We’re about a week away from submitting the final product to the printers for IV — Sounder at Heart’s new magazine — and it felt like a good time to share some updates as well as a bit more information about what you can expect to find inside.
First off, this is what the cover is going to look like:
That's Andrew Thomas depicted as Batman with art done by Kevin Newburn. I've been a big fan of Newburn's work and felt honored that he was willing to take on this project. I think it came out amazing.
The meat of the magazine will be features written by folks you probably already know and love. Tim Foss wrote the cover story off an extensive interview with Thomas; G. Willow Wilson has an essay about the work being done in Seattle to prepare for the World Cup; Charles Boehm goes deep on the idea that Cristian Roldan is laying claim to becoming the new Mr. Sounder; Catalina Bush digs into the analytics around the Sounders' offensive turnaround last year; and Susie Rantz explains how women's soccer has become such a big business in such a short period of time. In addition to those features, we'll also have a pull-out schedule, detailed rosters for the Sounders and Reign and even a crossword puzzle.
The final piece of content hasn't actually been written yet. That's because I'll be flying to Marbella, Spain where I'll be doing a Q&A with Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer. While that's the only content from Spain going into the magazine, I've also got some fun interviews lined up that will go on the podcast feed as well as some other content we'll be getting from there.
Aside from taking Sounder at Heart independent, this is probably the biggest project we've ever tried to tackle. The response from readers has been amazing, too, which gives me hope that we can turn this into a regular thing.
If you'd like to support this endeavor and help encourage us to do more of them, we're currently in the final days of our presale which means you can still get IV for $10. We have to finalize the order on Feb. 1, after which point we'll be selling it for the cover price of $15. If you'd like to pick yours up in person at our launch party on Feb. 20 from 5-9 PM at Project 9 Brewing Co., you can also save yourself the $2 shipping charge.
Thanks again for all your support.
