Gordon McAlpin's Blog: Updates from Multiplex: Deleted Scenes, page 5

Multiplex Movie Review: Bad Boys

We met BOTH milestone goals (last night and today), which also means Multiplex: The Revenge has passed its funding goal! There’s still a little time (before 9PM Central on Friday) to add your pledge, if you want to get in on the action, but I’ll be using BackerKit so that Kickstarter backers can upgrade or add onto their pledges and non-backers can pre-order the book or other items that are available as rewards. More on that in the next few days, though.

By hitting the goal, we have plenty of funds for Book Three’s print run, so any additional funding will go toward Book FOUR… which, again, I’ll tell you more about later.

For now, just read this Bad Boys review comic:

Multiplex Movie Review comics MILESTONE GOALS

In case you missed it, I shared a short PDF eBook with eight Multiplex Movie Review comics on Patreon and elsewhere (publicly/free/etc.) Some of those comics might be new to you. But that got me thinking… which is never a good thing…

We are in the last few days of the Multiplex: The Revenge Kickstarter project! Thanks to a veritable onslaught of pledges (and pledge increases!) yesterday, things are looking less grim than yesterday: we’ve just passed 80% of the funding goal! This means there is less than $5000 to raise — but only three and a half days to do it in.

SO. Let’s do this. I’ve set three milestones, at $2,000 increments, to get us to the funding goal with a little time to spare. If we pass each of them (any time before MIDNIGHT), I’ll do the following Multiplex Movie Review comics — one page per movie — and share them right here in the Deleted Scenes blog… you know, after I watch the movie and make the comic. (In case you’re curious, of the movies here, I’ve only ever seen the first three Transformers movies.)

The first one’s easy, too, since we’re (currently) at $19,250…

UPDATE (July 28 at 6:45pm): The Rock is UNLOCKED!

Download the first chapter of Multiplex: The Revenge FREE

With four days and 30% of the funding goal for Multiplex: The Revenge remaining, things are looking a little bleak. In hindsight, there are some changes that I could have made to keep the budget (and the funding goal) down. I detail a bit of that in this post over on the Kickstarter project site, so I won’t go into it again.

I can’t change the funding goal now, though, but what I can do is add to the project to make up for that. (Again, visit the Kickstarter page for details.) And so one of the things I want to do is to share Multiplex: Chapter 11 with you — FREE — in order to give you a taste of what the whole book will be like… you know, with the obvious hope that some of you who haven’t already will consider backing the project.

I’ve also made Chapter 6 (the first one from Book Two) free, as well, because it’d be weird to have Chapter 1 and Chapter 11 free but not Chapter 6, too. (I learned that “first one’s free” thing from drug dealers in movies.)

I had forgotten about an old poster design…

Fittingly, I had forgotten about one old Multiplex movie poster parody from 2009 — for Memento.

So while I can’t edit the rewards description in the sidebar on the Kickstarter website, there will be FOUR, not three, movie poster parodies in the 11″x17″ mini-poster set included with the “College Dorm Pack” and anything including the “Premium Sponsor Pack” (with no difference in the pledge amounts).

That makes Memento, The Breakfast Club, and Serenity — plus an all-new parody design suggested by the Kickstarter backers.

If you’d like these posters (and a copy of Book Three, of course), please support the Multiplex: The Revenge Kickstarter project today! They will be available to non-backers after they’re shipped as rewards, but — like the book — they won’t get printed if we don’t make the goal. As of this writing, we’re at 48% with 17 days left in the funding period remaining, so with the usual boost of pledges later on in the funding period, things look pretty good — but it’s not over yet.

Don’t hesitate! I can start work on the book the SECOND the book goes over the funding goal!

Multiplex: There and Back Again is $14.95 on Amazon for a limited time

If you don’t already have copies of Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show (Book One) or Multiplex: There and Back Again (Book Two), get ready for Multiplex: The Revenge (Book Three) by ordering yours today from Amazon! Book Two is $14.95 — with Prime shipping — for a limited time! (International readers should be able to get better shipping from them than I can offer, as well.)

You can also get Book Two along with the Book Three Kickstarter — and a very, very limited number of Book Ones, with the funds helping support the production publication of Book Three, but if you want Book Two sooner rather than later, this is the way to go!

Jason sketch giveaway (and a Kickstarter update)

So the Multiplex: The Revenge (Book Three) Kickstarter project has passed the $9000 mark in under three days. Because of that awesomeness, I whipped up this sketch.

I’ll be giving this sketch away to one lucky Patreon Patron OR Kickstarter Backer (at any level), shipping included — just leave a comment on the posts about this at either Patreon or Kickstarter. And if you’re both a patron AND a backer, leave a comment both places, and you can have two chances to win! (Or, you know, you can just look at the sketch. I’m flexible.)

The winner will be chosen at random at the end of the month, once the Kickstarter funding period has ended and July’s Patreon funds are collected — whether the Kickstarter project is successful or not.

