Our new campaign is live: MY FRIEND TOBY!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Apr 04, 2023 at 07:20:23 AM

Hi everyone!

We wanted to let you know that our next Kickstarter campaign is now live, and we'd really love it if you would check it out and support this new project! 😊 It is quite different from FALSE GUARD or any of our previous campaigns, but we love it just the same (and hope you will, too):

We love animals. We are big proponents of animal rights and wildlife exploration, with no less than 20 books in our catalog focused on animal tales. From kid's books to all-ages-wildlife adventures, we’ve got graphic novels for animal lovers of all types. April is Animal Cruelty Prevention month, and we are planning a number of things to support that noble cause, starting with our next Kickstarter for MY FRIEND TOBY!

MY FRIEND TOBY is a 144-page, wordless canine adventure about a simple terrier living a simple life with his human friend Marcel, a heartbroken artist who is having trouble making ends meet. But Toby doesn’t know anything about money or bills or electricity; he’s happy as long as there is food in his bowl and new territory to claim in the neighborhood. To him, everything is fine... at least until a stray cat appears, bringing all kinds of questions (and maybe a few unexpected answers)…

This book is adorable, and I’m not kidding when I say I laughed out loud a few times “reading” it. Yes, it is wordless, but it captures the language-less mindset of a dog in a way that seems both perfectly understandable and scientifically plausible. Triple-Eisner Award-nominee Gregory Panaccione (A SEA OF LOVE) is an animation industry storyboard artist turned graphic novelist, and his expert pacing and cinematic eye give this heartwarming story a truly cinematic feature quality.

To help tie MY FRIEND TOBY to our Cruelty Prevention efforts, we will be making an independent donation to the Anti-Cruelty Society based on the campaign’s performance. Kickstarter doesn’t allow pledge funds to be used for charity, or to make it sound like any portion of raised funds will be used as such, but we’ve worked with Kickstarter Trust & Safety Committee to approve our initiative to make a completely independent private donation based on how well the campaign does.

So please consider backing MY FRIEND TOBY to not only get a wonderful graphic novel (or graphic novels, plural – we have several bundles with exclusive bonus items!), but to also help some needy animals find good homes in the process. 😊 

Thanks, everyone! We hope to see you there! ❤
 

More Martial Arts Action! Get ready for THE MONKEY KING launching TOMORROW!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 04:31:16 AM

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update on what’s happening as of today, October 17th –

You may have seen mention of our next campaign on social media (or maybe even your inbox, if you’re on our mailing list) – we’re extremely excited for tomorrow’s launch of THE MONKEY KING graphic novel campaign!

If you aren’t familiar with the legend of The Monkey King or are only passingly familiar with the ancient Chinese fantasy epic Journey to the West, it is the story of Sun Wukong, a divine monkey born from a stone who gains supernatural knowledge and power. His mischievous nature and pride put him at odds with the heavens, and he is sentenced to escort a monk on an epic journey filled with magic and danger to redeem himself. It is like a Wushu Wizard of Oz, arguably the most well-known fantasy tale worldwide. This 320-page graphic novel retelling by artist/author Chaiko is a feast for the eyes and imagination!

As usual, we are giving away FREE linen cardstock prints to those who pre-register their pledge, PLUS everyone who pre-registers is signed up for a chance to win one of three 10” metal replicas of Wukong’s famous staff. (Pledging is not required to sign up for the giveaway, but if you do pledge, we will duplicate your entry so that your odds are DOUBLED!)

Please check out the campaign when it launches tomorrow! We think you’ll really love this book, and a strong first day will help us out immensely!

You may be thinking “wow, Neurobellum sure does launch a lot of projects… didn’t TEMUDJIN just end a few weeks ago?” Well, it was seven weeks ago, but you’d still be right – we freely admit that in today’s economy, Kickstarter has become a real cornerstone for our business. We try to schedule them with a comfortable gap between the close of one and the launch of another, but as you might expect, fulfillment does quite often overlap. Over the past year and half, we’ve tried to take advantage of those overlapping campaigns to offer pledge-bundling opportunities to save you (a not-insignificant amount) on shipping. This has worked out pretty well so far, and we’ve been pretty punctual in hitting our promised ship dates, particularly for domestic/North American orders. (International turnaround has proven to be a continuing challenge, though, and we’re working with our fulfillment partners to reduce the extra slow shipping time that International backers have had to wait… We appreciate your patience, fans abroad!)

