UPDATE: The Presale has begun!
I have been drawing this cover for 2 days straight. I haven’t left the house and I have only offered my wife and daughter the occasional “Mungh!” through my closed office door. Thanks to everyone that voted on the book name. I went with the majority, so congrats on picking something super confusing that will continue the tradition of HijiNKS ENSUE book names that cause people to make faces and ask questions.
I will make a formal announcement for the presale on Monday and give links to purchase the various flavors of the book. There will of course be regular editions, artist editions (perhaps your ONLY chance to get a book sketch other than at a convention), and I will again be offering ULTIMATE FANCY EDITIONS. Just like last time, these super special editions will have a limited edition print, some stickers, and some other goodies. The price will also contain a built-in donation for those of you that want to help with the initial printing cost of the books (somewhere between $7000 and $9000). This time there will be 200 150 Ultimate Fancies and each UFE purchaser will get their name in the book on the the Fancy Bastard Wall of Fancy Fame. There will also be a few offerings of Ultimate Ridiculous Fancy Editions that will have a few extra goodies but primarily be for those that REALLY want to help with the printing costs.
So now I level with you: I just went back and read my impassioned plea from the first HE Book presale. I mentioned that I was dead broke and the book was either going to be the end of The Experiment or the beginning of the next chapter. Luckily, and thanks 100% to YOU, it was the latter. I’m in a similar situation now where upon YOU get to decide if this book actually gets made or not. If the UFE’s don’t sell out I probably won’t be able to afford the print run at all. If the presale goes poorly there just won’t be a book 2 until a wealthy financier steps in and starts paying me to read to him in my underwear (the boxers stay on, old man!). If you care about HE and it’s continued existence, even if you have already donated, or purchased something from the store, I STRONGLY encourage you to preorder the book as soon as it’s available.
I am doing everything within my power to make the best book I possibly can, and all I ask is that you drop a few bucks on it a couple of months before it exists in the physical realm. So let’s talk about the book. It is going to contain all of the HE comics from 2009 with all new commentary from me on each comic. It has a foreword by Leverage writer Eureka writer/executive producer AMY FREAKIN’ BERG! How’s that for geek-cred? It will again have even more embarrassing, never-before-seen artwork from my middle school and highschool days, and maybe a few surprises (probably not… probably just the stuff I already mentioned).
If the presale goes well the books will be off to the printer in January and will begin shipping in late February. I’m sure there are some of you that will want to give the book as a gift THIS year, so I will make a nice card that you can print out and give to the recipient in the fashion of your choosing.
Please, please, please help me make this a success. Thanks!
~Joel
All Non-Artist Regular Editions have been shipped. Regular Artist editions are shipping now as I sketch them (usually in bundles of 10 or so). Non-Artist-UFE’s will all be leaving within 1 week of this post. There was a hold up on one of the stickers, but now all the goodies are in and can head out to you. UFE Artist Editions will also be leaving as I sketch them. This may take a little while because I refuse to do the “30 second sketch” you get from a lot of cartoonists. I will take the time to make your sketch special, so please be patient and bear with me. Thanks!
