How A LGBTQ Owned Publisher Gears Up for Pride Month?
Get a behind the scenes look at how Lifeline Comics' runs their company during their busiest time of the year - Pride Month.
Hello Lifeline Comics Readers,
We’re just about to enter June — our favorite month of the year, but also our busiest. As a Queer-owned company that publishes a lot of LGBTQIA+ titles, Pride Month is always the most hectic and most rewarding month of our year. So we thought it would be fun to talk you through all the ways we prepare for Pride Month!
We’ll also announce an exciting new collaboration with Pat Shand & Space Between Entertainment that will be debuting for San Diego Comic Con!
And finally, we’ll talk about our experience at the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, and share our thoughts on Final Destination: Bloodlines, My Dead Friend Zoe, Don’t Forget About Me, and more!
Let’s dive in!
Gearing Up for Pride Season
Kat: Just like Christmas or Black Friday is important for most E-Commerce businesses, Pride Month is crucial for our queer-ran publishing company. So Phil and I wanted to dedicate a post going through the ins and outs of our busiest month of the year.
Launching a Queer Anthology
Phil: It’s become a tradition for Lifeline Comics to run a big queer anthology campaign during all or some portion of Pride Month. As you’ve probably heard, this June we’ll be running our Asexual & Aromantic Anthology: Aces & Aros!
In 2024, we ran our Transphoria campaign through June. To date, this Trans/Nonbinary Anthology is our most-funded and most-backed anthology campaign.
In 2023, we had both our first Rainbow Canvas and our big Slice of Life: The Kiss campaigns (featuring the first kiss of the lead couple in our queer Webtoon).
And finally, all the way back in 2022 we ran our Bi Visibility: Still Bi campaign.
While we typically run two campaigns at the same time in any given month, we try our best to keep June isolated to just one campaign (or at least, two campaigns that aren’t running concurrently).
This is in part because we want to focus all of our attention on our anthology campaigns during Pride Month — doing everything in our power to make them as successful as possible and to reach as many potential backers as they can.
But the other big reason we break out “two campaigns at once” streak is because of just how BUSY we are during June. Every Kickstarter campaign demands a lot of hours and attention — from building the campaign, to marketing, to fulfillment, and everything in between. And with how thinly stretched we are during June, balancing two campaigns at once is a very tall order.
E-Commerce/Etsy/Website
Phil: The vast majority of Lifeline Comics’ business is E-Commerce — online product sales. And while our two biggest storefronts, Etsy (our primary online store for LGBTQIA+ Enamel Pins) and the Lifeline Website, are open year-round, June is definitely the strongest performing month for both stores.
Etsy sales during Pride Month more than quadruple our normal monthly average. June is when we see the most buyers planning to accessorize for Pride Events or purchase gifts for their queer friends.
We typically try to capitalize on this “peak” time by running ads for select Enamel Pin designs on Etsy. This is usually a combination of our most popular pins (in an effort to drive up sales numbers) and some less-popular pins that we’re hoping to boost up during Pride Month in hopes of seeing better performance in in the Etsy algorithm during non-peak time.
LGBTQIA+ Comics on the Lifeline Website also see an uptick during Pride Month as we see more people searching for and discovering queer storytelling.
A big portion of May and June for Lifeline Comics goes towards fulfilling E-Commerce orders in a timely fashion (making sure buyers get their purchases ASAP for the Pride events they may be attending), as well as towards staying on top of our inventory in the lead-up to this peak season.
Staying on Top of Writing/Fulfillment
Phil: Knowing that June will be largely tied up by our Anthology Kickstarter and Pride Events (more on those in a moment), we try our best to “get ahead of” our other tasks leading up to Pride Month. Ironically, this makes May our second-busiest month of the year and we do everything in our power to prepare for June.
Our calendars are pretty much fully-booked throughout May and June between balancing upcoming writing projects, fulfilling Kickstarter/Etsy/Website orders, and preparing for all of the events we have in June.
We travel a lot throughout June, so we try to do the majority of the prep-work for our June events/goals/tasks in the preceding month.
