Deluxe hardback editions of Vincenzo Ferriero and Ray Chou's dieselpunk airship adventure comic, in its entirety for the first time.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Final 48 Hours!
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 05:58:17 AM
Hey Everyone,
Welcome to the last two days of this campaign, our largest ever! Thank you all so much for showing up in such huge numbers for Skies of Fire. We have a couple of hours left, so let's finish strong!
Project of the Day
Today we're featured as the Comic Project of the Day on Kickstarter! In our 8 years of creating on the platform, we've received Featured Project - until now! Thank you Kickstarter for the shout out!
Way Back Machine: Skies of Fire #1
Story time! Way back when printing Skies of Fire #1 we were under a tight deadline! As Pablo and Bryan raced to finish the pages, Vince and I were arranging to exhibit at New York Comic Con 2014, our first ever show!
Except there was one small problem: our printer, located in China, was closed for a couple of weeks to coincide with Golden Week, an Asian holiday that takes place at the beginning of October each year. Well, that threw our timelines into a tizzy as there was no possible way we would be able to get the books printed and in hand from that printer for New York with an estimated 2-3 week addition of turnaround!
What a first lesson in printing that was! Working under a tight deadline forced us to be very resourceful... I looked far and wide for an offset printer that could print the comics in time. In the end, we decided to go somewhat local with UPrinting.
Even though they don't advertise printing comics, what we learned was the language and lingo of printing. That plus the timed deadline gave us the impetus to figure out problems fast, or be left with nothing to show for it!
After New York Comic Con, Vince and I spent the following week at our friend Alex's Brooklyn apartment fulfilling Skies of Fire #1. What a wild ride that was, and what wild ride it's been ever since...
Slipcase Illustrations
For this campaign we have a lot of small art remasters that we're doing behind the scenes, the majority of which you probably won't notice but overall will have a huge impact on the polish of the comic as a whole.
That said, we did have two major pieces made by Pablo and Bryan this time around: the two illustrations that you see on the Standard Edition Slipcase.
Our concept for these was to show the duality between Captain Helen Pierce and Delmonte through two respective key scenes - the inciting incident at the beginning of Issue #1, and the final send off of Helen in Issue #8.
We love how these two compositions turned out. They've in turn keyed the entire campaign (you'll notice one of them is our thumbnail) and provide a book end to how they journey began and how it's ending (for now).
A Closing Word from Vince
Wow. What a journey it has been! As the clock winds down on this campaign, it’s hard to put into words what this past 8 years have meant to us. 8 years! An eighth of a lifetime. And through it all, the dream of bringing this adventure to its appropriate conclusion has been kept alive by your tremendous support. I want to personally thank you all for sticking it out with us all these years.
I know we say it time and time again, but such a story could not have been told without you. Every single one of us has had a part to play, and for that I am forever grateful. I’ve always thought that great things are forged through perseverance alone. And I hope that this story inspires others to achieve their grand ambitions. It’s been an honor to have you aboard as kindred spirits of flight.
Till next time, keep on flying!
- Vince
Final Week! Making Of, Deep Archives, Media, Shipping
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 16, 2022 at 12:35:25 AM
Hey Everyone!
Apologies for not updating last week - another busy convention weekend at Gen Con, which was a smashing success!
Anyway, some bits and ends today as well as some old stories to tell. Let's get into it!
Shipping
On the shipping front, we have decided to go ahead and go forward with our IOSS EU warehouse, and to that end we think that shipping to the EU will be somewhere in the €8-12 range for the boxed set with VAT included. We are also talking to Canadian warehouses to try to secure the same rates for that territory. A lot of paperwork to file still, but hopefully the infrastructure we're putting into place now for fulfillment of The Wildsea will pay off vastly for this campaign. Fingers crossed.
Making of: Collector's Edition Covers
Vince initially came up with the concept to use airship frameworks as the basis for our Collector's Edition Covers. To handle the work, we turned to longtime Skies of Fire designer, Alexander Bucur.
