UPDATE #1: New links added below for Switch interviews/hype
UPDATE #2: STRETCH REWARD DETAILS via Keith Champagne:
"Tom Nguyen and I were able to take a nice, deep breath yesterday after we reached our initial funding goal on The Switch but now, it's back to work! There's still a lot of ground left to cover before we can produce this graphic novel as a full-color hardcover. So we're embracing the grind again and let's face it: we're making a really fancy comic book, not digging ditches. So the grind really isn't all that bad.
This morning I added an original page of AQUAMAN artwork as a reward, donated by our friend and great artist, Mark Irwin. Aquaman, as you know, talks to fish. So it doesn't get much cooler than he OR Mark, if you ask Tom and I.
I'm just waiting for the thumbs up from our mystery guest artist (cough John Byrne cough) to add his sketch reward so once I hear back from him, it'll officially go live.
So...the stretch rewards. Once Tom and I hit $20,000 in funding, every single backer will receive, free of charge and in addition to their previous rewards, a PDF of THE TOM NGUYEN SKETCHBOOK containing tons of never-before-seen artwork, paintings, figure drawings and more! This is NOT the sketchbook that Tom sells at conventions, it's a brand new, all different collection of his art we're putting together for all of you.
In addition to the sketchbook, everybody will also receive PDF's of two of my other creator-owned graphic novels DEATH VALLEY (with art by Shawn Moll and Mariano, with a little bit of Tom in there too) and ARMOR X (with art by Andy Smith). Both of these are impossible to find in print anymore. Altogether, it's an additional 188 pages of full-color story content, free for everyone.
Once we hit $24,000, we're going to offer something pretty unique. At this level, every pledge will receive a link to a downloadable making-of documentary about The Switch. This will be the most in-depth look yet at the insane amount of work that goes into creating just a single page of comic book art, let alone 80 of them. No one's really offered a reward like this before and we're excited to pull it together.
In addition to the documentary, every pledge (physical levels only) will receive an additional character head sketch by Tom or myself. We may have to do 1,000 of these so they won't be anything incredibly fancy but it's just a way of saying thanks the best way we know how: by killing ourselves a little more.
The response to The Switch has been amazing so far. We've gotten backing not only from tons of friends and comic book readers but also from editors at Marvel or DC, the publisher of a major comic book company, Hollywood agents and producers, Madonna, and even my mom."
--(Back to the original blog entry)--
Yesterday, on our tenth day of campaigning, The Switch's funding goal of $17,000 was met thanks to all the great comic book fans/friends and word-of-mouth! So first and foremost, we'd like to thank you all for your love and support. We honestly had no idea if we were going to even be halfway successful. Not having gone the Kickstarter route, Keith and I were of course very nervous that our comic book idea wouldn't be well received.
With plenty of time left, Keith and I are going to unlock stretch goals this weekend starting at $20,000, and then $24,000. What does this mean? First of all, it will mean that our 64-page graphic novel will become 80 pages! And secondly, if we keep spreading the word and building the funds, then at the 20K mark EVERYONE who has backed us will get a free bonus. Then if we hit 24K, then EVERYONE will get another free bonus. So just because you have pledged doesn't mean you can stop spreading the word--rallying together successfully to hit the stretch goals will benefit everybody! So we're all in this together.
Please keep checking back on our social networks and on The Switch campaign page for the latest updates.
For hype/press, here are the interviews and articles that Keith and I have done so far for The Switch, with more podcasts and articles coming out soon to promote. We will update the hype list as they go live:
Fanboy Planet: Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen Kickstart The Switch
Bleeding Cool: Keith Champagne Switches Sides
Panels & Pizza: Episode 66 with Tom Nguyen
The GAR! Podcast: (The Switch gets a positive mention!--start at 9:00)
Newsarama: Longtime DC Creators Chronicle Super Villain's Secret Superhero Life With The Switch
The Spartan Underground Podcast, Episode #6: Tom Nguyen
Fanboy Planet: Tom Nguyen Makes "The Switch"
Word Balloon Podcast: Keith Champagne Makes The Switch
Are you ready to make The Switch?