(I forgot to sign it before I scanned it. Yes, I’ll sign it first.)

The Multiplex: The Revenge (Book Three) Kickstarter is GO!

Short version: The Book Three Kickstarter project is live. Please support it! I love you.

Long version: Much of this is also on the Kickstarter project page, but I wanted to mention a few other things here that aren’t necessarily relevant to people who aren’t already familiar with Multiplex. Apologies about the long-windedness, but I want to be as transparent as possible in these projects.

So today’s good news is that because I’m almost finished with grad school (December! Hopefully!), I finally have the time to make a third Multiplex print collection. For the rest of the summer and into the winter and spring, I can work on Book Three — if we can raise the funds to cover the printing costs, of course, and to supplant the freelance work I’ll need to forego to work on the book.

The bad news is, printing costs have skyrocketed in the last two years. The quotes I’m getting are uniformly much higher than they were for Book Two (which had identical specs), which not only raises the printing costs, but the taxes and fees associated with the whole project. And so, the funding goal is significantly higher than the last project: $24,000.

If we can reach the funding goal, I’ll be able to work on Multiplex and the print book full time for the rest of the summer, pause for the fall semester, and then jump back in again after I complete my MFA in December. (The Kickstarter project page has a detailed tentative budget and timeline.)

Hopefully, I can count on you to help make Book Three happen!

And, ideally, we’ll even surpass the goal, which would let me move straight into working on the new material for Book Four. I’d really like to put the remaining books out once a year — or even faster, after the webcomic ends. For those of you already lamenting the imminent end of the comic strip (in a couple of years), the print books are not just a great keepsake — but the bonus comics mean they’re also more Multiplex.

Book Three can only happen if we hit the funding goal by July 31st at 9pm Central, so please don’t wait. Remember, you are only charged if and when we reach the funding goal by the deadline!

“Tell me more about this ‘Book Three’…”

Multiplex: The Revenge, as Book Three is officially titled, will collect #217–338 (March 2008 to March 2009), which includes Jason and Angie’s brief relationship, the Multiplex 10’s ultimate battle against Flickhead Video, Gretchen getting her due, and much more. It will have the same high production standards as the award-winning Multiplex: There and Back Again (Book Two) collection.

The book will be 208 pages long (just like Book Two) but have about 35 pages of new material spread out across its five chapters, with two slightly longer arcs set on opening nights of The Dark Knight and Watchmen. (Some of this material has already been shared with Patreon backers!) That’s like four months of new stuff!

These new strips will also answer one of the most common questions I get at conventions: “Whatever happened to Brian?” Brian and his accomplice will appear in new strips throughout the book, building on their appearances in the original strips, and culminating in the Watchmen arc that closes off this volume.

This plot line just kind of unceremoniously slipped between the cracks of too many other storylines  back in 2009, and I eventually realized that it made more sense to revisit it in a print book rather than try to pick it up again after too much time had passed.

(Not  final art)

“When will it come out?”

I’m hoping to have Multiplex: The Revenge printed and in your soft, supple hands in September 2016. There is a more detailed timeline on the Kickstarter project page if you want to know more. (Full disclosure: I’m likely to be moving out of Minnesota next summer, and I’ve set this date to accommodate that. If I don’t end up moving, I will be able to move up the timeline by a few months.)

“What kind of rewards are there?”

Rewards include sketches, the Multiplex Chapter eBooks, movie parody mini-posters, cameo appearances in the book or the online strip, and much much more. You can see the complete list on the project page, but one of the coolest ones (in my opinion) is the set of three 11″x17″ movie parody mini-posters, though, which includes The Breakfast Club and Serenity (previously seen on the backer-exclusive T-shirts from the first two Kickstarter projects) as well as a new design based on suggestions from the Kickstarter backers! Brokeback Multiplex? Multiplex Strikes Back? You decide!

(Not final art — I mean, obviously, with the last one)

But I don’t have Book One or Two!

Book One is nearly sold out, but there is a (very!) limited number available at some reward levels, and I have a second printing of the book as a stretch goal. Book Two is available in some of the reward packages, as well.

Many of the reward levels also include the Chapter eBooks of Books One and Two, as well.

I plan to use BackerKit to allow backers to upgrade their rewards packages even after the funding period ends and for “add-ons” — but those orders don’t contribute toward the funding goal, and they won’t open up until after the project has been successfully funded (if it is funded).

What if I already own too many things, maaan?

Now, if you’re not interested in having the printed book, you can also read all the new stuff by pledging to receive the eBook collections (which, personally, I love reading on my tablet in ultra-high resolution) or back the Patreon project instead — although that doesn’t contribute toward the funding goal.

