as European UY fans painfully know, getting the sketchbooks can be a tiresome and often unsuccessful adventure, or at least an expensive one.
With the new sketchbook scheduled for May, right in time for the Motor City Con, Steve Hubbell and I (Thomas Froehling) have thought to make it more comfortable for European fans (maybe not only Europeans) to get these little treasures.
If you want to have the sketchbook #4, send a message (PM or email) to Steve Hubbell with information on how you want it to be dedicated (Yes, there is the possibility to get it personalised, like:" For X insert name X, Stan you-know-who"; this heavily depends on how much time the man can spare, after all, he's got a comic to draw. Editor Diana Schutz has given the word "deadline" a deeper meaning...
). After that, Steve will send a PM to me with the address you want it forwarded to, also telling me how it should be dedicated.Steve will see to it that Sensei receives the list of names, so that Sensei might sign them accordingly. He will futhermore collect the books at the convention and send them to me afterwards.
My task will be to distribute the individual sketchbooks to the ones waiting for them, hence the second message to my address.
How much will I have to pay, I hear you ask: well, I can't give you an exact number, only a calculation. Here it is:
Your expense = $10 (US) for the Sketchbook,
plus Shipping cost USA to Germany divided by number of copies sent
plus shipping from Germany to your address.
Frankly, I can't tell you what shipping from USA will cost before knowing how many of you will participate; but the total should be around $10 (US), depending on size; and since there are already four copies to be sent, that factor will be around 2 $, probably less.
Shipping from Germany will be around 2 €, if it can be sent as a big letter weighting 100 g or less.
Personally, I'd expect the total cost for a copy to be at 13,00 €.
Talking about money, this little transaction is not meant to make money (for Steve or myself) or to exploit anybody! Steve will actually buy the sketchbooks from Stan Sakai for their original value, so that we (the dedicated fans) do not exploit the good natured comic artist. Steve will get the money plus shipping costs in advance from me, and I will collect the exact amount from the individual members as soon as I know how much that will be.
Oh, and talking about deadlines...
Since the Motor City Comic Con begins on the 18th of May, you should send your message to Steve until the 14th of May.
Sensei confirmed that he still has some copies of the former sketchbooks available, so they may be available, too.
That directly leeds us to a little hook: We'll have to limit this shipment to around 30 copies, since neither of the two of us is a millionaire. Depending on demand, some of your orders will be put on some kind of back order, meaning we'll do something similar on a future occasion. So, if you'd like to have sketchbooks #1 to #4, please give them a "ranking of urgency" in case Steve'll have to cut one or more copies out. Keep in mind that Sensei has only a few copies of #1 left; maybe that should be on a high position....
Btw, I wouldn't like to see one of these copies popping up on ebay afterwards !!
If you've got any questions, feel free to ask (either Steve or me, although Steve seems to be quite busy at the moment).
My email address is thomas-froehling@gmx.net
Abayo