Alex made his debut with Issue #2, handling the Ships of the World two page codex spread that has since become iconic with Skies of Fire as a whole.
Over the years, Alex has handled a number of our designs for both Skies of Fire and Glow. As a trained engineer and architect, he's the perfect man to bring a level of verisimilitude to the project that we otherwise wouldn't be able to achieve.
For the Collector's Edition, Alex first began by meticulously rendering 3D models of both the Callisto and Zephyr. This actually comprised the majority of the work, as once he had the 3D models in place, it was just a matter of placing the models and tracing to achieve the final composition.
In terms of finish, we knew that we wanted to go with a full cloth cover similar to what we put together for the Glow: Book 1 Collector's Edition.
We went with red and green with gold filament to both contrast and compliment the pair. The result is what you see here today - a gorgeous collector's cover that will look beautiful on any shelf. And yes, we will be trying to number these Collector's Editions just like we did with the Glow ones :)
Mythopoeia Archives: The Warrior Within
Skies of Fire first came together in 2012 when Vince and I were corresponding remotely via email and sending scripts back and forth! At the time, we were both navigating our post-college lives, trying to make it as young creatives during the troughs of a recession.
A picture of Vince and Ray on Vince's student film Sword in the Shadow, which nearly killed us.
I spent a lot of time at coffee shops during this time trying to be a writer. It was, as they say, the best of times and the worst of times. Vince and I eventually turned sending notes on scripts into a full blown creative collaboration. But, believe it or not, Skies was not our first project. No, that would be the reality TV series pitch for The Warrior Within!
The Warrior Within combined our love of reality competition shows, nerds, and Call of Duty. It was to be a reality TV show where we took ordinary people and pitted them against professional soldiers in games of airsoft, with the initial round to show how helpless the ordinary schmoes were, and a final round to show how far they progressed after training with elite ex-Delta Force sans Navy Seals operatives.
It would be hokey, fun, and honestly I still think it would be a killer TV show, made much easier today with the advent of drones and first person cameras like the Go Pro.
Post-SDCC, I've been on a pair of comic podcasts to talk everything Skies of Fire!
On The Writer's Block with David Avallone & Rylend Grant I talked about our origin story, which I hadn't done in a couple of years so it was good fun going over some of that stuff!
On Explain Yourself with Kevin Joseph & Will Alfred I spoke with a number of creators including Charlie Stickney of White Ash. We talked about our books, campaigns, and just generally shot the ish for a good time.
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Alright, one more week to go! Let us know if you have any comments, questions, or thoughts. Otherwise, talk soon!
- Ray
Week 1
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 31, 2022 at 09:43:15 PM
Hey Everyone!
Welcome to your week one update! We're so excited to have all of you on board this campaign. It's been our largest launch ever and is on track to be our largest campaign ever. We feel incredibly blessed at all the support, and we can't wait to get the book in your hands.
Just a couple of bits and ends for today's update:
San Diego Comic-Con
Last week to coincide with the launch of this campaign, I exhibited at San Diego Comic-Con International for the 5th time!
Me chatting it up with Oriana Leckert, head of Kickstarter comics!
This was my first time exhibiting since the before times. I was a bit nervous about the entire experience, but it ended up wonderful as always.
Signing copies of Skies of Fire #7 and #8.
One thing I've noticed is that we've just about outgrown our space in Small Press. On my desk this year was Skies of Fire, Glow, and the Wildsea. Next year we anticipate adding 2-3 new titles and books to the display, which means we're probably due for a booth upgrade!
This is both exciting and terrifying. Thankfully this campaign will give us the means to do just that, and to hopefully get Skies of Fire and our other stories in the hands of more and more people. Upwards and onwards, as they say!
We actually licensed the song specifically for the trailer, the first time we've ever done so. As always, the trailer was cut by Vince, and I think it's the best one we've done to date. What's funny is that we almost ended up with a completely different video - one with more of a traditional docu-interview style that you've probably seen from us in the past.
