Merchandise?

I know it's too early to think about merchandising when the issues aren't even available much to the public yet (only issue #1 and #2 are fully printed) but I've had feedback from people asking about merchandising.

One would think t-shirts, but who buys those anymore?  It was far more popular to get a printed tee back in the 1990's, not in today's market.

Mugs....bleh, too boring.

Carry bags.....no, nobody uses the ones they buy at the stores, and those run under $2 each.

I figure I could do freebies to include in with the issues. Either bookmarks or trading cards or some such.  I've got to think on it a bit.  Maybe a t-shirt or two would be worth trying.  My sister wants one of the two mad scientist cats sitting in a box waving a toilet brush over their heads claiming "This is OUR sterile environment, everybody stand back!"

Working On The Covers

I've been spending time working on the different booklet covers, trying to get things together to do a print run on the strips again. 

Not only the cover design, but also the inside cover info, greeting, back inside cover details, and maybe a back cover picture as well.  It's not as easy as you'd think it would be.

The goal is to get 9 or 10 designs done, pick the best five and run with those.  Do I just have an illustration on front or do I use word balloons too?  Does it have to do with something inside on one of the strips or keep to something generic?  Does Marcus have to be in EVERY cover illustration or can the little guys have their day in the sun? 

Decisions, decisions......