Thanks!

One thing I wanted to mention since I know we have a number of people outside the U.S. here is that I have added shipping options to Canada, the UK, and the European Union. I can also add other countries if anyone here is outside of those areas and wants to buy a copy. Just let me know - I will need to figure out the shipping to specific areas.

Shipping is frustratingly expensive. A single comic with cardboard backing to the UK is going to cost me $14.65 plus the cost of the shipping materials. Add in the fact that Kickstarter takes roughly 10% of your pledge amount off the top, and it's going to cost me about $17 to ship one comic to the UK. That's insane!

Canada is theoretically cheaper, but I have shipped comics to Canada before and it seems like the U.S. postal service has no idea what their own rules for shipping to Canada are. For a single comic, I have in the past been charged anywhere from $6 to $17 - like, for the exact same package to essentially the same place. It's really aggravating. The upshot is that shipping to Canada is also expensive.

I just wanted to let everyone know in advance so there's no sticker shock when you see the shipping costs. I've been to the post office to discuss this with them so I can offer more-or-less exact cost on shipping, but they just charge a damn fortune for this stuff.

if the shipping costs are too high, a PDF version is also available, and so far at least I don't have to pay extra to email things internationally!

I've been so busy doing all the prep work for the Kickstarter campaign for the last month plus that I haven't had a chance to actually start working on the second issue.

Now that the campaign is up and running, though, I finally had a chance to begin work on #2 (121).

Here's the first linework for the regular cover for the second issue, "Secret of the Ghost Bride"

Thanks!

I had a bear of a time trying to get the PDF put together, but I eventually got there. I've had to learn so many different programs and apps working on this! Next up: putting together an online store...

Thanks! I really wanted it to look as professional as possible, so I'm glad that came through.

I'm interested to hear what you think once you've read it!

As many as I can! I'm aiming to put out an issue every 6 months, but we'll see how it goes. It's a lot of work, but so far, I am enjoying it. 

In my latest blog update, I get very personal about the challenges I've been facing this summer.

I haven't wanted to talk about it much, but as those who backed my Kickstarter campaign know, my father suddenly fell very ill on June 20. He spent the next 8 weeks in the hospital, fighting off one infection after another, before finally being released to a rehab facility on Saturday, August 17. The following day, he experienced congestive heart failure, and though they were eventually able to revive him, we had to make the decision to take him off life support on Monday the 19th.

It's been super hard for the last two months. The hospital was an hour from my house, so most days I'd finish work, drive down there, see Dad or talk to the doctors - or both - and then drive home and go to bed. Then do it all again. By the end I was completely wiped out mentally and physically, and pretty much still am. I also have a lot of stuff to sort through, including a fair amount of anger with the hospital for releasing him at a time when obviously he was in no condition to be released. Ultimately, though, his treatment was compromised by kidney failure, which ultimately stemmed from wounds suffered in action in Vietnam, so in a way he can be counted as another very delayed casualty of that disastrous war.

Anyway. I have more updates about the comic itself to share soon - I've got convention appearances coming up, and for that I'm working on a series of prints that will be available soon on my website, etc. But obviously it's been hard to find any time to work on my comic over the last couple months, and it will be awhile before I can really get back to just making comics.

Thanks for the support, everyone.