Missed the Kickstarter? You can still support us and pick up issues 1-3 in printed or digital formats! Don't miss out!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
TEN DAYS TO GO and 85% Funded!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 10:09:42 AM
Today's social media posting
We have just TEN short days left to get this book funded and we're less than $900 away from the goal!
One of our backers, "Comic Book John", posted: "...it's criminal it hasn't funded yet." I COMPLETELY AGREE. And I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
So let's make that big push and GET THIS BOOK FUNDED TODAY! Beg your family, friends, neighbors, and total strangers to come in here and back us!
2 weeks left and we still need backers!
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 04:41:15 PM
We're currently (as of this writing) at 75%. If just FIFTY people backed us at the $25 ("Printed #3") tier, we'd be funded! The worry would end and the party would begin!
You may be wondering about why I charge $25 for a single comic book. When you buy a Spider-Man comic book, for example, the creators have already been paid for their work. The publisher is counting on lots of people buying the issue and so they can print it at high volumes, getting their printing prices at $1.00 or less per printed book and so they can sell it at the current going rate of $3.99.
For Shaolin Nun #3, we haven't drawn the issue yet. Likewise, we haven't inked it, colored it, or lettered it, either. Each of those tasks takes an artist that I pay to make it happen. I pay them what they ask to be paid. And that sets the rate of the book (and the amount we need to fundraise).
For these "Kickstarter editions," my initial printing is 200 copies. That makes the price to create these books around $24.00/each. So what you're REALLY paying for is to have the issue created for you.
Fifty people buying one of these, and we're done!
So now, tell your friends, family, and total strangers to back us!
If they worry they missed #1 and #2, let them know they can get them as digital add-ons for $5/each, OR they can pick up a printed set for just $40!
72% Funded With ONLY 15 Days To Go!
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 06:56:06 AM
We're coming down to the wire, my friends! I always want these campaigns to be easy. I mean, I see Kickstarters fully fund in a day, or a week--I would have been happy with a month. But it seems like I'm once-again having to push until the very last minute to make our funding goals.
As always I've got some pretty amazing backers. Several of you have upped your donation amount, moved up reward tiers, and dragged your friends and family here to back us. That's so amazing to me and I'm so grateful every time I see one of you do that. Thank you.
But we can't rely on these same folks to push us the rest of the way to our funding goal! Everybody needs to keep pushing and promoting this book right up to the last day!
As I've said, the first eight pages of issue 3 were simply a joy to write. Like at the start of issue 2, I take the time to tell more of Mei Yin's backstory. And the emotions and imagery just came to me without any effort or need for drastic rewriting. When I got stuck on issues 4, 5, and 6, I would open the issue 3 script and read those eight pages to get re-focused. I want to share one page of the script with you. It's out of context, so you would need to read the issue to understand all of the imagery, but I think it's some of my best writing:
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Page 3 - 5 panels
Panel 1: It’s a few days later at dawn. MEI YIN is in the courtyard where they were training on pages 1 and 2. She is embracing a fellow nun (decide what this nun looks like, I’m going to tell her story in issue #9 and have her show up in California around issue 19 or 20). The nun is slightly younger than Mei Yin and has just earned her Jieba. Others have gathered around, including a few lay people. BAI LIANHUA and the elders are smiling in the back. MEI YIN is in her long grey robe, brown cassock and Buddha beads. She has a cloth bag slung over her shoulder, carrying the meager possessions that she is permitted to carry, but it’s quite full, as she now has a new saffron robe and red cassock inside.
NO COPY
Panel 2: She is about to push open the gate. The other sisters are all smiling behind her. She’s looking at it with some astonishment at what she can see, but we can’t.
NO COPY
Panel 3: We see a close-up of the gate with MEI YIN’s hands on it. The board that she broke in the previous scene has been replaced. It’s clearly a newer board, waiting for time and weather to stain it to match the rest of the wood. In the center of this board is the Chinese character for “arrow” 矢, expertly carved through the wood.
1. CAPTION (ED): Arrow
Panel 4: MEI YIN’s face, still looking at the carving. She is smiling at this parting gift. A tear is running down her cheek. They will never forget her as long as this gate stands.
NO COPY
Panel 5: In the foreground, the sisters are leaving the courtyard. In the background MEI YIN is walking down a mountain path, about to begin her next adventure. The “arrow” gate has shut behind her.
NO COPY
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I can't wait for Greg to draw this page! I can't wait for Greg to draw this issue! But as you know, he can't start until we know we're funded.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, "all this touchy-feely stuff is fine, but what about the action? This is supposed to be a Kung Fu book, where's the fighting?"
My plan for the story was to continue to escalate Mei Yin's Kung Fu battles with each issue--upping the threat levels and getting her closer to a fight that will challenge her in every way. I'm afraid you have to wait for issue #6 for that final fight, but issue 3 has a fight that still makes my heart race when I read over it!
Mei Yin takes on four armed gunmen who are shooting at the two detectives we met in issue 2 in what I can only describe as a "car fight." I mean, the cover gives you an idea, but you'll want to see it all!
So, maybe if you backed us at the digital level, you might want to get issue 3 as a physical issue? Don't worry about the first two issues, you can get printed versions of those as well, OR you can select digital copies of 1 and 2 as add-ons to issue 3.
GOD SUMMONERS
I came across another Kickstarter comic that caught my eye (and my support) this week. The God Summoners:
God Summoner is a Dark Fantasy Adventure inspired by Greece’s history of ancient wars, old gods, mythical beings, and forbidden lands. In the parallel world of Zaros, the Grand Summoner Yram sends her blood-thirsty Inquisitors to search the land for a girl named Adelice Belmont who possesses the powers of a God Summoner, something which Yram needs to fulfill her plans.
The story follows Adelice and her struggle to return to her family, alive. In her journey, she teams up with a resistance group known as the Infidels and together go on an adventure to bring back the Old Gods and bring down Yram's regime. In her journey, she soon comes across the Infidels and teams up with the rugged but friendly Barthel, the adventurous Malik, sweet but brave Kasmara, and the anthropomorphic, mute crow, McKlein. Together they venture into various locations throughout the realm such as the dreaded Marana Prison, the Icy Northern Territories of Orobaskara, the wasteland of Athabaskara, the gigantic Citadel, and the sprawling, haunting city of Mitropolis.
The team must do everything in their power to stop Yram before she casts away the Old Gods forever, thus dooming Adelice’s family and the entire Realm.
