State of the Bug - July
Creatively speaking...
…WE ARE GRINDING!
We have several Bad Bug Midnight series wrapping up with their final issues this year (HyperGeist, Death Nell, Roseblood Manor, and Bobby Jo), and new series are in the works to step in while those titles take breaks.
On the horizon, we have Pirates of Miskatonia, Brides of Dracula, and a newly announced title: Lady of the Black Fan. I thought I’d share a few thoughts on them all:
Pirates of Miskatonia is written by Martin Dunn (Transformers, Rick and Morty), a pirate enthusiast who sets the supernatural stage for an adventure rife with eldritch terrors on the open sea. It’s as sexy as it is chilling. Art by Zoran Jovicic (Vanya: The Lost Warrior). This is sure to scratch that Pirates of the Caribbean/Lovecraftian vibe.
Brides of Dracula is a three-issue limited series about these three beautiful, terrifying, empowered, yet enslaved creatures of the night and their quest to end their marriage to Dracula…with prejudice. Each issue will tell the backstory of one of the brides—a tragic, sexy, provocative, and powerful revenge story from three perspectives written by Jason Pell (Flickering Lights) and illustrated by superstar Roberta Ingranata (Marvel, Image, Boom).
Lady of the Black Fan is our first greyscale (black and white with splashes of color) erotic title. It’s written by Allen Dunford (Death Nell, Final Girl Next Door) and Bill Stoddard (Death Nell, No More Gods) and illustrated by Cari Salviejo (HyperGeist, XenoGeist). It’s a slasher set in a supernatural feudal Japan era, where female ninja assassins are at war with a race of reptilian shapeshifters after an ancient truce between the two is broken. It’s in pre-launch status now, so get notified.
WWW.BADBUGMEDIA.COM
Our online store is back up and running! We added over 350 more items.
We are still adding SKUs (mostly special edition items like metal and holofoil covers). Be ready to see some website-exclusive items soon.
We are still performing maintenance and making creative adjustments, so some things may change or move around daily, but you can make purchases without issue.
We’re open to your feedback on the site and suggestions for improving it. Just let us know in the comments or e-mail us at badbugmediallc@gmail.com.
I think there are a lot of people who don't know how Patreon works, so I’ll break it down just in case:
Don’t think of it as a monthly subscription (although it is). It’s a SUPER-exclusive collectible cover you can buy each month (no inflated pricing, essentially the same prices we charge on Kickstarter), but then get a month of extensive behind-the-scenes content. We keep Patreon members involved in our creative process.
You can cancel any time, so if next month’s Patreon-exclusive cover isn’t your thing, cancel for a month and re-up when you want. You have nothing to lose.
Every time you subscribe, you’re guaranteed the cover for the month you started your subscription, and it will continue to work that way for every month you renew. So, you could sign up on our Patreon on the last day of this month, and you will still be guaranteed the July exclusive cover (Roseblood Manor cover pictured below - you’ve already missed out on the June-exclusive Dead End Moon cover at this point).
Patreon supporters are in monthly drawings for rare giveaways, which ship with their monthly exclusive covers.
7 different tiers to choose from, ranging from $5 to $85 a month. You can still follow along for free even if you’re not ready to join a paid tier. You’ll get to partake in votes and see some previews.
Here are the exclusive covers we’ve shared thus far. Patreon members are voting right now for which title will have an exclusive cover for August. JOIN OUR PATREON HERE!
KICKSTARTER
I won’t say much because most of our newsletter posts are about crowdfunding.
Our rhythm currently is about 2-3 campaigns a month. We know it’s a lot. For you and us. There are so many great comic creators out there on the crowdfunding scene. Thank you for any time you choose to support us.
We plan to have a loyalty program for all repeat backers. You guys are the best, and you deserve SOMETHING GREAT for supporting to us repeatedly. We are open to your ideas and feedback on what would be great for YOU, the faithful.
We do currently have three campaigns running and one about to launch:
It’s great that we’re continuing to grow but we're trying to avoid stretch marks. Fulfilling so many big projects, one after another, this year has been insane. Now that we’ve solidified an excellent printing partner, we can effectively schedule and plan when we will receive books and fulfill orders.
We ship our books from five locations (and states): Texas, Arizona, West Virginia, Washington, and Florida. Each location has a staff of 1-2 people, which causes some communication gaps and leads to errors. We will narrow it all down to Texas and West Virginia, which will help us streamline things for the rest of the year. This transition is nearly complete.
We will return to charging shipping on Kickstarter campaigns instead of through Backerkit surveys at later times. Although there are several benefits to doing it the Backerkit way, we understand that you guys should pay one price, all at once, for your rewards instead of unpredictable shipping charges at later dates. A few campaigns will still be charging on Backerkit since they were set up and launched before our announcement here (Curse of the Gorgon, Undercity Tales), but after that, we will return to Kickstarter to charge shipping fully.
Thank you for being patient as we test or try new things and make mistakes. If you’ve had any unresolved issues with us on any campaign, please get in touch with shaynarose@badbugmedia.com, and we'll do our part to make it right.
CROWDFUNDING STATUS
AstroWitch 2 - Fulfilled.
Bobby Jo 3 - Fulfilled.
Bombshell & Atomica 1 - Fulfilled.
Cupid - Fulfilled.
Curse of the Gorgon 1 - Still in the artwork phase. We have 30% of the book complete right now. We do expect it to speed up now that we’ve secured the funds from Kickstarter to pay the art team promptly. Thank you all for your help in making this book happen!
Death Nell 3 - 95% shipped. Holofoil and Metal cover delays/print issues. Apologies to so many of you for the delays here. It’s been an aggravating process.
Death Nell 4 - should start shipping in 2 weeks.
Flickering Lights 3 - 76% fulfilled. In progress.
Horus in Hell 2 - 96% Fulfilled.
HyperGeist 4 - Still coloring. Should be done by the end of this month. We should be delivering in mid-August—same time as Vanya 7.
Midnight Highway 4 - 98% complete. Late surveys are being filled out mostly.
Monster Girl Beach Party 3 - print order has been placed.
No More Gods 1 - Fulfilled.
Undercity Tales 2 - Surveys will be sent shortly, and PDFs will be delivered once we’ve received payment from Kickstarter and confirmed that pledges have been processed. The book is done and ready to go out digitally. The print order will go out the same day as the PDF delivery, next week.
Vanya 7 - Still coloring. Should be done in the next few weeks for a mid-August PDF delivery. Still ahead of schedule.
XenoGeist 1—Fulfilled.
***A reminder that She Brings A Devil is no longer a Bad Bug Media title. For any further information, follow Ryan Cummins (creator) and his newsletter.
Bugs and Kisses, Mike and Bad Bug Crew
