• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Cursed Pirate Girl
0

Started by Kathryn,

1,870 posts in this topic

mikeggg

mikeggg

Posted
Posted (edited)

Its funny how Julio its getting jumped on over this and all the blame is on him. From what I've seen he was able to get a lot of the rarest CPG stuff and was on top of this comic before a lot of people even knew what the hell CPG was for that alone I believe that this is a rather shameful attempt from a small publishing company not happy trying to slander someone only working within the rules laid out by the very people trying to sell this stuff. I thought this was a attempt to gather money to publish this book and now we have a fight over Julio's rather creative idea. Call it what you want but he was able to come up with an interesting idea that seemed to work out for many people. He still made his money and was able to hook up a lot of people with these error issues. Seems rather weird after all this time that they would have a problem with him

Edited by mikeggg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted

Julio-

 

Whew! Ok, I am glad that this is all worked out then. You are happy to keep the books, I'm sure you'll be able to make a profit on them, and my magic 8-ball predicts that for all the drama that went into getting to this point that you will find a way to make being stuck with 60 error copies into an even more profitable position than you had hoped.

 

...if I find anything else produced/printed by Olympian I can buy I will. The dedication shown here goes along way in showing their committment. I commend you sir.

 

We have habitually priced the books based on breaking even, for no reason other than we want to use top materials and hand-worked details that would normally be too expensive for many people to afford. The only other comics-related work that we published were two Dan Brereton books, but we're really proud of how they turned out:

 

Nocturnals: Volume One, which is a really deluxe hardcover and has super-cool cobwebbed endpapers. It's also printed on high end art paper, with top-notch reproductions. We priced them at $29 because they were made just to support his fabulous art, but we only printed 3500 copies so are sadly long sold out. But copies are floating around. If you haven't read the Nocturnals, it's in the same league as Hellboy and Sin City, and was one of Dark Horse's "(Un)Holy Trinity" back in the day. It's a comics masterpiece. And from a "printing" point of view, lay Volume One side-by-side with Image's Volume Two, and you'll see what I mean on a hundred fronts.

 

A Nocturnal Alphabet is a children's book- signed and numbered in an edition of 800- that is made like an old 19th century schoolbook. It's on super heavy stock with spot varnishes, and an antique looking cloth cover with metal place foil stamping, just like books were made back in 1900.

 

We have also printed exhibition catalogs for our Nitrate and Kinogeists exhibition (Dave McKean paintings based on early cinema) and a Grand Guignol exhibition (tons of great antique art, but new artworks by comic artists Michael Zulli and Dave McKean were in the show).

 

Probably our best-looking book is the Gail Potocki monograph The Union of Hope and Sadness. Grant Morrison is a fan and said "Brilliant... more than just paintings, Gail conducts seances on canvas." So if you like weird metaphysical stuff and Symbolist Art, this one will be up your alley, just devastatingly beautiful paintings.

 

Mentioning Grant makes me think to mention that if you guys weren't aware, in the radio play version of Cursed Pirate Girl, the two Swordfish Brothers were read by Grant and Dave McKean- it was funny having two brothers where one had a VERY Scottish and the other a VERY British accent, haha! Very Monty Python.

 

If you're interested in the Cursed Pirate Girl radio play, I can't tell you the new actors who have committed yet, but to see which friends I've got on tape so far, check this link:

 

http://centuryguild.wordpress.com/category/cursed-pirate-girl-radio-drama/

 

We expect to have the play done by the Spring! The goal is to make it available to libraries and schools for read-a-longs, to make people come together publicly and enjoy reading comics... instead of just at home, as we all do now that we're grown-up!

 

Tom

 

ps- Fastball, the popcorn thing literally made me laugh so hard I spit water out onto my computer. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted
Its funny how Julio its getting jumped on over this and all the blame is on him. From what I've seen he was able to get a lot of the rarest CPG stuff and was on top of this comic before a lot of people even knew what the hell CPG for that alone I believe that this is a rather shameful attempt from a small publishing company not happy trying to slander someone only working within the rules laid out by the very people trying to sell this stuff. I thought this was a attempt to gather money to publish this book and now we have a fight over Julio's rather creative idea. Call it what you want but he was able to come up with an interesting idea that seemed to work out for many people. He still made his money and was able to hook up a lot of people with these error issues. Seems rather weird after all this time that they would have a problem with him

 

No one should be jumping on Julio! We think that his love of the book is great. We never minded that he was getting CPG rarities from us and reselling them for such markups- sincerely. We love dealers, and respect their right to find creative ways to make money. I'm sorry that you are perceiving anything that we are doing as shameful. We just want everyone to love Cursed Pirate Girl! We were happy ourselves just to get $5 a book from a ten year old kid who loved the idea of a Cursed Pirate Girl and a talking parrot, that's where our mindset is.

