The Secret Behind The Witches of Oz #1's Kickstarter Success!
We reveal the secrets behind creating our BIGGEST LAUNCH EVER! Also, announcing our new Detective/Slasher comic miniseries!
Hello Lifeline Comics readers!
Following our BIGGEST KICKSTARTER LAUNCH EVER, we’re going to dive into everything that went into making The Witches of Oz #1 such a huge success!
We’ll also be announcing a new Detective/Slasher miniseries from Lifeline Comics, show you how we celebrated wrapping fulfillment for The Beast & Snow #1, and more!
Let’s get into it all!
COMING NEXT WEEK: New Detective/Slasher Miniseries!
Phil: Before we get into our main topic, we’re excited to announce the upcoming first issue of a new miniseries from Lifeline Comics: The Last Case of Deven & Taylor #1!
“What happens when teen detectives grow up? Deven & Taylor enter adulthood and face their BLOODIEST & MOST PERSONAL case yet!”
Featuring art by Mauricio Mora (HAUNTING) and Colors by Danny Faubricio Sànchez Chaves (The Dancer), we know that fans of our other Lifeline Comics’ properties will really love this exciting new series!
And you don’t have to wait long! The Kickstarter for this new comic launches in less than a week - on Monday, April 22nd!
Breaking Down the Success of The Witches of Oz
Phil: Earlier this week, The Witches of Oz #1 launched with $30,000+ and 600+ backers on its FIRST DAY!
In case you missed it, this Mature Magical Romance comic is the newest entry in our Dark Fairytale Shared Universe: the EverAfterVerse - taking place in the same world as our previous comics The Beast & Snow and Nightmare in Wonderland.
We’ve been planning for this launch since last year - doing everything we can to ensure our biggest campaign to date. But how exactly did we make this project the huge success that it is? Read on to find out!
Building a Unique, Recognizable & Trusted Brand
Phil: We said this after The Beast & Snow last year and it continues to ring true now: success doesn’t happen overnight. It is the result of consistently building and growing a brand.
We can see this most literally with the EverAfterVerse.
The Witches of Oz is the third installment in a shared universe directly catered towards NSFW Queer Fairytale Retellings. We’ve had the benefit of two very successful campaigns preceding this one to cultivate an audience that is interested in exactly this type of book.
But beyond just the literal shared universe, Lifeline Comics has spent four years now growing an audience for over a dozen different comic series - an audience with a particular appetite queer comics, character-driven stories and unique genre spins. One might even say a BRAND.
By the time The Witches of Oz crashed onto Kickstarter, we had crowdfunded dozens of "similar" projects and built an audience of thousands of potential backers who might be interested in jumping on to this exciting new one. On top of that, we had spent time growing a reader-base of over 60,000 subscribers on Webtoon who are fans of queer WLW content.
The Witches of Oz isn’t a one-hit-wonder. It’s a culmination of thousands of hours of work across over a dozen different projects to build a unique, recognizable and trusted brand for Lifeline Comics.
While every project is unique, it has been our goal to create an overarching identity that people can expect when checking out a Lifeline book. And the success of this campaign is just one of many indications of the power of that branding.
Understanding the Market
Kat: There’s a balance between writing the stories you want and figuring out what the market needs. Following The Beast & Snow, we really wanted a property that could stand up against the perfect combination of a werewolf/vampire Snow White & Beauty and the Beast.
While The Beast & Snow was live, we kept throwing ideas back-and-forth. And in an uncanny experience, we separately pinpointed a witch love story set in the world of The Wizard of Oz. What is something people have been starving for, but isn’t in the forefront of everyone’s minds? A ROMANCE BETWEEN THESE TWO WITCHES!
Think outside the box! Be on the forefront of what’s on the market or even better - WHAT SHOULD BE ON THE MARKET. That’s what we do with every new title. Figure out the story we’re itching to tell, all while figuring out what the next story people want to read.
Look through Kickstarter! What projects are hot? Why are they hot! How does that compare to the wider book or even TV/movie market? How can you make your voice fit into those markets?
