Let's Talk FEVER!

The Ups and Downs of Crowdfunding.

For many of you, my cyberpunk graphic novel FEVER is relatively new to you. For those of you who have supported this project from Day One, you’ll know it has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions for those involved. First, let’s give the uninitiated a quick refresher.

Well over a year ago, we launched and successfully funded our cyberpunk graphic novel FEVER Volume One on Kickstarter. The support was amazing, especially with the amount of anxiety I had going into the project. Crowdfunding an entire graphic novel is not easy and the production is even harder. This book was a passion project for me and has a very personal story within it. So you can imagine how the drama that surrounds its production has affected me.

This leads me to the problem itself, FEVER artist Riccardo Faccini.

To sum it up, Riccardo took the money and ran. There's no polite way to put it other than that. I'm not normally the type of person who airs personal or business grievances out publicly but Riccardo's actions have not only cost me but the backers greatly as well.  

Riccardo basically got the sum of $8,000 and disappeared. He would go weeks and months without contact at times only to turn in a few pages here and there when I hounded him to do so. The quality of the work he was turning in was far less than he was capable of. It eventually got to the point where I told him I was tired of lying to cover up for him and I would have to go public with this. He told me to go right ahead and broke contact yet again. He seems content enough with robbing you, the fans, and me out of $8000 and going on to start a tattoo business instead of fulfilling his obligation to us. I will be going into greater detail about this at a later date. 

So where does that leave us?

I still attest that FEVER is the best writing I have done and I want to see this story brought to life for you all. So that leads me to the first of many announcements regarding FEVER Volume One that will be coming out over the next few months. First of all...

THE NEW CREATIVE TEAM. 

With Riccardo signing on as the artist for FEVER, he was tasked with penciling, inking, and coloring the entire book. Which he did for Chapter One. Chapter Two remains unfinished. So that brings me to the first announcement. Inks are finished through the first 20 pages but need to be colored. So I'd like to announce that the amazing Jasen Smith (My Name Is Wrath, Midnight Highway) will be stepping into color Chapter two. 

Below are a few pages from FEVER Chapter Two colored by Jasen Smith.

Jasen brings a quality that not only stands up to what was established in FEVER Chapter One but also elevates it. I am very excited to have Jasen step in and take the reins on this issue. He is knocking it out of the park and I can't thank him enough for the beautiful work he is doing. 

So what does this mean for the rest of FEVER and its future?

With Riccardo off of the project, we need a new artist to take over. I have such an artist. I will be announcing them publicly very soon. For now, I want to thank Jasen for coming aboard this project and giving it a much-needed injection of excitement. I also want to thank everyone who has supported this project since day one and has continued to do so throughout all of the drama surrounding it.

FEVER Volume One is planned as the first of an epic cyberpunk trilogy and feel very confident in saying we are well on our way to seeing this project come to fruition. Stay tuned for more announcements concerning FEVER in the very near future.

Thank you all again for your love and support!

If you hadn’t backed FEVER on Kickstarter but would like to check it out, you can find the FEVER Volume One campaign page here: FEVER Volume One

Until next time, stay safe out there.

Talk soon.

-Ryan