KICKSTARTER FULFILLMENT UPDATE

Hello everyone,

I want to give you an important update regarding fulfillment of the campaign and a completely unexpected situation that has affected the production of some of our printed books.

Up until now, everything had been moving along very well. We had placed several orders with our printer, Comix Wellspring, received multiple prototypes and samples, and were moving through production as planned.

Then, without warning, we received notification that Comix Wellspring had halted production and would not be completing outstanding orders.

According to the announcement posted on their website, Comix Wellspring, which is owned and operated by Carta Finishing, encountered unforeseen operational challenges that forced them to suspend new orders and halt production. They also stated that orders that had not been completed would be fully refunded.

I am including a copy of their announcement with this update so that everyone can see exactly what we received.

In my 35 years of publishing, I have never had anything like this happen before.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that Comix Wellspring was an excellent printer to work with. Their print quality, service, communication, and customer support were excellent from top to bottom. In many respects, they were far beyond many of the other printers I have worked with over the years. We had every reason to believe the remaining books would continue through production normally.

Unfortunately, this was something completely outside of our control.

DIGITAL REWARDS:
Nothing changes. If your rewards are digital, they will continue to be delivered as planned.

STARTER PACKS & MYSTERY BOXES:
These are primarily made up of books and merchandise that we already have in inventory, so those rewards will continue to be fulfilled immediately.

The same applies to certain other printed add-ons that we already have on hand.

BOOKS THAT HAD NOT YET BEEN PRINTED:
This is where the change occurs.

Several books were already in the production process with Comix Wellspring when production was halted. Those books will now have to be produced by different printers.

The important news is that I have already sourced two replacement printers, and some of the books are already moving into production. I am also going through the onboarding and proofing process with the new printers to make sure files, specifications, print quality, shipping, and every other part of production are handled correctly.

The replacement printers are aware of what happened with Comix Wellspring and are working with publishers like myself who have suddenly been affected by this situation.

So I want to make one thing very clear:

The books are still being produced. They will be completed, and they will be delivered to everyone who is supposed to receive them.

This situation has caused an unexpected delay and has required us to move portions of the production process to new companies, but fulfilling this campaign remains my top priority.

I will continue to keep everyone updated as the books move through the new production process.

I also want to say how much I appreciate everyone’s patience and support. You guys have been amazing, and I don’t take that support for granted. When something like this happens, the most important thing I can do is be transparent with you, solve the problem, and keep moving forward.

And that is exactly what I am doing.

This situation has also caused me to take a serious look at the way we structure future campaigns.

Many of our upcoming campaigns will focus much more heavily on digital rewards, Starter Packs, and Mystery Boxes using inventory that we already have available.

I am also going to make a fundamental change in the way we produce and offer newly printed comics so that situations like this have far less impact on fulfillment in the future.

I will share much more information about those changes once we have gotten through the current production transition and the remaining books are safely moving toward completion.

For now, please don’t worry.

The books will be produced.
The rewards will be fulfilled.
And I will take care of it.

Thank you again for your patience, your understanding, and especially your continued support.

— Kirk Lindo
Creator & Publisher