Yesterday the Kickstarter campaign to reprint Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire THE COMPLETE SERIES Volume 2 came to its conclusion after running for a month. It was successfully funded at the end of its fourth week and in its last few days it went over the funding goal. I am so incredibly floored by the response to the campaign and what it has done for me, not on a financial level, but an emotional one.
The final number may look big but that’s just the reality of printing a 750+ page book. Plus the cost of shipping it from the printer in Texas out to the east coast, where I live. Plus the cost of shipping them out to everyone who pledged, both domestic and international, the latter of which is a frankly preposterous amount that I have no control over. Plus the cost of shipping materials, like boxes and protective padding. It all adds up to a lot, and while the campaign crossed its funding goal much of that extra is going to go right back into the added costs on top of the printing price. Everything is expensive nowadays, especially when you’re reprinting a huge book.
The real profit I got from this was the response. Hearing from you all in one form or another, whether you’ve been following me for years or learned that I was still active after some time away from my work or comics in general, was medicine I didn’t know I needed. I spend much of my time pinballing between making comics and parenthood, leaving little time in between for socializing or keeping in touch with fellow creators. Things had gotten quiet. To be honest I wasn’t sure if anyone at all was going to care about a story that had ended a decade ago. To see this campaign succeed and to be reminded what my comics apparently meant to so many people was beyond words.
And finally, I’m glad I can stop talking about this campaign now that it’s over. I’m not comfortable being a shouting salesman like I was this past month, and while I know it’s necessary in the modern internet that doesn’t mean I enjoy it. Now I feel like I can go back to blogging and posting about, well, anything that isn’t the business of selling comics. Some of the pressure’s off now that the campaign was successful.
Now comes the work of fulfilling my promises to all of you who pledged. But at least I can do that quietly.