Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: kickstarter, Pulp716, sparrow

Pulp 716 Closes Social Media After Kickstarter Sparrow Spat

Pulp 716 is an independent comic and coffee shop in Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York, who posted about a Kickstartered comic called Sparrow.

Pulp 716 is an independent comic and coffee shop in Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York, specialising in small press and indie comics. Last week, they posted on Twitter about a Kickstarted comic they had not received after two years, stating "Are any other retailers owed money from an unfulfilled Kickstarter this person did? We suspended backing any Kickstarters since we got burned by this one. They've ignored our messages and email." And they included screencaps of the creator's social media profile.

The creator was Kara Huset and the comic book was Sparrow. Pulp 716 gives its employees a $100 budget to find new comics to stock, and it appears that one of them had backed this comic to that amount. And had not received what they had been promised. The comic had been completed, had been fulfilled digitally, but there had been a big delay on print fulfiulment.

The reaction was diverse. Some like Jimmy Palmiotti posted "It sucks because people like me that make sure 100% of the time people get what is promised suffer. It's like blaming one store in the neighborhood for another businesses bad behavior" and Nick Davis posted "There are bad actors in all corners of the internet. It always puzzles me how folk with a proven Kickstarter delivery track record (like me), get overlooked by fly by nights. I hope this gets resolved in a manner that benefits all the folk that backed the 'Sparrow' project." Pulp 716 suggested that a criminal complaint might be generated.

Huset, who had begun to receive all manner of social media commentary, commonly known as a dogile, tweeted a public statement, saying,

"Wanted to make a statement about my book Sparrow, the KS, etc. I've posted updates that have gone into this a little bit but figured I'd just write everything out here. I know I failed and am deeply ashamed of how I managed the project, I think about it every day and have been trying my damnnest to figure something out. I was a 22/23 year old in way over my head in the middle of a move that ended up being the worst year of my wife and I's lives. I never intended on not fulfilling the book and I still desperately want to. I was so proud of that book. It's a 10+ year passion project I'd been working on since I was 13. I love that book and I wanted it in people's hands so bad, I still really do. But long story short, my wife, kids and I would have been homeless. I have been trying and trying to get it back so I can finish the damn thing and move on and make more comics. But I haven't made anything since because of it. I wasn't trying to steal from anyone or anything like that, honest to God. I was just a naive 22 year old who wanted to make my first comic book because it's been my dream as long as I can remember. I'm doing my best to remedy the situation, whether that's refunding those who want it and fulfillment for others, I'm not sure. But I'm trying, I've never stopped. The situation kills me and I'm sorry to those I've let down with it. A lot of people put their faith in me and the book and I think about letting y'all down everyday. I understand people being upset with me but please don't send any ill will towards my wife and kids, they don't deserve that."

At this point, the backlash had a backlash of its own. CK Stewart summed up much of this feeling saying "i think its completely unhinged behavior for a retailer to start a criminal investigation against a trans person over a $100 kickstarter donation. are you like, alright? my guy? is this really the kickstarter hill you want to f-ckin' die on?"

Mark Bouchard wrote "wild to see a comic shop misgender a trans woman and say they hired a private investigator/called the cops to see why her single issue comic kickstarter hadn't been fulfilled right on the timeline"

Pat Shand posted on his newsletter, "Imagine this. Imagine if a retailer said "We suspended ordering from all direct market comics publishers because we got burned by Action Lab's books being late.""

Pulp 716 then tweeted to a number of comics publishers, asking if they supported creators who objected to their original post worked for, suggesting they might not support such publishers. Which only saw even more negative responses, a dogpile squared.

Pulp 716 has now deleted their entire XTwitter account, which remains absent a week later. Kara Huset has moved to Blue Sky – and has posted a Kickstarter update apologising to all and announcing that she is getting help from other comic creators to fulfil everyone who ordered Sparrow. Including, one presumes, Pulp 716…

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