Hope you’re having a great start to May as we’re finally getting warmer out there.
The Voluntaryist remaster production continues to go smoothly.
We’re in the final quarter of completion with just needing to finish out the colors and letters on the Issue 2 remaster and the Origins I and II covers.
Here’s a sneak peek from that progress:
Just a friendly reminder as we’re moving into the last leg that if you have moved, or are planning to move to a new address by August, 2023, you should be sure to log in and update your address so that I have the most current information.
A couple of you have already updated, and I appreciate that you took the time to do so so that your package does not get lost. Thank you!
In other good news, my second nonfiction book, A Vision for a Libertarian Future, has been released on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3VoG2R1
It’s a sequel to my first, The Definitive Guide to Libertarian Voluntaryism.
In this book, I bring a unified advocacy of incrementalism toward reducing the size, scope, and power of the state that I think everyone can get behind.
I would be honored if you checked it out and gave it a 5-star review – which I anticipate this book to be worthy of when you see how clear, concise, and cogent this advocacy is.
And if you haven’t read my first nonfiction book, be sure to pick that up on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3LvcT22
(affiliate)
so you’re ready to check out this new title!
I also want to remind you that we have our gun Range event and comedy show with Lou Perez coming up later this year on September 9th. Tickets and further details can be found at:
Hope you are doing well as we kick off the month of March.
We are marching right along schedule with the Voluntaryist remaster production!
The colors have just been wrapped on Origins I and we’ve already gotten in a few penciled pages for Origins II.
Here’s a little sneak peek from that progress:
I wanted to take a moment and thank Presearch for being a continued sponsor of Voluntaryist!
Presearch is a voluntaryist-owned search engine company worth checking out.
Not only do they provide a censorship-free search engine service that is privacy-oriented, but they have integrated ways for you to earn cryptocurrency rewards in the process!
They even do users a favor by listing one-click alternative search engine tabs so that, if for any reason you’re not satisfied with their results, you can immediately check the results in several other search engines.
Speaking of great things to check out, I will be headlining the Libertarian Party of Washington conference from March 24th-26th! Both Pho and I will be there as special guests with a special mixer taking place Friday night. It’s rare that we get over to that side of the country, so if you’re close enough to visit, consider coming on by to hang! We’d love to catch up with you.
Location, details, and tickets can be found on Eventbrite over at:
And what’s great about kicking off this new year is that I have received the print copies of Voluntaryist Origins VI!
Boy, do they look BEAUTIFUL!
Many of you have even already received your print copy if your perk was at the game card tier or lower.
Print comic perks at the game card level and below were mailed out on December 19th. If you have not received your print comic yet, please message me at mr.voluntary(at)gmail.com and I will see if your order was lost in the mail and replace it if so. (If you’re an international backer, it may still take another week or 2 with all the holiday busyness.)
As for the rest of the perks at the Art Tier print level and higher, those are still pending as we’re working through the Origins I and II remasters, the I-V cover remasters, and the final art print.
We are doing great schedule-wise as the promised delivery date is December, 2023. (That’s right – in case you forgot – getting the digital copy of Origins VI and the early print shipments are 1 FULL year ahead of promised delivery date. I hope you’re as impressed as I am!)
We are moving as fast as we can to deliver the rest of the perks well-ahead of the promised date, especially so, because we want to be able to launch the next Voluntaryist Arc campaign, SUIT SAGA, in 2023. And we won’t do that until ALL perks on this Origins VI campaign have been shipped.
To give you a sense of where we’re at, at the time of this writing we’ve:
Completed and have in our hands the Origins VI print comics.
Completed and have in our hands all perk accessories except the $75 tier art print.
Shipped out all perks at the Game Card tier and below.
Penciled 39 pages of the Origins I remaster.
Colored 32 pages of the Origins I remaster.
Lettered 32 pages of the Origins I remaster. (that’s me)
Got the Origins III, IV, and V comic remasters in production.
PRETTY impressive considering that we normally only have a single comic issue each year of about 24 pages. By summer 2023, we will have completed in 1 year what amounts to 4 comic book creations in total page counts. A record feat!
Stay tuned for when we do our next batch of perk fulfillments as we increment toward total project completion.
And speaking of completion, we would not have been able to achieve as much as we did if not for our ROCKSTAR executive advertisement sponsor, Victoria King.
Victoria has been an early believer in Voluntaryist and our other projects, and wanted to see the Origins Remaster and trade paperback come to fruition – so she went the extra mile on this campaign.