How We Knew Oz Would Be a Hot Property
Phil: What exactly led to this being our next big book? A few things.
After The Beast & Snow and Nightmare in Wonderland, we knew we wanted to tackle more well-known properties and to fill this world with more recognizable characters. We considered a lot of different properties to be our next source material. But in the end, like Kat said, we actually came to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz separately.
Phil has been a lifelong fan of the property - the 1939 film adaptation being one of his favorite movies as a kid and Wicked being one of his favorite Broadway musicals.
At the time, Kat was familiar with the property but not as close to it. She (like everyone) had seen the movie and heard songs from Wicked. But it was never a franchise she really dived deep into or got super invested in.
When I first proposed a Glinda/Wicked Witch romance story, we slotted it in among our other contending concepts. At first glance, this concept didn’t seem like a “no brainer” with some of our other competing story ideas.
But following that first mention, both of us saw just how ubiquitous The Wizard of Oz is. Now that we were considering it, we were literally seeing it everywhere.
Cosplays at Conventions. Randomly on social media. As a throwaway gag in a TV show we were watching. Decorative Wizard of Oz memorabilia happening to be in my cousin’s house when we visited. It quickly became clear to both of us just how ingrained in our culture the property is.
And on top of that, we became very conscious of just how many people wanted that Glinda/Wicked Witch romance. Broadway’s Wicked with its queer overtones really awakened a yearning for a lot of fans (us included) to finally see this opposites-attract friendship take a romantic turn. And surprisingly - despite the popularity of fan edits and queer couple cosplays - there wasn’t much actual content out there that played with putting these two characters together.
So with that, it became a no-brainer to put our own spin on The Wizard of Oz and the endless possibilities of its Witchy romance. Which meant it was time to become Oz experts!
Research, Research, RESEARCH!
Phil: There’s a lot of Oz media out there. And while we wanted to put our own spin on the property (as we always do), the first step to making an adaptation is to be aware of what came before you. That includes the original novels (which fall into the public domain) and later adaptations (which, largely, do not).
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novels by L. Frank Baum
I made a point to read the first handful of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novels as research, which make for quick reads and good material for airplane entertainment!
What’s interesting is that the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda characters are relatively minor presences in Baum’s series of novels. The former is never seen again after her death in the first novel while the latter has relatively minor appearances - though the “Glinda” we’re most familiar with in popular culture is more of an amalgamation of Baum’s Glinda and his Good Witch of the North characters.
While other elements exclusive to the novels are incorporated into our Witches of Oz comic (including a pretty cool novels-only character who will make a big splash in issue 2), much of the brainstorming for building our witch characters required us to also consider work outside of the original source material.
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939 film)
Kat: Both Phil and I have seen the original The Wizard of Oz movie (I’d be surprised to see who hasn’t), I’ve caught it a few times on TV and studied the film in college. And like Phil said, he watched it religiously with his family growing. But we knew we wanted to re-watch it before diving into our own version of The Wizard of Oz.
Even though the book is public domain, the movie isn’t. So we wanted to be on the lookout for “movie-only elements” so we could avoid including those in our public domain book. It was fun revisiting the movie to see what scenes we felt connected to as kids (we had very different favorites). I particularly enjoy the “old Hollywood” lore, and Phil really likes the musical elements.
Wicked (Broadway Musical)
Kat: Witches of Oz was birthed by one simple idea: what if The Wicked Witch and Glinda actually got together? Wicked showcases the incredible chemistry between the two characters, and we knew it was something the fandom had been pining to see for YEARS!
Surprisingly enough, I’ve lived in New York my whole life, and I’ve never seen Wicked. (Phil has). I knew the songs, but the context was lost on me. I didn’t even know they went to a school! “Defying Gravity” has a new meaning when you actually know how it plays into the story.
I can understand why this is now the longest running show on Broadway. The songs are memorable, but most importantly the play is just expertly paced. It’s perfect for any musical lover, but also a great introduction to the world of musical theater.
Writing the Book!
Phil: Once we’d done all our research, it was time to figure out exactly what kind of story we wanted to tell.
