Friday update smorgasborg!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 05:57:22 PM

Daymakers!

Making some good progress this week, guys! Thanks to all our new backers for boarding the Daybreak! express this week, we're glad to have you aboard. 

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS

We're currently only about $1000 shy of the initial funding goal with 13 days left in the campaign.  A couple of new rewards were added yesterday to try to keep Daybreak running up that hill and yes, that's a Stranger Things reference because one of the rewards is an add-on of the Stranger Things Summer Special (written by me) that was just released by Dark Horse. For an additional $10, you can have an autographed copy included with your Daybreak #2 swag.  I think there are 8 copies remaining as I type these words.

The other new reward is an original inked head sketch (9x12, character of your choice) by me. There are 4 slots left, one was picked up yesterday. Because Stefan Tosheff lives in Canada, we realized if we were going to offer art rewards for this campaign, it was logistically simpler if I produce them this time around. So yeah, there's that too. 

BULLET POINT 2  

I was invited to appear on BLAKE'S BUZZ the other night to help promote Daybreak! #2, along with Michael Katz (of Riot Earp fame, which you can always check out  BY CLICKING THESE WORDS RIGHT HERE)  and a couple of other nice fellows. It was a lengthy show, about two hours, and somehow Blake's energy level was as high at the end as it was from the beginning (I suspect crystal meth). But we managed to squeeze in some talk about this project and if you'd like to fast forward to the good parts (Batman's penis came up a surprising amount), you can check that out RIGHT HERE! See how many times you can spot me secretly checking my phone to see what time it was while other people were talking.

TODAY'S PLUG! 

If you're into manga, allow me to introduce to to DEMON HUNTER RAVEN, by Nicholas Mueller. My son Gabe is big into anime and manga so I'm going to back this one for him.  DHR is chock full of Demon Hunting, a Light Stone, Vampires and more! 

There are options to catch up on the earlier volumes of the series (I'm going to do a print copy of the 4th volume and a digital catch up of the rest) and hopefully, my 12-year old will appreciate my efforts to get him to read more.  If you've got a 12-year that needs to read more and is into manga, or if you need to read more and are into manga yourself, get to clickity-clicking over to

 DEMON HUNTER RAVEN!

That's all for today, Daymakers! Everyone have a great weekend, maybe do a little sharing of this campaign if you're so inclined, and maybe by next week's update we'll all be celebrating hitting our funding goal. Dare to dream, dream to dare.

Your pal,

Keith Champagne

WEEK TWO BEGINS!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 02:11:33 PM

Daymakers! 

Thank Zeus the first week is over, these campaigns are so stressful. 

Week two is upon us and we're facing it over 60% funded. We've been slow and steady since the first 48 hours, which is pretty typical. New Pain is trying some different things behind the scenes for this campaign, paying for clicks on social media and giving a test run to a KS marketing group to try to widen the reach of the campaign. We'll see if any of it pushes us further towards the goal; I'm skeptical but it never hurts to try something new. 

I'll be appearing on a couple of podcasts to help promote the campaign, starting with Blake's Buzz tomorrow night at 10:00 EST with Riot Earp himself, Michael "cool" Katz.  So we'll see how it goes. I think we're in good shape to reach our goal but by all means, please share out the bit.ly/daybreakreturns link to your circles and help us out. Check out the last update for the raffle prize for those of you that take the time to share.

For the new backers that have joined us since the last update, or some of you that don't read every update,  New Pain is offering a signed/numbered limited edition package of Daybreak prints only to backers of this campaign.  Only 25 of these sets are being produced and they'll come in a swanky, exclusive Daybreak envelope. These prints will never be offered on the main campaign page and also will never be reprinted. There will never be a 26th. Here's what's included:

If you would like one of these limited edition Daybreak Print Packages, all you need to do is add $40 to your account and leave a comment on the KS page or  ON THIS UPDATE. New Pain will verify and reserve one for you. They're first come, first serve so the first person that jumped in got 1/25, the 2nd got 2/25 and so on.

Will Allred was nice enough to boost our campaign to his backers so I wanted to return the favor and point you in the direction of  CROSSOVER DIVISION, which currently has 10 days remaining and is powering to its next stretch goal. 

