Can I walk and chew gum at the same time? I sure couldn't during Immortal King, but I hope I'll be able to with the current chapter. Shorter stories and fewer characters will hopefully allow me to catch up and keep up with things beyond the comic. Here's where we stand.
Sluggy Freelance Book 22 R&D WARS: The free copies for higher level eligible Defenders have been sent out! Only the highest tier remain as I reach out to them for customization and bundly goodness (check your email level 6 Chazzers!). Everyone else will be able to purchase them from the Sluggy Store when it opens, and will be available from IndyPlanet shortly thereafter.
I'm very proud of the end result of the book. I'm less proud of the months upon months where I only created one comic a week while trying to finish the additional creative parts of the book (and playing Pawnz and Bookamrs catch-up). Its never been this creatively hard before. Not by miles. Since this is the only time it's happened to this extreme degree, I'm chalking it up to a fluke, but we don't want a repeat of that. I'll be aware of this as I begin layout of Sluggy Freelance Book 23 Mohkadun.
Sluggy Freelance Store: When the store opens (hopefully in the next week or two) I'll have a bunch of BOOK 22's on hand for you to purchase as well as small quantities of all the other books. For the past few years, I only open the store for less than a month around Christmas. I feel like this is, perhaps, less than optimal. But its harder and harder to run a store while keeping the comics going at the trickle they are so please forgive me on this for now. I may be outsourcing the store in the future. Then again, where do I find the time to organize that? (I'm such a dummy). Anywho hopeful store opens in a week or two, and I should have limited supplies of all books!
Pawnz and Bookmarks Catch-up: I was doing a good job on catching up on the Pawnz and Bookmarks I need to send out physically and digitally to Defenders, but there came I time where I felt better to focus on the conclusion of Immortal King. Now that were in to "lighter story" territory, I'm back to catching up! I'm using the Set Numbers established in the previous news story entitled "MAY 2023 CHECK-IN".
SET 4: 2022-09,10,11,12 Off to the printers! Mailed (starting today)! (ALSO DIGITALLY RELEASED)
SET 5: 2023-01,02,03,04: Being printed up!
SET 6: 2023-05,06,07,08: Upcoming!
SET 7: 2023-09,10,11,12: Upcoming!
SET 8: 2023-01,02,03,04: Design stage, Work in Progress, nothing to show yet- There's going to be a lot of Mohkadun Pawnz in 2024, so were going to start with the core pantheon.
In conclusion: With Immortal King completed, and with smaller scope and character stories in the future I hope to make headway on the things beyond the comics (Defender Rewards, Book production, Store) while maintaining 2 to 3 comics a week. We'll see how I do. Know I'm always trying my best. And Defenders of the Nifty, thank you for your support through all these complicated years. I can't thank you guys enough. In the meantime, everyone, I'm back to the drawing board to make something monstrous.
-Pete