Our new campaign is live: MY FRIEND TOBY!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Apr 04, 2023 at 11:22:59 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 SMALL WORLD 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! ❤
 

Your next favorite Kickstarter project: THE MONKEY KING! Launching tomorrow!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 02:42:10 PM

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!

A modern miracle: The PEACH MOMOKO variants have been found! 😳
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 12:09:39 PM

Hi everyone!

I bring you this update still a bit in shock and disbelief... I'm sure some of you (165 of you to be exact) recall the frustrating and disappointing loss of a full pallet of Peach Momoko variant cover books in transit to Quartermaster last October. Because of that lost pallet, we had to send some of you a copy of the original cover edition instead, which was understandably disappointing to some avid Peach Momoko collectors.

Well, imagine our reaction when, almost a year later from out of the blue, that lost pallet arrived at our warehouse dock without any advance notice or fanfare. 😔😟😶🤩

There was no explanation from the trucking company and we still have no idea where it spent the last 10 months or so, but we have them now. About 400 copies of the Peach Momoko variant cover of SMALL WORLD are in hand!

So what does this mean for those of you who got a standard copy replacement?

We absolutely want to give you original backers a fair shot and first access to those limited copies. If you are one of those 165 backers who received an original cover replacement, we can offer you a Peach edition for half-price ($15). We understand many of you may not feel the need to have both copies, and only some of you may have been specifically looking for the Peach collectible edition, and if you are in that second category, that's an amazingly low price for what is indeed extremely limited inventory.

How do you go about ordering a copy?

As these will be shipped individually from our webstore warehouse, you will need to place your order through our webstore. Since we want to give you a first crack at the available copies, it is currently only accessible throughthis secret link: https://www.magnetic-press.com/small-world-peach-momoko-variant/

*** If you received a Terada cover with your pledge instead of a Peach Momoko cover, simply message us here on Kickstarter and we will reply with a unique discount code that will take $15 off of the price at check out.***

Since these are shipping separately, you will be required to cover any necessary shipping costs on this new order, BUT... we can ship it to you for FREE if you either a) pledge to our current Kickstarter for KLAW: WERE-WARS, or b) preorder a copy of TEMUDJIN from Backerkit.  Both of those campaigns will be fulfilled in November/December, and we can bundle your Peach Momoko SMALL WORLD edition to ship with either of those orders for FREE! This bundling may be of most interest and value to overseas backers, as international shipping rates are CRAZY these days. 

In order to take advantage of that bundling offer, select "Ship with TEMUDJIN or KLAW: WERE-WARS" as the (free) shipping method when completing your order. PLEASE NOTE that if we don't find a TEMUDJIN or KLAW: WERE-WARS order to bundle it with in November, you will be asked to pay for shipping before it will be sent!

If you don't select that option and choose any other standard shipping method, your order will be fulfilled immediately.

If you aren't familiar with those other two live campaigns...

This campaign is for both the four-volume graphic novel series by Ozanam and Jurion and also for the brand-new Combat Card-and-Dice tabletop game! You can back the project for only the graphic novels, for just the game series, or both! You don't have to be a gamer to help support the campaign! The books alone are a prize!

The KLAW campaign launched this morning and runs through October 7th. Fulfillment is scheduled for December of this year!

A lush, lyrical, almost operatic fantasy speculating on the lineage and legacy of the first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. Filled with mysticism and surreal visions, this grand epic takes on a dreamlike quality infused with just enough ties to real history to ground the setting. Torn between a destiny he is told he must accept and a life he would otherwise choose for himself, the mind of a legendary warlord is laid bare to readers in a cinematic and poetic narrative by writer Antoine Ozanam, breathtakingly illustrated by Antoine Carrion.

The TEMUDJIN Backerkit store will close on October 7th to begin processing orders for fulfillment in November.

We will make any remaining copies of the Peach Momoko variant of SMALL WORLD available to the public on October 7th, so act quickly if you want to ensure your copy.

Thanks, everyone! Please let us know if you have any questions!

ADRASTEA by Mathieu Bablet launches TOMORROW!
about 2 years ago – Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 11:11:36 PM

Hi everyone!

Just a quick heads-up if you haven't already seen the news:

OUR NEXT CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TOMORROW!

ADRASTEA by Mathieu Bablet

For those of you who backed last year's campaign for SHANGRI-LA and CARBON & SILICON, you know how amazing Mathieu's work is. (International backers, you will soon... they're on their way to you as we speak...!) Set in Greek mythology, this new book is equally beautiful, poetic, action-packed, quirky, and epic. It tells the story of a man who cannot die, so after 1000 years of watching loved ones die and his empire crumble, he sets out on a quest to demand answers from the gods of Olympus...

We'll be offering a limited edition, campaign-exclusive "Immortal" Bundle with a bunch of nice extras, as well as the usual array of stretch goals and bonus prints for pre-registering and pledging on Day 1.
Plus:

*** FREE SHIPPING for backers of OGRE GODS or ARSENE LUPIN! ***

Much like we did with SHANGRI-LA + FALSE GUARD + THE WALL, if you backed either of our previous two campaigns for THE OGRE GODS SAGA or ARSENE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN THIEF, or pre-order either from their Backerkit stores before closing at the end of March, we can add your physical pledge items from this campaign to your previous order so that they ship together at no extra cost! Free shipping will be applied to all qualifying pledges during pledge management in Backerkit.

This is going to be another beautiful book, a perfect companion to SHANGRI-LA or CARBON & SILICON, and we're excited to give ADRASTEA the spotlight treatment it deserves!

Hope to see you there tomorrow!

Only 2 Days left to back ARSENE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN THIEF!
about 2 years ago – Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 12:05:22 AM

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note in case any of you might be interested:

There are only TWO DAYS LEFT to join the ARSENE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN THIEF Kickstarter campaign before it ends!

This is a gorgeous and super-fun new edition of the classic crime capers of the original dapper burglar who inspired a century's worth of film and media, including the recent live-action LUPIN series on Netflix and the fan-favorite anime series LUPIN THE 3rd!

You don't want to miss out on the fabulous package of exclusive, limited-edition bonus items that have been unlocked to be included with all physical pledges for FREE! Right now, that's about $40 worth of exclusive collectibles that will not be available anywhere else once this campaign is complete. And you can get this whole beautiful art package for simply pre-ordering the $30 base tier or $40 Limited Edition Cipher Edition tier!

If you also backed our OGRE GODS campaign or choose to pre-order it after the fact from our open Backerkit shop, you can get FREE SHIPPING by bundling both packages into one! Both campaigns will ship in May, so it's the perfect way to save on the skyrocketing cost of shipping these days.

We're hopeful that we'll unlock the numbered bookplates at $90k, but if even a portion of you non-backers watching this campaign come on board in the next 48 hours, everyone will benefit from having a matching "Holmes" lapel pin added to the set. It really is a bargain worth taking advantage of! (Can we hit that last stretch goal to make it $50 worth...? The lapel pins are sweet...)

Oh, and of course, there's THE FABULOUS BOOK ITSELF! 😊

Please check it out and help spread the word!