Giving Thanks
over 5 years ago – Sun, Nov 25, 2018 at 06:49:11 PM

Hello White Ashians,

Charlie here. As we sit on the eve of Thanksgiving, I want to reach out and tell you how much we all on Team Ash appreciate each and every backer of our books. To that end, here’s the Thank You illustration that Conor did for our first campaign back in April of 2017.

I wanted to share this one, because that’s where it all began. And while this was “only” 19 months ago, so much in my life has changed since then. And that’s because through the support of our amazing fanbase on Kickstarter, I’ve been able to work with Conor and Fin to bring White Ash to life. It’s truly a gift creating comics in tandem with these two. And now, 156 pages later, with Heather on the team, the future of White Ash looks amazingly bright. So thank you backers for giving me an opportunity to tell this story. And thank you Conor, Fin and Heather for joining me on this journey.

And while I could leave it at that, we have even more to be thankful for as we JUST CROSSED OUR NEXT STRETCH GOAL — What’s Old is New. For reaching 17K, Wallpapers and Bookmarks for everyone!!! 

And now to reveal the next stretch goal, WHAT LIGHT THROUGH YONDER IMAGE BREAKS 

If we hit $19,000, we’re going to try out a brand new bit of White Ash Swag — Window Decals. Perfect to put in your car, on your mirror, or anywhere you want to see a little light streaming though White Ash, we’re going to print up some static clear window clings. We’re still tinkering with the design. And if we're lucky enough to hit 19K, we may even ask for your input.

So thank you for all the love and support.  We don't take any of it for granted. Which is why we like to share other campaigns with you, our amazing backers. If we can introduce you to another great comic, then we've given back just a little of what you've given us.  And if we can help another artist reach their goal, then we've given back just a little more.  To that end, here are two other fabulous projects that are currently on Kickstarter.

CHASE THE MOON is the bastard child of West Side Story’s romance, the often violent and stylized world of The Warriors, and the horror sensibilities of The Monster Squad. 

It’s a perfect fit for readers looking for 1980’s nostalgia tinged with both the macabre and beautiful.  From Drew Moss and the writers of Metalshark Bro, it's a project well worth taking a look at.

On the other end of the spectrum is BURN, the story of a gay couple in the 1950s, who have a run-in with a couple of good-old-boys that goes south. 

After the encounter, the two young men take up living life as outlaws. Refusing to hide or be victimized ever again, the couple torches a path across the southern United States. If the world won't change, then it had better get the hell out of Ben and Charlie's way. 

This comic comes from Jacob Bouvet and Amanda Johnson, the team that brought you  Ko Gaine.  I (Charlie) love Amanda's style and it works so well with Jacob's dialogue.  You can read all of it on Webtoons, so there's no reason not to CHECK IT OUT right now.

We hope everyone who's celebrating Thanksgiving has an amazing, safe and meaningful holiday. And we hope all of our backers who are overseas who might not be celebrating, know that we're raising a turkey leg here in America in your honor.

Thank you again,

Charlie, Conor, Fin and Heather 

DUSTED IT
over 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 03:56:06 AM

Hello White Ashians,

Charlie here, it’s with very mixed feelings that I post this update. On the one hand, we just broke another stretch goal, which is amazing. Every print backer will now receive three brand-new, White Ash trading cards.  And every backer at one of our Print Catch Up tiers (or a tier slated to get a full set) will receive 12 cards.

On the other hand, today we lost a true titan of the industry. Much has been said and will continue to be said about Stan Lee over the next couple of days. For me, it was as simple as this — as a kid, Stan was the first writer I knew who was famous and actually alive (i.e. not Shakespeare, Twain, Tolkien, etc.). And aside from being alive, he made the profession of writing seem so exciting, something that was almost impossible not to aspire to do.

For better or worse, Stan demanded to be seen with his creations. He wasn’t just the silent byline at the front of the book. No, he was the voice-over narrating Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, the cartoony character manning the Marvel bullpen, and the brilliant monologue championing underdogs and equality everywhere from his monthly Soapbox. If you’re a little younger, you probably know him mostly from his crazy cameos in the Marvel movies. But the through line in Stan’s life is he was a showman, who was there for his characters, his integrity… and promoting his brand. Which I say not in any derogatory way. For writers, self-promotion is often one of the hardest things to do. Stan Lee raised self-promotion to an art form. Which is why I don’t think he’d have any problem with us posting an update today.

So for me, Stan helped create the canon and profession that shaped my life. But ‘Nuff said about that, on to the next stretch goal...

...which is now UNLOCKED: $17,000  What's Old Is New

It's amazing what a new coat of paint can do to liven up a place.  To that end, it's been far too long since we've released any wallpapers, so if we hit $17,000 we're going to do a full set for screens, phones, maybe even your watch.  These will feature some brand new illustrations just for the wallpapers.  AND, because we like giving away things, we're ALSO going to print up a new batch of White Ash bookmarks for all of our print backers.  This bookmark will be printed on the same premium, Trifecta Green paper with the velvet finish that our funeral invites were printed on. 

