Malice And Mistletoe Prepares To Take On Christmas
By Matt Conner
When Nathan Graham Davis and Jack Purcell began their Kickstarter campaign for Malice And Mistletoe at the beginning of August, they gave their first promotional interview to BamSmackPow.com, and now that the campaign has finished, BamSmackPow checks back in with the writer that hopes to bring a little carnage to the holiday season.
Malice And Mistletoe tells the action-packed mission of Eldon Carrillo as he attempts to assassinate Krampus under orders from Claus. Davis has written the graphic novel, and Purcell provides pencils and inks. Davin Pasek has designed the website and social media campaigns, and he will be providing lettering and coloring to the book.
From researching Kickstarter statistics, Davis learned that campaigns attempting at most $9,500 of funding are the most likely to succeed. He also saw that 90% of projects that reach 40% funding at any point in the campaign meet their funding goals.
Davis describes the 30 days of the campaign as “a really unhealthy time for us,” taking up most of his waking hours and reducing sleep below the 5-hour mark on average. Particularly taxing was a lull near the middle of the month, but he and Purcell took that time to write personal messages to about two hundred friends apiece asking for people to share the Kickstarter page on their Facebook walls or Tweet links to the site. Around that time, the team also worked with Mike Haas to improve the promotional video on the Kickstarter page, trading out a funny short of the creators’ young children explaining the concept and replacing it with a presentation that showcases the book’s art and employs a musical score more representative of the book’s action tone. After this push, the project hit the 40% funding mark on “Day 21 or 22” and eventually raised $10,423, exceeding the initial goal of $9,500.
Looking back, Davis would have liked to spend more time promoting the project before the campaign started, and he would also have preferred to have more of the comic done before August so the team would have had more finished work to use in marketing the work, but a major factor in choosing August to start the fundraising was that the team would be attending three conventions during those thirty days. He reported feeling especially moved that about 30% of the project’s backers are people neither creator knows.
Since meeting the Kickstarter goal, the creative team has been finishing the book and attending conventions to distribute ashcan versions and prints. Davis describes this process as “fun, like nothing I’ve ever done before,” and says that the first time he was asked to sign his work, his response was, “Are you sure?” Purcell is in the process of completing the commissions backers requested. Davis and Purcell are also in the early stages of developing a Mistletoe Whiskey through a local microdistillery, representing the magical euphoric liquor that plays such a large role in the graphic novel.
At time of this writing, the script for Malice And Mistletoe has been completed, and the art is well underway. The book is still on target for a first run printing of 1,500 books in late Spring 2015, of which 150 are already spoken for. Interested buyers who missed the chance to back the project will be able to pre-order the book via the official website, and Davis anticipates signing all preordered books. The remainder of the run will be available when Davis and Purcell begin a tour of conventions throughout New York and New England beginning in April.
Read more of Davis’s thoughts on his campaign at Bleeding Cool.