She wants you to check out her book Dear Younger Me, Victim To Victor: A Memoir, as it’s her life’s memoir about overcoming an abusive relationship. She wrote it to help inspire others and bring them healing.
If you’re looking for something unique to help challenge your thinking on relationships, pick up a copy of her book here:
in special thanks to her for helping this campaign reach goal in record time!
Thank you Victoria, and everyone else here, for your generous support and social media shoutouts! It makes me feel good to see you get your perks in the mail.
And on that note of feeling good–
My and The Pholosopher’s ANTISTATE music video is now live!
This is one of the COOLEST music videos we’ve created, so be sure to check it out, subscribe, and share it around as we continue to shift the culture toward a true respect of Voluntaryist virtues!
Looking forward to sharing another Voluntaryist development with you next month!
In liberty,
-J ( :
P.S. I’ve been trying to up my review count for Voluntaryist on Amazon Kindle. If you have some credits and would be willing to give an official review, I would greatly appreciate it!
I have some exciting news for you – Christmas just came early!
The digital release of Voluntaryist Origins VI has been sent to the e-mail you used on the Origins VI campaign if you backed it.
The download link will only work for a week’s time, so don’t delay in getting your EARLY digital download of Issue 6!
We’re still diligently working on the remasters and additional art pieces, so stay tuned for further details in the coming year as we finish Origins I and II and print out your comic perks.
And, speaking of Christmas, if you’re looking for a great gift for that liberty-loving friend or family member, Libertarian Country is the place to shop!
Libertarian Country is an ad sponsor of Origins VI and, in thanks to you, the backers, for supporting this comic issue, they are offering you an additional 10 percent off with their discount code:
COMIC
They have t-shirts, hats, hoodies, stickers, canvas prints, posters, and mugs!
Their wide variety of liberty-oriented merch is sure to bring a smile on Christmas!
So go give them a look and see what you can pick up with our special Voluntaryist discount code over at:
We are working diligently on the Voluntaryist remasters and bonus art with everything going according to plan so far.
To show you a more in-depth look at what we’re doing with the remaster, I made a little video covering what we’re changing as we update Origins I and II to have the same art style as the rest of the series.
I think you’ll be impressed at how much better the sequential pages look with the new inks, colors, and lettering!
(A sneak peek of one of the Voluntaryist team art print layouts.)
And, speaking of improving, if you want to improve your portfolio diversification, I highly recommend checking out one of our Voluntaryist Origins VI sponsors, Taggart Trading!**
Taggart Trading deals in bullion, rare coins, and precious metals, which are especially important to consider holding on to in these inflationary times!
Taggart Trading’s owner Marc Tancer is not only a friend, but I can personally recommend his services as I have used them time and again over the years.
What’s unique about Marc is that he’s not just some large corporate chain where you’re dealing with a series of intermediaries. Marc is both the expert and the executive and offers you personalized service whether you’re looking to just break into precious metals for the first time or want to order large quantities.
I have all good news to share as we have fully completed the colors and lettering for the Origins VI standalone issue and all final advertisement placements have come in.
That said, we are still diligently working on the rest of the project goals, from remastering Origins I and II to the additional art pieces that come with perk packages.
On that note of additional art pieces, one of the artists for those pieces is Aimée McLernon.
Aimée McLernon is an incredibly talented, multi-media artist and graphic designer whose professionalism and unique style places her as one of my favorite artists of all time.
She also happens to be one of the ad sponsors of this issue and, with that, is offering her creative talents for your illustration needs, from comic art to graphic design, to even 2D animation!
So, if you’re looking for someone to help you create a logo, put together a beautiful flier, or conceptualize a character for your own comic project, give her services a look.
She comes personally recommended as I can attest to her skills and professionalism from my own work with her on Voluntaryist.
And see for yourself her beautiful portfolio. Plus, she also has her own comic book series you can scope out called Reality Hackers – a psychological thriller of the cyberpunk genre.
Looking forward to updating you next month on the latest Voluntaryist Origins progress!
In liberty,
-J ( :
P.S.
ANTISTATE MUSIC VIDEO LIVESTREAM
Our ANTISTATE music video campaign ends TONIGHT, Saturday, Oct. 1st! If you’ve ever wanted to see your name in the credits of an AWESOME music video, or be an executive producer to one, make sure to head on over and check out those perks so we can make this music video the best one yet!
I am excited to share with you nothing but GOOD NEWS as we’re moving along expediently with the Origins VI TPB campaign production.