Stretch Goal #4 $19,000 Mystery Stretch Goal  We're hoping we get here.  This is a new idea we've never tried before that we'd love to incorporate into the White Ash reward packages. Stay tuned.  Hint: It will feature some of Conor's Art.

Also featuring some of Conor's art...

Samantha Branch, longtime friend of Conor's Twitch Channel is in the middle of her own Kickstarter for a fantasy comic WILL NOT BOW and Conor has just completed a variant cover for the book.  

Samantha's campaign only has 8 days left to go, so if you'd like to check it out and maybe get a copy of Conor's cover, you can HEAD ON OVER NOW.

But thank you for all the support you've shown White Ash.  Conor, Fin, Heather and I are are so grateful that you continue to spread the word of the book. The success of these Kickstarters is unlike anything we ever thought possible.

Thank you again, we wish you very best,

Team Ash (AKA Charlie, Conor, Fin and Heather)

SMASHED IT
over 5 years ago – Mon, Nov 12, 2018 at 07:21:57 PM

Hello White Ashians,

Hope your holiday weekend is off to a fabulous start.  I'm guessing it is, because that first Stretch Goal...

Yep, smashed it. Everyone receiving something in the P.G.O.F.M. (Physical, Good Old-Fashioned Mail) will now get a 6x9 card stock print of Conor’s Thank You From Team Ash.

Even better, after only five full days on Kickstarter, we're already half way to our next stretch goal of adding THREE MORE trading cards. Going forward the rest are mystery goals that need to be unlocked. But since we're in a good mood, we'll give you a hint and say that the mystery stretch goal at $17,000 has both a physical and a digital component and the one at $19,000 is like nothing we've done before...

So please help us get there, so we can maximize your White Ash experience. Share the campaign with your comic book loving friends. The more people that pledge, the more bang everyone gets for their buck. We’re building something special here and we’d love to get as many people to our little town as possible.

And that’s really the wonderful thing about Kickstarter. By being on the platform, we get to find and meet such an amazing group of people to share White Ash with. Kickstarter has created the new viable distribution model for independent comics. And one of the comics that's best taken advantage of this new model is Bob Salley's SALVAGERS

Charlie here, if you've been around the comic scene on Kickstarter for a while then you've probably seen Salvagers. This is the 10th Kickstarter that Bob's run for his comic.  If you like gritty Sci-Fi with a healthily dose of humor, then you've got to check it out.  In all the Sci-Fi stories you've seen or read, there has surely been death and destruction. But... who cleans up the mess? SALVAGERS... that's who.  The book looks great and there's over 250 pages of content.  They're already fully funded and like White Ash, they're heading quickly into stretch goal territory. So do yourself a favor this weekend and head over to their neck of the Universe. 

But wherever this post finds you this weekend, know how grateful Conor, Fin, Heather and I are for all the support. We really couldn't do any of this without you.

Thank you again, we wish you very best,

Team Ash (AKA Charlie, Conor, Fin and Heather)

INCREDIBLE, WHAT CAN WE SAY BUT...
over 5 years ago – Thu, Nov 08, 2018 at 02:45:31 PM

 Hello White Ashians,

You've done it again, blowing away our expectations about what was possible for a first and second day of the campaign.  This was by FAR our most successful launch and we owe that all to you.  We had a much higher goal this time around (as we're printing two books) and we still FUNDED IN LESS THAN 36 HOURS!!!

So, to all of you who returned to back Chapter Four, and to all of the new faces that have taken a chance on us this time around, THANK YOU.

Now we can get to the fun part of the campaign, where we find ways to make the White Ash experience more amazing for you. So let’s get right to how we’re going to go about upgrading and adding rewards for the world's best set of backers.

STRETCH GOALS

To start with, when we hit $13,500 we’re going send every backer who’s getting a physical reward, a 6x9 print of this (the one above) thank you illustration Conor drew.

If we hit $15,500, It’s trading card time again. After our last campaign, we'd grown the set to 9 and we still think it could use a few more.  

So if we do reach $15,500, every print backer will get THREE NEW CARDS included with their order. And every backer at one of our Print Catch Up tiers (or a tier already slated to get the set of 9) will receive all twelve. (It's only fair, if you're catching up on printed things, you should be caught up).

From there... well in White Ash, we don't like to count our chickens before they're hatched. Especially since someone (and I think it was Conor) has been eating all the eggs in town. But if  we are lucky enough to hit those two goals, we will have two new mystery stretch goals that will unlock at $17,00 and $19,000. If we are lucky enough to go past those… well, rest assured, we’ll have more goodies for you.

But for now, thank you so much, we really really couldn't do this without you.  It's comforting for us to know so early in the campaign that Chapter Four is happening and now we can spend our time on making sure the book, and all the new rewards, are the best they can possibly be for our backers.

Thank you, THANK YOU,

Charlie, Conor, Fin and Heather (AKA Team Ash)