Diseased #Comicsgate - The Culture Wars Hit The Funny Books!

Looks like the merch is up off the bare floor and onto folding tables. Frog's operation making big strides in going pro in 2022. We may even see a pallet or two being utilized in the warehouse instead of tossed out back or chopped into firewood.

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Ike Aim said:
Looks like the merch is up off the bare floor and onto folding tables. Frog's operation making big strides in going pro in 2022. We may even see a pallet or two being utilized in the warehouse instead of tossed out back or chopped into firewood.

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Everything is up on palettes.
 
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9th legion centurion 002 said:
@NasserRabadi13 You want to explain this one
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Nasser did a stream tonight and addressed the situation in the middle of it.


They start talking about it around 48 minutes in. I listened to it fast but Nasser doesn't seem to know anything about what Delay is doing. Nasser's theory is that Delay might intend to go forward with a second book based on a script Nasser gave him during the creation of the first book.
 
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Strix454 said:
Maybe there is a simple explanation for this. But I have to wonder if that dumb bunch of guys would self-fund their own book
to avoid being embarrassed.
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Suuuuuurvey says...

Yes.

Strix454 said:
They are that dumb. But I'm not sure they would have that kind of money laying around to do it.
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Well, the thing is, they'd basically get it back, sans some fees. Right?
 
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Strix454 said:
Yeah. The whole thing looks more than a little odd. The book somehow raised $6,828 (# from backerkit) yesterday after raising $3,000 the day before while generating almost no activity
for a very long time . That is astounding. Perhaps unbelievable. I could be wrong, but it also seems like most of this happened after the closeout stream was over.
I couldn't find any appearance shilling for the book over the last couple days that could account for it either.

I also took a look at the average contribution size between the two data points you put up on the farms.

The 191 backers that got the book to $12151 had an average contribution of $63.
The 54 backers that got the book from $12151 to 21,383 had an average contribution of $171

Maybe there is a simple explanation for this. But I have to wonder if that dumb bunch of guys would self-fund their own book
to avoid being embarrassed.

They are that dumb. But I'm not sure they would have that kind of money laying around to do it.
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A cursory glance over the Wokebusters campaign (apologies in advance for any errors) reveals that Jeff has $21,458 to create, produce, or otherwise obtain the following 12 products. He also has to get it all to his backers.

  1. Wokebusters Standard Cover: 120
  2. Wokebusters Action Cover: 43
  3. Wokebusters Toys Were Us Cover: 36
  4. Wokebusters 2016 Reboot Cover: 25
  5. Trading Cards: 53
  6. Action Poster: 74
  7. Standard T-Shirt: 23
  8. Action T-Shirt: 22
  9. Pots of slime: 29
  10. Stickers & booklet: 8
  11. Sticker: 248
  12. Two magnets: 248x2

Nobody shelled out $1000 for the lucrative, but low effort, 'Be Drawn into the comic' perk, or $1500 for the 'Be Drawn into the comic Deluxe' perk (the latter includes 2 prints of the page where the backer appears, optimistically valued at $250 a piece)

That's a lot of low-volume items to be produced. It will push up the price, unless Jeff is prepared to over order and make furniture out of the surplus.

Then there is the issue of sending it out - not Jeff's strong point given that Stealing Solo backers are still angrily enquiring as to the whereabouts of their comics. I would bet on there being at least one slime explosion in the mail. He has been wise enough to limit physical product to America. Overseas mailing costs would have sunk him.

I don't know enough about the economies of crowdfunded comics to speculate on whether this comic is capable of turning a meaningful profit. At face value, it does look Jeff has over-reached, perhaps expecting a larger number of backers.

EDIT: Does anyone know whether Jeff is using a fulfilment service or doing it all in house? I know Ya Boi Zack, in one of his campaigns, fell foul of being charged by fulfilment for every additional item that was put in the envelope.
 
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Captain Manning said:
Well, the thing is, they'd basically get it back, sans some fees. Right?
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I think its a base 5% plus they would end up paying maybe a 3% transaction fee on top of that. So assuming that everything in the final two days was contributed by them,
it would cost them roughly $800.
 
Weeb Slinger said:
Jeff has $21,458 to create, produce, or otherwise obtain the following 12 products. He also has to get it all to his backers.