The thing is, with all of the difficulties of the past year and answering the same questions we've about the project we've done since 2014, the video we ended up with just felt... tired. I looked tired. Vince looked tired. I asked Vince if he felt the same way after watching it together, and he mentioned yes, he noticed that the energy felt different. He then brought up the trailer that we ended up going with, saying that he was inspired by the song and cut a cinematic style trailer to get him in the mindset of the project. I was blown away with what he cut, but he thought it wouldn't be possible as we've always used open-sourced music.
That prompted me to look into licensing, and luckily the costs weren't so bad for independent artists like us! We're glad we took this step as obviously the trailer has resonated with many of you. It fits in line with the themes of the story, as I'm sure you'll discover when you read the compiled books.
Digital Tier
Many people have asked for a digital only tier, and we're more than happy to oblige!
Starting today you can pledge for just the Digital Collected Edition. As creators, this tier is actually quite valuable as it represents pure money in our pockets. We don't have any costs associated with
Shipping Update
We've secured a Germany-based warehouse to ship our EU-based goods and are almost ready to announce the tentative pricing. We're just waiting on final confirmation from the warehouse and should have that ready within the next week.
Pricing-wise, this will be cheaper than the campaigns we've run since 2021, but still significantly more expensive than what it was pre-Brexit. One of the main benefits is that we will be able to provide VAT-friendly shipping, meaning EU based backers should expect one swift delivery this time around instead of having their goods held up by customs.
Collector's Numbering
We've received a number of backers requesting custom numbering on the Collector's Edition and this is something we're also looking into. No guarantees, but we did have numbering on the Glow: Book 1 Collector's Edition so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle / cost to include them this time around.
It may be something we include on the slipcase itself. Stay tuned as we figure out more details on this...
Other Great Projects
Here are some other great projects from our friends and fellow creators on Kickstarter!
Lampblack is a limited comic series by Camille Longley and Pablo Peppino inspired by Studio Ghibli, Fantastic Beast and Where to find Them, Sabrina, and Pokémon. Fans of Skies of Fire will be familiar with the latter name - Pablo is our lead artist for Skies of Fire, and Lampblack is his follow up series! Lampblack is published in a unique landscape style - go check it out here!
Glarien is a five issue spin off miniseries from Charlie Stickney's White Ash Universe. A mature read, the story follows the early days of White Ash's most dangerous elf - Red Sonja meets Taxi Driver. Had a chance to catch up with Charlie at SDCC - always a pleasure picking his brain and seeing what he's up to next! Check it out here.
Hieronymus is a tabletop roleplaying hex crawl based on the strange and mystic artwork of Hieronymus Bosch. This is one of the most beautiful RPGs with a combination of Blades in the Dark mechanics and medieval renaissance art. The game's designer, Laurie, previously created the wonderful Lichcraft: An RPG about Trans Necromancers. He's got a great grasp of nuanced game design that strikes a balance between generative and improvisational - I'm a big fan of his work, including this title which I picked up digitally back in 2021. Check out Hieronymus here.
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Okay, that's it for today. Thanks everybody! Talk next week!
- Ray and Vince
Gratitude
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 12:02:18 AM
Thank you.
The first twenty four hours of this campaign have exceeded all of our expectations. I didn't think we would reach funding in the first day, not with a goal of $50,000, but you helped us achieve heights we never reached in our previous 18 campaigns.
This year has been so incredibly challenging, but today has made us believe again that our art is worth creating, that the sacrifices - ups and downs of the last eight years - have not been for naught, that what we do is worth doing.
Words can't express our gratitude. Thank you. That's all I can think to say.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Tomorrow, I'll be making the trek down south to San Diego, exhibiting at Small Press Q-3 for Comic-Con International. If you're going to the show, please come say hello. It would be wonderful to say thank you in person :)
The following week, Vince and I are pow wowing about shipping rates including EU and Canada.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it's okay. We love what we do, and it's because of you we get to do it.
