Hey everyone,

Say it out loud. A thousand people raised a hand for Nexus before there was anything to buy, just to be counted. That’s not a mailing list. That’s a tribe.

Here’s why that number means what it means. Mike Baron and Steve Rude launched Nexus at Capital Comics in 1981 and have kept it alive ever since. This is the 45th-anniversary book, 10+ years in the making. A major publisher set out to make it for the 35th anniversary and never finished a draft. Steve hired a former Dark Horse editor, she wrote it, Steve laid the whole thing out, and as a team we’re bringing it across the line. A thousand of you following is the reason it finally gets made. Nexus has survived this long because people refused to let it disappear. Today there are a thousand of you on the record.

And you unlocked it: the Crystal Ballroom Library Card is UNLOCKED. It’s the physical mirror card that carries the exclusive Nexus archive, the art, history, and pages that didn’t fit in the book. Because you followed before launch, it’s yours free when you back any level during the campaign. You earned that by showing up first.

We’re not done, we’re aimed. The campaign goes live September 10 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on BackerKit. No Kickstarter this time; it all lives on BackerKit. Between now and then, the same one favor: send this to one person who’d love Nexus, then ask them to send it to one more. Every pre-launch follower who joins still gets that card free when they back, so there’s every reason to keep pulling people in.

Headed to Dragon Con? We’re in Atlanta September 4 through 7 at Booth C5, straight down the main aisle from the main entrance, you can’t miss us. Come by, show us you’re following (a screenshot works, or follow right there at the table), and we’ll hand you the exclusive Dragon Con trading card. Booth only: it’s not shipping, it’s not going online, and it’s not in any pledge tier. We printed 1,000 and will never reprint them, so while supplies last means exactly that.

One heads up: no regular Saturday stream this week. We’ll be going live on the fly from the booth, the floor, and the panels all weekend at Dragon Con, no schedule, no warning. Subscribe at youtube.com/steverudethedude and turn on ALL notifications to catch us. Regular Saturday streams at 1:30 PM Arizona time resume after the con.

A thousand thank-yous. One for each of you.

Steve and Jaynelle (& the Rude Dude Crew)