Vending at Prides
Kat: One of the reasons June is so filled up is because most of our weekends are spent vending at Prides…and, of course, most of the country’s prides land in June during pride month (with a few exceptions in the hotter states).
And it’s literally some of the best events we do for the whole year. We get to celebrate Pride with our fellow LGBTQ community and get to expose a whole new crowd to queer comic books. Every year we really try to hit as many pride events as the calendar will allow with a mixture of favorites like Washington DC Pride and our hometown Pride, New York City. While also throwing some new cities into the mix like Rhode Island and Boston.
To this date, most of the Prides we go to are driving distance with the longest drive being about 6 hours. This helps us bring as much inventory as we can fit into a car (and for World Pride two cars), but that also means there are DAYS of prep going into bringing inventory to these shows. Especially mystery boxes! Every year we have a “mystery box party” with our friends and family to make sure we have enough boxes for the whole month.
Pride month is truly a marathon not a race!
Space Between/Lifeline Comics’ SDCC Exclusive Cover Launches on Kickstarter June 2nd!
Kat: Lifeline Comics is teaming up with some of our favorite people in comics - Space Between Entertainment.
Amorini and Beast & Snow will have a connecting cover exclusive to San Diego Comic Con by Joe Pekar, and our Kickstarter supporters will have a chance to grab the cover with this short campaign.
New Event Tab on The Lifeline Comics’ Website
Kat: Wondering what events we’ll be hitting up next? Then check out the newest event tab on the Lifeline Comics website.
And we’re always open to hearing what Prides and conventions you’d like to see us at next. So be sure to shout it out in the comments!
What have we been up to?
Let’s talk about how we’ve kept busy these last few weeks!
Licensing Expo in Las Vegas
Phil: Kat and I broke out the business casual clothes and attended Licensing Expo in Las Vegas for the first time this year.
Licensing Expo is a gathering of different companies and brands with the goal of facilitating “licensing agreements” (agreements to lend/permission other individuals/organizations to use the character/name/brand of the licensing organization).
As Lifeline Comics expands, we wanted to use this opportunity to dip our toes into the world of Licensing — using this event as an opportunity to learn more about the process by attending panels and to network with other organizations.
What we didn’t expect was just how fun the event would be! We saw tons of familiar faces, including two of Phil’s favorite people in the world…
There was such a wide breadth of characters and properties available for licensing opportunities — including characters you would never think about licensing.
We saw tons of properties that we ourselves are big fans of.
And lots of costumed characters — including a big Character Parade on Day 1 of the event. While we expected a more “drab” business event, Licensing Expo does everything it can to make the event a party with lots of activations.
In between our time at Licensing Expo, we tried to make a mini-vacation out of the trip. We tried our hand at some of the Las Vegas Casinos (neither of us won, but we had fun). And we maybe even gathered some more material for an upcoming Casino-set Comic Issue. Snuck in a few dinners - including Hell’s Kitchen.
Kat even made time to do her weekly comic reviews from our hotel room.
We learned a lot at Licensing Expo and had a great time doing it!
Liberty Opening Game
Kat: The Knicks’ season may be coming to their imminent close, but the WNBA has officially begun, and the Liberty is stronger as ever with their stars returning to the team and adding Natasha Cloud to their roster.
Opening Day was electrifying with a packed Barclays Center as the Liberty received their rings and went against former champs - MVP A’Ja Wilson and the rest of the Aces.
Next up Indiana Fever Vs Liberty in July. See you then Barclays.
Beyonce Concert - Cowboy Carter
Kat: As a big fan of the Cowboy Carter album, I’ve been desperately wanting to go see Beyonce in concert. The Ticketmaster pre-sale was ridiculous, but a few weeks leading to the concert the resale market was actually pretty reasonable.
So I got tickets for my Mom and I, and we had a blast! First, we ran into my friends Morgan and Mike. We both knew we were going to the same the show, and wanted to meet up. The stars aligned and we somehow were literally getting into the same parking lot at the same time.
The show was great. She sang in the rain the night before, and returned in FULL FORCE with perfect vocals - all while floating in the sky and having robots serve her drinks.
Media
Let’s discuss some non-comics media!
