Chapter 6
Writer: David Avallone
Artists: Ben Bishop, Kevin Eastman, Troy Little
Letterer: Tony Esposito
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Published by: Image Comics
So…Drawing Blood #6 is out.
This issue is the SECOND issue of the 4-issue "Drawing Blood vol. 2" that was funded by Kickstarter backers more than FIVE YEARS AGO.
In the 5+ years SINCE they raised over $121,000 dollars for what amounts to Drawing Blood #s 5-8, the creators have collectively posted a grand total of 15-16 Updates–several closer together, most with half-a-year-or-more gaps. By and large, they have stoutly refused to communicate with Kickstarter backers, preferring to post things to OTHER social media, expecting anyone who "cares" about the Kickstarter to BE on other social media.
And for years they’ve been making and continuing to break promises, and it’s been over 14 months since they even vaguely hinted at any sort of timeline. It’s always “soon,” but how many YEARS until “soon” becomes “scammed”?
Just going back THREE YEARS, below are some of the creators’ words from Kickstarter updates, with my ‘responses’ interspersed in blue. You’ll find the original comments from the creators on Kickstarter in the ‘Updates’ section of the project’s page corresponding to the ‘Update’ for each respective date.
David Avallone, July 21, 2021
[Shared video call between Avallone, Eastman, Bishop, saying loads of stuff that over 3 years later still hasn’t happened…and couldn’t even be bothered to summarize or write something for Kickstarter backers. Additionally, it was a short video, so no one spent much time to provide information/updates…it was like a 10-minute conference call on the go. ]
Ben Bishop, February 19, 2022 (7 months later…)
As I always mention – the very best place to see the latest on DRAWING BLOOD is our Instagram […] and our Facebook page […] – As wells as our individual Instagram accounts […] – – Whereas a single image and caption doesn’t always make for a meaty enough KS update, I’m always posting bits and pieces of the process all the time over on IG, and also pretty decent at replying to comments. So, definitely give those accounts a follow if you want to stay more in the loop as we wrap this baby up.
It’s taking forever – we know. But we’re so close, and so confident that it’ll be worth the wait. Thanks for hanging in there.
And yet none of those pages linked to are Kickstarter itself…where backers backed this, and expect to be able to at LEAST get “monthly” “updates.” Sure, a single image/caption here or there may not warrant a whole Update and can add further TO the actual updates…abdicating Kickstarter and forcing people to go to other social media in the hopes of MAYBE finding something relevant to this particular project?
Ben Bishop, November 9, 2022 (9 months later…)
We’ve been getting lots of bumps and nudges, or pokes, whatever you want to call them – for another DRAWING BLOOD Kickstarter update, so I wanted to drop in quickly this morning and type something up for all of you patiently waiting on DRAWING BLOOD VOL.2.
Yeah, that only took NINE MONTHS of “bumps/nudges/pokes/whatever” for an Update. Even if not posted as a full-on Update, it’s actually, genuinely POSSIBLE for creators to hop on and post COMMENTS and/or REPLY TO comments without having to put together huge/long/fancy Updates.
There’s not a whole lot to update you all about – and no one likes a lame update – but I can at least come by and let you know we’re all still alive, and still working on the book. Nothing has changed. We’re still all bouncing between various jobs or conventions or everyday human stuff like doctors appointments, funerals, DMV lines, and whatever else somehow sucks the time away each day.
No one likes lame updates, sure…but at least an update IS an update. It’s the few minutes of a creator’s time amidst everything else—it should be part of those “whatever else somehow sucks the time away each day” to have even one creator out of 3+ take five minutes in ONE MONTH to post something. Creators bouncing between jobs taken in lieu of what money was already collected for (Last Ronin over Drawing Blood v. 2) is a bit shady. Everyone else has stuff going on, do they not deserve to know where their money’s going and that the creators haven’t just left them high and dry?
David Avallone, July 20, 2023 (Over 9 months later, start of SDCC 2023 just ahead of panels involving this creative team)
I hoped the overlap in the fandom would satisfy most of you that you were getting something amazing, even if it wasn’t DBV2 yet.
Some of you… weren’t satisfied and weren’t patient.
