I’ve talked a lot about Gutter Magic, but realize that it’s become really hard for folks to find, given it’s roller-coaster like publishing history. So I’ve decided to make it 100% free for everyone to check out on my Bindings site - right here!

That includes links to Gutter Magic, Volume 1, my first ever published comic, the very hard to find (thanks Covid!) Volume 2, Smoke and Mirrors, and the even harder to find Gutter Magic Tales, which collects my first short stories, side tales, and even has a couple of guest creative teams joining up!

But that only half-solves the problem of Gutter Magic being available to read, because lots of people don’t read digital, and for me, I just love having a book on my shelf. I’ve wanted to do a compendium of Gutter Magic for a long time, seeing as how Tales never had a print run, and Smoke and Mirrors never got a trade release.

But, it’s a hard sell to direct market publishers to resurrect a 10-year old book, no matter how good it is (and it is!), so it feels like there’s nothing left to do than grab onto my bootstraps and pull.

So I’m bringing it to Kickstarter.

Next year is the 10th anniversary, so it seems like a great time to target for a nice, omnibus edition hardcover that collects all the stories, all the fanart and pinups I’ve received, and really celebrate the book that launched my career.

I’m announcing this here because I’d like to bring you along on the journey - Kickstarters are a hell of a lot of work, and this will be in the planning stages for a while, so I’m going to use this space to talk about where we are, what’s next on the agenda, and how I’m preparing to launch. And I know a lot of you out there have Kickstarters yourselves, so please do chime in with advice! It’s been like, 8 years since I last ran one, and I know its a totally different game now.

That’s part of why I’m announcing it here well before we are ready to launch, but the other reason is, I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but I keep putting it off - and there’s nothing like Gutter Magic fans asking me where the book is already to help motivate me!

So I hope you enjoy the digital release if you have never read it, or want to catch up where you left off, and please do spread the word about the free comic to everyone you can - the more new fans we can make between now and launch, the more successful the Kickstarter will be!

Thanks, and have a great Labor Day. My plans involve writing comics, smoking brisket, and hanging with Barney here in the backyard.

- Rich