THE O.Z. #1 - A Fantasy Classic Reimagined for Comics

UPDATE: SHIPPING ALMOST COMPLETE, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, AND AN UNEXPECTED COLLECTOR'S ITEM!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 10:36:42 PM

Ho ho ho, Yellow Brick Road Warriors! And happy holidays to all our backers for The O.Z.!

We wanted to give you an update on the latest as far as shipping and fulfillment is concerned, as well as answer some frequently asked questions. Firstly, we are officially wrapped with domestic shipping (including retailers and add-ons!), and about two-thirds through our international shipping!

Beyond the final international shipments, there are only a handful of backers whose orders have not been shipped yet:

- If you haven't filled out your BackerKit survey, WE DO NOT HAVE YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR PHYSICAL REWARDS. You can fill that out at theozcomic.backerkit.com — please fill this out ASAP, as we don't want to leave any members of our Emerald Army hanging!

- If you're one of the lucky five who ordered a Ruben Rojas commission, those are in the process of being wrapped up, and I will ship those rewards your way as soon as they're finished — having seen some of Ruben's work behind-the-scenes, I PROMISE you these commissions are worth the wait! :-)

This is also a great time to respond to some frequently asked questions about rewards and shipping:

- My books haven't arrived yet, do you have an ETA? Beyond a small handful of Canadian backers whose rewards will be shipped via UPS (you wouldn't know them, they go to another school), the majority of our backers have been USPS tracking links via Pirate Ship, or will be shortly. At this juncture, the Post Office will know more than I do, so keep checking those links for the latest updates.

- I've seen some people getting their rewards already — why haven't mine arrived yet? There are a lot of variables to the shipping process which are unfortunately out of anyone's control. We've been dropping off packages at the Post Office as fast as we can pack them, so not everyone's rewards were shipped on the same day. Moreover, there are also variables including the Post Office holiday shipping crunch, inclement weather, some Post Offices being slower than others, etc.

- I can't find my digital rewards/can't open one of the PDFs/can't find my name in the Digital Thank You Section? To answer those questions in order: Check your Kickstarter inbox for a Dropbox link to all of your rewards; message me directly here on Kickstarter if you're having a technical issue, and I'll email you another the PDF; and we updated the PDF on Dropbox, so everyone's names should be up-to-date.

- There's been no movement for my order in XYZ days — does this mean my rewards have been lost? No, I'd give it a bit more time and keep checking your Pirate Ship tracking numbers — there are some orders that have shipped in 48 hours, and others that have taken more than a week to arrive. For example, the batch of Maan House variants I dropped off on December 10 are only 82% delivered, so some orders are taking more time than others. No need to worry — I'd give it at LEAST another week or so!

- If my order DOES wind up getting lost, will you send a new copy? Yes, absolutely, 100%. The O.Z. Guarantee means that we leave no member of our Emerald Army behind, and that if something is wrong with your order, we will make it right. Ruben, Whitney, DC and I worked hard on this book, and we want to make sure every single one of you are able to read it!

Finally, to follow up on the previous update — we heard from some backers last week about a printing error in select copies of the book, in which a page had been inserted upside-down during the binding process. Having spoken with our printer and painstakingly reviewed all of our remaining copies, we've determined this error was limited to certain copies of Kenneth Wagnon's "Hit-and-Run" variant cover, and is NOT representative of the hundreds of correct copies of The O.Z. in circulation.

Our printer has apologized profusely for the error, and is rush-printing replacement copies now. Like I said last week, we're sorry for any inconvenience — if you received one of these affected copies (or if there are any other issues with your order), just message me directly here on Kickstarter and we'll get you squared away. Not only can you keep this unexpected collector's item, but as soon as the replacements arrive, we'll send you a corrected copy of the variant free of charge!

As always, we could not be more grateful for our Yellow Brick Road Warriors, and we thank you for your patience, enthusiasm, and support — we hope you all have a happy and safe holiday weekend, and we look forward to getting The O.Z. in your hands!

UPDATE: SHIPPING IS 70% COMPLETE!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Dec 19, 2020 at 10:15:44 PM

Happy Wednesday, Yellow Brick Road Warriors! It's been a week since our last communication, so we wanted to give you the latest update for The O.Z.!

Like I said in last week's update, we're hard at work at getting everyone's rewards packed and shipped out — we are almost finished packing and shipping all domestic orders WITHOUT add-ons, totaling 70% of all of our Kickstarter backers! (Let me tell you, the Post Office was not a fan when I rolled up with almost 370 mailers yesterday.)

The last of those domestic packages should be wrapped up this evening, followed by me working on Retailer Appreciation packages tomorrow, and then moving onto our Add-Ons and International backers. Because those packages are all individualized, either with specific add-on items or Customs documentation, we're getting all of our "standard" orders out the door ASAP so we can focus on these specialized orders one-by-one.