We knew we wanted to take a “sequel” approach - telling a story that takes place after Dorothy’s original time in Oz. We also knew we needed our story to fit into the EverAfterVerse - which meant taking a slightly darker tone. This led us down the path of an Oz past its glory days, one looking for a new Witch to scapegoat for all of their problems. And with the Wicked Witch of the West having shut herself away a long time ago, only one Witch remained for Oz to put on trial: Glinda!
The Witches of Oz was honestly one of the easiest books to crack for us. For whatever reason, we were both on the same page for this story nearly from the get-go. And it ended up being one of our favorite scripts we’ve ever written.
The Right Amount of Teasing
Phil: Okay. So now we have a book that we were really proud of. One based on a property that we knew was popular and sellable. Up next was nailing down our promotion plan: including just the right amount of teasing the book!
Figuring out when to announce this project was something we spent a lot of time planning. We knew the power of this comic and wanted to do everything in our power to release information at the right times to build as much anticipation as possible.
And while we began to tease The Witches of Oz as early as January (then referred to as “Code Green”), we didn’t plan on officially announcing the project until late-March…until a certain Superbowl movie trailer took the internet by storm.
With everybody talking about Wicked in February, we knew that we needed to get the word out about our upcoming comic based on the same source material.
But even then, we were careful not to share too much at once. We began with just an announcement of the project name, its logline, and the series logo.
When you’re excited about a project, there’s a temptation to share all of your exciting material at once. But we knew that to ensure the strongest launch possible, we needed to hold back our next big announcement until we had a Pre-launch Page that our excited readers could flock to.
Make Announcement Day an EVENT
Phil: Which brings us to Announcement Day!
While the performance of a Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page is not the “end-all, be-all” for how successful the project will be, we knew that we wanted to pull out all the stops with this one and drum up as much excitement as possible.
We learned from working with Stjepan Sejic on The Beast & Snow just how much the fanbase of a legendary audience can help a project. So we held off on the reveal of Terry Moore’s BEAUTIFUL cover until announcement day, when we had a landing page to which we could direct all of the excitement (including hype for some awesome original art).
We also managed to build some hype the day before Announcement Day by giving The Beast & Snow and Nightmare in Wonderland backers a one day early announcement of the project - and for the latter, an exclusive 4-page preview of The Witches of Oz that was unlocked as a Stretch Goal for that campaign.
As a happy coincidence, we wrapped on The Beast & Snow #1 fulfillment (more on that later) just two days before Announcement Day. So we took the opportunity to bundle our Witches of Oz announcement with the news that fulfillment for our (then) biggest project to date was finally complete.
And finally, after sending our Substack Newsletter revealing the project to our fans, Kat spent literally the entire day sharing The Witches of Oz across different platforms. Everything from social media to Facebook Groups and Subreddits that we have frequented as active members over the last few months in preparation for this big announcement. It was a lot of hours spent sharing the project in different places in an attempt to get as many eyeballs as possible on this new and very accessible/easy-to-pitch comic.
All of this culminated in over 1,200 Followers on our Pre-launch page in less than a week. For context, our previous record was in the mid-700 range after two weeks of promotion.
Conclusions - Launch Day and Beyond!
Phil: And the rest is history!
The excitement levels were high leading up to our Launch Day. We did absolutely everything we could think of to ensure a strong launch. And even still we were shocked and humbled by the amount of support we received.
We cannot wait to see just how high The Witches of Oz flies over the next few weeks as it continues to defy expectations (and gravity)!
LGBTQ+ Fox/Wolf Enamel Pin Campaign ends TONIGHT!
Phil: A final quick reminder about our LGBTQ Fox & Wolf Enamel Pins Kickstarter - which ends TONIGHT (Thursday, 4/18) at 10pm EST!
We’ll be fulfilling this campaign really quickly, with a goal of sending out all packages within a couple of weeks of the campaign ending! So if you’re interested in getting some queer pins before Pride Month, make sure to support the campaign while there’s still time!
What else have we been up to?
Let’s take a second to talk about other things we’ve been doing since our last post!