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Phil: Final Destination is one of the first shared passions that Kat and I bonded over. We both absolutely love the franchise known for huge set piece premonitions and elaborate gory kills. And after a fourteen year hiatus, we went into this newest installment with very high hopes.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is the franchise at its very best. The kills are creative, fun, and (sometimes) tragic. The premonition is exciting — and even slightly breaks the formula of the franchise in the way that the story is told. The lore of the series is expanded upon in an inventive way. And even the characters, which have never been the strong suit of the Final Destination franchise, manage to be engaging.
The decision to center this set of victims around a family (surprisingly, a first for the series) rather than classmates, coworkers, strangers, or friends allowed the film to explore some interesting dynamics between this loving-but-fractured extended family. Particular shout-out to Richard Harmon’s Erik Campbell, who really surprised me and may be the most interesting and fun character in the franchise to date.
Final Destination: Bloodlines is maybe the perfect continuation to the series. It knows exactly how closely to stick to the formula of the preceding films, but finds creative ways to break the mold and put its own spin on the six-film franchise. If you’re a fan of Final Destination, you’re certain to love this newest installment.
Kat: Final Destination: Bloodlines is a love letter to the little horror franchise that could, which also so happens to be my favorite horror franchise!
Unlike the previous films, this isn’t a group of strangers or high school students - the main characters are all family members that should have never been born. Final Destination has always been notorious for its kills, but just because there are fancy murders that doesn’t mean we have to care for the characters.
Sure, the vision giver and the few final members standing usually have enough character work to make for a less than two-dimensional character, but Bloodlines decides that every family member is important. The movie truly makes you feel for their characters…and for most, their deaths.
And isn’t that what’s so fun and inventive about Final Destination? Horror, especially slasher films, are built on you caring for the final girl. You want them to survive! But Final Destination stars an invisible slasher where you’re rooting for even the main character to have the most gruesome death. Bloodlines understands the assignment, while turning in some extra credit. It’s not a remake, it’s not a reboot, but it sure as hell is a love letter.
My Dead Friend Zoe
Kat: We all love a big old blockbuster - superheroes flying the skies, Tom Cruise climbing skyscrapers, cars also…flying the skies (thank you Fast & Furious) but there will always be a special place in my heart for quiet films like My Dead Friend Zoe.
My Dead Friend Zoe isn’t your standard PTSD war story. The ghosts of Merit’s past (Sonequa Martin-Green) literally follow her as Zoe (Natalie Morales) plays for a sadistic inner voice. The movie relies on the “what happened to Zoe” moment to stick the landing - at times it’s sluggish to get there, but luckily the stellar cast sells the subtle moments as Merit deals with the guilt of losing a friend.
Phil: A PTSD drama that follows army veteran Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) who is haunted by the ghost of her dead friend Zoe (Natalie Morales).
My Dead Friend Zoe is a good film with a great ending. It’s quiet in its exploration of Merit’s grief, sometimes even teetering on slow. The film really hinges on the performance of its two leads — both of whom are incredibly talented and who elevate their roles during the times when the screenplay doesn’t give them a ton to work with.
Particular shout-out to Natalie Morales’ Zoe, who is meant to be the “snarky dead person” archetype. And while she gets a few stand-out lines as the ghost of Zoe, in general the writing of her snark doesn’t put forth anything that we haven’t seen before. But damnit, Morales is so oozing charisma that she finds a way to make it work.
Sonequa Martin-Green’s Merit is also excellent in her role and has the most screentime in the film by far. She really sells Merit’s trauma and her reluctance to confront it. Even at times when the script has her repeat certain beats, she manages to find ways to keep her character’s journey fresh and interesting. The only exception being the romantic subplot, which honestly felt out-of-place in this film. The screentime spent on that entire plotline would have been better spent on more time between Merit and her grandfather, in my opinion.
All of the above being said, any criticisms I have for the movie really goes out the window during its final act — which synthesizes everything that the movie had been building in the background and ends the film on an incredibly moving note. If you’re a fan of well-acted character pieces, My Dead Friend Zoe is definitely worth a watch.
Don’t Forget About Me (Short Film)
Kat: “I wish I could feel as loved now as I did for who I used to be.”
