Part Nine: Kickstarter

For the Kickstarter campaign, I developed a number of items for the reward tiers. I started simple, with a few stickers. One featured the Syzygy Stone, a prominent element of the story. Another was my take on the old trading card–sized Marvel Classic Stickers that used to come in packs with bubble gum. I also created a holographic foil logo sticker, inspired by the ones you’d get from gum machines. Additional stickers included designs for the COSMIC CODE AUTHORITY, and the original STILL ONLY 35¢ burst that I used as the basis for my cover’s price callout.

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I also offered three "process" versions—each highlighting a different stage of production, and an archive of the entire creative process for this book, including all the stages of production from layouts to finished pages, plus tons of behind the scenes materials.

Lastly, I created several variant covers. I wanted them to feel authentic within the comics tradition of variants. One was an homage to Whitman comics—Marvel, DC, and Gold Key books from the 1970s sold in three-packs at department stores and other non-traditional retailers. While the interiors were identical to newsstand versions, the covers often featured a diamond price box or Whitman logo. These editions are now sought after by collectors as rare variants.

Other variants included a "Printer Error" edition that simulates a misprint with two color plates swapped; a “virgin” variant with no text or trade dress; and an homage cover that riffs on the first issue of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars—a fitting tribute, given how much this project owes to both Marvel and Star Wars.

I produced a 4-page promo flyer, with Marvel Handbook-style entries for the characters on one side and a fold-out poster on the other. For stretch goals, I created two prints: one featuring the splash page (recolored and stripped of text and texture effects), and another with the front cover artwork, free of trade dress, as well as a bookmark in the style of old corner boxes.