3Q3A 019

An important book/rewards update

Happy Monday!

Hope you were able to attend the Live Draw we did on Friday with Mike del Mundo and special guest Jason Howard. If you missed it, Mike designed a killer new, nightmarish creature that is appearing in THE VALLARS, our upcoming ongoing series with art by Jason. You can still watch the whole thing here.

Disgusting design by Mike del Mundo

We covered a lot of ground in the conversation thanks to your questions (including much more “favorite rom-com” discussion than I thought possible!)

Appreciate everyone turning out.

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Not a ton of new news this week in these dog days of August. So, let’s do one of my periodic check-ins on some of the big, recurring questions we get in the comments and in the email.

(If you’re a regular reader, some of this info won’t be new, but I don’t want it to be missed by putting it too far down in the newsletter, so let’s get to it!)

Q1
Any update on the Book/Rewards?

A1
As we’ve said before, it’s no secret that printing things in the time of Covid and supply chain and paper shortage drama ain’t easy, but thankfully we now have just about everything in hand:

-the softcover edition of the [SYSTEMS] Graphic Novel Sourcebook, for our annual subscribers

-the 3W/3M [FOUNDATIONS] comic (with an exclusive cover designed by Sasha)

-both all-new Art Prints with gorgeous art by the Mikes

-the Collector Cards (we’ll be showing you these tomorrow, most likely)

All we’re waiting on now is the [SYSTEMS] Graphic Novel Sourcebook Deluxe Hardcover for our founders, which is finished printing and is currently at the bindery. We’re told it should be done in the next week or so.

(As I told some of our subscribers at SDCC and C2E2, it’s been a complicated, hands-on binding process because of our addition of fine-lined foil and trying to maintain the integrity of Sasha’s gorgeous design. I think when you see it, you’ll agree the extra care was worth it.)

When it’s done, it will immediately be rush-shipped to our fulfillment center and all the rewards will be sent out to subscribers from there. So, we are now looking at days or weeks rather than months.

Luckily as a result of us being so close to the end of year one, this weekend the entire team will assemble in Los Angeles to sign all the subscriber rewards that are going out to you.

And while everyone is in the same room…

Q2  
What is the “3W/3M Creative Summit 001” ?

A2

We’re excited because we’ll use our time together to hold our first-ever 3W/3M Creative Summit.

The team will be on hand to spend several days mapping out everything coming in the months and years ahead. Due to the pandemic, we haven’t had the opportunity to do this since we launched and given the conversations I’ve had with each of the crew individually, I expect big things to come out of this.

But more than that, we want you all to be a part of it as much as possible, too. So, we’ll be posting a lot of updates from the summit itself during and directly after the weekend. We want to give as much access as we can without spoiling story elements.

IMPORTANT: As part of that, we’ll also be hosting an in-person Founders meetup in Los Angeles over Labor Day weekend. Details on that coming shortly.

Q3  

I was a day one subscriber. When will my subscription renew?  

A3
This came up in Emerald City and a couple of comments and emails, so if it wasn’t clear, that’s on me.

Simply put: we would never ask anyone to renew until we’ve delivered everything we promised for year one.  

This was never, ever in doubt. We’re going to continue to extend our current subscribers until the [SYSTEMS] Sourcebook and other rewards ship out. (Just like we did this month.)

This even goes for the virtual rewards- the coin, the map, and the key. Even if you don’t renew, we’ll be making those (and the associated materials) available to year one founders/first 500, regardless of their subscription status, for a limited time (more details on that to come).

You’ve all been a massive part of building this universe with helpful feedback and openness. It’s a privilege to have such a connected, engaged audience, and we want you to have the books you’ve watched get created in hand…and see the projects (and talent!) we’ve got coming that I’ve been teasing over the summer… before you have to make the decision to renew.

(One more note on this: you’ll receive an email a week before you’re set to renew, both from us and from Substack, so no surprises there.)

You folks have been the rock-solid foundation that we depended on to get all this started- and once we unveil the plans ahead, I think you’ll agree that Year Two promises to grow and expand everything we’ve done so far in exciting directions that you will want to continue to be a part of.

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All right, I gotta go clean the office before the team gets here. (Plus I gotta lay out some Hickman comics on the coffee table and pretend I’ve read ’em! “East of West?!” Isn’t that just “Central”? Say that!)

Have a great week and be on the lookout for more updates as the week progresses!

Viva Templar!

Stephen W.
8/28/22

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