WONDER CON "EXTRA" REVEAL

[Man Of The Atom]

Elery and Bruce, thank you so much for this awesome gift!! I heart it.
I got home tonight at 12:02AM smelling like booze and my girlfriend had the package waiting for me on the coffee table.
She woke up (or heard me making noise and came out to see what I was doing) to come out and watch me open the package. I looked at her and said "it took months for Elery to make this, don't you want to see it?". To which she replied "let me guess, it is a comic book signed by somebody from Valiant" (Clearly she was not quite as excited as I was).

I got number 12 out of 22.
When I opened it I was very happy with the presentation! Elery always does a great job of packaging comics.

This is probably my favorite comic of my entire collection just because it is so special and unique.

There isn't an emotocon or smiley that portrays a guy as drunk and happy as me right now, so I will use this: !!!Boom!!! . Valiant rocks, and I couldn't be happier with how they care about their fans.

[brucehartshorn]

BACKSTORY TO WONDERCON “EXTRA”



It all started when Elery mentioned he was going to Wondercon and I asked him if he could pick up a Rittenhouse/Valiant promo card for me. We had a few days before the con, and in talking back and forth I was lamenting that there were con exclusives which fans didn’t have access to and at the same time he was mentioning that he had been trying to get people to help do TPB reviews on Amazon. As we went back and forth we came up with a plan to try and help everyone. After consultation with Dinesh, we decided that for those members would would go out and post reviews on all 4 TPBs that were out at that time, they would be able to buy a con exclusive from Wondercon (which was a shirt since it was the only con exclusive at the time), and Elery got Dinesh to also agree that as a "thank you" for this he would provide each qualifying member a Rittenhouse promo card, a signed Harbinger Wars Sketchbook and a regular Harbinger Wars sketchbook. With this program we were helping Valiant get reviews for their TPBs, and we were letting members get con exclusives which they normally wouldn't have access to A win win for everyone. There were only four days to pull this all together and for members to commit to the purchase and do the reviews, but we did and ended up with 22 members doing all the reviews. So at Wondercon, Elery got the shirts and Dinesh made the offer to sweeten the deal and give each of the 22 a James Asmus signed Q & W print. Elery assembled the packages and shipped them out to the 22 members with their purchased shirts. In and of itself that was pretty great, but we were just getting started.



As we continued to talk with Dinesh, we hit upon the idea of sending an “extra” to the 22 as our way of saying thanks since the reviews done by the members were very helpful. Dinesh made the offer to provide us 22 Harbinger Wars #1 1:50 books, and to have 9 people on the executive team sign them. Shortly thereafter the books showed up in LA and had 10 signatures. Therefore the clue on the boards of “when 10 is better than 9”. Dinesh also threw in 22 copies of the Q & W summer book. To entice the members, Elery took 8 bit photos of the books also. And, to keep interest up, we posted occasional clues to what the “extra” was. But, Elery was soon to see Dinesh again and at that point he asked if we could get the other 3 members of the executive team at VEI to sign the books. Dinesh agreed and we shipped the books back to VEI. There, they sat……..and they sat…… Two of the three signatures were quickly applied to the books but Peter Cuneo was nowhere around. So we waited…………………..



In the meantime, we wanted to make this even more special so after 8 or 9 tries at it we hit upon the letter which would be signed by Dinesh, Elery, and I which would accompany the “extra”. We had to get Greg Holland’s permission to put the VF.com logo on the letterhead along with the VEI logo, making this the only letter (that we know of) which carried both logos and Dinesh’s personal signature. So the personalized letters to each of the 22 members got created in LA, got shipped to NYC for Dinesh’s signature, sent to Vt. for my signature, then priority mailed back to Elery to combine with the books…………..which continued to stay on a desk in NYC awaiting Peter Cuneo’s signature.



Just two weeks ago Peter returned to the office and while there for a single hour, was asked by Peter Stern to please sign the 22 books which he did for us. Finally! Peter Stern put the books safely in a package and they were off to Mr. Elery in LA.



They arrived a few days ago. Elery carefully assembled the packages and this week mailed them out to everyone.



We learned a lot from this experience and for round #2, which will be announced in a separate thread here on the boards, there won’t be this big delay. So if you missed out on round #1, please know that there will be a round #2 where you can purchase a NYCC con exclusive to be shipped to you and once again we’ll ask members to do reviews on all of the Amazon/Valiant TPBs. There’s no guarantee of any type that VEI will generate another “extra” but all we can say is they more than generously demonstrated their appreciation for members who took the time to help with honest reviews and who knows if their appreciation will manifest itself in another fashion? I know that on the hope that something might happen, I’m sure going to get my reviews done. What about you?