  1. Wokebusters Standard Cover: 120
  2. Wokebusters Action Cover: 43
  3. Wokebusters Toys Were Us Cover: 36
  4. Wokebusters 2016 Reboot Cover: 25
  5. Trading Cards: 53
  6. Action Poster: 74
  7. Standard T-Shirt: 23
  8. Action T-Shirt: 22
  9. Pots of slime: 29
  10. Stickers & booklet: 8
  11. Sticker: 248
  12. Two magnets: 248x2
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I still don't understand the mentality that considers everything after item #1 or being generous, item #4 a thing that increases the value or desirability of this comic. Pots of slime? Who gives a shit about toy slime after age 9?

Well Jeff has 29 pots of it to dole out, so I guess the answer can still be 'nobody'.
 
Newman's Lovechild said:
I still don't understand the mentality that considers everything after item #1 or being generous, item #4 a thing that increases the value or desirability of this comic. Pots of slime? Who gives a shit about toy slime after age 9?

Well Jeff has 29 pots of it to dole out, so I guess the answer can still be 'nobody'.
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Compare this to the campaign for The Expendables Go To Hell, which has the blessing of Sylvester Stallone.

At its most basic this includes permutations of the following:

  1. A hardcover version of the book
  2. The standard version of the book
  3. Four alternative cover variants
  4. A pin up
  5. A T-shirt
There are also a few limited items - copies of the book signed by Stallone or Meyer, and original artwork.

And that's it. Everything else - the bookmark, the trading cards, the large sticker, the unit patch, the additional pin-up, and the dog tags are sensibly rolled into the stretch goals which begin at $150,000. Meyer ended up including the dog tags, despite the campaign falling roughly sixteen and a half grand short of the $300,000 target. I thought that was decent of him, given the delays in getting it out.

It is also worth noting that these additions to the basic campaign are items that backers might actually want. Meanwhile, the 'Ultimate Collector's Edition' of Wokebusters comes with stickers and a booklet that appears to be available nowhere else. What's in the booklet? We are not told, but Jeff's got to make eight of them. As you rightly point out, nobody who backed this campaign was incentivised to do so by the pot of slime.

I assume Jeff thought this book was going to do Stealing Solo numbers and so front-loaded the campaign with items that should have been stretch goals in order to make it more appealing. The Ultimate Collectors Edition was limited to 400 and sold eight, which gives an idea of the kind of economies he was working with.

It's a weird one. The book's been funded but it's a disaster, resting on the shifting foundations of the previous, yet to be fully-resolved, calamity.
 
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NasserRabadi13 said:
As soon as I said I was using my sequel ideas for a comic called Mitas the Mighty, donal posted this. I think he's gonna use my original sequel script I turned in in 2018, but he hasn't consulted me or responded to my messages.
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Just say he doesn't have permission to use any of your work - certainly not your name - and that should be that (unless he has contracts). If he goes forward then you'll need a lawyer. You should've already had a lawyer go after him last time; maybe he wouldn't be emboldened to try Part 2 if you had.
 
SaidNoOneEver said:
Just say he doesn't have permission to use any of your work - certainly not your name - and that should be that (unless he has contracts). If he goes forward then you'll need a lawyer. You should've already had a lawyer go after him last time; maybe he wouldn't be emboldened to try Part 2 if you had.
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Nasser should send a "cease and desist" to Delay as soon as possible. Some sort of official communication to get everything on the record. Delay is out of bounds on this. If he goes forward, my advice would be to make it clear to any site where he tries to host a campaign that he doesn't have a right to the material or to advertise the project using Nasser's name. Its better to limit his ability to promote and make money off the project (and Nasser's name) than to waste time in court with him. I'm almost certain he has nothing and no money.

Nasser also might be able to go after him through the social media site complaint process. Because putting his name on a commercial project that he has nothing to do with and without permission seems like a serious no-no. Stopping him legally from doing "new" things is somewhat
easier than trying to get even with him over things that happened in the past.
 
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NasserRabadi13 said:
As soon as I said I was using my sequel ideas for a comic called Mitas the Mighty, donal posted this. I think he's gonna use my original sequel script I turned in in 2018, but he hasn't consulted me or responded to my messages.
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From Donal to me just now:

Nasser & I worked our shit out & we're doing book 2 for the customers that deserve a proper sequel.
 

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