Other ways to support the strip and the book project

The Patreon is an ongoing subscription for the ongoing production of the comic strip. It currently raises roughly $600 a month after fees and such, so while those funds are ostensibly for the comic strip, it still lowers the amount of money I need to work on the book (that is, to pay my rent and bills so that I can work on the book instead of freelance work). I’d rather work on Multiplex than do most of that freelance stuff. You’d rather read Multiplex. Win/win, right?

All funds raised by the Kickstarter will be used  for the production of the print collections and the various Kickstarter rewards (including “hiring” myself for the time to create and fulfill everything). If you want to support the comic but aren’t super keen on the monthly patronage thing (which I totally understand), supporting the Kickstarter project is a great way to make a one-time contribution.

Patreon patrons will have access to all the bonus comics for Book Three that Kickstarter backers do through the Patreon Activity Stream, so unless they want to get the printed book — or just want to chip in a little extra money to make sure the book series continues, there’s no reason to contribute to both.

If you’re allergic to Kickstarter, BackerKit will also facilitate pre-orders for non-backers — but again, those orders don’t contribute toward the funding goal. For Patreon patrons: I don’t yet know whether BackerKit supports coupon codes (all Patreon patrons at the $3 level and up get Multiplex Store discounts), but I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

Finally, if money is tight, you can still help by telling your friends about the books and the Kickstarter project! It all helps me, and that means more Multiplex for you.

Did I mention again that Multiplex is ten years old this month?

Well, it is!

Thank you for your continued support!

The Multiplex 10 is ten years old this month

Ten years ago this month (on July 10th, 2005, to be specific), I posted two shitty looking comics to a corner of the Stripped Books website. At that point, I had no idea what I was in for: it was a gag strip that would quickly transform into a character-based comedy where people talk about movies — not just superficially about specific movies, but about how people watch and talk about movies of all kinds. The art got a little better, too.

The Multiplex characters took on a life of their own and ultimately turned this comic into an eleven- or twelve-year “epic” about the movie theater industry in one of the most interesting periods in its hundred-year history (and also this one jerk who kinda sorta becomes a slightly better person maybe if you squint your eyes and cock your head to the side a little).

Multiplex’s readership grew quickly in those first few years, thanks in very large part to a pair of guest strips on PvP and some well-placed Project Wonderful ad campaigns (thanks, Something Positive and Shortpacked!), and in the years since it has since retained a small but passionate readership that has supported me time and time again: the Patreon project of course, as well as two successful Kickstarter projects to fund two books I’m very proud of.*

Thank you for allowing me to tell this story.

Thank you for reading.

— Gordon

* Speaking of Kickstarter projects, there will be an announcement about Multiplex: Book Three… very soon.

Gumroad now takes PayPal!

I’m happy to announce that Gumroad now accepts PayPal as a payment option. Gumroad, for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, is the service that powers the eBook sales I use in the Comics section of the Multiplex website — like, for Chapters 1–5 and Chapters 6–10 on the Book pages, or the pages for Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show and Multiplex: There and Back Again.

So if you’ve ever wanted the Chapter eBooks but don’t want to sign up for an account with the Multiplex Store and are wary of sharing your credit card information with Gumroad, you can now use PayPal instead!

Multiplex is taking a short break.

Longtime readers of the strip know I don’t just stop updating. Three years of grad school, and I’ve missed maybe one update. But as some of you may know (from Twitter or the Multiplex Facebook page), a friend of mine died in a car crash on Wednesday.

Ryan Love and I went to school together from 3rd grade until graduating high school, and he was probably the one person most responsible for me getting interested in comics. When we were kids, I read all his He-Man mini-comics, because my parents never bought me any of those toys. After I got into comics, he read my DC stuff, and I read his Marvel comics. He bought my comics for me on the sly when my mother banned me from reading them for getting “bad grades.” We co-created a ton of really dumb superheroes together, plus a couple of cool ones.

We drifted a bit after high school — different colleges and just part of growing up and being interested in different things. We kept in touch (not as much as we should have), and when we got together, we mostly talked about comics, he would badger me to join our high school friends’ Fantasy Football League (never going to happen), and we’d argue about something or another. He was great at arguing.

Since I was back in my hometown (Peoria, Illinois) for the Artist and Comic Expo, we had lunch on Monday, two days before he died. I hadn’t seen him in about three years, since the last time I had visited Peoria. This time we talked about comics, Age of Ultron, Game of Thrones, and how we’ve both recently become engaged. He badgered me to join our friends for their annual get-together to watch “the draft.” I think that has something to do with football.

I also gave him a copy of Multiplex: There and Back Again. I inscribed it, “This book is all your fault.”

Even though we didn’t talk nearly as often as we did when we were little, time doesn’t change how much friends meant before, or how much of them was and continues to be a part of you.

Multiplex needs to take a short break while I head back to Peoria to go to his memorial service, and then immediately turn around and head over to Denver Comic Con. Hopefully I’ll find time to work on the strip somewhere in there, but in any event, I’ll start posting new strips in two weeks.