[Phantom]

Thanks for the back story, cool. The package as I have seen it in the photos looks well presented.
thumbs up to you all for the hard work.

And as for

What about you?

yep think I have done them all.

[brucehartshorn]

Phantom,

Just checked my database and yes, you have reviewed all 9 to date. #10 comes out next month (Shadowman #2) so be sure to do the last one as well.

[Phantom]

Only 9, my last count was 13. ( I think ).
Anyhow at least now I know I am being watched!

[FormerReader]

Great backstory Bruce! Thank you guys again. It really has been a lot of fun getting back into Valiant again and these things make it even more exciting!

[drmirage]

I'm a little behind at this. Will be posting pictures with the captions tonight on the with Bruce's back story.

Also will be shipping out the 4 that are still with me.

[greg]

I have mine - #3

[Shadowman99]

That's a really snazzy thing that you (Bruce, Elery and Dinesh) put together for everyone, so even though I didn't get a thingy I still think it's really amazing that you guys sorted all this out for the die-hard V.fans

Anyway, even though I didn't get a book, seeing all the chat over the last however long has prompted me to fill in reviews on Valiant books regardless, as spreading the word for the company on Amazon is the main thing, not the personal gain

So as of today (when my reviews have cleared Amazon admin at least) I'll have reviewed *every* TPB to date, including the Masters collections, on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, and amazon.ca

Spread the word people!

[Phantom]

Was just thinking today, to add all my reviews to Canada site aswell.
Great detailed reviews by the way.

[drmirage]

As promised... Here is Back Story With Photos: (Elery's Version adding to Bruce's Back Story of Round #1)

After reading Bruce's Back Story of Round #1... Here are a few photos we would love to share on how this "extra" got started with some captions.
------------------------------

Sometime at end of March, VEI wanted to throw in something special for the twenty-two who participated with the VEI WonderCon Offer in addition to what they had already given. VEI was so impressed and appreciative of the help, its what led to this bonus extra.


This image was sent by Dinesh back in mid April... A photo of VEI's gift for to the twenty-two who participated.

That is when the topic "It Just got Even Better to be a Valiant Supporter!!!" got posted as a topic... viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39891" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bruce and I were very surprised to see this. We've decided to create a tease at VFans. (Not to reveal the prize just like that)... In fact, we didn't even know who signatures these were. After a little bit of research... We were able to identify seven of nine signatures.... This also gave us our first clue of what the bonus was. "If five is good how great is nine?".... Bruce came up with the first clue because the Harbinger Wars Sketchbook from WonderCon had five signatures and these now have nine.


8-bit covers are so popular this time... We used the original photo Dinesh sent and found a program to generate an 8 bit format. Needless to say, the 8 bit clue was a hit. No one was able to figure out what the actual bonus was from that image.


Harbinger Wars Sketch Book with 5 signatures. (From the Wondercon Exclusives Offer)


We needed to find out who were the "two" mystery signers were. Bruce and I were clueless and could not post this publicly on VFans as it would probably generate attention and would ruin the surprise, so we went to Plan B.


We sent Atom! an email to help identify each one of the signatures. Thanks Atom! for being so helpful.

Over the next few days... the books finally showed up in Los Angeles. We thought of several ideas to make this even more special, even if it takes more time and work. We then created a signed letter to thank everyone who have supported this. Plus we wanted to include Dinesh since he supported this idea 100% from the beginning. Here is one of the first original drafts. (As Bruce mentioned, we had to get Greg Holland's permission to place the ValaintFans.com logo on the letterhead along with VEI's logo)... I think its the only letter that we know that has both logos and Dinesh's signature to date which was really exciting to create.


The design was simple (no-nonsense)... Notice there are 10 Valiant Management Team Names on the letter. For some reason, the books arrived with 10 signatures instead of the original 9 (as pictured) when they arrived in Los Angeles ..... which we then gave the clue # 4. "And then the nine became ten..."

Aside from having just a regular letter, another component to making this letter extra special is adding first and last names of each participant making it more unique.. (I don't think its been done before)


Here is another draft of the letter which we added numbering the letters __ / 22 We went through seven drafts to finally get it done.

