The Defense

The weekend? Again?!
about 1 year 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!
about 1 year 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
about 1 year 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

WAIT. Did we just hit our FUNDING GOAL?!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 09:00:25 AM

Defenders!

A funny thing happened this morning. WE REACHED OUR FUNDING GOAL!!

A huge THANK YOU to our backers for helping us bring this project to life in only 4 days. This is (intentionally) a small, abbreviated campaign but we've been really blown away by the response to THE DEFENSE. Not just from you guys; Kickstarter named it a "PROJECT WE LOVE" within minutes of launch and even featured it in their email newsletter.

We've added our first stretch goal to the campaign page and also wanted to share it here. It's free stuff for all of you so we assumed you'd like to know. Drumroll please...here's the big unveiling...

Backers of physical tiers will receive print copies. Digital backers will receive the digital version. Help us get there by sharing the campaign out. The more we scratch each other's backs, the less itchy we'll both be!

And don't forget out the "BACK BOTH BUNDLE!"

If you choose to also back our campaign for DAYBREAK! THE COLLECTED SERIES on Backerkit, you'll also receive copies of those three books above. Just leave the comment, "DEFENDING DAYBREAK!" on either campaign page and we'll lock it down for you. A bunch of you already have, don't miss out!

I know we sound like a broken record but at least we're playing a decent tune.

Have a great weekend, everyone. 

Your bestie,

Keith Champagne

Our first update!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 07:02:17 AM

Defenders!

Thanks so much for backing the campaign for THE DEFENSE #1 and welcome to our very first update! I'm Keith and I'll be your plucky tour guide as we navigate the sometimes-choppy waters of crowdfunding. Things shouldn't get too treacherous though; the book is completely finished, proofread and the files are ready to go to print. Knock on wood, as long as the campaign funds, everything should be smooth sailing.

For those of you that have participated in our "BACK BOTH BUNDLE" and also supported the campaign for DAYBREAK! THE COMPLETE SERIES, we've verified your dual pledges and the three free books (JUMP #1, UNcovered #1, and THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE NEW PAIN UNIVERSE #1) have been added to your accounts.  

If you haven't checked out the DAYBREAK! campaign yet but do decide to also back that project, make sure you circle back and leave the comment, "DEFENDING DAYBREAK!" on either campaign page. We'll make sure you get the extra books!

ALSO, when assembling the campaign (and this is my fault), we accidentally left our newest title, P.U.N.C.H. #1 (by myself and Defense color artist Rich Stahnke) off the First Issue Bundle reward. That's been rectified this morning. The price of the bundle hasn't changed but 48 more pages of fun are now included.

We seem to have crested that initial wave of enthusiasm that (luckily) kicked off this campaign so now comes the hard part: raising the rest of the funding goal. 

We're about 68% funded as these words are typed. The campaign will likely need another 30-35 backers to reach its goal. If any of you reading this are millionaires and want to be our sugar daddy, I have it on good authority that our partner Tom Nguyen is very sweet. 

Otherwise, the best way to help is to share the campaign with your comic-lovin' friends, store owners, what have you. It's always a struggle widening  the sphere of a campaign past our normal social media audience.  A word from you guys goes a long way.

Back soon with more news!

Keith Champagne