We have completed all inks on Origins VI and are onto the coloring stage.
We have also started working on the Origins I remaster pencils and have been improving those layouts so that there is plenty of breathing room for the speech bubbles – something I have wanted to improve for a long time. SO, THANK YOU for giving me this opportunity to make the series perfected and uniform!
I have a couple of sneaks peeks to share with you from our production including a colored Lumbertarian sketch from the character turn, an inked panel, an Origins I remastered pencils page, and a draft layout from the Archist game card!
LumbertarianOrigins VI Ink Sneak PeekArchist Game Card Sneak PeekOrigins I Remastered Pencils Sneak Peek
To the advertisers – thank you so much for most all of you getting to me your advertisement placements.
If you have an outstanding advertisement, be sure get back to me a.s.a.p. with your proof or reach out to me if you’re struggling to get something put together. I can assist with basic graphics if needed – BUT – I do need to get those proofs in as soon as possible so I can review it to make sure your ad will fit for form and appropriateness and, if needed, work with you to adjust. I sent out reminder messages, so check your inbox if you did not already confirm your final ad spot with me.
The e-mail I sent that from is mr.voluntary(at)gmail.com If your ad is not sent for proofing and confirmed with me by the end of this month, I will sadly have to cancel your advertisement perk and refund you entirely. I don’t want to have to do that, but I do have to set a hard deadline to make sure I can print the comics according to schedule.
And on that note of advertisers, I would like to thank Punk Rock Libertarians Podcast for their support on this Origins VI comic! The guys there have a great show and I have even been a guest on it myself.
It’s a song getting people to think outside the state with an alternative rock meets electronica sound.
This is a special opportunity because a director we’ve known for years is giving us a hook-up to shoot this video in New York City so we can use the environment to craft an artistic, dystopian feel to match the sound of the song.
In support of this project, we’re offering some unique perks where you can be listed as an executive producer or have your name/business mentioned in the credits.
It’s a cool way to take part in the project and get yourself some PRIME-TIME LIMELIGHT!
So, if you would please, head on over to the ANTISTATE campaign page and check out what ways you can get involved.
And as always, even if you don’t have change to spare right now, a campaign share to your social media is GREATLY appreciated to get the word out. The more eyes we can get on the project, the more of a chance we have to reach goal and get some publicity for our liberty message!
AND, if we DO hit goal, we are planning to host a meetup in NYC for ANTISTATE campaign supporters, likely, at a PHO restaurant. It’s a fun way to connect with everyone over food while sharing our love for liberty and creative production.
Thank you so much for your continued support, everyone!
Looking forward to sharing the next progress update with you on Voluntaryist Origins VI in October!
Hope you are having a great start to your week with August kicking off!
I wanted to update you on the progress of the comic and let you know that everything is going smoothly!
We’ve already finished the pencils on Origins VI, in part, because I had been working on them even before the campaign started and, in other part, because our primary penciller has prioritized working on Voluntaryist, helping us get more pages completed sooner than expected.
The pencils for Origins VI are already off to the inker/colorist and are being worked on right now with an expected completion by or before the end of September.
Once those inks and colors wrap, they will then come back to me so I can lay down the lettering.
To celebrate this milestone, I am sharing with you a sneak peek from the Origins VI pencils and one from the art prints!
Voluntaryist Origins VI Pencils Sneak Peek 1Lumbertarian Character Sheet Sneak Peek 1
Pretty cool, huh?
A quick reminder to our advertisement sponsors – please be sure to submit your ads for review by or before Wednesday, August 24th, so we can have a chance to check over them and make sure they’re good-to-go for both specs and fit.
You can send that proof to mr.voluntary(at)gmail(dot)com.
And on that note of our ad sponsors, I will be thanking each sponsor as we go through our updates!
Up first, I would like to thank Kirk of CJRoasting.com for his generous support on both this campaign and on our I DID NOT CONSENT music video. Kirk owns a coffee bean company at https://cjroasting.com/selling organic and fair-trade coffee.
Custom Joe Roasting
So if you’re looking to try something new while supporting those who care about individual liberty, give CJ Roasting a try!
He has a variety of blends, from light roast to dark roast.
And thank you everyone here for helping us continue to succeed.
We’ve seen a bump in Voluntaryist comic interest on the heels of Eric July’s RIPPAVERSE comic universe launch, so these are some exciting times for the alternative comic book world!
Looking forward to updating you soon on our next developments.
