Evan, IN FYI: Tales #21 (re: signing)

Just so you guys know, it looks like the Tales issue has been pushed back to Oct. 20. Not certain, but that's the current date Dark Horse is giving.

 

This is an outrage! You have to do something... you are Nathan P. Butler, our famous guy from Evansville!

Any given reason for the new date?

 

Well, according to Barlow, that date's not set, just what DH (not him or the SW team) is projecting for some reason. He's gonna look into it. But best guess? One of the three stories is taking a lot longer than expected, though now, minus a few tiny tweaks, the issue's done. So who knows what's up? They made the change while Barlow was on a week's vacation.

 

Alright, guys, I talked to Jim. He's thinking the best day for the signing thing would be Wednesday, December 22, since that's the new comics day. We'd do it Saturday, but that's Christmas day.

Would that work for everyone?

Oh, and WotC is sending me promo stuff to give away at the event.

 

Sounds pretty good. It is wise to keep it away from Christmas eve & Christmas day due to people traveling, etc. That is a Wednesday, so I would shoot for as late as possible...after typical work hours...

 

Cool. I'll likely be there most of the day, I think. I'll have some WotC stuff to give away, do signing stuff, show off some of the unfinished pages for the process, maybe even give out CDs of the behind the scenes ChronoRadio episode that talks about the process. Should be fun.

So, we can for sure say Dec. 22?

 

BOOYAH!

Dark Horse has just put up their 12-pages preview of Star Wars Tales #21, which features a 4-page preview (pages 9 - 12) of "Equals and Opposites" . . .

AND . . .

With the blessing and support of Jeremy Barlow, we have put up a second starwarsfanworks.com exclusive preview panel from the comic! This one's a real eye-opener. Check out the news on the mainpage of Fanworks at:

http://www.starwarsfanworks.com

Or directly on that specific news page at:

http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/newspages/092204a.html

Rock on!

 

Looks cool! Can't wait.

Give us a couple more days before we say "for sure" on the 22nd...but we will lock it down soon.

 

Cool. As soon as we lock it down, I'll put a news byte up on Fanworks.

 

Oh.
My.
God.

Okay, so I just got that promo package from WotC with stuff to give away at the signing event.

Uhm, it was a HUGE box of stuff. We're talking a BOX of the ESB TCG 2-player starters (that is, 6 starters), a STACK of RPG sourcebooks (the $30 hardback ones), etc. I'm thinking that we might do it as door prizes or something, I dunno, but given what sourcebooks were sent, I'm thinking if there's some kinda "first place, second place, third place" sorta thing, it might go:

1st: Hero's Guide, Ultimate Adversaries , and Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds ($90 worth)

2nd: Hero's Guide and Ultimate Adversaries ($60 worth)

3rd: Hero's Guide ($30 worth)

And maybe for the TCG, we might have like...

1st: ESB 2-player starter, ANH Light starter, ANH Dark starter, 2 Battle of Yavin boosters, 2 Jedi Guardians boosters, 2 Empire Strikes Back boosters, 2 The Phantom Menace boosters

2nd: ESB 2-player starter, ANH Light OR Dark starter, Battle of Yavin booster, Jedi Guardians booster, Empire Strikes Back booster, The Phantom Menace booster

3rd: Same as 2nd

And so on, until we run out of TCG stuff.

And he's sending more stuff from the Clone Wars era miniatures set that comes out in November I think, but I'm not sure. Predominantly we're talking RPG and TCG. Bigtime stuff.

Y'think? Some of this is just too expensive to just give out as walk-up. Gotta make it prizes or door prizes or something.

 

Sounds GREAT! That is some really cool stuff. We can really make an event of this. Door prizes sound fine...Nathan, Jim, and probably myself & other E'ville Jedi will need to talk about how to promote this event.

 

Okay, we have a good size consensus on the day (Dec. 22) and I think everyone agrees...the later the better. So, as long as Jim at CQ is okay with the 5:30 time slot that is what we can plan for. If not, I will push for a time that's still fairly late in the afternoon.

 

Okay, so I talked to Toby at WotC and Jim at CQ. Here's what I'm currently thinking about the giveaway stuff.

