I’ve never found a standard definition of either. When a story uses pictures and has a defined beginning and end, I think of it as a graphic novel, as opposed to an open-ended comic book series. Sometimes people think of comics as certain recognizable art style printed in a floppy, roughly 6 x 10 inch book. Stories using more unusual art styles and printing formats are often considered more of a graphic novel. Often a complete story arc from a comic book series is collected into a graphic novel, and that’s cool. Dallas is a 200-page story with a clear, thrilling, emotional, poignant, funny, satisfying ending, so I think it is in total a graphic novel. But each issue of the series will look, feel and read like a standard comic book, and I currently refer to it as comic book series. One day the whole series will be collected in one printed volume that I’ll call a graphic novel and it will be very cool.

Last updated: October 12, 2021 08:29

Dallas #3 standalone digital download is now a tier for $6. Initially I didn’t offer that because I thought it would be easiest to have all three books wrapped in one file for easy reading, it can be hard to remember what happened in a story 1-2 years ago. I did the same approach with book 1+2. But if you want just digital Dallas #3, now you can get it. For reference, Dallas #1 digital was $5 in 2019, and this book is longer; the lowest tier for the book 2 campaign was book 1+2 for $7.

Last updated: March 23, 2023 10:33

Because Book 3 isn’t printed yet. Printing and shipping costs substantial money upfront. I do Kickstarter to raise money for this stuff and build up audience at the same time. Then when I have books you get one before anyone else, along with special stuff like signed copies and bookmarks and access to all the other fancy rewards. Paying the artists cost a lot more money up front, but that cost isn’t covered by this campaign unless I exceed the goal by a lot. That would be nice for sure. But this crowdfunding system works: thanks to previous Kickstarters, Books 1+2 are printed and you can buy them right now at the online store: 
https://gumroad.com/pitdocpress

Last updated: October 12, 2021 08:42

What about it indeed. It’s hard to believe this is my THIRD Kickstarter campaign run during COVID-19. While my life in the emergency room and at home with my family in Boston feels relatively normal these days, it’s a fluid situation for us all. Almost all the art is ready for both Dallas #3 and Trinity Project Vol 3, so I don’t expect major hiccups with readying the book for print. Supply chain issues are real, there is a shortage of paper in the US publishing industry, and of labor for the printers, so the books may take longer to get back to me than in the past. Shipping is also messy, with volatile prices for international service. But we’ll roll with these punches, it will get printed and shipped and it will be awesome.

Last updated: October 12, 2021 08:40

Some of you may recall that in the previous campaigns I made personal match of 5% of gross KS earning as a donation to RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), a legal aid service based in Texas that helps separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States. This added up to above $1000 across two campaigns.

Unfortunately this this approach runs afoul of Kickstarter’s policies—they don’t allow money to be raised for charities or to imply that money will be donated based on KS funds raised. I guess l was under the radar before but with this campaign I couldn’t get approved until that language had been removed from my page. I understand their policy but it’s a bummer.

That said, there is nothing stopping me from giving money to RAICES after this campaign and I most certainly will. and I encourage you to do so too:

https://www.raicestexas.org

Why RAICES? This comic book story was never meant to be political; in my mind it is more about free will, consciousness, tribalism and humanism than it is about immigration. However, since I started writing it nine years ago, immigration both along the US southern border and across the world became a far more explosive and polarizing topic. Scenes I wrote about the treatment of fictional Travelers that I thought were over the top (see Book 2) now pale in comparison to real events, with families separated and children thrown in cages. And though we have a new administration, the situation on the ground remains very difficult and dangerous. RAICES continues to be there doing vital work providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. 

Last updated: October 12, 2021 08:42

Hell yes they are are. The amazing folks at Faerie Metal printing, through magic, alchemy and small amount of dragon’ tears, print the cover art directly onto shiny metal forged deep in the heart of Moria. Then elves fix it by hand to each book cover. It produces an iridescent, 3D effect that is hard to photograph; it looks better in videos but amazing in person, especially under an LED light. I’ve alway been drawn metal art prints when I see them at comic conventions, and wished I could get that kind of effect on a book. I almost launched metallic version of book 1 using foil paper, but it wasn’t quite what I had in my head. I only recently discovered this process and it turns out it is becoming quite the hot thing with comics collectors. So I’m on trend, for once.

Last updated: October 12, 2021 08:40

On two previous Dallas campaigns my son, Ezra, starting at age 10, released his own comic book, The Adventures of Banana Man, that we included in some reward tiers. The book was 100% created, written, drawn and produced by Ezra and it was, I think, really damn funny. Now some folks are asking about the next book in the series. The problem with choosing up and coming artists when they are 10 years old is it is very hard to predict their career path. Though he’s grown immensely as an artist and still does comics, he feels he’s outgrown BM for now. And he feel weird attaching himself to art from those books that is not at his current level. Also, I failed to sign him to an adequate long term contract (he did sign a NDA so he can’t work on any Kickstarters within a 2 block radius.) I will ask him to make something for this campaign though, maybe as a stretch goal. I’ll tell him his fans are demanding it. And if you missed Banana Man, both books are available as add ons.

Last updated: October 13, 2021 16:48