Årkade - The brand new Comic Book

Hey there, friends. Thanks for stopping by! What's this all about? You may be thinking, and that's a great question.

The task at-hand is to fund the print-run of Årkade our newest, standalone, full colour, 48-page perfect bound Comic Book. We're doing this by offering you pre-orders of both the physical Book and the digital download, as well as a whole raft of exclusives and one-offs you're guaranteed to not find anywhere else.

This crowdfunding campaign will end April 9th 2017. If we reach our goal, all Physical Copies of the Book will get a signed Marker Pen sketch of AxeMan on the inside cover!

So, what is Årkade? Well, it's both a tip of the hat to late '80s and early '90s family Adventure Movies and a love letter to retro cartridge gaming; but, that doesn't answer your question. Let's look at the story:

Our story follows protagonist, AxeMan, the titular character of defunct early '90s side-scrolling Viking-themed Game, AxeMan: The Raiders' Chronicles. AxeMan, not having been played with in years, feels a spiritual loss of identity and spends his days endlessly roaming his Nordic landscape, seeking an adventure that will shake off his funk.

One day, AxeMan decides to fight one of his age-old adversaries to lift his spirits; but, as he commences battle in the villain's cave domain, a storm of blinding white pixels begins to tear through his World. Propelling AxeMan in to a race against time to figure out what force causes this storm that threatens his World and to get the attention of the Thrift Store (Charity Shop) shoppers beyond 'the sacred cartridge'.

Mark Allard-Will - Writer:
As Writer, Mark Allard-Will is both the brains behind the concept of the characters and their World, as well as the story you'll read in the finished Book. Mark is the British-born, Canadian Writer responsible for the now sold-out Canadiana comedy comic book, Saskatch-A-Man. Originating from Haverhill, Suffolk, England, Mark hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada where he works on his Comic Book Writing.

Elaine M. Will - Artist:
As Artist, Elaine handles 100% of the Art you'll see in the finished Book; from Pencils to inking to colours and shading and even the covers. Elaine's previous successes include the Xeric Grant Award-winning Mental Health drama Graphic Novel, Look Straight Ahead, and 2016's Dust-Ship Glory. Elaine originates from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada and hails from Saskatoon, where she works as a full-time Illustrator and Comic Book Artist.

So, what do you have to offer you than just the plain-old pre-orders of the Book?

Well, we have lots of one-offs and originals you definitely won't be able to get anywhere else; ranging from personalised Sketch Cards to the chance to advertise your business in the Comic Book. Check out the Reward Tiers to see what's available and for all the info you need.

Additional to this, every copy of the Book will feature a Pin-up Gallery with Artwork by Provincial Artists, Joey Atimoyoo, Jasmine Redford, Charlyn Syrota, as well as Alberta Artist Ariel Marsh, Big Nick and Earth's Finest artist Martin Deschatelets, and Smith Vs Smith artist Matt Smith, Great Britain's Antonin Bardot and Kopy Kat and the Bomb Squad artist Corey Taylor.

We can only really answer this one by answering the obvious question:

Why not Kickstarter?
Well, sure Kickstarter is the market leader; but it comes at a defined risk of loss for the Creators, while offering easy opt-out options for backers. If your project doesn't meet its goal, then you don't get a single penny and have to scramble to scrape together alternative funding to pay the expensive Printing bill at very short notice. There's talk of accountability on Kickstarter; and, sure, we've always received the goods we backed the various projects for, but (and we're sure this is the same for the rest of you too) we've had many experiences where the estimated delivery date has passed by several months before the goods arrive and the Creators offer little to no updates at best.

So, what's different with GoFundMe?
GoFundMe operates as a direct funding tool; meaning that, yes, you pay instantly. This means that should we not meet our goal, then we still get at least some money to fund at least part of the printing bill; meaning that both you and us are on an equal playing field in terms of risk, truly holding us accountable by virtue of a transaction. And, on the subject of updates, with GoFundMe we can offer you group and/or personal updates day-or-night.

What happens if we don't meet our goal?
We go ahead and print anyway, meaning that you still get your pre-order fulfilled. If we do meet our goal, however, all pre-orders of the Physical Copy of Årkade will get a signed Marker Pen sketch of AxeMan on the inside cover from Artist, Elaine M. Will.

Where will your money go?
If we view the money you give us as a 100% whole, an accurate 7.9% goes to GoFundMe as a service charge to fund their operation; this fee is taken off of the money sent to us and IS NOT added additional to your pledge amount, what you see as your pledge amount is what you pay. The remaining 92.1% that comes to us will be split between a majority 77.1% in Printing costs to print the Book and an estimated 15% for international shipping.

Furthermore
We're not giving different postage rates for different parts of the World. The physical Book will sell for $10 per copy and we're locking International Postage in at $5; meaning that for one set rate, your Book can be mailed anywhere in the World, even if it costs us more than $5 to mail out. The price you see on any and all other rewards includes International Postage already; in other words, the price you see is the price you pay, no gimmicks! Our postal courier will be Canada Post.

When will you get your goods?
Årkade is debuting exclusively at 2017's TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) on May 13th and 14th, meaning that we'll begin mailing out your rewards in late May with guaranteed arrival with you between June and July 2017. Any rewards with original Artwork such as Sketch Cards may take a little longer to be mailed out and to arrive with you.

How about Digital Downloads?
Due to the exclusivity of our debut at TCAF, digital pre-orders will not be available to download until after TCAF has finished on May 14th. All purchasers of digital downloads will be issued a code to redeem their download through Gumroad when the time comes, all codes will be issued through the e-mail address you supply.

What happens if I change address by/before June?
If you change address before we mail out your goods, it is important that you e-mail us directly through this page to notify us of your address change; please be sure to include your name (the name you pledged under) when e-mailing. When we're ready to begin mailing out your goods, we will send out an update that reminds all backers to check their address and notify us of all changes.