Speaking of which: I've had some people reach out to me today because of a printer error in a small handful of copies, in which a page was inserted upside-down. We apologize for this issue, which is NOT representative of the hundreds of correct versions of the book we have on hand — if you received an errored copy, please message me directly on Kickstarter and we will send you a replacement copy ASAP. We know that sometimes hiccups happen in the printing process, but The O.Z. Guarantee means we will make things right for our Yellow Brick Road Warriors, no matter what it takes! 

Thanks to every member of our Emerald Army for your support and your patience as we continue to ship out everyone's rewards, and we're excited to hear what you think about our series!

SHIPPING UPDATE: PACKING, PUPPIES, AND PREORDERS!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 09, 2020 at 11:25:23 PM

Happy Wednesday, Yellow Brick Road Warriors! It's been a week, so I wanted to send everyone the latest update for The O.Z.!

As mentioned in the last update, the physical copies of the book arrived from the printer last week, so we've been hard at work getting those books into your hands — as of Friday, we have successfully bagged and boarded everyone's rewards, totaling almost 2,700 individual items!

We're now in the process of packing all of your items in sturdy cardboard Gemini mailers, printing and attaching shipping labels, and dropping your books off at the Post Office. This has been a fairly involved process — for example, we're taping your bags and boards to the actual mailer to prevent excess jostling of your rewards — but we're confident this will reduce risk of shipping damage even further.

There are also a lot of moving parts with how we're organizing our shipping — approximately two-thirds of all The O.Z.'s backers ordered a single cover with no extra add-ons, which simplifies that part of our packing process nicely. We've been clearing through the smaller subsections and chipping away at the bigger subsections one package at a time, and it's been a real pleasure to get to actually hold all of The O.Z. creative team's hard work in my hands. I think you'll love it, too.

Of course, because my life always seems to invite the unexpected, I got a surprise email in the midst of the packing process — namely, that a long-standing application had suddenly gotten approved...

Meet Ruby. 

She's an 11-week-old cairn terrier — which is the exact same breed as Toto from the Wizard of Oz film starring Judy Garland. But even apart from her puppy heritage, Ruby's already a born fan of Oz — her kennel even had a sign that said "Yellow Brick Road" on it when we picked her up. 

With a bright red coat and a BIG personality, Ruby's a real sweetheart, and even though she can't read, she'd be the first to tell you that The O.Z.'s backers are her favorite people in the whole comics industry.

Last but not least — MONDAY is the LAST day to call your local comics shop to preorder the first issue of my next series Scout's Honor! 

Scout's Honor is the story of a post-apocalyptic cult whose bible is an old Boy Scout manual, and what happens to a young recruit when she discovers a dark secret at the heart of her survivalist society. Think Fallout meets Mulan with a hint of The Hunger Games for good measure, and you'll love this comic — but if you don't believe me, listen to Tom Taylor, superstar writer of DCeased, All-New Wolverine, X-Men: Red and much more:

Whew. Big update! Thank you to every member of our Emerald Army for your support, your patience, and for your wonderful feedback for our digital rewards — we're excited to get everyone's physical books in your hands ASAP!

UPDATE: PHYSICAL BOOKS HAVE ARRIVED!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Dec 03, 2020 at 03:23:51 PM

Happy New Comics Day, Yellow Brick Road Warriors — and welcome to the latest update for The O.Z.!

We are VERY pleased to announce... your physical books have arrived! All 1,038 pounds of them!

I just finished reading our double-sized first issue, and if you enjoyed the digital rewards we sent out earlier this week, you're going to love holding The O.Z. in your hands even more.

As you might expect, the next step is bagging, boarding, packing and shipping all 925+ Gemini mailers so  we can get your rewards in your hands — our updates might be a little more sporadic in the coming weeks as a result, but rest assured it is because we are packing your books with all deliberate speed!

Thank you to every member of our Emerald Army for your incredible support — this book would not exist without you backing us every step of the way, and I cannot WAIT for you to explore the world of The O.Z.!

UPDATED THANK YOU CREDITS IN DROPBOX AND BACKERKIT!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 01:18:25 AM

Hello, Yellow Brick Road Warriors — we just a quick second update to share for The O.Z.!

We had a few eagle-eyed readers reach out to us because we had erroneously left off a handful of backer credits in our Thank You section — because every member of our Emerald Army is important to us, we've updated our PDFs in BackerKit and Dropbox accordingly!

Thank you all for your incredible feedback on our double-sized first issue — as always, if you have any technical difficulties downloading it, feel free to message me directly, and we'll get you squared away!