Last Res0rt

You’re already drawn to the comic, so why not get drawn into the comic?

With Volume 1 looming on the horizon and the holidays coming up, now’s the time to put together what it’ll take to make sure this preorder stays on schedule — which includes no small amount of fundraising! Since the start of Volume 2 (if not throughout Volume 2) is going to involve, among other things, a veritable battalion of Star Org soldiers, why not ask you to help me find a solution to both?

You can help support the comic and keep Volume 1 on track, and I can draw you into the comic as a Star Org soldier instead of having to come up with random extras! You’ll not only be helping me, you’ll become part of the story!

You know what a single cameo on a similar web comic went for last year? $1,750. The next highest bidder was willing to pay $1500 for the privilege! Even at that smaller sum, it’s still twenty-fold the price I’m asking here, which should be all it takes to convince you that this is a bargain price. The custom conbadge (each one an original piece of artwork!) included in the deal makes it all the sweeter.

So… why am I offering these cameos for so cheap?

Simple — I’m not arrogant enough to think I can convince one person to pay $1000+ for a cameo, but I’m pretty sure I can convince twenty folks to pay $50 (or fourteen folks to pay $75, or a dozen or so folks to buy a cameo and the rest just donate a few bucks and/or buy a shirt…), and besides that, we’re talking about needing no small sum of extras!

• For a basic cameo, $50 makes you a Star Org Cadet, complete with a custom conbadge of your character in their shiny new Org uniform (a $25 value!)  in addition to your cameo role in Volume 2 of Last Res0rt. You’ll get at least one appearance in the comic, possibly more if necessary.
• For folks wanting to stand out among the troops, $75 makes you a Star Org Officer, which still gets you a custom conbadge of your character (still a $25 value!), but makes you a higher-ranking character and thus a better chance of getting good lines, having a more important role, a lower (but still non-zero) chance of dying a horrible death at the hands of our contestants… you get the idea. Also, you’ll be sure to get at least two appearances, but since you’ll be a higher-ranking character, you’ll probably get more than that anyway. You want this.
• And of course, no matter which version you pick, both pieces (cameoes and conbadge) are original artworks, digitally crafted to the same specs as anything else in the comic — which means you’ll be getting some high quality stuff out of this deal!

This way, everyone wins — I raise enough funds for the books that I can safely open preorders in a timely fashion, lots of folks receive a cameo in their favorite webcomic, and hopefully I don’t wear myself out on commissions in the process.

Some ground rules, though:

• The price you’re paying here only covers the conbadge + cameo deal — you can’t use the cameo as a way to purchase Volume 1 when and if it comes to print. (Likewise, paying more than the cameo price(s) is nice, but I still can’t sell what technically doesn’t exist yet.) If you really want to pay extra, consider buying a second cameo as a gift for a friend. The holidays ARE coming up, after all…
• You will get at least one appearance (two if you buy the officer’s deal), but since this is adding you to the already-large cast of Last Res0rt, it’s possible you’ll make multiple appearances as needed. Officers have a better shot of appearing more often anyway, but hey, we need grunts too.
• The conbadge is included not only to make the deal sweeter, but also to verify that your character is being illustrated accurately. If you don’t want a physical, honest-to-god conbadge, I’m still doing it as an original, digital commission for the sake of being able to pin your character down properly.
• Please make sure to include enough information that I can accurately depict your character / yourself without too many revisions needed — reference images and specific details (a special accessory, a particular “quirk”, a certain way of wearing your outfit) help a lot!
• And don’t forget to include a mailing address — it’ll make it easier on me if I don’t have to ask you for it later (which will delay getting your badge shipped out!)
• You’re welcome to suggest any character (even a caricature of yourself if you like  – there ARE humans in this comic, after all!), but I still have the right to “adjust” characters as needed in order to keep them within the PG-13 rating, allow them to remain within the range of plausible canon, and avoid potential lawsuits because your species is somehow copyrighted, among other things. Yes, I’ll let you know what changes are necessary to make it all happen, but if you have a feeling your Electric Hedgehog Pokemon is going to need some major adjustments… talk to me first. Really, email works.

But wait, there’s more! Not interested in a cameo, but still want to help out? Donations are accepted as always, and just to sweeten the deal, you can get a sweet new wallpaper out of that nifty “Free Personality Test” image we’ve got up top of Jigsaw encountering our two hapless recruiters!

As always, any donation of $1 or more will net you this nifty wallpaper, available in a bevy of sizes. Who wouldn’t want one of these?

If you’d rather something a little more tangible, there’s no shortage of new shirts (and a hat!) available over at Zazzle as well! We’ve even got them on dark shirts this time around, too, so you can keep your geek cred intact and still have cool art to wear!

Don’t forget why we’re doing all of this — all proceeds, profits (HAH!), and assorted payments are going towards one thing and one thing only — covering the costs of what it’ll take to print the first volume of Last Res0rt!

… and I mean it.

In order to not go broke trying to provide a high-quality book (which would be the height of irony because books are supposed to, y’know, make enough money that they subsidize this whole “put comics on the web for free” thing), we need a good chunk of change set aside beforehand before I can even offer preorders.  If I don’t do this first, and people don’t order enough books to cover my costs, I’ll have to print them on-demand, which is… well, it’s expensive all around, especially for me since I’ll still need at least a couple dozen set aside for the year’s conventions either way.

In fact, it’s entirely possible that I might hold off until after the first few conventions in order to make sure I have the funds, which would defeat the point of rushing to have these books ready in time, and depending on how well those conventions do…

We could all be waiting a while for these books to show up. Nobody wants that.

On the other hand, if we raise enough for the printing costs first, I can safely offer preorders within the next couple of months, get the books printed at a reasonable rate (or at least reasonable enough that I can have something resembling a profit margin here), and make sure I have books in time for my March conventions (Furry Weekend Atlanta, MomoCon, possibly others) without having to wait to the last minute for funds or any other potential hiccups that could cause problems!

So… go ahead and order a cameo. Even if I offer these in the future, you can bet they’re going to cost more than they do right now, and every purchase goes towards the printing of the first book (which can only make the comic even better than it already is)! No matter how much you contribute, it can only help… so go ahead and order one now!

Edit: I’ve gone and clarified that your cameo purchase is per character, not per appearance. You are guaranteed at least a minimum number of appearances, but odds are it’ll be more than that. Hope this helps!