Ever since Elle Mills came onto the YouTube scene, I was infatuated by her storytelling skills. Her ability to suck you in and feel. She has been extremely transparent about the effect YouTube had on her mental health and is now using the platform to shift gears to the new medium of short films as a director and writer.
Don’t Forget About Me commentates on both the traditional child star and the very path that Elle Mills took herself as a social media mogul that blew up overnight at only 19. Magic Matty represent your Wizards of Waverly Place/That’s So Raven genre driven children’s show. …You know the one you idolized and obsessed over. The cast felt like your friends and guess what your real friends felt the same exact way. Deep down - it’s a little part of how you became the person you are today.
But what if your favorite TV character actually came to life? Don’t Forget About Me isn’t a sadistic story, but rather an optimistic look at the child star. You may have never been that “perfect” TV character with otherworldly powers who children glamorized. And you may never be the person you once were, but…maybe you were never supposed to be that person in the first place.
Comics
Let's discuss some comics we've enjoyed recently!
As always, we’ll spotlight an Indie Book, a DC/Marvel book, and a Live Kickstarter book!
Indie Comic: I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer (Image Comics)
Kat: From the creators of Plush and Klick Klick Boom, Doug Wagner and Daniel Hillyard deliver another absurdly, addicting thriller with I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer. Rennie…is a psychopath, right? But who says serial killers can’t have dreams and ambitions outside of murdering people? Who says psychopaths can’t have friends and care about others?
Well, Wagner and Hillyard sure as hell make you want to believe that Rennie is killing for all the right reasons AND in the name of FASHION! The frequent collaborators make for a well-balanced title that perfectly weaves together the dark undertones of a murderer with the bright exteriors of a designer.
Marvel: Predator Vs. Spider-Man
Kat: Let me start out by saying…I’m not really a big Predator fan. I had no intensions on picking up this book UNTIL multiple friends convinced me it was a must buy. As a diehard Spider-Man fan, this is all I’ve ever wanted from the flagship book that just so happens to be a Predator mini-series.
Benjamin Percy and Marcelo Ferreira inject all your favorite Spider-Man classics - the ol’ Peter Parker luck, J. Jonah Jameson’s editorial rampages, MJ’s civic heroism. …It’s just a little more twisted. DARKER. Predator adds a haunting element to the friendly neighborhood - making this more gruesome than even Marvel’s Red Band titles.
Kickstarter: Lake Yellowwood Slaughter
“A graphic novel "adaptation" of a 1983 slasher movie that never existed!”
Phil: This is one of the coolest campaigns I’ve seen on Kickstarter all year. A comic “adaptation” of an ‘80s Slasher movie that never actually got made. As a lover of ‘80s Slashers (including Sleepaway Camp 2, which was the film that the creator of Lake Yellowwood Slaughter was watching when he came up with the idea for his film/comic), this project scratches all kind of itches for me.
Lake Yellowwood Slaughter is more than just an retro remake. It also comes with the fun premise of a Slasher who goes after the horny parents of the teens that are dropped off at summer camp (a reversal of your typical Slasher formula that we’ve seen in many a Jason Vorhees or Angela Baker film).
The 90-page graphic novel also comes with a superstar creative team that has worked on some absolutely stellar comics. I definitely recommend checking out the Kickstarter page if you’re a Slasher fan!
Back “Lake Yellowwood Slaughter” here!
In Closing…
Thanks for reading this week’s post! We hope you enjoyed learning about how we prepare for our biggest (and busiest) month of the year.
If you haven’t already, we hope you’ll consider checking out Aces & Aros on Kickstarter. Like every anthology we work on, we put a lot of love and care into putting these books together. Whether you’re Aspec or not, we know that you’ll love the anthology!
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Buy Lifeline Comics on our Website!
Current Kickstarter: Aces & Aros - An Asexual & Aromantic Comic Anthology
Next Cons/Events:
Asbury Park Pride Festival (Asbury Park, NJ) (Sunday, 6/01)
Philadelphia Pride Festival (Philadelphia, PA) (Sunday, 6/01)
Washington D.C. World Pride (Washington DC) (Sat-Sun, 6/07-08)