For anyone who knows me, has run into me recently, follows me on Twitter or is a friend on Facebook, you should be abundantly aware that about 12 days ago, I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to pay for the printing of Tales From Lost Vegas, the next edition in the series of commemorative comic books Pop! Goes the Icon publishes to benefit the Vegas Valley Comic Book Fest. In the event you stumbled across this blog post without that knowledge, well, here’s the official pitch:

We have, as of this writing, 18 days to go and another $2,400 or so to go before our goal is met. As a reminder: Kickstarter is all or nothing. If we don’t raise at least $6,000 by August 4 — coincidentally my birthday — then we get nothing. That is the only thing that could jeopardize the production of this book. Bear in mind, I don’t make any money from this. All the funds go to either the printing of the comic, or the payment to the artists who are not only basically donating their time to drawing the book, but have also done a lot to either personally fund or rustle up support for the Kickstarter. They’re really amazing people.

Why Kickstarter, a platform I have publicly said I wouldn’t use to raise funds for a personal project? Because this isn’t a personal project. It’s a community effort. It’s designed to be from the community, and for the community. All proceeds from sales of the comic, after production costs, will be donated to the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Foundation is support of the Comic Book Fest, as I’ve happily done with the previous two “Tales From” volumes. And that’s why it’s important the printing is 100 percent paid for, so that the book’s charitable potential is maximized.

But this isn’t just about the local good. It’s about putting a smart, fun, all-ages comic book into the market. It’s not a kids’ book, in that it’s not dumbed-down or cuted-up. But, like a Pixar film, it’s designed to be both appealing to younger readers and clever enough for older ones. You know: The way comics were back when I was a kid. And if it affords added exposure for some great, undiscovered Las Vegas-based talents, then so be it.

So there you have it. I feel like I’ve been living and breathing nothing but this Kickstarter campaign for the last two weeks, even while I’m in the midst of aggressively expanding Pop! Goes the Icon’s publishing oeuvre and launching a new print division … among other things we’ll discuss soon. In the meantime, anything you can do to spread the word or support Tales from Lost Vegas is greatly appreciated. And gets me off your back. FOR NOW.