"When stories come to life and threaten to fracture reality beyond repair, only an English professor and a research librarian have the knowledge and smarts to save us all. Join Hank Wallace and Hector Ramirez in Crossover Division #4 as a Shakespearean tragedy unfolds in a small, midwestern town! Hank and Hector encounter the mysterious Betsy while trying to end the crossover and prevent Shakespearean tragedy from engulfing the world."

I backed this one and if you want to be more like me (and who doesn't?!), the link is right HERE! 

And finally, a sneak peek at Daybreak #2. Here's a quick look at an early stage of one of the likeness rewards from the first campaign as backer SCOTT REICH makes his comic book debut as the kind-of-nasty REICH WING. 

That's all for today, Daymakers. Keep fighting the good fight with us. There are a lot of incredible, higher profile projects running on Kickstarter right now so let's not get lost in the shuffle.

Your pal,

Keith Champagne

PS- a special HELLO to my wonderful cousin Claire Champagne! 

Update #2: Raffle reward and Special backers-only offer!
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 18, 2022 at 09:40:22 AM

Daymakers! 

If you're keeping track at home (I am!), on the 4th day of this campaign we are 50% funded with 100 backers. That's kinda cool, right? We just need to double both those numbers over the next 18 days (this is a shorter campaign, ending on August 4th), and we've got ourselves a real, live comic book, folks! The first Daybreak! campaign funded in five days and I don't think we're going to match that rate but we're still getting there and that's half the fun.

As I often say,  the easiest way to draw new backers in, like flies to flypaper, is if you guys can help us get the word out. Just share the link (bit.ly/daybreakreturns) and include #daybreakreturns with your post and when the campaign successfully ends, we'll have our customary raffle. This time, the prize is going to be:

An exclusive, one-of-a-kind (there will never be another) custom-made FUNKO POP of Daybreak herself, created by MYCUSTOMPOP.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the Daybreak Pop yet (AARRGHH!!) but here's a custom job that MyCustomPop created of another New Pain character, Electricia, to give you at least a rough idea of what we're giving away. 

So by all means, share away and THANK YOU for your help! I'm rooting for YOU to win!

SPEAKING OF ELECTRICIA... 

The first appearance of the supervillain SNOW (who dukes it out with Daybreak this issue), is in the Hardcover Graphic Novel THE SWITCH: ELECTRICIA by myself, Tom Nguyen and Robb Miller. For anyone interested in grabbing Snow's first appearance (everything becomes a movie these days, right?), 10 copies of the graphic novel have been listed as Add-Ons to this campaign. Supplies of this book are super limited, only a total of 10 are available, limited to one per backer. If you want to add one to your Daybreak package, now may be the time to do so.

EXCLUSIVE BACKERS-ONLY OFFER

Finally today, speaking of add ons...

New Pain is offering a signed/numbered limited edition package of Daybreak prints only to existing backers of this campaign.  Only 25 of these bad girls are being produced and they'll come in a swanky, exclusive Daybreak envelope. These prints will never be offered on the main campaign page and also will never be reprinted. There will never be a 26th. Here's what's included:

If you would like one of these limited edition Daybreak Print Packages, all you need to do is add $40 to your account and leave a comment on the KS page or  ON THIS UPDATE. New Pain will verify and reserve one for you. I'm told they're first come, first serve so the first person to claim one gets 1/25, the 2nd 2/25 and so on. 

And Tom Nguyen's naked cover will be uncensored, obviously.

That's all for today, Daymakers. Thanks for your continued support, which includes taking the time to wade through my long-ass updates. We'll see you at the start of week two to give you all the latest news from behind-the-scenes.

Your pal,

Keith Champagne

Update 1 for Daybreak! #1-2
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 18, 2022 at 09:37:33 AM

Daymakers! 

I wanted to pop in this morning and thank you all for joining us on this new chapter of Daybreak's adventure! Whether you're returning for this second issue or just jumped on board for the first time, the New Pain crew can't thank you enough for your support.  Stefan Tosheff and I really tried to up the game in every way in this second issue and we're excited to get our baby out into the world. But none of it happens without you guys and that's something we never forget.

