TLDR: Getting a little personal, achievements, stickers, and more cool rewards!
Hi everyone!
First off, I want to thank you all for supporting this project, and I'd like to get a little more personal than I usually do. If you don't want to read it, you can scroll down, I'll indicate where my rambling stops so you can read about news from the campaign!:)
I became a scientist and worked in research for more than a decade now because I have this need to understand things. Really understand them as much as I can.
When I sat down to write Back To Earth, it was one of the few times in my life that I was overwhelmed. I needed to get the angst and introspection about the future out. So I imagined a future not far from now where technology has taken over every aspect of life. From cyborgs to literal robots, this world became a mix of Blade Runner and The Last Of Us. But then things caught up with what was left of humanity, and the apocalypse hit. What then? What happens when everything seems to have collapsed?!
It's easy to break things. It's harder to rebuild them.
Through time, I realized that when facing hardships, what counts above all are the connections we made along the way. I wanted to channel that in this story. When you can count on people, and they can count on you. The true spirit of community. But also on a deep personal level of that ONE person who sticks with you through thick and thin. You are stronger because they are by your side, and you can face anything. They are your best friend, your lover, your world.
Enter Sasha and Leora and their exceptional bond. It's a love story for the ages in a way.
Anyway, as soon as I finished the script, I only had one artist's name in mind: Kej. I collaborated with them previously—albeit briefly—for my debut graphic novel Kiwi, and I knew they'd be the perfect match for this deeply emotional story. I was thrilled when they read it and accepted to jump on board.
What followed was a year full of discussions about world building, about those characters that became family, and gorgeous art at every step of the way. Kej (and Ines) are dream collaborators, and in my opinion they should be on everyone's radar. They bring beauty and uniqueness to the table in ways I can't even describe (and I'm supposed to be the writer here haha).
They made literal magic with my words.
What you're seeing in this project is only the beginning. We have more in store for you, and if you give us a chance we aim to bring you this specific graphic novel, but also more queer stories full of heart in the future!
ENOUGH WORDS HAVE BEEN TYPED! ONTO THE FUN NEWS ABOUT THIS CAMPAIGN!We officially surpassed 50% funding! We're actually more than half of the way there! We can do it!
It also means that we unlocked two new stickers since last time I posted an update, so here are all the currently unlocked designs:
Aren't they so pretty? Which is your favourite so far? The cyborg's arm floating in water? The wind chime made of robots remains? Sasha's backpack with Twinkle the star? Sasha's side view? The pinky fingers hold? The sequoia with pine cone split horizontally as comics panels? Let us know! :)
As hinted at previously, we have some fun surprises for you all! As you already saw on the campaign page, as soon as we get funded, everyone is getting a high-res wallpaper from Liana Kangas, and the oversized sticker sheet/digital wallpaper of them by Vern, but there's more!
We are thrilled to announce that
as soon as we get funded, all backers at the Budding Tier or higher will also instantly get three extra prints added to their packages. Those prints will be of exclusive illustrations by Fell Hound, Emily Schnall, and Natasha Alterici (it was a stretch goal, but why wait? With Natasha, we agreed that it would be instantly activated upon funding!). The illustrations will be slowly unveiled in the next few weeks leading to the end of the campaign, but with them you can bet they're going to be gorgeous!
We are currently working on updating the main page to reflect this update in rewards, but all the creators have already been added to the Team section :)
We are also in talks for another quite exciting bonus to offer upon funding (hint: might be a variant cover) so stay tuned for updates on that front.
That's all for now! We're wishing you a wonderful weekend, and thank you again for the support everyone :)
Cheers,
MH, Kej & Ines
