diecut cover available, along with some cool "Hackrunner" bundles with nifty artifacts.

We launched yesterday and already blew past our goal and first stretch goal! The next stretch goal is already within sight...

It is very different from MIDNIGHT ORDER, but it's cool nonetheless... 😊

Thanks, Everyone! More news as soon as we get it!

Production well under way...
9 months ago – Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 04:22:50 PM

Hi everyone!

I hope you're having a fine week so far. A couple of you have requested an update, and while there's not much to report during this phase of production, we did receive a few proofs from the printer just today that we can share. Take a look!

The factory sent us a "wet proof" of the hardcover to test the layout and density of the foil screens. Looks pretty good!

The resolution of detail is impressive, and we're excited to see this come together with the final materials. (Please take note that the flat golden/tan you see is not the actual color that will be used for the final foil design -- the finished books will have a more metallic/reflective foil stamping. We're aiming for a slightly red-ish copper tone, like the original French edition, in case you have seen that.)

They also sent us a hand-built mockup of the slipcase so that they could determine the final measurements for the artwork. What you see in the image below is hand cut-and-glued, printed on simple inkjet paper as a prototype. The magenta elements indicate what will be foil stamping (like the books).

The coin is real, too! While this is just a prototype, it is metal and it feels very nice, fitting into the slipcase design like a charm. (No pun intended...)

Now that the proofs have all been approved and materials/foils have been selected, the factory should be able to begin manufacturing next week. They anticipate having everything ready to ship by the end of January, hoping to get them out the door to us before Chinese New Year. Based on that assumption, we should have them in mid/late March for an April fulfillment.

These are going to be some beautiful books! 😊