Table of Contents
Welcome Back (00:00)
Main Story
Selling Out with NSFW (00:35)
Keeping It Classy (01:52)
Where Did This Idea Come From? (03:21)
Meet Claire (04:16)
The Story (04:57)
Rewards and Bundles (05:36)
Every Pledge Matter (08:28)
Release Info & Updates
Coming Up on the Substack (09:31)
Upcoming Appearances (09:55)
Release Calendar (11:58)
Instant Ink Comic Book Podcast (13:56)
Super Secret Epilogue (15:30)
Welcome Back
It's 2025 and we're getting back into the regular swing of things - and starting it with something HUGE!
As of this morning, Naked Kaiju Woman is LIVE!
For this reason, I’m going to skip the usual “Event Updates” and “Project Updates” and just get straight into telling you about this new project. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled musings next week.
Selling Out with NSFW
It's a cliché on Kickstarter to have a whole bunch of “naughty variants” for every cover. I’ve never really been interested in them myself. I appreciate true variants, different artists and their takes on characters and settings within the book, but just having a topless and a topless AND bottomless variant are not for me.
Other newsletters and websites have done the math already, which I recommend reading if you’re interested, and the surprise is that the NSFW space isn't nearly as big as it feels.
As you scroll through Kickstarter, you would think that nearly every single campaign has some kind of “dirty” cover or a concept that is little more than an excuse to draw naked women.
Before you say “Hey Pot! Meet Kettle…,” I’m going a different way with all this.
The title Naked Kaiju Woman sells itself, but I didn't want it to just be an excuse to have giant naked ladies in a whole bunch of variant covers. Yes, my goal is to capture the eyes from that market, but that’s where the similarities end.
In fact, you'll see I didn't do any more variant covers than I typically commission on this campaign. I could have truly sold out and tried to cash in on the trend. I could have easily made this profitable if I had variant covers A through Z but that's not the type of creator I want to be.
Keeping It Classy
There are creators that navigate the NSFW space very well, with class and dignity, and that’s who I’m trying to mimic with this project.
I've said it before, but Pat Shand was a huge help in getting my second campaign, Stay Cool (my last project with NKW artist, Rafael Chrestani), off the ground. He took a look at the early campaign page and gave me some advice that I still follow through to this day. Mind you, I don't follow all of it as I don't do the full amount of variant covers or the number of things that I could be doing. I still do a lot more thanks to Pat’s advice.
(And a side note, his push for Crazy Latte Thing Called Love was huge and I won't forget that help that he provided. I saw Pat at San Diego on a panel and I didn't get the opportunity to go say “Hi”. I regret that. I hope I get to do so in the future.)
This project is meant to cut through the noise of the hundreds of other campaigns that launch every month and get a new audience in that maybe isn't into the sci-fi or noir stuff that I'm writing on a regular basis. The secret is: this is still very much in that vein.
If you’re a fan of my work, you're not going to feel so out of the loop. It's all about big corporations gaslighting the little man and all kinds of zany sci-fi twists that come about therein.
And, of course, there's a strong female lead that I have in every book I’ve done. (I’ll probably look at that in-depth one day, but I’ve touched on it a few times before.)
Naked Kaiju Woman is my attempt to write to market - while still telling the stories that I want to tell. A little bit silly, a little bit dark and a whole lot of fun.
Where Did This Idea Come From?
I've always loved the poster for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Yeah, I said poster. I've never actually bothered to watch the movie and the little bits that I've seen have convinced me that I’m not missing anything.
The poster is iconic though. It's something that is stuck in my brain forever.
Additionally, I've always wanted to do kaiju story, as did Rafael, so this story just clicked once I put the two together. Rafael was as excited as ever to draw all the kaiju he’s had in mind for years — now fighting a giant, naked woman.
I was already working with JP Jordan on From Parts Unknown and loved what he did with that, so I figured why not bring him aboard for this project as well.
It’s a totally different project in a number of ways and that's kind of what made it interesting. It's not something that JP's used to doing, but he still managed to make it his own and really make the pages pop. He’s a true professional and an epic hype-man.
Meet Claire
The title character in Naked Kaiju Woman is an unintentional hybrid of the female-lead characters that I have written before.
She's a working-from-home tech-guru that doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, not unlike Hope from Unlimited Udo.
She finds herself in over her head, fighting forces well beyond what she sees in front of her, like Ellie from Stay Cool.
She leads a double life, a lot like Ruby from Crazy Latte Thing Called Love.
Readers are just getting to know Cindy in From Parts Unknown, so I’ll keep that closer to the vest.
Does this make me unoriginal? Maybe.
