John Paul Leon's THE WINTER MEN Artist's Edition

Hey all,

As we mentioned in the last update, all the prints are at our fulfillment center.  And the books should be arriving next week!  Because of this slight delay, we're going to re-adjust our timeline from late August/ Early September, to late September/ Early October.  

Once the books arrive, it takes a little while for the fulfillment center to sort through all the backers and corresponding rewards, creating the packgages and shipping.  And this was a LARGE campaign, so they'll go out in batches.  

Did you know that this was a total of over 12,000 pounds of books!  Craziness!  Thank you all for your support and patience, and we're almost there!  It'll be worth the wait!

Just a quick note to let you all know that all of the signed art prints are at our fulfillment center, and the books are on their way there now! So aiming for a late August / early Sept. delivery of all rewards. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience!

Here are some images of JOHN PAUL LEON’S WINTERMEN ARTIST’S EDITION. Two advance copies were received earlier this week but I wanted to get a copy to John Paul’s family before sharing these photos with the campaign backers.

There are eight images presented here, as well as a video of me flipping through the finished book. I’m happy with it, hopefully you will be too.

Front cover.

Back cover.

The Front Endpapers, measuring 24 x 17 inches.

Wintermen #3, pages 22 and 23

Wintermen Special cover and page 1.

Wintermen Special, pages 24 and 25

Concept drawings on the left, Wintermen Special layouts pages 1 – 4 on right.

Joe Quesada’s tribute to John Paul, received after the campaign ended, shown here for the first time.

Check it out!

A video of me flipping through the book.

The book is now being prepared to be shipped from China to Long Beach California. We do not have a firm date on arrival but, as always, you will be kept posted.

Thanks again for your support.

Scott Dunbier

On Friday I received the FNG (this is the fully printed but unbound book) of John Paul Leon’s Wintermen Artist’s Edition. Yesterday I approved the book for binding. Due to the unpredictable nature of overseas shipping this past year, the exact date the books will arrive from the printer is a bit of a guessing game. When I receive an advance copy, I will snap some pictures and we will have another update, along with a better idea of a delivery date. Apologies for the delays, they were unavoidable because of the pandemic. But I think these images look great, I’m very happy, and I hope all of you will be as well.

Thanks,

Scott Dunbier

Because of strong covid restrictions imposed in China, John Paul Leon's The Winter Men Artist's Edition has been impacted - BUT we have just received these photos from our printer that show the printed (uncut) pages!

The book is currently being assembled and the next step will be for an FNG (which is the final, unbound copy) to be sent to the editor who will review it with a representative of JP's family to make sure everything looks good. Once that happens the book will be bound and shipped to Long Beach and then sent on to the Zoop fulfillment center, then out to all the backers of the project. Once we have new information on these stages we will update accordingly. We apologize for this unavoidable delay and thank you for your continued patience.

Hi all,

Here with an update for everyone.  So, things are moving a little slower than expected.  A big part of the reason is because we are printing this book in China.  And China has some very strict guidelines due to the pandemic in place that are affecting work, productivity, supply chain, shipping, and basically everything we need to get this book to you.  

Different major cities have shut down altogether in China, but the city our printer in is working at a 50% capacity.  The ports are overwhelmed, and printing has slowed, but fortunately, not stopped.  

I know this isn't the great update anyone wanted to hear.  The good news is that things are still moving in the correct direction, albeit slower than we'd like.  We'll provide another update once we know that printing is done, and moving onto the shipping phase.  No word on how long the wait to get space at the ports will take, but again, we'll keep everyone aprised.

Thanks for your patience!  It will be worth the wait!

And for those of you who didn't see what editor Scott Dunbier posted recently on his Twitter account, here's a further look at some of the layouts as they were being sent to the printer: LINK

The books and giclees are all being printed at the moment (and the giclees will be sent out for signatures once they're ready soon) -- we'll keep you posted with any status updates as we hear them!

Today, Feb. 18th, The Winter Men Artist's Edition is approved and has been sent to the printer! In the coming weeks, we will show the unbound approval copies of the book, then several weeks after that we will be reviewing an advanced copy of the final finished book, and then we will share both photos and videos as we receive them.