 

We're also happy that you heard about the book from Julio, kudos to anyone who spreads the word. Some people heard about it when Mike Mignola mentioned it in interviews as his favorite new book, some people saw it when it was a Diamond Previews Staff Pick, we're happy to have as many people know about it as possible.

 

In what way are we not happy with Julio, in your mind? I've only mentioned that I wish that Jeremy was seeing as much profit from this book as the ambitious resellers are. That's nothing personal against Julio. And what was Julio's rather creative idea? Was it the talking parrot, or the Swordfish Brothers? The part about the voice from the shark in issue one? Or was it a money-making idea? Don't lose the plot- none of this functions without the creation of the art, don't you think?

 

There was never a disagrement over anything except that my offer of refund or exchange at our expense wasn't acceptable, and we held firm- and still do- that these two options are reasonable and fair. I hope that most of you agree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mikeggg

mikeggg

Posted
Posted (edited)

I understand but the problem I see is that whoever agreed to have those comics stamped after offering a kickstarter that offered numbered editions seems kinda of counter productive and results in a situation where Mr Bastian was not paid enough in doing that Julio edition for a mere 1500 seems a little unfair for sure. I have not heard one bad thing about the product and it seems it has a bright future. The price was a little steep for a while on some of the product for the "average" kid to pick up. I think that the product speaks for itself and look forward to recieving mine when it ships.

Edited by mikeggg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MedicAR

MedicAR

Posted
Posted

Sorry I'm late to the party.

 

I'm not seeing the issue here, and hopefully I'm not stirring up a hornets' nest with this post.

 

Those of us who bought the books, either on here through Julio, through the Kickstarter Project, or through Challengers weren't really buying them to read. We were buying them as collectibles. If we wanted them to read, we would wait for the cheaper versions to hit the stands. That they are now considered "error copies" is just a bonus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted

I don't think you'd be pleased with what Dark Horse or anyone else would do with the book. One publisher asked a top comic artist what it would take to get the book, and they responded: "Well, Tom doesn't care if the book makes money, he's only concerned with the quality of the product." The publisher in question opted out. And logically so! Publishers have to make money.

 

We are not a real publisher.

 

Our only goal is to make something that- once you get it in your hand- you will cherish forever. With Century Guild, we've had the opportunity to place in museum collections $90,000 Alphonse Mucha books and dozens upon dozens of other Symbolist masterpieces of printing from the Turn of the Century. In those days, it was a handful of wealthy patrons who commissioned these editions, and this attention to detail is a lost art.

 

Both Dark Horse and Image have published books that were copies of our designs, but with more "affordable" materials. The difference to eyes that can tell is night and day. (This is why when Michael Zulli was looking for someone to publish the unbelievable book he's been working on since he finished his work on The Sandman he only brought it to us. The man wears blue velvet shoes and carries a silver-headed cane, to set the proper stage for his character.)

 

So the things like test stamps, etc., are a necessary evil to getting out the book with the right- dare I say it- vibe. These are all done by hand- every single one! And we do experiment to get it perfect. Should we have sold these? Should we have responded to the emails asking about what "weird" misstamps and what-not were around the art studio? I would be lying if I didn't say that the chances of us selling anything from the side door is probably slim to none. It's proven- as you can see from these recent posts- more effort to deal with five "collectors" than five thousand fans.

 

But!!!!!!!!!! The fact that there was a printing error was a HUGE train wreck. It needs an adjective to express how big a deal it was to us. It's the first time anything like this has ever happened here, and I hope the last time...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted
I'm glad it's staying too but I want to see more of the story and not more covers and art prints. When is #4 coming out as I can't wait :)

 

I have to laugh (to hide my tears!) in agreement, because I feel the VERY same way!!!!! It's almost doubly painful that Jeremy gives me bits of the stories to come, because they just CAN'T get here fast enough for me!!!!!!

 

One of the things that Jeremy likes about what we are doing together with this book is that instead of saying "can you hurry that up?" we ask "do you need more time?"