We absolutely do not want to give away too much too easily at the store because we don't want to harm Jim's sales, and that's a big concern for WotC, me, and Jim. We're wanting to keep it down to incentive, but not just flooding with free stuff.

So I'm currently thinking that we do three things:

1. I have 20 assorted TCG boosters here. Let's use those as something where if people come in *and sign up as part of the E'ville Jedi*, they can get one free booster from what I've got. Figure it's unlikely you'll get more than 20 new members that night, y'think?

2. We have a door prize drawing for those who DO NOT become part of the E'ville Jedi: They enter to have a random drawing for a 2-player ESB TCG starter set, one ANH TCG light side starter deck, and one ANH TCG dark side starter deck.

3. We have a door prize drawing for those who DO become (or are) part of the E'ville Jedi: They enter to have a random drawing for one copy of the Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds sourcebook, one copy of the Hero's Guide sourcebook, and one copy of the Ultimate Adversaries sourcebook.

And I'll point everyone, certainly to my website and radio show, and the rest of what WotC sent will be used as giveaways through the show or site.

That's what I just emailed to Jim, so that's what I'm hoping to go with.

 

Sounds pretty good. I like the idea of different categories of giveaways. If we had more than 20 new members(which I doubt)...you mentioned the extra prizes...unless they are too nice.

Nathan, have you asked Jim about the time yet? If not could you PM his e-mail to me? I had one address before that he did not answer me on so I wanted to make sure.

 

Actually, I hadn't mentioned a time to him yet. I'll PM you what he sent and what I'd sent about the WotC stuff, but that's all so far. I'll email him and see if 5:30 sound right or earlier in the day.

 

Get it?

 

Yeah, I got it...still need to get with Jim on the final decision on the time.

And to share the revised release date of the comic: it has been revised to 10/20, rather than 10/22.

I will also get with Jim on the number of extra copies. Everyone at the last meeting expressed interest (six people). I will probably leave it up to Jim if he wants to get any extra copies for the signing event itself...thoughts?

 

So, got all the copies picked up and everything, guys?

I've started to get a presentation board ready for it. It's one of those three-panel things, like for school projects. On the left, I have three versions of the pitch segment for the 5th page of the story (original, one with LFL/DH comments, and the final), then three drafts of the script (first, comments, final). On the right side, I have the black and white art for the page, the black and white art with balloon placement markers, the black and white art with balloons over placement markers, the final black and white pages, the color pages without any balloons, and the final page as scanned directly from the comic. For the middle, I scanned the title from the first page of one of my black and white copies and blew it up to be a title. I just have to finish fleshing out the middle panel and it'll be all set. One nifty-cool board to set up at the signing.

 

I'm sure you'll get an A+. I'm interested to see what Lucasfilm had to say about it.

 

They had only a few things, really. No having Kyle and Jan married, for one. LucasArts suggested the change of a weapon from one I'd been thinking, etc. Not much else.

 

I just spoke to Jim at CQ. We are good to go for 5:30 on Dec. 22. He said after Nathan bought his copies he would have had 30 left. Plus he said he would monitor it and perhaps order more of them.

I mentioned that we would be promoting it with signs around the area and also promoting it on the midwest JC boards. He suggested we do a press release (hometown boy does good )...said he had mentioned it to Nathan. We will need to combine our resources...or decide who will write it up, and Jim said he would take care of mailing it out to all necessary media at the appropriate time.

I told him I would check in periodically to make sure everything is on track for the event. Joe, stand by on those signs. Thoughts...?

 

Yeah, I'll write up a press release, or someone can and I can proof it. I've got the stand-up about 50% done. I'll be bringing the door prizes if someone can get something to put the entry forms in (and some tickets or something to use for the door prizes). I'll also be bringing the TCG boosters for the new members (all I've got) and some CDs of the ChronoRadio episode about the comic, plus a few of my usual convention demo CD-ROMs.

I likely will not be having any copies of the issue with me to give out or sell when I come up, just an FYI.

 

I just got my copy today. Good story, Nathan. I'm glad to finally see a comic story in the NJO era and to see Kyle Katarn (one of my favorite characters, by the way) in an all new story. Great job.

 

Thanks. Be there for the signing!

 

<<Joe, stand by on those signs.>>

I have a prototype sign ready to go, awaiting details!

-=joe=-