DRIFTER: Omnia – the Complete Series

Fulfillment update
3 months ago – Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 03:06:20 PM

As mentioned we've already started shipping, we're only doing the US so far, then adding Canada, etc. The majority of our orders are in the US, and this allows us to clear the most space and keep our eyes on the specific part of protocol we're working on, Omnia, then Forma, etc. So while a lot of shipments are going out, they're going out in a specific order, so if you haven't gotten your tracking number (many of you have) it just means we're not there yet. A lot of you have received your books. Also, we've started adding surprises to boxes at random, because who doesn't want a box that's cooler than expected? Every single box gets extra swag, but some are in for a special surprise. 

If, for example, you are superstar writer/artist Phil Hester, we probably wrote hearts all over your package, and hung your picture in our high school locker. 

If you have filled out your survey, which most of you have, and have not yet had it closed or been billed for shipping, don't worry. Because we're the worriers in this relationship, so we're closing each of your surveys manually, one by one, to make sure we don't make any mistakes. This is partially out of efficiency, and partially because we're a teeny company that can't afford to do massive replacements. To date on all our campaigns I think we've had to replace 2 books total. We're pretty proud of that, because it lets us keep moving and get more books out, and when we're done it lets us focus on making new ones. So: if you open your survey and you see your credit card and address are in there, it means you've already filled out your survey, and there's nothing else you need to do. Except wear the hell out of that shirt. Have you been working out?

THE EUROPEAN FULFILLMENT PREDICAMENT:

The unfortunately reality is that the Germans customs situation has been a real nightmare, most of all because time spent navigating German bureaucracy is time that could be spent shipping more books. I will be honest that there's a real chance that we could lose the European shipment, which would cost us quite a bit of money (thousands of dollars) both in stock and in shipping costs. We were pretty sure that was where we stood yesterday, but now a possibility of a solution arose today, and we're going to investigate it and lock down our course of action next week one way or the other. I want to make it very clear that none of you will lose your books, or any money.  While this is a significant amount of stock, especially with 2 limited edition hardcovers, we have more than enough books in NY to cover everyone's orders and ship from here. The only reason we shipped these books to Germany was to save you, the backers, the extreme cost of shipping a giant heavy book from the US to you. So we don't take it lightly to lose this stock and the related costs, and this is obviously a frustrating result for everyone, especially if you understood how much time we invested in setting this up and in trying to save the shipment over the last couple weeks. We're still trying, but if we don't succeed, the loss is ours, and we will ship your books NO MATTER WHAT.

We want to keep making these books for you. We're a tiny shop and we are by no means built for this kind of loss. But none of this is worth it if at the end you don't get to hold these books you made possible. 

To add some possible cheer, I'm adding a picture I found looking for 2016 photos like everyone on the internet. I am pretty awful at keeping my history organized, but luckily one of the few I found was of AKIRA's Katsuhiro Otomo, the king of all comics kings, reading a copy of Drifter almost exactly 10 years ago today in France. (And then a followup where he's smiling and not furious about it)

And just so you know we're working for you in this arctic NYC winter, here's the mountain of books we sent out yesterday in Brooklyn. 

We hope you dig them, because we raised them and fed them and it wasn't easy to send them out to the world. 

Have a great weekend,

-i. 

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT SHIPPING CHARGES
3 months ago – Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 10:49:13 AM

Hi- most of you filled out your surveys in September with your credit cards for shipping.

 Occasionally someone forgets that they authorized a charge and then doesn't recognize the transaction and initiates a dispute. A dispute, regardless of the outcome, triggers a $15 non-reversible chargeback fee with Stripe, who process your shipping charges. 

When this happens, we have no choice but to ask you for that $15 back before we can ship your pledge. So please, if you have any questions, if you change your mind and don't want to pay shipping anymore, save us both some trouble and email help @ hellodeathray.com 

We are an extremely small publisher, doing our best to make beautiful books for you. We can't afford to cover these errors, so please help us be proactive so neither of us pays extra money to a bank. They probably can't even draw.

