The Defense

The Verdict is in!
10 days ago – Wed, Mar 05, 2025 at 07:24:00 AM

Defenders! 

The Jury has declared that THE DEFENSE is...FULLY FUNDED! 

Thank you for taking a chance on this project and helping us bring it to life!

Although the campaign totaled out above the 3K stretch goal, we are currently about $100 beneath that tier due to errored pledges. Cancels and errored pledges happen with every campaign. If your pledge was unable to be processed, please follow Kickstarter's instructions (you'll have gotten an email) to bring your account current within the next six days. Not only do we not want you to miss our first issue but we also want to be able to supply every backer with their free copy of P.U.N.C.H. #1. If we end up shy of the funds to print up your new batch, it's likely we'll still release the book digitally to everyone but that's kind of sh!tty, right? We'd strongly prefer to be able to provide physical-tier backers with physical copies and I think it'll work out fine in the end.

As for what to expect next, things will be quiet for the next couple of weeks while KS does its thing but you can expect surveys via Backerkit in 2-3 weeks to collect your addresses and any shipping fees. The book is completely finished, it's being proofread one final time right now and we don't anticipate any issues meeting our stated fulfillment window in April.  

That's all for now, gang. Thanks again for supporting this project and New Pain. None of what we're trying to do is possible without you.

Keith Champagne

Two hours left!
11 days ago – Tue, Mar 04, 2025 at 07:08:40 AM

Defenders!

A quick update before the bell rings on this campaign.

Always, always, ALWAYS knock on wood the final day of a crowdfunding campaign but it looks like we're safely past the 3K stretch goal. New pledges have more or less balanced out the cancels that always come in the final 24 hours so the funding level seems stable and as long as nothing catastrophic happens to pull us underwater, everyone will be getting a FREE copy of P.U.N.C.H. #1 with their copy of DEFENSE. 

We're going to call a mulligan on the 4k stretch goal for another free book. Instead, if we can at least reach $3650, all backers will ALSO receive a free copy of the first issue of MICROSCOPIC. Tom Nguyen will be aggravated that I'm giving away the store but whatever. I'm bigger than him, what's he gonna do about it?

Let's make some noise for the final two hours, gang! All we need is someone's rich uncle's brother to swoop in and pick up one of the luxury reward tiers and we're there! If you participated in the BACK BOTH BUNDLE, that's a total of 5 FREE COMICS you'll be receiving next month. 

Your bestie,

Keith Champagne

The weekend? Again?!
15 days ago – Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 09:21:28 AM

Defenders!

A quick update today before I head to the airport. I'll be doing a signing tomorrow at MOST WANTED COMICS in Bloomington, Minnesota, with TOM NGUYEN and DOUG MAHNKE. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come by!

As we head into our final weekend, we've made some great progress towards our first stretch goal and are less than $300 away from every backer, physical or digital, receiving a copy of the 48-page first issue of P.U.N.C.H. by myself and Defense colorist Rich Stahnke. Thanks for getting us this far, gang!

Now that the campaign for DAYBREAK! THE COMPLETE SERIES has wrapped up, the focus will be on pushing DEFENSE past our first stretch and, if we're really lucky, unlock a second free New Pain comic for everyone at 4K. We haven't decided which book it will be yet, there are several options but we've got FOUR MORE DAYS in the campaign. Let's all share like the wind and hope for the best. 

Sharing is caring, after all. 

More news soon!

Your bestie,

Keith Champagne 

The final week of The Defense!
18 days ago – Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 06:44:32 AM

Defenders!

It's hard to believe that we're already in the final week of our campaign for The Defense #1. It feels like we just started this campaign 14 days ago, doesn't it?

We are approximately halfway to unlocking our first stretch goal, a FREE copy of the 48-page (or digital edition) first issue of P.U.N.C.H. #1. 

We've added some original art by the great Paul Pelletier to the campaign page to help us climb Mount Stretch Goal. Inked by me (your pal Champagne), it's the New Pain Handbook art created for the King Vengeance entry. If you're an art lover, know an art lover, want to be an art lover or just have a rich uncle, by all means tell them about this brand spanking new reward tier!

If you guys can help us share the campaign out over the last seven days, we're hoping an influx of new backers will carry us safely past the stretch-goal posts and who knows, maybe we'll even be able to unlock our mystery 3.5K stretch goal too! Knock on wood...

It's also your last chance to take advantage of the BACK BOTH BUNDLE over the final two days of the Backerkit campaign for DAYBREAK! THE COMPLETE SERIES.

DAYBREAK! reached its funding goal last night; It was exciting! There were balloons and clowns and confetti to celebrate but a couple of cancelled pledges overnight means we partied too soon. The campaign is now only 99% funded. We expect these campaigns to be a rollercoaster but this turn of events was a real kick to the teeth. Fingers crossed with climb back over the funding goal in the final two days. If you want to help, just click the link of the pic and be transported to the world of DAYBREAK!

Let's keep scrapping 'til the end, gang. NEW PAIN...ASSEMBLE!

Your pal,

Keith Champagne

Week Two of jury deliberations
25 days ago – Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 10:10:58 AM

Defenders!

Hard to believe we're in our 2nd week of the campaign already, isn't it? Time flies when you're running stressful crowdfunding campaigns. Not sure what we were thinking by planning overlapping campaigns. Seemed like a good idea at the time but it's a lot to manage at once. 

Luckily, THE DEFENSE #1 is in good shape right now. We did have a large pledge cancel over the weekend but that cancelation didn't tip the scales so much that we dipped back under the funding goal. We're hoping some new backers will come waltzing in and give us a little more breathing room. Between last minute cancels and the inevitable dropped pledges that KS is unable to collect, several of our campaigns have ended up in the red after the dust settles.  The Two-In-One campaign for JUMP #2 and THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE NEW PAIN UNIVERSE was particularly jinxed so trust me when I say we're not out of the woods yet. 

How can you help us breathe easier? I thought you'd never ask! 

Treat yourself to an add-on, there are several artisanally-crafted delights to choose from. Perhaps share the campaign to a good pal that also enjoys comic books; or share one of our social media posts to your circle of friends. Recommend the campaign to your local comic book shop, we've got a discounted tier just for them. Fake your own death and use the life insurance money to buy us out completely and run this little company properly. Have Elon Musk and his DOGE crew hack into Kickstarter and punch us to the top spot in the algorithms. 

I mean, once we start using our imaginations the options are unlimited. 

Let's keep fighting this never ending battle together, gang. We can't do it without you. 

More news as it comes. And don't forget...

    Have a great week!

Your bestie,

Keith Champagne