I Got a Lil' SHOOK...
Substack Comics & Projects
We’re almost at fulfill month for the OneNation Omnibus and I’ve been twiddling my thumbs nervously about the production…while in the midst of production lol. the issue #1 redux is off to JESSHAVOK our resident virtuoso letter artist and she’s been banging out pages at her usual rapid-fire pace ( I swear, she’s like the damned Flash).
Fun fact: The letter art for OneNation #1 is uncredited because it was me lol! I didn’t know what the hell I was doing at the time.
Most of the heavy lifting comes from syncing to the letter style Jess herself created when she came on board with OneNation #3. She gave Paragon a more punchy and readable narration box that makes more sense for the story and art style.
I’ve been drawing (with Mario helping on layouts), recording, and editing, and re-editing like there’s no tomorrow.
And if that wasn’t enough Mario just killed it on a NEW OneNation webcomic we have coming soon, created specifically for this space here on Substack!
But that stuff is the work that comes easy to me and the team, that’s our wheelhouse. The thing that has me shook these days is the printing.
Nah, not the floppies on floppies, on floppies! We’ve been doing that for a minute, printing for ourselves and even to the point of fulfilling crowdfunding campaigns for our peers. But that next step, the one frontier we haven’t fully pushed into is paperback printing, or if you like the scientific term perfect bound printing lol. For a long time the tech was out of our reach and frankly a bit cost prohibitive. But at the end or 2023 I made a come up on a piece of equipment that changed all that:
Its a table top Thermal Binding Machine. We can now print and produce paperback books up to about 400 pages. I’m excited, for real. But that’s not what had me shook…
Back in late 2024 my Co-D on the Chop Up, Brian (of Wingless Comics) and I decided to team up to fulfill his campaign for his OGN Air Force Ones.
At first we were good, I was printing and binding. Figuring out the workflows and timelines to get it all done.
I was a good fuckin’ time in the studio! Books were going out and backers were happy. All was right in the world and then…
The binding man, somehow I screwed up the binding! Now, one book out of the many we printed and shipped got messed up, and some might say that’s not a bad result for the first run of anything. But not me bruh. Hear me, I’m NOT a perfectionist but my 2 lines, 2 of the things that fuel my journey is making sure my partners make money with me AND that our supporters get the best out of the comics and products we make. We replaced the copy, but I felt like shit.
I ran some tests, even printed copies of the upcoming OneNation Omnibus because I needed to figure out what went wrong. I took my time, let the books dry, stress tested them as much as I could.
We kept it moving and thankfully we didn’t get any other word that any other books came apart, it may have been a fluke. BUT NOW I WAS SHOOK. And AF1’s was the last paperback I printed. Until now. I’m going to dive back in with the Omnibus. And god help me if I get another message about a bad book…(internal screams)
But I’ll recalibrate, get on my customer service, replace or refund as needed and keep it moving. I write all this because I need you all to know: please don't hesitate to reach out if you receive a comic that doesn't meet our standards. Email me directly, contact 133art—whatever works for you. We'll make it right, period. We’ll work hard to get you right on whatever order issue because your support means everything to us. Without your trust and support, none of this works. You're not just customers; you're the reason 133art exists to bring these stories to life.
Stay tuned for more updates as we move through the final production stages!
With gratitude,
The 133art Team