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Above the Clouds - the complete graphic novel!

Created by Melissa Pagluica

Intertwines two stories -- a hero who must save a dying world and a girl who must convince an author to finish what he started. A 268+ page graphic novel by Melissa Pagluica.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

An Estimated Book Schedule Update
almost 5 years ago – Sat, May 25, 2019 at 09:58:28 PM

The info we have all been waiting for! 

Hey backers! I’ve been wanting to update since the beginning of this month but I wanted something A LOT more concrete to give you. What I know I pass on to you! Here is some news of what’s been going on behind the scenes.

The gold foil and its handling turned out to take a lot longer which caused some of the delays in getting a final copy of the book. I cannot express the amount of disappointment I am feeling right now that I can’t start handing out the books at San Diego Comic Con. But I’ll be sure to bring the advanced copy so you can see what you are getting.

I did my absolute best in trying to get the proofs approved and ready. With that being said, here is the breakdown as I understand it:

  • Printing should commence early in June 
  • An advanced copies from the mass production around end of June. After the project manger looks it over, he will send it to me. This is a copy of the book after it is printed and I’ll be able to see it before it ships by sea.  
  • ESTIMATION: approve the advance by beginning July and the project manager’s freight forwarder should have it at sea by mid July,  with it arriving on the west coast around August 10. Give it another 5-6 business days or so after arriving at port - time to clear customs and final delivery. 
  • I was told to be noted of the following: There are still potential factory delays or shipping delays. For example, if the forwarder misses the sailing cutoff time this could resulting in several more days delay. Or if there is port congestion or the US customs decides to pull the container to the side to inspect it, that can also factor.  Sometime there are congestion issues, which can happen, though likelier not to happen. Customs delays are pretty rare - maybe 5-10% chance. 

It sounds like I won’t be able to start shipping books until August or beginning of September. 

I am a one man team (who can hopefully bribe friends with food) that will be sending out over 900 books. The Delivery Date set on Kickstarter is October and I will do my best to get out as many of those books as I can before that time but many of the shipping trips look like it will go into December (erring on the safe side).

At the beginning of July, I will be charging cards on Backerkit for anyone who has preordered or added on items. I’ll do another post to remind people to make sure their cards are up to date to help avoid any delays.

Postcards, Postcards, Postcards

I thought I would end this post with a surprise. For anyone who is receiving the post card collection… You will now be getting 4 in total!

The artist of PRINCELESS, Emily Martin, is designing a card! AhhhhhH!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am and honored that she wants to do an illustration for this project. She is super amazing and you should check out more of what she is about at Megamoth.net and you can find her on Tumblr and Instagram under the username mega-moth.

Here is a preview she sent me:

Thank you so much for your patience with the journey of this printing process. I can't wait to start sending out this books to you!

cheers,

Melissa

Slipcase and gold foil cover sample! At last!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 12:42:15 AM

I apologize, in advance, for the horrible singing that accompanies this video. Below is a sample of what the final cover will look like!


Gold Foil Slip Case

Super excited with how the case is turning out!  For those on the interest list, this post is the one you've been waiting for. There will only be a quantity of 200 and once it's out there will be no reprints of this box.

To add a slipcase to your book will be an additional $20.

This pricing for the slipcase add on will only be available to my Kickstarter backers, so once it’s at conventions it will be significantly increased to reflect a hardcover price.

It's so crazy think this book's goal was for a softcover addition and now it's final form is THIS! Behold... 

Want to add this to your order?

Send me a message!

Update on the Bookplate Design!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Apr 13, 2019 at 12:06:59 AM

Happy April! I was pushing hard to have this update be the one that included the next sample that is suppose to arrive in the mail but it looks like it’s taking a lot longer than expected. The good news, it’s shipped and on its way! The bad news, it first has to go through Mark and be approved before being sent my way for review.

I asked Mark if I can have the final books in my hands before San Diego Comic Con (which is in July) and he said that he can’t guarantee a date until the final proofs have been approved. GAAaaah! Poor Mark, he has to deal with my excitement and numerous emails.

But before July is the big push that I am working for.


In the meantime, I have a few surprises!

A good friend, who is super rad and talented, wants to do a postcard design to be included in the postcard set! YEAH! I won’t share more until I see the final design to make sure it’s a 100% a for sure thing. So cross fingers backers who are receiving this reward, a 4th design may be on the way.

Aaaaaaaand… I decided to redesign the Bookplate design. The more I looked at the previous design the more I thought “It could be BETTER!”

 What do you think? It won't have the watermark or weblink in the final version. I'm excited that it feels much more cohesive with the book.


 What else is on the plate?

  •  Was it mentioned yet that every book will be arriving in it's own bumper box? YEAH! Mark tells me that every book will be put in it's own box during shipment, which means they will be protected the whole way on their trip. Just a small way the extra funds raised are being used to make the book better.
  • Still working on sketch commissions! The final number turned out to be around 177, so this extra time is being used to space out all the sketches so that they are not being rushed.
  • Working on making sure everything, non book related, is ready to be packaged and go out the door.

     

A quick update -- All edits are done and submitted!
about 5 years ago – Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 06:23:05 PM

Hello, hello! Sending you a quick update that all edits, changes, and what-have-you's are all DONE! It's a good thing I went through everything so thoroughly, there were a few major changes that help to improve the quality of the book. Thank you for your patience during this quest to print Above the Clouds.

I'm still waiting on an updated time schedule from Mark (who has been so awesome in helping to navigate the printing of this project), as soon as he lets me know I'll be updating the schedule graphic and passing the news on to you.

Slip Case News

For those who have joined the interest list, thank you! So excited about this addition and as soon as the sample comes in I'll be photographing a million pictures to share with you. For those who missed the news you can follow the link to this post that talks about it: LINK 

I'm still taking names for those who are interested in reserving a slipcase, just send a private message! The list only serves as a reference to follow up and confirm their spot when a price is announced. 


Going to be in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con? 

March 13th - 17th, I'll be at ECCC hanging out in Artist Alley at table C-12. I'll be sharing the table with the AMAZING comic book artist Emily Martin, the artist for the hit comic book Princeless. So if you happen to be attending, stop by! 

To help promote the upcoming release of the book I made these bags to hand out at the convention:

And if you have time, come chat with me and other indie comic artist at this panel happening:

Happy Valentines Day, a book sample came in!
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 12:10:17 AM

Happy Valentines Day! I'm a dork, made a video.  A book sample arrived and I thought I'd show you how it came out. Bonus, you get to see my cat run about in the background.

Also, thank you for your patience with email replies. Working hard to get this book out!