What *I* myself primarily saw and experienced in the months leading up to this Update was people requesting informatioin, updates, SOME SORT OF COMMUNICATION from someone involved in the project…but it was months of abject SILENCE.
[…]
He should have 8 inked within a month… and then we’re finally done, and ready to send it to you.
As of September 24, 2024…this statement is 14 months old. Speaks for itself.
[…]
Which leads us to the big announcement. You are the first to officially hear it, before we talk about it later today at San Diego Comic Con (and I hope some of you are in the room when we do.)
This seems to be the entire reason anyone even bothered to post an update…so that no one could stand up in a panel and ask FOR an update or ask why they haven’t communicated in 9 months…
It was pretty thrilling to get this email, even knowing the contract had been signed.
Eric Stephenson of Image loves DRAWING BLOOD, and we have signed a contract with him to publish the series, and the RAGDOLLS comics that supplement it.
And this was the first backers had anything official on this. Never even any information about them considering publishing through Image, having already published 1-4 as single issues through Kevin Eastman’s studio!
[…]
Within a week or so, we’ll announce when the first issue will drop from Image. In keeping with industry practice, that means the first issue will be in comics shops about four months later. This will be DRAWING BLOOD #1, which you’ve all read, of course, but then we will go straight through for 12 months, with Volume Two commencing about four months in, and Volume Three four months after that.
14 months later and they still have not communicated when issues would or have drop(ped) from Image.
Never anything specific about timelines or intentions such as “We should know by December if we’ll be able to deliver by February” or some such.
[…]
rest assured: Kickstarter supporters of Volume Two will get their copy of the Volume Two trade a very long time before those issues hit stores for public consumption.
Absolute LIE. Now with #6, this is HALF OF volume 2 that is in stores, and Kickstarter supporters have NOTHING tangible. Even a PDF of #5 shared at the end of the day the day it was in shops was half-assed at best; more later.
[…]
You’ll get it first. And you’ll get some extras we’re throwing in, to thank you for your patience. We’ll make sure that you, the core fans of DRAWING BLOOD hear about everything first, and see everything first.
Again, LIES. There has been NO FURTHER communication, promotion, information, announcement(s) etc in the over 14 months since this was posted.
Kevin Eastman, May 18, 2024 (10 months later)
A LONG OVERDUE letter to all the generous fans that supported the second Drawing Blood Kickstarter campaign in 2019 – my sincere apologies.
Long overdue indeed…I had figured Eastman had essentially merely lent his NAME to the project. Finally, some responsibility being assumed, and this thing can get underway…
…right?
[…]
It is appalling quite honestly that I have not been up here to speak with you before, my name is on the campaign, much like the first one
EXACTLY like the first one
[…]
There is no one to blame except me and there are no excuses I could offer or would accept if I were you.
Ok, we’re getting toward platitudes, especially looking back more than 4 months with nothing tangible since.
[…]
I will say only this, five years to complete a project like the one you funded is disgusting – especially when it has my name on it, even more so. I can sincerely tell you on every level, over that time, the money you contributed to help create and fund this project has only been spent on this project – the funds to complete and deliver the remaining items (original art and related, already complete items, have long since be sent to the supporters) are right where they are supposed to be, and will be used to do so in the coming months.
Potentially ok, but these months later in September, methinks he doth protest too much, so to speak.
[…]
We will be sending out a backer survey shortly, we are nearing completion of all the final elements of the funded Kickstarter campaign
Nothing concrete. No specific dates. And 4+ months later, no backer survey (pretty sure one might have been sent out YEARS AGO, but I haven’t even dug back that far if my emails even DO go back that far). No word on what “nearing completion” means, or what “final elements” REMAIN.
[…]
Again, and you’ll hear it MANY, MANY more times from me in coming months – my apologies –
more generic-sounding apologies and words from something that doesn’t seem like it should have taken more than a half hour to write…averaging (at a half hour) 3 minutes per month of silence since July 2023?
Kevin Eastman, July 9, 2024 (over 7 weeks later)
By the end of next week, we’ll have the final digital PDF of issue #5 to send to you all, and if all goes as planned, we’ll have issues #6, and #7, and #8 off to you about every two weeks thereafter – so you get to see, at least in digital form, in the short term, everything you helped us bring to life – and the hard copies are coming soon.