Thanks for listening, books have started to arrive already on the US East coast and the first wave should be in your homes by the end of the week. The European books are in Germany now and waiting to clear customs. 

Thanks again,

Team Deathray

US SHIPPING TO BEGIN THIS WEEK
3 months ago – Tue, Jan 06, 2026 at 11:16:52 AM

We are literally in the process of loading 9 (!!) palettes of beautiful weird sci fi into our warehouse in Brooklyn, NYC. Once our spines heal tomorrow we'll begin shipping the US editions, starting with OMNIA,  followed by Forma, and then the personalized Lux and merch editions. 

If you have any changes or updates, now is the time. And again please email us [email protected] as we don't monitor the Kickstarter site as often. 

EDITED TO ADD: the EU books were delayed but should be arriving in port ASAP this month. 

LAST CALL TO CHANGE SHIPPING ADDRESS/ORDERS + PRINTING VIDEO FOR NERDS
4 months ago – Wed, Dec 10, 2025 at 01:36:25 PM

Hello folks, it's horribly cold in NY right now so I wish you something other than horrible cold this holiday season.

This email is to inform you that we're locking orders 48 hours from now (possibly monday, but I'd count on Friday just to be safe).

What does that mean? Locking orders means whatever you've ordered and set as your shipping address, etc, are locked in the backerkit system, whatever shipping costs are charged, and your pledge gets finalized for shipping. 

If for whatever reason you don't want your order locked yet (the books will be here in a couple weeks so there's wiggle room but not SO much wiggle room) you can email us at [email protected]

Please don't message us here, as it becomes much harder to track requests, and we don't want to miss anything. Once they're locked they can be unlocked if you absolutely need to change something, so just email us, we're pretty flexible and want to make this process as painless for you ask possible.

IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR SURVEY please email us so we can update your email in the system and get it to you. 

We love you, we thank you, we send you imaginary hugs unless you hate being imaginary-touched, in which case we salute you very warmly from a distance. 

Here's a video of the encasing process of the Lux editions (I think? Hard to tell without the interiors) at the printer a few weeks back.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSGSLRzkVIH/

We're gonna also post a couple of these on our instagram @hellodeathray if you guys are nerds for seeing stuff made. 

OMG LOOK AT THESE BOOKS (plus backerkit charges plus customs delays)
5 months ago – Tue, Nov 04, 2025 at 12:39:11 PM

1. DRIFTER OMNIA LIVES
So, the best news: we got the F&G proofs for each of the volumes and did a bit of a modeling campaign with the books so that you all can see it. 

The bad news is based on some incredibly boring customs parameters we've been thrown off several days and may miss our shipping vessel which goes out later this week. 

2. TEDIOUS IMPORT DELAYS

We're doing everything we can to make the ship and get the books on their maiden voyage to you. Right now if all goes well it looks like both ships should reach their respective ports sometime in Mid-December. Naval freight dates are imprecise, because they depend on weather and tide  and the crew's resilience in avoiding dashed on the rocks of an island of mischievous sirens. Then they're in the hands of the customs process which is completely outside of our control but so far has gone smoothly on our previous campaigns. 

3. BACKERKIT CHARGES

We're going to be charging everyone's cards for shipping and add-ons this week to get ahead of any potential backing issues before fulfillment. Due to a glitch, some of your add-ons were charged double shipping and we're going to fix all those totals before a charge is made. IF YOU'RE NOT READY TO LOCK YOUR ORDER DON'T WORRY. Orders are locked for charging, but we can unlock them manually (or we can keep yours open) if you email us and let us know at [email protected]

The most important thing is these books are knockout beautiful and we can prove it to you if you keep on scrolling. 

Each and every one of you is our best friend. Thank you for being you.

-Iván and Team Deathray