It’s sort
of a surreal moment, seeing your name on a title page. I’ve never quite gotten over it. But then one day, Casey sent it over for
approval. And there it was. And this all became very real.
What I'm getting at is that ACT I
Book is DONE…and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this team. Casey, Evan, Joel and Manny gave this book so much love and life that it’s
unfathomable to me that this book is something I’m a part of, let alone
finished. We put out a page last week,
and your guy’s support and love was overwhelming. It’s amazing to see that with any kind of
art, but if that’s how you feel about a page…I can’t wait to show you the
entire book. And that brings us to the
point of today’s “Hello, Dear Hunter Fans…” post…the really tough part…getting
it out to you.
That was pretty leading, wasn’t
it? Let me explain:
It seems
pretty simple. We print the book, you
get it. But the thing that’s important
to remember about what we’re trying to do with the Act books, is give you way more than you expected. When Casey handed me the reigns for this, we both agreed what we did not want to do was make a ‘when you hear this…turn the
page’ kind of book. These books need to
live and breathe on their own.
Comics are for everyone. Even ones about pimps, priests, hookers,
forests and beaches. You guys are the
key demo for this book, you’re our litmus test, because if you guys are into it,
then it’s a good Dear Hunter book. But
the book needs to live elsewhere besides at the merch table.
It shouldn’t just be supplementary
material for the first record. Our hope
is you guys read it and say, ‘I love this part…but this is new! That’s so cool!’ because there’s stuff we added that’s pretty between the lines, and then there's some stuff we added to
flesh out the story. There’s a new
character you guys will see, entire sequences not covered in the record…and
that’s what we wanted to give you guys, was something fresh that accompanies the
source, celebrates it…and then enriches it.
But you guys know the story. It’s the rest of the masses we want to see
this and take a look at what we’re doing.
Because if we’re not growing our fan base, then what are we doing? It’s just like sharing a Dear Hunter record
with a friend: You want them to share in
this experience with you. Because what
Casey has done is really kind of magical.
So, in terms of publishing, we’re at a crossroads: Do we go it alone and put it out
ourselves? Or do we find a publisher to
get it to everyone else?
It’s not a matter of what’s right
to do, it’s a matter of what’s right for us.
It’s not just a matter of doing the profitable thing, because anyone who
gets into comics can tell you…we don’t do it for the money. We want everyone to see this work we’ve done,
and we want to see how everyone reacts to it, you guys and newcomers to the
story.
The bottom line is you guys have
been super patient…and we’re going to get this book to you soon. We just need to figure out what’s right for
us in terms of getting it to you. In the
meantime though, here’s something cool to look at with words:
 |
| Page 3...this should be familiar to some of you... |
Talk to you guys soon, hopefully at
a convention or something sometime. You
never know…
