Jason Pearson’s BODY BAGS: Artist's Edition

DO NOT USE THE BACKERKIT LINK FROM THE PREVIOUS UPDATE
10 months ago – Thu, May 29, 2025 at 10:07:23 AM

Quick update: if you used the link from the Kickstarter update that was emailed out yesterday (May 28th) your delivery address may not have been entered correctly. That link was deleted in the update posted here, but unfortunately remains live in the email that went out. Backerkit is working to correct the glitch, but until then, here's a temporary fix: 

Click the link above and type "body bags" into the "Search project by name" search box. Then click the "Find Project" button and you will see our campaign under "View Projects." Click the "Go to project" arrow, then enter the email associated with your Kickstarter account and click "Get My Survey." That will email you your survey. 

Having said all that, the glitch has only happened for a few users, so most likely you are fine, but it wouldn't hurt to double check your survey and make sure your username and your delivery address match up and are both correct.

On a good note, thanks to all of you that have completed your survey. We are down to 144 that need to be completed, which is a little higher than I'd hoped, but we are making progress. PLEASE complete your survey in the next 24 hours if you can, as I need to get as many confirmed orders as possible sent to the printer. If you want to add an item or make any changes, now is the time.

You will still be able to make changes to your delivery address once the orders are locked; we just need to get the actual items in your order confirmed so the printer can get them all packed before they start their journey across the ocean to the US.

Finally, if your Kickstarter account is linked to your Apple ID then you are not getting emails from BackerKit. If you haven't seen any email updates from Backerkit, email me at [email protected] or DM me with your username and preferred email address. I can get it changed in just a few seconds, so it's no problem at all to correct. 

Thanks!

Please complete your surveys ASAP
10 months ago – Wed, May 28, 2025 at 08:56:43 AM

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has already completed your survey. As of this update, 80% of you have responded, leaving only 170 left to be completed.

To those that haven't had the time or missed the email from Backerkit, you can click the link below to login (or register) and get your survey. Please use the same email you use for Kickstarter to make the process as smooth as possible.

If you have any issues, please DM me or send an email to [email protected] (do not reply with a comment to this update because those get missed sometimes and you'll still need to DM or email me). 

We've worked out a deal with the printer to actually pack your orders at their facility, but in order to do that, we need these surveys completed ASAP. We need this info before we print because as soon as the books, cards, and prints are ready, they need to be packaged immediately. 

PLEASE do your best to complete your survey by Friday, May 30th. You will still be able to change your delivery address later if necessary, but we need to lock all the orders so we can finalize the counts for packing. 

Thank you all!

UPDATE! The link provided by Backekit is not working correctly, but I have reached out to tech support and will post the corrected version as soon as I have it. 

Surveys have been sent to all backers!
11 months ago – Tue, May 20, 2025 at 07:43:13 PM

A big thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to the smoke test that went out yesterday! 75% of you have already replied, with no technical issues or questions; with that being a success, the surveys have now been sent to all backers. 

Backerkit will help with any technical issues, but feel free to message us here if you have something that isn't technical in nature. 

Thank you all!

Surveys & Artist's Edition+ Preview Pages
11 months ago – Mon, May 19, 2025 at 02:47:15 PM

It's finally survey time! An initial test batch of Backerkit Surveys have just gone out (aka 'a smoke test'). If you get one, please respond quickly, as we need to get at least half of the test batch completed to confirm that the surveys are working correctly. Once we troubleshoot any issues, they will go live for the entire group. If you want to add an item, you can do that when you complete your survey, but the main thing we need is your delivery address. So, be on the lookout for an email from Backerkit (it will not be coming from Kickstarter, as we've chosen Backerkit to help streamline this complicated process that includes many backers from Jason's 2015 campaign).

For the International backers, when you do your survey, you'll enter the address of the freight forwarder in the United States that you've selected to get the book from the US to your door (Canadian backers will just enter your home or preferred delivery address). If you haven't selected your freight forwarder, here's the links we posted during the campaign:

LINKS TO POTENTIAL FREIGHT FORWARDERS:

Shipito: https://www.shipito.com/en/

FishFast: https://www.fishisfast.com/en

Viabox: https://www.viabox.com

Planet Express: https://planetexpress.com/

(You can also use another freight forwarder; the ones listed above are just provided as a starting point).

As far as a ship date, we are still waiting on that from the printer, but as soon as I have it I'll let you know immediately.

Finally, how about some pages from the Artist's Edition+ to brighten your Monday! The images below are shown in 'spreads' which is how they were turned into the printer. For the cover, the left side is the back of the book, then you see the spine with the title in the middle, then the final version of the cover on the right. For the interior pages, the first image contains pages 2 (left) and 3 (right), with a few random spreads from throughout the book in the same format. Let us know what you think, as some of these drawings have never been seen publicly before!

Good news on tariffs
11 months ago – Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 06:37:37 AM

Hi all-- I wanted to touch base with a bit of good news. Right after the last update we got word of the new tariffs that the USA was putting on export goods from China, including printing (which had typically been spared high tariff rates due to the lack of printers inside the US that are capable of doing the work). At first the tariff was around 34% and then quickly over 100%, which would have been devastating, as it would have more than doubled our printing bill. That's not something we'd budgeted for, obviously, and not something we could have absorbed without losing a large amount of money. And no, moving the Artist's Edition to a printer in the US or to another country really wasn't an option due to the standards we want to meet with this book, not to mention the added expense it would cost to print elsewhere (if we could even find someone capable in another country).  

So, after much discussion with our printer reps and other publishers going through the same thing, we decided it would be best to put everything on pause for a moment and wait for cooler heads to prevail, and thankfully that has finally happened. At the time of this update, the tariffs on printed books coming from China has been rolled back enough that we are going to go ahead and print the books and get them headed towards the port in California. Finally!

It will take a few weeks to get worked back into the schedule at the printer, but it won't be long now (I will update as soon as I have a better idea on that front). 

Scott and I are very sorry for the delay, but under the circumstances, we just couldn't do anything but wait it out. Now we'll just cross our fingers and hope nothing crazy happens while the books are headed across the ocean (that's the gamble, because if the tariffs are reactivated as the books cross the ocean, then we will be on the hook for the new tariff when the books arrive at the port). But enough of that-- it's time to print, so just keep your fingers crossed!

Also, with things finally in motion on the printing side, the Backerkit surveys won't be far behind. I will let you know before those roll out, but in case you were wondering, we will be collecting addresses soon.

And I can't leave without showing you something cool, so here's a few character design from the abandoned BODY BAGS II sequel series from 1999 (these will be in the ARTIST'S EDITION+ supplementary book). Enjoy!