Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

(neither was shit much less impressive than Rome)

In other words: thank you.

I came in here and laid out a schedule for getting you Founders your physical rewards and then promptly threw my back out which messed up evvvvvvvverything (and was really just the first in a series of cascading mini-nightmares. fun!)

The Oregon Coast. Truly my happy place

As any of you who have suffered unexpected injury in your life know, it comes with a whole lotta nonsense on the side — included in said nonsense is a lot of stress and guilt and worry about what’s not getting done while you’re laid up.

I hear a lot of horror stories about creators that run crowdfunding types of projects getting frustrated or angry emails from readers/supporters about where something is or how long something is taking, and I gotta say, you guys, as a group, are…

Very. Cool. Cats.

I really expected some complaints about the delays (legit!) — especially since I’d been radio silent for a minute (er, month+) — but all I got were a few very reasonable and completely polite inquiries.

So yeah, you guys are very kind and patient and I REALLY appreciate it. It made it easier to concentrate on getting healed up and getting out from under the mountain of scripts and taxes and pitches and mailings(!) that piled up the second I couldn’t work or move as normal.

Good news is

A) I am doing much better health wise (thank you for all your kind words) and

B) ALL Founders packages have now officially been shipped as of Wednesday (unless we had a separate private conversation about it or you still haven’t sent in your address, in which case, expect an email shortly) and

C) The survey for the other folks who also won stuff but were not “Founders” is going out shortly — so if you think you won something from one of the contests, please keep an eye on your email and get back to me with addresses so we can get this second round of mailings out asap.

Last of the Black Cloak Founders Packages! Huzzah!

For those of you getting Founders Packages — they look like this (mostly brown, a few white in the mix) — about 13x18 — less than an inch thick. Inside you will find:

- 2 Copies of the Rare SIGNED AND NUMBERED Founder's Variant of BLACK CLOAK #1 (not available in stores — though Meredith and I will be selling some of these at pretty steep mark up in our shops/at cons)

- 1 Foil BLACK CLOAK "Mini Print" Postcard

- 1 BLACK CLOAK Postcard

- 2 Vinyl BLACK CLOAK Stickers

- 1 Signed BLACK CLOAK 11x17 Poster 

- 1 Extra Thank You Item - as a thanks for your extreme patience I gave everyone something extra at random — for some folks that was a signed 16x20 BLACK CLOAK Poster, for others it was a signed IT’S JEFF #1, or a BLACK CLOAK #1 Second Printing. There were also a few 1:25 Meredith BLACK CLOAK #1s, a few HAWKEYE #1s (by me, Leo, Jordie) and some BLACK HAMMER: VISIONS #5s (by me, Leo, Jordie).

- IF you ALSO won a contest then those winnings will also be included (I think about 7 of you had additional wins included - sketch cover comic books or signed comics)

These all shipped out priority mail on Wednesday 4/19/23 — so most of you should have them by the weekend.

Some more (small) updates:

• I know some of you have been trying to get your hands on signed and/or rare comic books — including BLACK CLOAK — and I will be updating my webstore and opening it back up in the next week or so and I'll announce that here when I do — and when I do that I’ll also give all subscribers a discount code for the shop.

• I have put some interesting things in motion for the future of this Substack and what it’s going to look like. I’d love to tell you about it now, but I think that’s cart before horses… and I’m trying to learn my lessons from last year and not do that! But I have invested some real time and actual money into this (that means it’s real!) and I’ll know better how viable it is and what the roll out will be by early June I think. In the meantime, I’m going to get back to regular posting — there’s a lot to catch up on! We’ve missed so much! But here are a few tidbits to tide you over.

• I have some cool announcements coming… or at least one very big one and I am super excited and have been itching to tell you guys about it (for AWHILE) so watch this space — should happen in the next few weeks and you’re gonna like it, I promise! ;D

• People are saying nice things about Black Cloak: CBR, Comic Book RoundUp, Inside Pulse, and many more I’ve missed (if you see a great link send it my way!)

• People are also saying nice things about IT’S JEFF #1 (maybe my highest rated issue ever? lol)

• Speaking of ratings, if you’re a person that’s on Amazon/Comixology and does ratings/reviews, it can really help with comics too: BLACK CLOAK, IT’S JEFF, CAPTAIN MARVEL… it’s good for all of them! ;D

• I did a fun interview (mostly Captain Marvel and Jeff-based) with Phil at Comics and Lunatics this past week.

• Oh! And if you play Marvel Snap (or Marvel Puzzle Quest!) my boi Jeff has debuted in both! I just got him in Marvel Snap and haven’t played him yet but it’s all very fun.

Jeff The Land Shark cards from Marvel Snap

Jeff The Land Shark (and Symbiote) from Marvel Puzzle Quets

Oh, and don’t think I forgot about the sneak peeks, I know you guys have been missing them pretty hard — let’s do a whole smorgasbord…

From CAPTAIN MARVEL #49 (out 5/10/23). Art by Sergio Davila. Colors by Ceci Ceci De La Cruz. Lettering by Clayton Cowles:

I just love these wild kids. It’s been so fun to get to write them again.

ahhhhhhh

ahhhhhhhhh

In process from CAPTAIN MARVEL #50 (out 6/14/23). Art by Javier Pina:

AHHHHHHH. Javi does SUCH a beautiful Carol.

SO MANY EMOTIONS. GAH.

In process from CAPTAIN MARVEL #50 (out 6/14/23). Art by David Lopez:

David’s body language and facial expressions? Pitch perfect, every time.

From BLACK CLOAK #5 (out 5/17/23). Art/colors by Meredith McClaren. Lettering by Becca Carey:

I love this muffin.

This one too.

These colors!

And a rare peek at THE CULL! It’s very hard to show off panels for THE CULL because it’s so rife with potential spoilers, but we’re getting close enough to print that I’ll try to show a bit more. While the announcement isn’t officially out there yet, I’ll be debuting all the covers soon (and Previews will have them all plus a five page lettered preview that I will also put up here), THE CULL is now slated for releasing IN PRINT from IMAGE in August 2023. It will ALSO be here of course. Art/colors by Mattia De Iulis. Lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou:

Oooh. Romance AND intrigue? AND monsters? Too much! ;D

Okay, I’m going to wrap up, because as you can see from the top image — I am at the beach! Well, not exactly, I’M safely in a comfortable house that looks at the beach, which is, if I’m honest, my ideal way to “beach” — but I’m there with a bunch of my best friends (we do a yearly weekend Oregon coast thing but thanks to Covid we missed a couple) — good to be back though, been too long. And after the year I’ve had so far… yeah, I needed it. I hope you get a break too, we all need them and sometimes you don’t know how much you needed it until you’re there (me, right now). ;D

And seriously. Thank you for being cool. It makes me more determined than ever to figure out the best way forward to make this space work for everyone in 2023 and beyond. I don’t want to lose this incredible group of people, especially in the weird dark times we find ourselves in. <3

~Kelly