I came across this one on Kickstarter and liked the look of the character (obviously inspired by Spider-Man).
I decided to look into the character and found ‘The Luminous Firefly #1’ was only 12 pages long, but was available for free on the company’s website, RapidFireComics.com. I like that they posted the issue for everyone to see, and I think it will help the Kickstarter. Here’s a page from that book:
Not bad! And there is a new artist for issue two, so I am guessing the art is going to only be better.
There’s a lot to like about the character. He’s African American and there are not a lot of exciting characters who are black, and also the whole ‘Luminousity’ angle. With modern coloring, I can imagine each book having some really great effects in the coloring, like one of those seascape paintings that seems to have a green neon light somewhere under the surface. I like those paintings.
The Kickstarter for Issue #2 seems to have leveled out. I hope they can find some fans willing to help them out. But with it costing $15 for a physical issue, plus another $6 to have the issue shipped to the house, I don’t think too many casual comic buyers are going to jump on board.
You can see more at:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rapidfirecomics/the-luminous-firefly-issue-2
One of the main issues with this Kickstarter IS the prices/shipping that were chosen as the rewards and I think it’s pushing people away. Not only that, but the campaign was chosen at a horrible time. A.) BEFORE Christmas, people aren’t really thinking about backing Kickstarters as most of their focus is on other things and B.) AFTER Christmas, people are thinking about building back up their funds and keeping their spending to a minimum.
Go pick up a TPB from established companies and you get several issues brand new in it for $18-$25 (depending). Here we’re getting a single issue, granted it a tad bit longer, for the same price roughly (shipped) as a TPB, and it’s been over a year since anyone has even seen/read the first issue (if they even had that chance or heard of it.)
I read the first book, and it was pretty good. I think there’s been too long of a gap between the two, but overall, I think there’s been too long of a gap between the two, and that the campaign is lacking focus and energy, and that it was rushed.
Best of luck to Rapid Fire’s crew.
I too like the character and I do hope they get funded and find an audience….that’s why I posted about the project.
In fact in just the last day I had a small *whatever* with another kickstarter over the same thing…pricing. They put the premium book (and other rewards) at $75 plus shipping and then attacked me personally for saying that sucked. Well Marcelo and Maelstrom comics, it does.
I get that they are trying to fund their vision, but comics are not like other kickstarters, like a play or other art.
Here’s a great read on the subjuct:
http://www.comixtribe.com/2013/09/23/the-kickstarter-laboratory-7-experiments-in-crowdfunding-a-floppy/
From that article:
“Here’s the thing that bugs me about most Kickstarters that are trying to fund a single issue (aka “a floppy”)…it’s the pricing of the reward that gets you a single physical copy of the comic.
What exactly are you supposed to charge for a single issue? At conventions and in comic shops, the most the market will bear, seems to be around $4. But obviously, you can’t charge $4 on Kickstarter, because the cost of packaging and shipping a book is close to $3. After Kickstarter takes their cut, you’re left with less than a dollar to print your book….and most projects can’t print a book for that. So, inevitably, you have to raise the price. And if your campaign is also trying to raise funds for the book’s creation (art, color, lettering, pre-press), you need to charge even more. (Thankfully, my latest project is already complete and paid for, and I’m just trying to offset the cost of the printing with this run.)
I’ve seen the price for a single issue on Kickstarter run $7, $10, even $15. The higher you go, the more likely that reward will help you hit your goal, but it also has the effect of turning off potential backers. Altruism or no, no one likes to pay significantly more than $4 for a floppy.”
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The point is: no one LIKES to pay more than $4 for the actual physical book. Plus shipping, we do understand there’s gonna be shipping. Thats’s the honest truth. If we like the project, the creators, etc…we might pony up more, but not $21. That’s not hateful or shitting on their dream, that is the reality.
While you end up having to pay a bit more (than $4) for shipping on a single issue (and I understand that), it’s the backer community as a whole who have to pull together to raise the goal. That’s where your idea and enthusiasm, and art come in. You can’t make huge rewards for one backer to come up with and then less people have to back the project. You want a type of balance. You don’t want it so low where you lose money on shipping cheap books to a LOT of people, but you don’t want to lose people either because the price is too high and people are like “Well, I’ll just go buy a TPB instead from my LCS.” or where-ever they may get their books.
If you’re gonna raise those prices, you have to be able to sell your product to people like you are trying to sell it for your life.
These things are so hard, there are so many different aspects and things to think about with them, marketing is hard. This is not easy for the Rapid Fire crew, I’m sure. I would never downplay that. But I think this could have used some more thinking.
I’m sure the crew is just waiting to exhale.
I stumbled across this blog after doing some research about Rapid-Fire Entertainment, and while they seem like nice guys, I have to say I’m disappointed in their strategies (or lack thereof) to make this campaign a success.
I follow most of their social media outlets and for the last week and a half, advertising of the campaign has been non-existent. With close to a week to go, and still nearly $1300 to raise, it’s like they’ve given up. With lack of exposure and less than desirable incentives for the general populace, this campaign has basically thrown in the towel.
Welcome! If nothing else it is getting them some decent feedback and exposure.
Thanks for stopping by!