In celebration of Eric July’s success, I have made this fan art of Isom from the Rippaverse with Voluntaryist of AnCap Comix. It’s incredible to see how far Eric has come with his work and how much he is paving the way for an exit from the SJW statist paradigm for both comic fans and comic creators.
Isom greets Voluntaryist
I am looking forward to seeing more fan art submissions for the Rippaverse campaign 400K stretch goal.
Be sure to support the Rippaverse Isom No. 1 campaign before close at https://rippaverse.com There are tons of great ways to get involved with the campaign, from comics, to posters, to hats and shirts.
Eric July’s new comic book universe titled, “Rippaverse,” will be launching on Monday, June 11th at https://rippaverse.com/. I am personally excited to check out and support his launch because I believe this series is going to inspire people to exit the mainstream comic paradigm in leaps and bounds beyond what has already been accomplished via Ethan van Sciver and ComicsGate. Eric is truly paving the way for what I think will be the house of cards coming down for Marvel/D.C., and I expect many to benefit from his bold approach both as consumers and as indie comic creators.
I urge the Voluntaryist fanbase here to share his site and to pick up something from his launch so that, through his success, we can all see the much-needed change materialize in stark contrast from the hackneyed repackaging done with beloved characters like Superman and Spiderman.
Plus, the fact that Eric has a solid team on this issue with former D.C. artists Cliff Richards and Gabe Eltaeb is sure to make this series come alive with sharp visuals and stunning colors.
I will be covering the launch on a ZeroState livestream tomorrow night and will also be reviewing whatever perks I can snag with The Pholosopher once those get shipped to us.
Thank you so much, everyone, for joining me in supporting Eric July as we watch a new era in comics unfold before our eyes.
The 10th Anniversary Voluntaryist campaign is a complete success with both hitting goal and unlocking 3 stretch goals!
This means that all physical perk backers will be getting a bonus sticker for hitting goal and those at the print comic tier and above will also be getting the bonus character sheet, bonus game card, and Voluntaryist team art print on top.
To thank you for going above and beyond for this issue, I am going to go ahead and unlock the 4th stretch goal bonus and add that to your perk packages as my way of saying, “Thank you!” for giving me this opportunity to take the Origins story and put it into a start-to-finish remastered read. So that will add on another Voluntaryist art print and a die cut sticker to your perk packages at the print comic tier and higher.
I could not have made it this far if it was not for your generous support and trust in building out the Voluntaryist universe.
That said, there are some important details for you to be aware of so that everything goes smoothly as I work toward creating the comics and fulfilling the perks.
I will be working incrementally on the comic sequentials, starting with issue VI. I have already completed over a dozen pencil pages for issue VI, but we still need to finish the rest of the issue and then lay the inks, colors, and letters.
As I am working incrementally, issue VI will be finished first before the Origins I and II remasters.
I plan on shipping out the issue VI perks as soon as that issue and the associated perks are ready.
This means that those who got the trade paperback or the I-VI single issue set will get their perks later when the remasters and new covers are complete.
I estimate that the issue VI perks could be finished by the end of 2022 to early 2023.
The trade paperback will likely take until closer to the estimated delivery date in late 2023 because it involves both remastering issues 1 and 2 and adding more pages to give extra lettering space.
I will be making updates at least once per month through the Indiegogo page and in parallel on the http://volcomic.com Website.
So, if you are ever wondering what’s going on with the development, please be sure to check with either site so you can get the latest progression update.
I will also give everyone a heads-up update message whenever I plan to do shipment.
Please be sure to update your address if you have moved or plan to move by the time shipping is to take place.
You can log into the Indiegogo dashboard for this campaign and update your address there for us. You can also e-mail me at mr.voluntary(at)gmail(dot)com if you have any trouble logging in with the email you used for your perk purchase.
You can read the Indiegogo FAQ for more helpful information:
If you are an advertiser, please get in touch with me at least a week before the end of August, 2022, so that we can go over your ad to make sure it’s fit for print. I sent all advertisers an e-mail detailing the format with the comic book template attached for respective single and double-page ads. If you did not get this, check your spam box. If it’s not there, please message me at mr.voluntary(at)gmail(dot)com so that I can make sure you have the needed sizing specs and template for your ad.
For those who chose the “donation” option on Indiegogo (which really should be labelled “gift” because we’re not a charitable organization), you will not be getting a perk. You can tell that this was selected if you did not get a prompt for putting in your shipping information when you checked out (minus the digital early release which has no shipping). If you did this in error, but would like to get a perk, please let me know what tier you supported with by emailing me at mr.voluntary(at)gmail(dot)com and I will invoice you for the shipping to get your shipment address.