We sent the final draft of the letter for Dinesh's approval. during that conversation. Dinesh said... "What!.. Did Fred not sign these books!?!" ..So the conversation went something like.... "Yes... Fred did not sign them.... " So we asked if we can send the books back to VEI NYC Office to get Fred's signature and we wanted asked if we could also acquire Travis and Peter Cuneo's to sign them since its already going there.... Dinesh said "Absolutely.. SEND THEM OVER!!." and without hesitation we both accepted the offer to send these back.

During this time, we were already pushing the 4th week since announcing this bonus extra. Knowing that if we can get three more signatures (Fred, Travis and Peter Cuneo's..) We discussed that it would be worth the wait. (We know for a fact that Peter Cuneo does not sign many books... it would be a missed opportunity if we did not take the Dinesh's offer to send the book back. ( We assumed the delay would be no more than a few weeks at most)

So going back to the letter. We now have added three more names which are now the lucky 13.
Clue #5 was..."While many people believe that the number 13 is unlucky, 13 is extremely lucky. "


The books and letters were quickly packed ASAP from LA to NYC.


Here is a photo of the package... Bruce broke the news and posted it on May 6th that we needed to send the books back to NYC... without revealing any good reason but only to make this even better.

The package got sent from LA to NYC that included the unsigned letters for Dinesh then to Bruce to VT then back to LA. VEI's other task was to have the last three missing signatures before sending them to LA.

As Bruce mentioned in the back story... we waited... and waited....... the two signatures were done but we were missing the last one (It was said that Peter C hasn't been back in the office for months)

Weeks, then months came and the books sat at the VEI office. Things weren't looking well to get the final signature. But we had a Plan B in place.

If we didn't get the last signature soon, the contingency was to create another set of 22 letters (without Peter Cuneo).. Have Dinesh sign it at SDCC / VEI Poker Night and we move on without the 13th signature. Luckly... We heard news that Peter was scheduled to come in within the next two weeks after SDCC. So now since we waited so long.. it would not hurt to push this for another week or so.

The news finally came in two-weeks ago when Peter Stern said .. "Peter Cuneo returned to the office for a single hour!!! .. and was finally able to sign the books!!"

The books finally returned back to Los Angeles last week where we combined the two halves.. which resulted to this.



All were packed on Thursday 8/8/13... but one other thing was we needed to make sure was everyone of the twenty two had the same mailing information. We thought that if someone had moved or if we'd lose a single package, they would be just irreplaceable.

So we'd received confirmation from the 18/22 particpants mailing information which were all mailed on Monday 8/12.

The group of packages also included the Canadian Lending Library (our other project) and Bruce's package since the Q&W Launch Party.

As of today, Thursday... the remaining 4 packages were confirmed and sent out.

In summary.. it was a great fun project that took a little over four months to complete and I think it was worth the wait... We thank VEI (Dinesh and Peter Stern especially for their 100% support). Plus working with Bruce.. who is always on top of everything a wonderful experience.

Enjoy!

Now moving on to Round #2. I still need to do a couple of reviews! Cheers!

[brucehartshorn]

Elery,

Great job with the photos and captions, progressing through this.

Thanks for all you did to make this happen for all of us!

Looking forward to working with you as we progress through round #2. Keep taking pictures.

[pixierosa]

Thanks guys for all the background info and photos. This was a long term project.

Incidentally, I received mine. #5. Thank you!

[drmirage]

You are welcome! We've received many compliments in the work with this project. To return the favor, please send Dinesh a PM for providing this extra. It would not been possible without his full support.

Thanks guys for all the background info and photos. This was a long term project.

Incidentally, I received mine. #5. Thank you!

[hawkeyeps]

Got mine yesterday, 17/22!

It's awesome thanks so much Elery and Bruce.

I will send a message to Dinesh as well

[Phantom]

Recieved mine.
Very happy.
Great to have the accompanying letter.
Very well packed.

[jmatt]

Never having has an 8.5" x 11" COA before, what's the best way to keep it pristine? Sure, I could place it in one of those flimsy acetate protectors for a three ring binder but that doesn't seem secure enough. I have a laminating machine, would laminating it be an acceptable substitute?

[drmirage]

The stationery used for the letter is on cream paper, its versatile and should not fade with proper storage.

You can just leave them on the same packaging material that was shipped or you can pick up 8.5 x 11 sheet protectors from the office supply store...

Maybe someone knows if these can be stored using mylar. They sell them on eBay for a few $.