Problems With Kickstarter Make News, Cause Site Revisions

• Posted by Johanna on September 5, 2012 at 8:09 am
• Category: LinkBlogging

NPR's All Things Considered ran a story earlier this week asking whether Kickstarter backers get refunds when a project fails. The answer, of course, is 'no'. There's no oversight on the part of Kickstarter, and the kind of person who makes lofty plans that can't be completed often doesn't want to admit to failure ' which giving back the money would be an admission of. As NPR says,

'That's the conflict at the heart of Kickstarter: While the company's policy says creators have to give refunds on failed projects, the website doesn't have a mechanism to do it.'

Not to mention that Kickstarter keeps its fees no matter what, so failure will cost the project organizer. Since many have gone to Kickstarter because they don't otherwise have the funds they need, that's unlikely to happen as well.

TechCrunch followed up the NPR piece, pointing out that the Kickstarter founders took the coverage seriously enough that they responded publicly. They've added more questions to their FAQ to clarify this area of accountability, but the answers don't provide any new information, simply reiterating that they don't take responsibility for backers getting what they paid for. I find this question most odd:

Is a creator legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their project?

Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms to create a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse if they don't. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.

What, exactly, are backers supposed to do? What good is a legal obligation if there's no way to enforce it? Are the Kickstarter founders suggesting a class action as the ultimate enforcement mechanism? They go on to talk about how they perceive this risky environment as 'a feature, not a bug'.

I don't think this is going to be enough to quell the rising concerns, especially as more projects make millions without sufficient oversight and no products delivered. It only takes a few bad apples (getting the most attention) to ruin a tool for everyone.

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Bandai Entertainment Calls It Quits

Not a surprising announcement, after the news at the beginning of the year that the company would no longer be publishing new releases ' now Bandai Entertainment is completely ending its U.S. marketing and sales. Anime News Network reports that

the company will discontinue sales of its Blu-ray discs, DVDs, manga, and novels. The company noted that it will make its final shipment of manga and novels to retailers by the end of October.

While it's never a good sign to see a company cease, in this case, it's not something that affects me or the manga readers I know. Looking back at the site, we only ever talked about one manga title ' The Girl Who Leapt Through Time ' and Ed didn't much care for it. Their anime releases were better known, but the only one of their titles I was even curious about was Planetes, and that's only because I liked the manga so much.

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KC's Previews for November 2012

• Posted by Johanna on September 5, 2012 at 10:06 am
• Category: KC, Shopping Guide

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PBS Off Book: Art Videos to Get Lost In

• Posted by Johanna on September 2, 2012 at 12:26 pm
• Category: LinkBlogging

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Manga Sherlock Debuts Only in Japan

Anime News Network has a story reporting that Young Ace magazine will be publishing a manga adaptation of the brilliant BBC series Sherlock. While there have been various Sherlock Holmes comics and manga in the past, this one will adapt specific episodes of the show written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and, based on the cover art, use the character likenesses of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, who play Holmes and Watson, respectively.

In the comment thread, someone suggests a crossover with Young Miss Holmes, which would be hilarious.

Watch for this to spawn even more fan fiction and art. My favorite, discovered just today, is this short piece in which Holmes is an alpaca and Watson is a corgi. I don't know why those animals, particularly, but they're adorable.

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The Worst Comic Crowd-Funding Idea Yet

Brett Uren, creator of the horror comic Kuzimu, has posted an Indiegogo campaign for you to give him money so he can visit the New York Comic Con. From his pitch:

[Kuzimu] was first self-published as a webcomic, then as the first independent comic published through Graphicly's digital platform. Now this year it is being released as 194-page full colour graphic novel (paperback) by indie publisher 215 Ink, in stores and at Baltimore/New York Comic Con. I am looking to raise $1750 for travel to and accommodation in New York for Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October.

I have 3 other Kuzimu Graphic Novels planned and would love to have the full story see the light of day. Naturally, this depends on not only sales of the book but also awareness of it. If there is a perfect place to do this, it is at Comic Con, where I can turn the press, fans, and comics professionals onto my work.

Getting a comic to this stage largely on my own has taken a toll on personal finances, relationships, and my health to a degree. It is make or break time to take it to a higher level. I need some help to raise the money to get me and my pencils to the next step toward a career in comics.

In return for you giving him money, he'll send you signed copies of his book, t-shirts, or sketches. So far, he's gotten about $500 of his $1750 goal from four people, and the campaign hasn't budged in the last six days.

I'm not surprised to see someone attempt this kind of crowd-funding, but it strikes me as scraping the bottom of the barrel. Yes, making money from the arts is hard. Budgeting for standard marketing expenses, like personal appearances, is even harder, especially if you don't live near New York City or Portland, Oregon. (Brett's in the UK.) But if you can't afford to go to a convention, don't go. Find other ways to gain attention for your book and yourself ' I'm told that the internet is very helpful for this, especially if you can build a noticeable public persona.

Seriously, at a large convention, as New York has become, you're one drop in a very big ocean. It's going to be difficult to catch the attention of 'press ' and comic professionals'. Especially if, like so many other young creators, you've chosen to start your career with a personal epic spanning 800 or so pages. Much better to aim small, grow slowly but steadily, and only spend money you can afford.

Also, the book was solicited in the June Previews catalog, which means it should have come out last week. From what I can tell, it didn't.

Judge Dredd Comes to Film Again

Judge Dredd, according to Wikipedia, is an immensely successful comic, running since 1977 in the British anthology 2000 AD. Yet the character and the series has never quite caught on over here in the U.S. Perhaps it's because we don't get the satire, liking the idea of a tough-guy enforcer instead of being scared by it.

No idea of the artist, image found on the internet.

Regardless of the relatively small sales of the comic here, the concept is immediately striking, as shown by the kind of art that can be done with a faceless tough guy with a really big gun. Plus, there's the whole dystopian future setting, with lots of darkness and grimy tech. Which may be why they keep trying to make a movie featuring the character.

Lionsgate is releasing Dredd 3D on September 21. Here's the short TV spot for it, which demonstrates how you can get the idea of the action movie across really quickly.

It stars Karl Urban (Bones in the Star Trek relaunch) as Dredd, although since we should never see his face, that's kind of hard for him. The plot involves him and the psychic Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) trying to stop 'a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of Slo-Mo experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed'. This longer trailer shows more of the plot ' and attitude, with villain Ma-Ma played by Lena Headey (Game of Thrones).

Note that this is reportedly NOT a remake of the previous Judge Dredd movie, the 1995 one with Sylvester Stallone. Dredd 3D instead takes its inspiration 'from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's revered comic books'. If you'd like to compare for yourself, the earlier Judge Dredd film makes its Blu-ray debut three days earlier, on September 18. It's a bare-bones release at a reduced price, as suits a film well-known for ' well, let's say, not being great. This is the theatrical cut, by the way, since there's discussion around a director's cut existing but never having been released. The movie also stars Rob Schneider for comic relief, Armand Assante as the bad guy, and Diane Lane. Not Sandra Bullock ' that was Demolition Man, which also has Stallone as a tough guy in the future.

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