We’re incredibly proud of the community we’ve built here on Kickstarter. You all are OUTSTANDING, and as a platform, this is by far our favorite stage upon which to engage some truly passionate, discerning, and enthusiastic fans such as yourselves. We’ve made some real friends here, and we’re thrilled to see so many people return from one campaign to the next! On average, 5-18% of each subsequent campaign is made up of return backers, which means that each new project brings 82-95% new fans into the fold! That’s what really excites us about Kickstarter – the opportunity to expose as many people to these fabulous books as possible. Hopefully, as a backer of this campaign, you would agree that these books and authors deserve it. 😊

If you are one of those wonderful repeat backers, you’ll probably see this update cut-and-pasted to a number of different campaigns – while we know that some of you might see this more than once, we want to be sure that everyone hears about the latest project and discovery opportunity. So please forgive us for any redundancy in your inbox knowing that those duplicates are meant for the rest of the backers who might only have followed this one campaign. 😊

Thanks, everyone! Hope to see you on MONKEY KING tomorrow!

Shipping complete! Get ready for TEMUDJIN!
over 1 year ago – Sun, Aug 21, 2022 at 04:56:12 PM

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to share two things:

1) SHIPPING IS COMPLETE! Spiral Galaxy has reported that all packages are out the door, so if you haven't received yours or a tracking number at least, please message us and we can investigate for you.

2) Hopefully you've received your stuff and are absolutely over the moon with how awesome it all is. And hopefully, that will make you even more hungry for our next great graphic novel campaign launching on Tuesday --

A child is born in an ancient and distant land, celebrated by the shaman Ozbeg who senses the spirit of greatness inside him. Orphaned at birth, the shaman takes the boy in and names him Temudjin in anticipation of the man he is destined to become. But first, he must be guided and trained to listen to the spirits of nature around him, for one day, he will lead the Mongol clans to glory as the reborn Genghis Khan. A lushly illustrated fantasy graphic novel about a man torn between free will and destiny by Antoine Ozanam and Antoine Carrion.

You know we know our stuff when it comes to EYE-POPPING GRAPHIC NOVELS, and TEMUDJIN is at the top of the list when it comes to excellence. We have been huge fans of Antoine Carrion's art since publishing NILS: THE TREE OF LIFE last year, and one could argue that TEMUDJIN is even more beautiful (if you can believe it).

This is a gallery-sized 9x12" hardcover edition featuring a reflective silver foil cover with signature curved corners. In addition to the standalone book, we are also offering a campaign-exclusive “Journeyman” bundle that includes a numbered bookplate, four exclusive linen cardstock prints, a metal Chingiss era replica coin, and the hardcover book within a printed 13×16″ cotton drawstring satchel.

Check out the PRE-REGISTRATION page to get a sneak peek at that beautiful bundle, and to sign up for a FREE linen cardstock print with your pledge.

The campaign will go live at 10 am CST this Tuesday, August 23rd, and will only last 10 Days, ending the following Friday, September 2nd!

We really hope you will join us! There will be some very limited items and cool stretch goals, so the more people we can bring in on Day 1, the better we'll rank on Kickstarter's discovery carousel. Your support would be greatly appreciated! (Plus, you just don't want to miss out on this book. It is a must-have.)

Thanks, everyone!

FALSE GUARD shipping complete! Get ready for MAGNETIC-CON!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jul 16, 2022 at 07:59:54 PM

Hi everyone!

We're happy to report that Spiral Galaxy has completed all EU/UK order shipments! That means that ALL FALSE GUARD SHIPPING IS NOW COMPLETE! The international portion took much longer than expected (for the many varied reasons recounted along the way), but we are confident that international order fulfillment will be much quicker moving forward, avoiding the numerous pitfalls that unfortunately besieged this particular project.