How did we celebrate wrapping The Beast & Snow Fulfillment? KARAOKE!
Phil: It took about two full months of pretty consistent work, but fulfillment for The Beast & Snow #1 is finally complete!
With over 1,500 packages to send out, this was by far our biggest fulfillment job to date. We put in a lot of hours, learned a lot from the process, and roped in some help from friends and family to get it all done.
So often, we’re too busy planning the “next big thing” to celebrate our victories. So we wanted to treat ourselves to something fun and different for finally wrapping on our (at the time, pre-Witches of Oz) biggest campaign. How did we do that…
…with some KARAOKE!
We gathered our team and treated everybody to a night out in K-Town, singing everything from the Beatles, to Ke$ha, to Disney songs, to Bob Marley!
We got some snacks in K-Town (highly recommend those Korean Hot Dogs).
And then made our way to a nostalgic restaurant from my childhood for dinner: the Rainforest Cafe.
We’re trying to be more mindful to celebrate the wins and to treat our team to some fun after all the hard work they do for us. We’re sure we’ll be celebrating The Witches of Oz in a similar fashion in the next couple of months!
We’ve got Like Father, Like Daughter & Slice of Life books!
Kat: The Like Father, Like Daughter (1K copies) and Slice of Life (3K copies) trades are in from Printlore!
We’ll be setting up shop again next week for these two campaigns, and our LGBTQ Fox pins following right after (remember that ends TODAY!).
AJR: The Maybe Man Tour
Kat: I love a concert that can reinvent what you expect from live performances. Tell me a story, be interactive - I want to go to a show that I can’t get from listening to the soundtrack at home. AJR delivers this and SO MUCH MORE!
Jack hangs from a harness with wild visual effects for MULTIPLE songs! And right when you think you got the show figured out, they do something even more outlandish.
But my favorite aspect of Maybe Man is the pure emotion that the brothers share with the audience. It was the first show of their tour, and their FIRST HEADLINING ARENA show. That emotion fueled their performance. (This was especially heart wrenching knowing they lost their dad and dedicated the album to him. He was the person that pushed them to make the music they wanted to always sing.)
Their dedication to connect with their fans was outstanding! The brothers were fantastic storytellers, and even went to the “nosebleed seats” to sing a few songs with the audience.
AJR are more than a TikTok band. They have well crafted, meaningful lyrics with a sound you can only describe as “AJR”.
Kat’s Disney World Trip
Kat: I’m a BIG Disney World fan. There’s always something new to discover even if you’re a veteran of the park. This time around we tried out archery at Wilderness Lodge, and was blown away by their new sushi restaurant, Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya (it has quickly become a fav, especially those Gobo chips.)
I was a little too early to see the grand opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure. =(
Splash Mountain was my favorite ride and Tiana is my favorite princess. So I have a lot to look forward to for my next trip. BUT I did get to ride Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind and the Tron roller coaster for the first time. Both didn’t disappoint!
It was wild to be able to ride TWO new thrill rides at the park. Both have a familiar feel to Rockin’ Roller Coaster playing with a familiar indoor dark coaster aesthetic and its iconic fast launch.
Tron felt like a smoother version of Space Mountain (although I’d say the fun of Space Mountain is the sudden drops and turns.) The ancient joints make Space Mountain feel more unique BUT Tron does have a leg up on innovation. They really suck you into their story as you lean into a real bike.
If I had to pick a favorite from the two new coasters. I’d have to go with Guardians of the Galaxy. I promise I’m not being biased. I may be a comic book creator and have a soft spot for “Stupid Judy and her stupid energy”, but I genuinely haven’t experienced a ride like Guardians of the Galaxy. The way it moves, the backwards launch, the music you can jive to - it just all works. I literally can’t wait to ride it again!
Comics
Let's discuss some comics we've enjoyed recently!
As always, we'll spotlight a Direct Market Indie Book, a DC or Marvel book, a Kickstarter book, and a Webcomic!