If anything, I think that the combination of aspects of all these characters makes Claire completely unique and different.
The Story
This isn't just a book for nudity's sake alone, as I’ve been stressing. This is a book with a story.
Naked Kaiju Woman is about Claire finding herself in a world that rejects her, even though she's the only thing that can save it.
She's been fighting to keep her city safe for a while now and she's starting to see the repercussions for her actions. Actions that, frankly, are not entirely in her control, but that doesn't stop those that would ridicule her from doing so — even if she thinks she’s doing the right thing.
It's a story of what happens when you think the problem in front of you is the problem - and quickly proves to be a lot more complicated.
I can’t wait for your to get your hands on it and here’s some ways you can…
Rewards and Bundles
Make 100 - Enamel Pin & Grab Bag
We're joining the Make 100 initiative on Kickstarter this year with something different.
We're making 100 enamel pins.
This goes along with the usual “Grab Bag” tier which includes the promotional material from all of the previous Pesto Comics campaigns. Anything I have leftover goes into this package.
Digital PDF & CBZ
As always, we're offering the digital PDF and CBZ versions of the comic.
This is the easiest way to read the book on your tablet or PC. It's also the only time that I offer these books DRM-Free.
Digital Pesto Package
If you haven't backed previous campaigns, you can get the Digital Pesto package, which includes all of the books that Pesto Comics has released thus far for one low price - and, of course, all DRM-Free.
Physical Editions
We have three different covers to offer you from some amazing artists:
The main cover by interior artist Rafael Chrestiani and colours by JP Jordan. A clear homage to the “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” with Rafael and JP making it unique in its own way.
The “Oops” variant by Deborah Lancianese, who did a variant cover for us on Crazy Latte Thing Called Love. She did this piece around the same time as that one, so I’m happy to finally be able to share it widely.
The “Punchy” variant, by my new friend I made at last year’s San Diego Comic Con, Mick Beyers. If you haven't seen his work, you should and you’ll quickly see why I had to get a cover from him on this one.
All Covered Bundle
Of course, if you like all three, there’s a bundle for you to do just that and you’ll snag a very nice discount for doing so.
Pesto Bundles and Packages
If you're new to Pesto Comics and want to collect everything that we've put out, there's 2 tiers to do so.
First is the “Pesto Comics Starter Pack” which includes a single copy of every comic that we've put out in a physical form, plus digital copies of each.
If that’s not enough to satisfy your reading bug, you can get the “Pesto Comics & Book Pack” that includes a copy of Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1 with stories from 40 authors - including myself.
Then there’s the biggest option: “The Pesto Comics Pack” which includes all 16 covers of the comics that we've put together (shy the main cover of Stay Cool which is officially out-of-print).
Similar to the “Starter Pack” there’s a “Pesto Comics & Book Pack” that includes those 16 comics plus the paperback of Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1.
Lots of ways to get your hands on everything and to save a lot of money in doing so…
Take Advantage of the Weak Loonie
Much like with Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1 and Crazy Latte Thing Called Love, this campaign will be the going all-in shipping route.
This means the price you see is the price you pay.
As the Canadian dollar continues to sink, this becomes a better and better deal for those of you South of the border.
These comic prices are in line with what Crazy Latte was, being a 32-page full colour comic, but you’ll find an even better deal thanks to that weak loonie of ours.
There’s never been a better time to stock up.
Every Pledge Matters
My goal is to get these stories out to you without losing my shirt - and not much more than that. I’m not looking to get rich from Kickstarter (nor have I - check out my post-mortem posts for more on that), but the better these do, the more I can get out to you.
Your support means everything and there hasn’t been a more economical time to do it than now for almost all of you (and for the Canadians, nothing has changed price-wise!)
More importantly, this is the second series I’ve launched with Pesto Comics in the past six months. From Parts Unknown had a good start, but I’m hoping Naked Kaiju Woman does even better.
It’s a bigger book with standalone, sequelized stories that are built for Kickstarter.
I’d love to see these through to the end and that only happens with your support — even if it’s not monetarily. Telling your friends, spreading the word and even just engaging with posts like this one make a huge difference.
I appreciate all of you. Thanks for being here.
Let’s kick off 2025 with some BIG, NAKED FUN.
Until next time…
Release Info & Updates
Upcoming on Substack
January 15
The Magic of Dictation
A writing hack for hacks like me.
January 22
Substack Cannibalism
When the best performing articles are about best performing articles.
January 29
Taboo and Kickstarter
Do you need to do an NSFW book to be successful?
Upcoming Appearances
Pesto Comics Release Calendar
Instant Ink Comic Book Podcast
Share this post