#702; The Manufacture of Anxiety

Comic Transcripts

EUGENE: What’s this I hear about you redeeming money? Redeeming it for what?
OTTO: Not in a transactional sense, but in a moral sense. [He hands HILDA a slip of paper] Thank you, here’s your receipt.

OTTO: All our money has a history. Bribes paid to politicians…hush money paid to victims…drugs and even human beings bought and sold…that money makes its way into our banks. It carries negativity with it. Someone’s starting a business, or buying toys for their baby? They don’t want Iran-Contra money. They want nice money. Money with positive energy.

EUGENE: So you’re…exchanging it for them?
OTTO: REDEEMING it. [To DAVE] Ah, yes. Looks like these dollars in your account were once used for a hooker binge on a CEO’s yacht. Right now I have Einstein’s patent office wages for a 15% commission – or JFK’s Pulitzer Prize winnings for twenty.
DAVE: Definitely give me JFK.

EUGENE: If what you’re doing was at all real, it would be called money laundering.
OTTO: Well since it isn’t, then it isn’t.

{{header: trade in for WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Peace of mind is really the only product in the world.}}

#702; The Manufacture of Anxiety transcribed by in

Bolted! games have been shipping to backers over the last couple of weeks! The non-US orders are (mostly) done and some folks have been reporting receiving them already!

@davidmalki.com My game arrived today!! It looks gorgeous 🙂 Hope you are well 🙂

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— Lar deSouza (@lartist.bsky.social) April 2, 2026 at 2:52 PM

My US inventory of games is now in-country, but still being staged at the fulfillment centers. It’s being distributed to regional warehouses, so the actual shipping to backers happens more efficiently. I hope the bulk of US shipping will start next week.

These are what the cartons (and games) look like!

bolted! games BOLTED! GAMES (pounding the table) B O L T E D ! G A M E S

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— david malki ! (@davidmalki.com) April 3, 2026 at 10:37 AM

I am also waiting on the bonus cards to be finished printing! I ended up needing many more of those than I had anticipated, so I decided to have the game factory print those too, for perfect matching with the base game cards.

Most people will be receiving two separate mailings: the game itself, and “anything else” (bonus cards and/or add-ons) which will be sent by me personally.

As of today, 86% of backers have completed their surveys so far! That’s pretty good, but it’s not everyone. I know YOU PERSONALLY have already completed YOURS though, so no worries!!

We have now moved OFF of Kickstarter and ONTO BackerKit for any new orders. You can bundle a game with basically anything else I sell on that there website, it’s pretty nuts!