DC Comics: Green Arrow
Kat: Green Arrow has inconsistently had ongoing titles since the New 52. Some that swayed away from the character’s original incarnation to give a darker appeal, and others that felt a bit more familiar.
Joshua Williamson marries both incarnations to tell a darker story that ties itself to the decades of Green Arrow storytelling that has come before. It’s the perfect balance of nostalgia and new storytelling. (Phil Hestor, famed Green Arrow artist, even has a couple of dozen pages in this one)
I especially love how involved the Green Arrow family is, bringing Mia Dearden, Arrowette, and so many other players from out of the shadows. I’m happy to see that this once-miniseries has been given the chance to spread its wings as an ongoing.
Indie Comic: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return
Kat: Boom Studios! have been pioneering Power Rangers storytelling since 2016 with multiple spin-off titles. We’ve gotten a few “future” Kimberly stories with their original Pink Power Ranger mini-series and their breakout character Ranger Slayer. How much more story is there to tell? Well, let me tell you, The Return proves that there can be multiple versions of the same character with each still having their own fresh take.
The Return has the benefit of the original Pink Power Ranger, Amy Jo Johnson, as a co-writer with Matt Hotson helping pilot. It’s an emotional story that feels therapeutic following the real tragedies of losing Jason David Frank and Thuy Trang.
This is a must read for any Power Rangers fan! It’s a very easy series to jump right into. It focuses more on character and less on mythos. You don’t need the baggage of the other titles, which is a nice change of pace for the comic medium.
Kickstarter: Vampires on Mars #1
“A 300-year-old vampire battles a vapid billionaire, volatile astronauts, and chaotic humans to complete her quest to step foot on Mars.”
Phil: This Supernatural Sci-fi comic makes the bold assertion: “If humans can’t survive the trip to Mars…DON’T SEND HUMANS!”
I love a good genre mashup, and this comic looks like it has some of my all-time favorites: horror, sci-fi, comedy, and action!
Another cool detail is that the comic includes an interview with astronomer Phil Plait about the state of manned missions to Mars, the difficulties of making the trip, whether vampires could survive it.
Check out Vampires on Mars #1 on Kickstarter!
Webcomic: Sugar and Swords
“The daily life of an NPC in a town full of heroes and adventurers. Watch as Rachel tries to understand the strange minds of adventurers while working at the town’s cafe/item shop.”
Phil: A comedic series about the comings-and-goings of a loveable NPC who routinely gives out quests to “heroes” to make her daily life easier.
Lighthearted, creative, and funny - Sugar and Swords is a really quick and enjoyable read. The episodic shorts regularly poke fun at various video game mechanics (graphics settings, controller drift, first/third person perspective, clunky avatar movement) as well as exploring the in-game logic for different tropes/tools (fetch quests, fast travel, crazy character design, inventory space).
While mostly episodic, the series does have some ongoing storylines and lore, mostly conveyed through multipart episodes. While I love the stand-alone comedic shorts, it’s nice to sometimes spend extended time in one scene and learn more about Rachel, her history/family, and her world.
If you’re even a casual gamer and/or a fan of fantasy slice of life, you’ll definitely have a smile on your face reading this series.
In Closing
As always, thank you for reading!
Be sure to check out The Witches of Oz #1 to see what all the hype is about!
If you’re interested in enamel pins, don’t forget that the LGBTQ+ Fox & Wolf Enamel Pins Kickstarter ends tonight!
And make sure to follow the Pre-launch Page to be notified when our next SFW series, The Last Case of Deven & Taylor #1 launches early next week!
Subscribe to our Substack Newsletter above to ensure you don’t miss out on future updates!
Current Kickstarters:
The Witches of Oz #1 (Ending 5/16)
LGBTQ+ Fox & Wolf Enamel Pins (Ending TONIGHT)
Next Kickstarter: The Last Case of Deven & Taylor #1 (Launching 4/22)
Next Con: New Jersey Horror Con & Film Festival (4/18-4/22) (Edison, NJ)
I bet Frank Baum would be so surprised to know that his fictional universe still resonates with people more than a hundred years after he invented it...
Congrats guys!
Well deserved