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The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

Dirk Wood writes,

Those of you who have run a Kickstarter know… what an unholy pain in the ass it is. Apologies to my good friends at Kickstarter, but you know it's true. Of course, anything worth doing is never easy. So, why would a major publisher, the 4th biggest publisher of comics in America, do such a thing? Believe me when I tell you, it's not because it's a ton of fun.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

Full Bleed's conception came back in November of 2016…right after Election day. IDW founder and good pal Ted Adams and I were sitting in his office, and I'll just say it, we were in a state of shock. I'm sure a lot of the world was. Some of us still are. But I digress. It went deeper than the election itself, we started lamenting the state of the world in general, the way we communicate, the shrinking attention span syndrome, and so on. Then Ted said something very sincerely, that I'll never forget. "Well, what can we do? We can love our families, and we can make great books." We started talking about things we'd always wanted to do, and slowly, the concept of Full Bleed was born.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

When Ted and I came up with Full Bleed, we knew we were doing something no one else had attempted. The world's only 200-page, print only, hardcover comics & culture "magazine" was going to be original, diverse, creatively satisfying and…challenging, expensive, a pain to put together. We knew we'd have to do something unusual to make it work.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

We started talking about the history of the periodical business, both comics and otherwise. How did magazines survive? How will they survive now that the world has changed so drastically? Well, magazines traditionally have made their money through two means: advertising and subscriptions. We knew we didn't want to sell ads. And it seemed to us that Kickstarter provided the modern equivalent of a direct-to-consumer subscription model. We also knew Kickstarter could also function as effective marketing, and getting the word out about our new project.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

We always knew the direct comics market, our most important customers, would be a HUGE part of the plan. So, thanks to our friends at Diamond, we devised the very first crowd funding scenario that involved the direct market, gave them a 2-for-1, and made it so they could get their copies with their regular Diamond shipment. It was our sincere hope that the Kickstarter would raise the profile of Full Bleed above what it ever would have been in a more traditional solicitation, and comic shops would sell more copies than they would have. We've got plenty of anecdotal evidence that's worked, for a lot of shops.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

Let's face it lovers of print; we're at war. We're not at war with each other. The book market is not at war with the comic market, and publishers are not at war with each other. We're at war with the exponential growth of entertainment choices, and the shrinking amount of time people have to enjoy them. Life has become complicated. I read a lot, but how much can I? You work all day, you walk the dog, you check the news on your phone, spend a few minutes on social media, text your friends, and BANG, it's 10:00, and you're exhausted. And that stack of books you mean to read is just sitting there.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

At any rate, that's the war we're waging. And we need to find every last person we can that believes in print media and loves physical books. Full Bleed was our small way of entering that fray. Obviously, IDW has made thousands of books, of all kinds, but the unique content in Full Bleed made it perfect for this kind of experiment. Will it ultimately succeed? Well, the jury's out, and that's why we're spreading the word everywhere we can. Our subscriptions are up, people really seem to love what we're doing, and we're definitely enjoying doing it. We want to keep doing it for a long time to come.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

So, for those of you who already have a copy of Full Bleed or two in your "to read" stack, thank you! We've sold copies on 6 of 7 continents (come on Antarctica, time to step up), and we're proud of the small part we're playing to keep print publishing alive. In the first couple of volumes we've had interviews with Stephen King, Nnedi Okorafor, the Hernandez Brothers and Alan Moore…an art feature on Bernie Wrightson, new fiction from Joe Lansdale, essays on rock and roll, film and tv…new comics from Erin Nations, Kim Dwinell, Shannon Wheeler, Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Steve Beach, and that's not even scratching the surface.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

And the third volume cranks it up a notch. A lost and unpublished interview with Grant Morrison, new comics from Roger Langridge, Josh O'Neill and Gideon Kendall…essays from Tini Howard and Vivek J. Tiwary…it's hard to choose a favorite child of course, but I think so far, the third one just might be it.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

There's a lot coming from Full Bleed, and we want it everywhere. Kickstarter has just been the beginning. Comic shops, bookstores, hotel rooms, barber shops and libraries, we're coming for you. We're willing to try new things, get weird, think outside the…panels, as it were. If I need to drive around with them in the back of my car, I'll do it. Come to think of it, I already have.

Viva the printed word! And viva Full Bleed.

– Dirk Wood, Live From the Pine Street, January 2019. Full Bleed: The Comics & Culture Quarterly, is a 200-page, hardcover, print-only magazine, can be found in your local comic shop, and the latest volume can be found NOW on Kickstarter.

The Secret Origin of Full Bleed: From Election Night to Kickstarter

 

 


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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