Terror & Possibility

Oh, and a Giveaway!

Friends,

It’s been three weeks since my last article, and so much has happened. Rather than bore you with a novella, I’m dividing today’s news into 3 sections:

1. Gifts

2. Comic Con

3. Terror and Possibility

Section 1: Gifts

I just hosted a giveaway of an autographed copy of Marvel Anatomy, and the response has been overwhelming in the best possible way:

iamjonahlobe

A post shared by @iamjonahlobe

If you’re reading this right now (and I strongly believe that you are, hello!), you were included in this raffle!

I wish I could send this to everyone, so I’m hosting a sale of autographed Marvel Anatomy’s, along with all my other work. To participate, simply head over to my store, grab something pretty and use the code TREEOFWORLDS to receive 20% off your order. (I’ll also include Quiet: Level One stickers in every package.)

Comic Con!

Second, I went to AwesomeCon in DC, and it was a blast. I met a ton of amazing people (including the voice of Sheogorath himself, Wes Johnson), sold lots of art, and even promo’d some Quiet: Level One material.

Pictures of me with Wes Johnson (voice of Sheogorath) and some Quiet loot!

Terror & Possibility

I’m about to talk about something… that I’m not yet ready to talk about. In fact, just thinking about talking about it is causing my heart to pound.

You know what? Let’s go ahead and delay this topic by a good thirty seconds or so. Look, everyone, the cover of Quiet: Level One!

Hm. I really only killed, like, 6 seconds there.

*takes a deep, shuddering breath*

Friends, I’ve reached an impasse.

As most of you know, I’ve been creating an 80-page super-issue of Quiet: Level One, with the intention of launching it on Kickstarter. This is no small feat; building the Kickstarter has been almost as much work as the creation of the comic itself. The purpose of this so-called “super-issue” has been to whet people’s appetite, and hopefully provide me with enough income to continue the series.

However…

In the last couple weeks, I’ve been told by two very Kickstarter-savvy parties that I should… um… go all-in on the Quiet graphic novel.

There are a number of good reasons for this (which I won’t go into now), but I’d be a fool to disregard their advice, and so I’ve been grappling with this question a lot. After much internal debate (chaos and yelling), I’ve visualized my predicament as a sort of Donnie Darko-style fear-and-love graph:

1. I am deeply afraid of making this project - which is already an enormous undertaking - any more complex.

2. I am extremely excited at the prospect. I’ve always visualized Quiet as a graphic novel, and the super-issue was always a pitch for that. Whether it’s Skyrim, Fallout, Marvel Anatomy, or any of my other passion projects, I love making big things.

As Jake Gyllenhaal points out, the situation is more complicated than this, but you get the idea. A graphic novel wouldn’t be huge - it would only be two or three times larger than what I’m making, and I’m already most of the way through these first 80 pages - but it’s still quite a bit more work. With that said, running a Kickstarter will assure me of (some level of) funding. It’s been thrilling to see Quiet’s following growing every day. I have a project manager who I trust.

And, most importantly, I have you.

In the absence of clear answers, I’ve chosen this week to approach the problem indirectly: by burying myself in the creation of the comic and reconnecting with the process. Quiet might not speak, but… I trust them. They’ll let me know, one way or another, which direction I should head.

Thanks for listening. I feel better already!

Jonah

Next week: Starting a Fight (Scene)