THIRD UPDATE 5/11/15: In case you missed it in the blog, SuperFogeys will be moving to a 3-times-a-week schedule when we return in June to make things a bit easier on our patrons. Also, SuperFogeys issue 3 is now available on Comixology!
SECOND UPDATE 5/5/15: Whoa! Just a few hours after we hit our first Milestone, we hit our second! Marc WILL be doing a live draw for our patrons! You guys are awesome.
UPDATE 5/5/15: This morning we hit our first Milestone Goal of $15/strip! Thank you to everyone who has pledged so far. I promise to keep the Behind-the-Scenes blog coming at a regular clip to make the wait for the debut of Chapter 20 in June just a little easier to bear.
Original Post 4/24/15: Hey everybody! I wish you could see all the work that’s going into the big return this June. Marc and I are working as hard as we can to make SuperFogeys even better than ever and there’s just a lot of great stuff happening right now.
But maybe the greatest? We’re on Patreon now.
What is Patreon? Basically, it’s a way for lovers of a particular art (patrons) to support that art online. In return, those patrons get exclusive access and cool stuff like art giveaways, video hangouts, and more. If you click on the link (or pic) above, you’ll be taken directly to our page and a sub-2 minute video in which I explain everything.
This all got started late last year when we announced our hiatus and several of you started bugging me (in a good way) about why SuperFogeys didn’t have a Patreon already going. After all, if SuperFogeys had money coming in, wouldn’t that make it easier to produce?
Uh…. yeah. A lot.
The truth is I didn’t even really know what Patreon was until you all brought it up. I’ve spent the past few months giving myself a crash course and now you can behold the results. I’ve discovered I friggin’ love Patreon. What I love most is that the emphasis is on making sure you, the patron, don’t pay a thing unless we actually produce something. You won’t pay ANYTHING until after we post.
In that sense, Patreon is all about supporting free content. Sounds crazy, right? A way to pay for free content? But we believe, like Patreon, that if people love something then they’ll want to support it. We’re not threatening to take SF away from you if we don’t get so many pledges, but are promising a love fest if we do. I’ll bring the pillows. (That took a quick wrong turn somehow.)
But, yes, your pledges will make it much easier Marc and me to devote time to SuperFogeys. We’re both family men with the need to make money. Part of the reason we took this hiatus in the first place is because Marc was getting so many commissions it was getting harder and harder for him to justify the time spent on this little webcomic. Actually making money on it–even just a little–will make SF make more sense for him and his family.
And for mine. My life is crazy right now (as you all know), but I’m still dedicated to this project and I want to see it finished. That’s really the point of this. According to my outline, the story of the SuperFogeys will wrap up in six chapters. Just six. Man, would I ever like to see it get there. I know you would, too.
Our plan is to have a very active Patreon. The behind-the-scenes blog we’ll be posting there (available at the $1/page level) will be much more in-depth than anything you’ve seen here. I’ll even start updating it immediately and continually, letting you guys in on exactly how far along we are on the current chapter and posting non-spoilerly (and maybe some spoilery) script pages and artwork.
Other pledge levels will you get you anything from a peek at the strips a day early, entries into our monthly original SuperFogeys art giveaways, and even yourself drawn in as a character in an upcoming strip. Like I said, lots more details at the Patreon Page, but let me tell you one important right now: Patreon allows you to set a monthly maximum for your pledges. We don’t want anyone breaking their budget.
Your opinion in all this matters. I hope guys will weigh in. What sorts of rewards and Milestone Goals (I didn’t even get into those here–go see the page!) would you like to see? Should we stick to our plan of moving to 5-days-a-week or would rather see new SF 3-times-a-week?
Lots more SuperFogeys to come. Let’s do this thing together.
You ever hear of http://www.theherobiz.com/ ? I feel like some of the character designs are a direct ripoff of the stuff you’ve created. Anyway, I’ve always loved your strip and I can’t wait for some new ones!
I did just recently see that strip and it looks like a lot of fun.
I also, like you, couldn’t help but notice that more than passing resemblance to a couple of my characters… and I think it’s pretty cool. I’d be interested to know if it’s intentional or not, but given that that strip more directly parodies the classic characters like Spider-Man and such, it’s a bit of a honor to have Cap and Dr. Rocket included in that company.
But who knows? It’s possible the creator of that comic has never even heard of SuperFogeys (though we do both belong to the Collective of Heroes).