2 months shy of the 5-year-mark from this project being funded, virtually a YEAR after being told backers would have DBv2 long before others, and it was reduced to a digital file. That many people don’t even care about or have trouble attempting to read—it is NOT a Guided View thing or any ‘smart’ digital comic, and at least for myself, viewing PDFs on a widescreen laptop is NOT conducive to a good reading experience for comics and their crazy panel layouts/structures modern artists seem to always be using.
[…]
I’ll also make sure we send around Troy’s final 40 page “RRRR Adventures” again as well – as I know some of you have gotten it and some missed it, and I want to make sure you all get to enjoy it – it’s truly beautiful.
I have seen NOTHING of this being sent around again…maybe there were private messages and/or private emails, but certainly nothing posted to the Kickstarter project page itself for general access by backers.
[…]
Looking further down the road, we’re all self-funding the final four issues of the series, issues #9, #10, #11, and #12 (which we couldn’t be doing if you hadn’t helped us with the first eight) and we are going to make sure you get digital copies of all those as our “thanks” for helping us throughout the dreadfully long process to date.
Probably because there’d be no way to do a Kickstarter again with the abysmal track record of the current project remaining UNfulfilled 5 years later and plenty of comments and concerns from people seeking updates that extremely rarely materialize.
And being published through IMAGE…aren’t ALL such comics—be it The Walking Dead, Drawing Blood, Saga, whatever—thus self-funded?!?
[…]
Okay – back to work for me – wanted to touch base with you all – and stay tuned for the backer survey details and more updates and surprises from us all in the very near future.
Ok, July 9…very near future…great.
(NOTHING on those as of September 24!)
Kevin Eastman, August 28, 2024 (another over-7-weeks later)
I know you are all feeling (very appropriately) upset about putting down your hard-earned cash to support our second Drawing Blood Kickstarter and are feeling ripped off – I apologize – it was not my intent, nor any the parties involved in this project to rip anyone off. I couldn’t be more sincere here – and I assure you the money you have invested has been spent ONLY on the Drawing Blood project, period, and is actively making its final steps to completion.
August 28, 4pm, virtually end-of-the-day…after #5 was in stores all day for anyone, backer or otherwise.
Not sure I’d seen any further comments or such about how the money was spent, so again, methinks someone doth protest too much.
[…]
Personally, if my Uncle Quentin (one of the OG crowd funders in my history) did not loan us the $1300 to print TMNT issue #1 it would not have happened. Thanks to him it did, and thanks to many of you, our 2017 KS for Drawing Blood Volume One never would have happened, and additionally for so many more of you, the 2019 KS for Volume Two would never have happened either – I am very grateful for your support.
$1300 is a far cry from nearly $122,000 (OVER A HUNDRED *THOUSAND* dollars) that then has left backers waiting HALF A DECADE. If that $1300 loan happened in 1983 (TMNT #1 hit in 1984), 5 years later would have been…1988. Think about THAT.
[…]
Below, you have a link to issue #5, and in the next two weeks you can expect another update from me and the digital version of issue #6.
And after all that time, and it’s just a simple link to a basic PDF file. Presumably such a file had to have existed prior, for proofing and approval and such during the printing process.
And a simple, basic LINK to a simple, basic FILE couldn’t even be provided to backers until the END of the day, basically an AFTERTHOUGHT?!?
[…]
And here we are, 8pm September 24, with issue #6 arriving in stores in a few hours (likely already there, just not for sale til Wednesday), and…
STILL.
NOTHING.
NOT. A. Freaking. Peep.
No PDF for #6. No backer survey. No timelines for expected schedules and such.
It’s not even like they’ve delayed #5 or #6 after #4, an understandable “break” between arcs/volumes, etc. SURELY they could have voluntarily INSERTED a brief hiatus in order to fulfill the Kickstarter, and see that backers got their books prior to them being released to the general public.
But here we are, halfway through vol. 2, and a whole lotta NOTHING.
Filed under: 2024 Non-Review Posts, 2024 Posts | Tagged: Ben Bishop, Comic Reviews, comics, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Image Comics, Kevin Eastman, Kickstarter, Luis Antonio Delgado, Ninja Turtles, Tony Esposito, Troy Little | Leave a comment »
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