An update on Next Town Over Volume 3 (Patreon)

NTO holdovers, I'm sure you've been waiting for me to say literally anything about Next Town Over for a hot minute.

It's obviously been very backburnered, especially in the context of my year, which has included nonzero travel, divorce, a double move, a somewhat rocky change of school for my kid, and in the past month, a hard drive failure that, long story short, left me restoring 20 years of art and comics from remote backups that haven't worked as well as expected (it's going to be fine; it's just been tedious frequently intercut with anxious, and it slowed down the completion of a few outstanding things).

Two months ago I started looking for vendors to print Next Town Over #3. The softcover is easy; anyone can do a perfect bound trade paperback. But the people who've asked me the most about #3 are after a clothbound slipcased hardcover to match their first two volumes, something I'd really like to deliver, and the printing and crowdfunding landscapes have changed quite a lot since I did NTO #2. I'd like to get them done domestically, but domestic printers are frequently flat out not returning my requests for a quote when not quoting me amounts I know are not within my ability to crowdfund. The search continues. 

Meanwhile, it's not share-ready yet but I have started sketching the volume's wraparound cover. You'll be the first to see it in a fit state. Next Town Over is largely about the revisitation of beginnings, and so for now I'll just say I'm favoring a revisit of one of the earliest NTO illustrations I ever did for the final collection cover.

I would like to be crowdfunding #3 around February 2025: watch for it, but don't hold me to it, as nothing about NTO has been as timely as expected. Lest the Devil Wanderer Lose Track of the Hour, indeed.

As I said, I'll give Patrons a sneak peak of the cover when it's further coalesced, and maybe let you in on #3's subtitle at the same time.

Warmest Regards,

Ben