This is going to be a wild ride getting this project done, but I have never been more thankful and excited because this finished compendium is going to make Voluntaryist a serious competitor in the alt comics world with having the Origins story in a completed format I can readily showcase for convention tabling.
Cheers to us in helping be the change we want to see, especially with the direction mainstream comics have taken these past few years.
I am happy to announce that the second stretch goal is officially UNLOCKED!
WOOOOOO!
Everyone at the print comic book tier and higher will now be receiving a new game card prototype in addition to the bonus character sheet from passing stretch goal No. 1 along with the bonus sticker for reaching goal.
So again, if you are currently supporting at a tier lower than the print comic, you’re definitely going to want to upgrade now to reap the bonus perks as you’ll be getting not one, not two, BUT THREE bonus items!
And, on top of that, we’re going to be making variant covers for Origins IV and V for a mainstream appeal.
As we still have about a week to go, there’s plenty of time to unlock stretch goal number 3 to add another bonus item to your perk packages.
Getting there is as simple as everyone sharing the comic campaign here:
to their social media and letting others know what we’re doing. The more awareness, the more of a chance we have to gain support and reach a record-breaking accomplishment that will set the Voluntaryist series up as a serious competitor in the alternative comic book space.
We’re also doing our part to get the word out and have been promoting Voluntaryist on a number of shows and will be doing even more this upcoming week.
If you want to listen to some of our recent interviews, you can here:
Thank you again, everyone, for your generous support.
This 10th anniversary is groundbreaking for the series, and I genuinely believe this trade paperback compendium is going to put Voluntaryist on the map, especially in the ComicsGate community.
On that note, we will soon be announcing an official time for our campaign end livestream next week, but it will likely be Thursday, June 30th, around 9 p.m. Eastern on The Pholosopher YouTube channel.
So be sure to join in with us then as we celebrate with you and close in on that 3rd stretch goal!
I have some exciting news! As of today, June 2nd, the first STRETCH GOAL has been UNLOCKED!
Wooohoo!
What this means is that ALL print comic tier and higher backers will now receive a BONUS character sheet art print in addition to all their other perk goodies and the bonus sticker for hitting goal.
On top of that, I will be creating a variant cover for Origins V.
Those who got the 1-6 perk set will receive an Origins V issue with the new cover!
If you are still sitting on the fence with a lower perk tier, now’s the time to upgrade to the print copy because you are guaranteed BOTH the bonus sticker AND the bonus character art sheet!
There’s still plenty of time for us to move on up too and unlock the other listed stretch goals, so be sure to share the campaign to your social media so that more goodies can be released as we go further in the campaign.
On a separate note, both Pho and I will be going on more interviews and hosting more streams to promote the comic series coming up.
One of the interviews on the #comicsgate track will be with the Critical Blast Podcast on Wednesday, June 8th, at 8 p.m. Eastern.
If you would please, head on over to the campaign page and grab yourself an AMAZING perk in support of the FINAL ISSUE in the Voluntaryist Origins arc.
This campaign is extra special as it’s the 10th Anniversary for Voluntaryist – The Comic Series.
In light of that special occasion, we’re also remastering issues 1 and 2 and brining the entire series into a special trade paperback!
Even if you don’t have change to spare, you can help us get the word out by sharing the campaign link here:
While you may have come to know me for my fictional Voluntaryist comic book story, I finally decided to make my first non-fiction book in line with the Voluntaryist universe.
It’s the culmination of 15 years of activism and study within the libertarian-Voluntaryist spectrum.
It’s NOT a history book.
It’s NOT a summary of other’s works.
It’s not a bunch of pull-quotes from past thinkers.
This is my unifying the fields of property rights and consent ethics theories into a universal philosophy that anyone can readily relate to and defend.
By the nature of the work, it will be challenging in many ways because it introduces a new basis by which to framework WHY one would want to uphold property rights and consent ethics.
You’ll be surprised, intrigued, and provoked to deeper investigation in the process.
But, unlike many other libertarian works, I’ve distilled the concepts into the minimum description needed to get people to understand the basics and their applications.
That makes it accessible for anyone, whether you’re a seasoned Misesian or are new to Voluntaryist thought.
No matter what, I hope you enjoy the ride and that it at least sharpens your thinking in the process.
Cheers to your kind support, from helping me refine my thoughts in conversation, to getting your own edition for the liberty bookshelf!
Voluntaryist - The Comic Series 