If you haven't received your pledge or at the very least tracking info, please message us and we'll look into it for you. Chances are you may have completed your survey late (or haven't completed it at all). We will begin a second wave of late-survey shipments in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, we'd like to invite you to join us next Tuesday for (drumroll)...

MAGNETIC-CON 2022!

Can't make it to San Diego Comic-Con next week? No problem! While we won't have a booth at that show this year, we are instead launching a VIRTUAL Convention Booth on Kickstarter! Not only will we be offering the premiere edition of the MAGNETIC-CON Comic Art Book filled with some amazing talent, but you'll also have a crack at one of only 500 VIP Loot Boxes filled with TWO new books and a huge haul of exclusive collectibles!

The first 1000 copies will include a FREE Magnetic-Con lanyard and PVC badge... just like attending a live convention!

Each of the 500 VIP Loot Boxes will include TWO new books selected around 5 different themes to choose from. A $125 value for only $60!

But the most exciting part for our supportive and regular Kickstarter followers is what awaits in Backerkit after the 10-day Kickstarter campaign is done...

OVER 120 BOOKS and COLLECTIBLE ITEMS will be available as Backerkit Add-ons for you to supplement your order, covering a wide range of product categories!

Missed out on some collectible stretch goal items from previous Kickstarter campaigns? We’ve collected the rare remainders so that you can have one more crack at them! Maximize your shipping by loading up on a list of books you've had your eye on!

Categories will include:

• Selected new and backlist Magnetic Press book releases
• Limited Edition linen cardstock prints by hot artists including Peach Momoko and Karl Kerschl. Less than 100 of these are available!
• Rare Bonus Sketchbooks for titles such as PARIS 2119, ASTER OF PAN, SMALL WORLD, and SHANGRI-LA. Very limited quantities left!
• Past campaign Challenge Coins – yes, you read that right! We’ve got a few dozen coins left over from some of our previous campaigns… now’s your chance to complete your collection!
• Rare remaining soundtrack vinyl singles from ASTER OF PAN, SMALL WORLD, and SHANGRI-LA
• Plus an assortment of other previous campaign stretch goal items, including lapel pins, patches, postcards, and bookmarks!

Pre-register your pledge TODAY to get a two-sided mini-poster with artwork by Tony Sandoval and Chaiko added to your pledge for FREE!

We are really looking forward to launching this (non-)Con virtual convention booth experiment on Tuesday at 10am CST, and hope you'll join us! If it takes off, we'd love to make it an annual event (maybe even with actual convention stuff like online panels with creators, contests, and more)!

So please pre-register today and join us on Tuesday! We hope to see you there! 🤩

An overdue update (for those UK/EU friends still waiting)...
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 09:50:05 AM

Hi everyone,

We hope this finds you well -- we're getting reports that orders to UK/EU backers are starting to be received... thank you for your patience! As the very last group to get theirs, it has been a long wait, fraught with a mindboggling sequence of unexpected and unusual challenges, but Spiral Galaxy has been rolling orders out the door in a steady stream for the past week or so, and we are told that stream will continue until the rest have been sent.  As of today's report via QML, they expect to wrap up next week, but please note that's just speculation until it is finished -- just as the past 6 weeks have hit them with a parade of challenges, we can only hope the next 7-10 days remain clear.

While 90+% of you have received your stuff, we did want to express our gratitude to those UK/EU backers still waiting. We posted some thoughts on the matter over on the SHANGRI-LA Kickstarter page (which we thought we'd share here too since FALSE GUARD shipped with that one, and some of you UK/EU backers here might fall into the same audience). TLDR: We understand and share your frustration over the unfortunate and unusual delay you wonderful few have endured, and understand any future choices this experience might influence, but we are committed to doing what is necessary to prevent such delays from happening again. 😊

If you are still waiting or have any questions about your pledge or anything else, please feel free to message us!