We realize we're running a little bit later than hoped, but that extra time was spent ensuring that all parties were able to properly review it, and we can now say that Scott Dunbier and JPL's family and friends are all very happy with the way the book has come out.

As always, please send any and all questions you have about the book to hello@wearezoop.com. And thank you once again to our wonderful supporters -- we can't wait to get this book in your hands!

Just popping in to let you know that health/covid-related issues for a few key people have slowed down the final approval process before we head to print, but, fingers crossed, should be all set to proceed soon!

We finished adjusting some shipping amounts and then we charged everyone's credit cards today. Now we'll be working on fixing some charges that didn't go through. If you noticed that yours didn't process, maybe look into contacting your bank and having them approve the charge so we can try it again. Thanks!

JP's wife Christina and brother Alex would like to express their appreciation with the following messages:

On behalf of the Leon family we want to express our heartfelt gratitude for all the love and support each and every one of you have shown in helping JPs dream come true. His legacy will continue to grow strong with the Artist’s Edition release which commemorates one of his most celebrated accomplishments. We will never forget the amount of love and passion JP had in his work.

We would also like to give a special thanks to all the personnel working with this project, who organized and dedicated their time and support in making it happen. Thank you, Bernard, Tommy, Scott, all the artists that have contributed, and last but not least Zoop.

Sending all our love, 

Christina

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I want to thank everyone that made this campaign possible. In particular, I want to thank Bernard and Tommy Lee for all they've done to help the family during this difficult time. Truer friends would not be possible.

The Winter Men was JP's crowning achievement. He loved and labored over each panel. My hope is that each of you will garner as much joy from the reproductions presented herein as I will.

I loved and love my brother deeply and it is some consolation to know that his work, and his legacy, have garnered such admiration and respect from the community.

With deepest appreciation,

Alex Leon

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The campaign is now closed. Thanks again, everyone. Stay tuned for more updates very soon regarding when everyone's credit cards will be charged and when the book will be heading off to the printer.

Over $175,000 pledged from over 920 individuals, and still going. To say we're overwhelmed and blown away by the support for this book is an understatement. Not only does this honor an amazing artist in John Paul Leon but it benefits his family. This truly is the comic community rallying around a good cause.

There are less than 24 hours to go in the campaign, so now is the time to get those pledges in, grab a book, grab some giclee art. There will be no overprinting or eventual second chances to buy, and there will be no 'pledge manager' afterwards -- this is it!!. The campaign ends at midnight PST tonight!

We also now get to reveal Lee Weeks' newly polished up print for the book and giclee print (see the updated image in the Art Prints and Rewards sections). You can get this as a print along with works by Bill Sienkiewicz, Walter Simonson, Peach Momoko, Kim Jung Gi, Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, and Tommy Lee Edwards, and can save a bit if you go with any of the bundles of 2, 3, 5, or all 8!

Time is counting down, and when the clock strikes 0, this campaign is locked!

Walter Simonson's Mindspace interview went live yesterday! It's on Heavy Metal's website (link below), and also available on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. 

To say we're overwhelmed is an understatement.

To be able to return John Paul Leon's gorgeous WINTER MEN art to the world in this special Artist's Edition is an amazing way to honor his talent.

But, the fact we can do so and help his family as well is even better.

To see all of us step up and support this project means a ton, shows how amazing the comics community is, and how much JP's work impacted so many of you.

We're humbled and amazed. But we're not done yet, with much more to come, so please keep sharing this project so others might discover it. We'll keep you updated, and please check the #wintermen hashtag and use it as well to share your thoughts. We want to hear from you. Please share what JPL's art means to you or a special memory you have of him. This project is meant to honor him and to hear all of the wonderful things you all have to say is one way to do that.

Thank you again.

--
Jordan Plosky and Eric Moss, Co-Founders of Zoop
Tommy Lee Edwards and Bernard Chang, Project Organizers 
Scott Dunbier, Book Editor & Project Initiator 
Brett Schenker, Marketing