EDIT: 9/5/18: THE KICKSTARTER IS LIVE! BACK IT HERE:

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2036424072/beyond-the-western-deep-volume-one

We’ll be updating the site this Saturday with some brief post-launch Kickstarter update information, and then resuming the normal comic page schedule the following week. Thank you all so much for your incredible support!

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We’re officially (now just DAYS) away from our Kickstarter launch date! Everyone’s working incredibly hard to piece all the final details together, nobody more so than Rachel, who is crafting some incredible pieces of artwork for our campaign rewards.

The featured image this week is a mock-up of our proposed Limited Edition hardcover, which will come with a bookplate signed by both me and Rachel. We also have a version with BLACK text that we’re looking at–which would feature a spot gloss and perhaps some embossing to give it a cool, stark look that fits with the whole black-and-white approach.

Anyway, while our Kickstarter page is obviously not yet live, I wanted to give all our readers a chance to see the whole Kickstarter pitch video before anybody else has had a chance to watch it. Please, enjoy this sneak peek!

This really was a group effort, with not only the core Western Deep creative team contributing, but also some visual effects assistance from Dean Dodrill (of Dust: An Elysian Tail fame), and of course a brand new musical track by Western Deep’s resident composer, Nolan Markey.

Nolan and I met up in Burbank back in July, where I showed him an early draft of the Kickstarter pitch video that I had been working on. He was excited to help, and quickly set to work building out a musical track that we would be able to use for the final pitch. We were totally blown away with the first drafts, and even more so when he brought in live performers.

https://soundcloud.com/8va/beyond-the-western-deep/s-8UxCg

Nolan has been kind enough to publicly post the standalone track, and also make it downloadable for any listeners that might want to experience a quick three-minute trip to the Western Deep. Thank you so much, Nolan!!

Also, here’s a YouTube link for the track, too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=106ruFZNPys&feature=youtu.be

While the pitch video is complete, there are still finishing touches remaining that need to get ironed out this week. Final vendor quotes, final artwork for various items–it’s going to be a busy week!

Next week, there won’t be a page on the normal date–and instead, we’re going to be posting up a direct link to the Kickstarter as it goes live on Wednesday, September 5th.

Thank you all for your incredible support and patience as we make these final preparations, and we hope that this Kickstarter is just the beginning of a wonderful new age for Beyond the Western Deep!