The first day of the campaign was great! We're currently almost 50% funded which is a pretty strong start, right? On the flip side of that, and this could just be me over-worrying, the first issue of Daybreak! had a stronger launch. It was surprising to me when I compared the metrics and saw this campaign trending a little lower. So we'll be doing our best to push the boulder up the hill. 

I always ask you guys, like a broken record sometimes, if you can share the campaign out on your social media platforms too. For instance, only 8% of my followers on Instagram saw the announcement I posted about the campaign's launch yesterday; the algorithms are brutal.  

So it genuinely helps if, when you guys see one of my or the team's posts, you share it out to your own circles. At the end of every campaign, I always run a raffle as an extra way of saying thanks. I'm still deciding what the prize may be this time around (maybe some original art or a romantic evening with Tom Nguyen), but if you include the hashtag #daybreakreturns, that helps us keep track of the shares and make sure everyone that participates is entered to win. 

We have some great ideas for additional rewards to add over the course of the campaign; in fact, the legendary Karl Kesel himself floated a cool concept my way yesterday. So keep your eyes peeled and let's try to make the next few weeks fun.

Before I let you all go, I wanted to direct your attention to a few projects that I'm currently backing. Maybe you'll like them too, who knows? First up...

THRILLING ADVENTURE YARNS 2022

I backed this project mainly because there are few people in the industry I appreciate more than Bob Greenberger, who is spearheading and editing this pulp anthology. When I was in my early 20's and just getting going at DC Comics, Bob always had a smile and a friendly word for me and I remember two things in life: the people that treated me right and the people that didn't.

This year's edition of Thrilling Adventure Yarns is another love letter to the pulp fiction of days past and even includes an unpublished story by Lester Dent, the creator of Doc Savage. There's also a laundry list of contributors you may have heard of, including:

David Gerrold, Aaron Rosenberg, Bart Sears & Michelle Sears, Geoffrey Thorne, Glenn Hauman, Greg Cox, Hildy Silverman, Jean Rabe. Jenifer Rosenberg, Jody Lynn Nye, Kathleen David, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Lucienne Diver, Mark Verheiden, Mary Fan, Michael Jan Friedman, Paul Kupperberg, Raymond Benson, Caitlin Rozakis, Russ Colchamiro, and Will Murray.

Pretty great, right? By all means, I strongly encourage you to check out THRILLING ADVENTURE YARNS HERE! 

RED, WHITE AND BROKE

Creator Mike Spring was kind enough to back Microscopic #1, New Pain's last project, and I wanted to direct your attention to his campaign, which currently has 8 days remaining and is getting super close to its funding goal. 

In the campaign's own words: meet Robert Rhodes, better known as Captain Stronghold, one of America's most well-loved superheroes. He's super-strong, he can fly, and he's adored by millions. He's also FLAT BROKE. Busted. Bankrupt. Being a superhero is surprisingly expensive and it's hard to keep a job when you keep disappearing for hours at a time to save people's lives. So Captain Stronghold goes on national television to reveal his secret identity and to turn to the people he's saved countless times for help... financial help! That's right, the world's most beloved superhero is launching a crowdfunding campaign to fund his super heroics!

If you like your comics with a lot of heart and a little comedy, this is a good fit for you. Mike also has an homage variant cover by Russ Braun, artist of The Boys. You can check out  RED, WHITE AND BROKE by clicking these words! 

And finally...

RIOT EARP 2

Michael Katz launched his campaign for Riot Earp 2 yesterday, right after the very quick and successful fulfillment of his first campaign.  EARP is a sexy little sci-fi thrill ride, equal parts HAN SOLO and CNN, set in a near-future (2055) that doesn't seem especially far fetched in these turbulent times. 

Also, fans of the TV Show PSYCH will be pleased to see the two actors from that show, Dule Hill and James Roday, guest-starring in this chapter of Earp. I'm not sure how Mike got them into the book, I'll have to ask him sometime. But that's a cool bit of business for sure. Be sure to check out RIOT EARP 2 in your search for worthwhile comics to read. 

That's all for today, guys (thank god, amirite?)! Don't worry, not every update will be this long but it was important to me to get the word out about those three projects. I'll be back in a few days with the announcement of the raffle prize and all the latest news about Daybreak! #2.

Thanks again,

Keith Champagne