New review for Do-It-Yourself Screenprinting by John Isaacson. I promised some names of people who are willing to let me use their books for the comics rental service (coming soon!) and, as I’m asking alphabetically, thought I’d start with the A-C crowd and then go from there: Nick Abadzis, Lonnie Allen, Chris Anderson, Dan Archer, Pat Aulisio, Liz Baillie, Lauren Barnett, Nate Beaty, Marek Bennett, David Beyer Jr., Josh Blair, Gareth Brookes, Mark Burrier, Angel Busque, William Cardini/Mark Hensel, Edgar Castro, Isaac Cates, Brian Cattapan, Robyn Chapman, Joe Chiapetta and Ryan Claytor. If you’re in that part of the alphabet, make comics and haven’t heard from me, it’s either because I couldn’t find your contact info, haven’t gotten to you yet or I simply don’t have any of your comics. Get in touch with me if you’d like to be a part of this! And now, because I still have bills to pay, here’s my fundraiser pitch. I did mention that I’m starting up a special project here in a couple of days to streamline things a bit, didn’t I? More details tomorrow. And seriously, order your comics today or tomorrow and I’ll actually have that money to spend at SPACE this weekend.
FUNDRAISER! When I quit my job I cashed in my retirement monies on the ludicrous idea that I could eventually make a living off the comics rental idea. Well, that combined with selling comics combined with an odd job or two. Anyway, I don’t get that check until the end of this month at the very earliest and SPACE is happening in Columbus April 24th and 25th. I’d love to go and stock up on the minis (as well as talk to a bunch of you people in person about the concept of a comics rental service) but, as I don’t live there any more, it’s going to take cash for gas, cash for a place to stay (although I’m thinking a couch somewhere is possible), and cash for comics, as only about half of you cheapskates give me free review copies. So how does this fundraiser work? I’ll be doing a new review every day until the end of the month. The best way to send me money is also the way that’s best for you: order comics. I get the cash until I pay back the comics creators (which will happen when I get my big check), you get the comics and everybody wins. If you already own every comic in the store or don’t think you want any more but still appreciate what I’ve been doing here for almost nine (!) years, you could just give me a few bucks. I have a paypal account connected to my main e-mail address (and will put a “donate†button up later today or tomorrow) and seriously, every little bit helps. I’m shooting for $500, which is probably wildly optimistic. Or if you’d prefer to have your money go for something tangible and are intrigued by the idea of being able to rent comics, how about a down payment? I’m hoping to get that officially started by May 1st and am still contacting people for permission to use their books, but even if the rest of them say no I have enough of a selection already to make it worth your while to try out for at least a month. Monthly fees are going to be $22 (that number could still move up or down once I get things started and see how much it’s going to cost) and, depending on how quickly you read the comics you’re renting, it should be possible to get 3-4 shipments to you in a month pretty easily. Well, it will if you live in the U.S., I have no idea how to make this worthwhile for people in other countries. So if you donate $22 now just make a note in the subject line that you’d like it to be a down payment on the rentals and I can send you a list of comics that are already available. As this is going to be first come first serve, the sooner you sign up for this the more likely you are to get the exact books you want. I’m only going to have one copy of most of these comics to start (I’ll order more copies if this is at all successful), so it’ll help a lot to be one of the first people to sign up. Of course, it’s also possible that you’ll sign up later and be the first to choose certain other books, as I’m going to have more than a few oldies available too. The bottom line is that I need your help from now until the end of the month, although this is one of those rare fundraisers where you get good stuff for your money: comics.
