What I did on my "Incredible Doom Logistics Vacation"

About two weeks ago I took a week off my day job to do what I called the “Incredible Doom Logistics Vacation Week”.

The logistical tasks, unrelated to writing or drawing the comic, had been piling up for months and I was starting to feel overwhelmed. So I took some time, made lots of lists, and plowed through them as best I could. Here are some things that I accomplished.

Season 1

Slipcase
- Researched packaging / postage for the upcoming slip case to hold all of season 1.
- Picked up “chip board” to be cut into the final slipcase.
- Designed the interior of the slipcase, including a thank you page for all previous Patreon backers.
- Shot and edited a video explaining how to assemble the slipcase once it arrives.
Issue 6
- Printed / assembled the remaining copies of Issue #6
- Shipped all remaining copies of Issue #6
- Created and submitted a version of Issue 6 for ComiXology.
- Got issue 6 to buyolympia.com for individual orders
Planed a big celebration / promotion for the public end of season 1.
- Wrote promotional material for the public conclusion of Season 1

Season 2

Got quotes from five different printers for printing Season 2
Got quotes from a fulfillment company to possibly ship Season 2
Created dozens of pages of spreadsheets trying to figure out how to make Season 2 make sense financially now that the printer for Season 1 isn’t available any longer.

Phew!

While I didn’t get everything done that was left to do (the business plan for season 2 isn’t nailed down yet) but it feels SO much better to have all the above off my shoulders.

We did run into a snag however.

The Slipcase

Before we launched Incredible Doom I knew I wanted it to fit into a slipcase that you could put on your shelf. So, to make sure that was possible, we figured out how we were going to do it in advance.

We reached out to a press that had done something similar for a friend, and also tried something we thought was a bit clever. We bought a Cricut machine.

The Cricut machine is mostly used by crafters to take digital shapes and patters and cut them out of paper for use in scrap books and such things. We wondered if we could use it for something else.

We’ve already used the Cricut to do things like cut out the holes in the feelies for issue 1, making it look like a miniature piece of paper used in a dot matrix printer. We also used it to cut the three ring binder holes in the feelies for issue 3.

Secretly, we’d also done tests for using it to cut much thicker material in order to create the slipcase.

We did tests back before the series launched, and did tests again shortly before announcing the slipcase.

Then, during the “Logistics Vacation Week” we finalized the slipcase design, and Jesse started producing the slipcases on mass.

Or that was the plan.

IMG A30FEA5ED6DC 1

The Cricut machines failure rate was incredibly high. So high in fact that Jesse would work for hours and not get a single usable slipcase. That’s no good.

So, after two years of the Cricut machine waiting patiently for this day, I’m in contact with the same printer we spoke to before we launched issue 1, to get a quote for them to create the slipcases for us instead.

Although we’ve loved putting together all the little handcrafted issues, items, and slipcases from season 1, we’re ready to hand some of those duties off to someone else and get back to the writing and the drawing.

We’re getting it all worked out. Because of your support it’s not a huge setback. I’m confident we will be able to find a solution to the problem since we’ve got a budget to work with. Thank you to my Patreon members for that.