 

I've seen a lot of artists develop a shorthand style in order to meet deadlines, and I want the work that Jeremy produces in ten years to be even more impressive than the work today- not less so. What matters in ten and twenty years is just how good the book is, not the date it comes out.

 

At least, that's what I keep telling myself- because I want Jeremy to be able to work faster than a page every two weeks!!! But that's what it takes, and in the meantime we are just doing things like releasing art prints to try to draw the attention away from how long it's taking to make the stories.

 

The next trilogy that finishes this story line will be released once the whole thing is done, so we're talking about two years. But what makes Jeremy's art SO special is that he takes soooooo much time to create the art! We blew some of the pages up three feet tall for the Challengers event, and it was only at that scale that some elements of the artwork became visible- Jeremy even has scenes clearly carrying out on the COINS for God's sake... and remember that when we print the book, we are printing 1:1... NO reduction from the original art.

 

Buy a big magnifying glass and go through the comics again! You will be rewarded!!!

:ohnoez:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted

Oh! One other thing... I am trying to corral a one-shot type book out of Jeremy, Katie Cook and Dave Petersen with all stories about secondary characters... I would LOVE to see Katie do a Pook Tarantula story! But for the moment, Jeremy is finishing a few pages for The Guild at Dark Horse, and hard at work on the fourth issue...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gaz2810i

gaz2810i

Posted
Posted

Two years :cry:

 

Oh! One other thing... I am trying to corral a one-shot type book out of Jeremy, Katie Cook and Dave Petersen with all stories about secondary characters... I would LOVE to see Katie do a Pook Tarantula story! But for the moment, Jeremy is finishing a few pages for The Guild at Dark Horse, and hard at work on the fourth issue...

 

:applause:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TNegovan

TNegovan

Posted
Posted

It took Jeremy three years to create the first three issues- we're expecting that since now he is doing CPG full-time we can get that number down to two. He takes an average of a week per page (of course longer on some of those really detailed ones!), and instead of reducing age counts like the major publishers, he insists on 30+ pages of story per book.

 

It looks like Vol. 2 will be approximately 108 pages, so it's two years of solid, solid drawing board time.

 

The plan is to use this time to build the audience for the finale of the story.

 

(That last sentence is another shameless plea for help.)

 

I'm really excited that out of the 800+ people on the Kickstarter campaign, nearly 2/3 hadn't been into a comic book store in the last year. It shows that this book can create new comic readers. And having the radio play with movie actors will certainly help it get some attention in non-comics media...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DDS

DDS

Posted
Posted

I'm glad this whole thing is settled becasue Julio, Olympian & Jeremy have been good to me. With or without the missing pages, it's still something special. Julio just wanted everyone to get something that they paid for. They did and I don't think they received anything less. From a business standpoint, I really don't see what more Tom could do.

 

I bought CPG direct from Olympian at first, then from the distibutor later. It's the easiest book to sell I have ever seen! Just show it and 99% of people buy it! It's so nice to be at a show and almost have exclusive books. At Mid Ohio Con, Jeremy had #1 & 2 and I had all 3 issues. He sent people to me for #3 and I sent people to him for signings. He sold out of everything he brought. I left with only #1's.

 

Julio bought fourth print #1's from me and turned around and gave them away!

 

Jeremy is one of the nicest guys I have met in this hobby! I support him every chance I get. He offered to sketch a blank cover variant book for free! I couldn't let him do that so I paid him but just the offer took me by surprise. Here's a guy trying to make a living off this stuff and wanting to give away his work! I gave him some books to sign and he not only signed them but did a sketch on them!

 

I'm so glad the next run will be at Olympian! The quality of the books would suffer so much. CPG stands out on a rack right now. Any other publisher would make it look just like every other book on the rack. The down side is that maybe fewer people will get to see Jeremy's great work but Tom and guys like Julio are working to change that. Keep up the good work guys!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
whetteon

whetteon

Posted
Posted (edited)
Sorry I'm late to the party.

 

I'm not seeing the issue here, and hopefully I'm not stirring up a hornets' nest with this post.

 

Those of us who bought the books, either on here through Julio, through the Kickstarter Project, or through Challengers weren't really buying them to read. We were buying them as collectibles. If we wanted them to read, we would wait for the cheaper versions to hit the stands. That they are now considered "error copies" is just a bonus.

 

I agree with you MedicAR. Everything seems fine from what I can tell. (shrug)

 

Looking forward to receiving the book! (thumbs u

Edited by whetteon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
0
Go to topic listing