Wayyyyy back in 2012, I did a li’l comic about The Dark Times when we were all told to turn off every goddamn electronic device before takeoff or else the plane would explode. It was a fun one.
Well. Unbeknownst to me, someone clipped out just the first part of the strip and it became a bit of a meme for “boomer humor” and FOR YEARS IT’S BEEN A THING THAT I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
Like, what the fuck
Anyway, there’s a whole subreddit dedicated to the guy’s “catchphrase” and I am happy to have contributed to the culture. This all came about because I saw a thread of people discovering the FULL comic and realizing it was not only an ANTI-boomer comic but that it was done by the guy also writes Spiderman sometime.
What a world, eh? Ha! Heh heh.
This is a VERY SPECIAL WEEK because WHITE HOUSE ROBOT ROMANCE #1 finally comes out!! This oversized, gorrrrgeous issue one from DSTLRY is imo very sweet and lovely and a good time! Don’t believe me? Check out these quotes from COMIC LUMINARIES!
There’s also one from Ryan Stegman (Stegman’s Health)
To celebrate, I’m posting my upcoming ZCN Exclusive interview with myself about to book, uncensored. Enjoy!
CHIP In Avengers: Twilight you had an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and now in White House Robot Romance you have tension between the States and Canada. Have you considered writing something nice that can come true?
CHIP I mean, this has robots kissing each other, so that’s a nice thing that might come true?
CHIP Sorry, you want robots taking away human kissing jobs?
CHIP What? No! Who has a job kissing robots?
CHIP My uncle at the robot kissing factory down by the old robot mill.
CHIP I will say that some of this story is about robots taking human jobs. One of our main characters is an artist named Sara, who is seeing her contemporaries succumb to robotic assistance. And then she meets Chef-9 and Service-1.
CHIP Who are...?
CHIP Two robots who work at the White House. Or should I say worked, as they end up on the run, metal lovers in a dangerous time.
CHIP Why on the run? Is there no retirement plan for kissing robots?
CHIP Well, as robots privy to a lot of sensitive information, they can’t just be left wandering around. A lot of people are very interested in what they know.
CHIP Ah. Sounds like some classic plot tension. Good job. So, did you make this with a robot artist?
CHIP No, but Rachael Stott is a machine and refuses to show me any human emotion. Rachael’s just amazing on this. She gives such life to these relatively faceless automotons. You can’t help but fall in love with them! And Tamra Bonvillain on colors is a perfect complement to Rachael’s work! She gives everything such warmth, like the scenes are giving you tender hugs. It’s such a good looking book!
CHIP So, there’s robot kissing in this book, does that lead to... you know....
CHIP I... are you asking if the robots have sex?
CHIP Maybe.
CHIP It’s not that kind of book! It’s about romance!
CHIP Sex can be romantic. I keep telling you this.
CHIP I’m sure there are other books out there where robots have sex. Probably in Saga. This is about blossoming love and complications. About programming and free will. Art and commerce. I think it’s really special and I hope people enjoy it.
CHIP But to be clear, no doinking.
CHIP No.
The book is so pretty! Look at these dudes! Rachael and Tamra are a dream team. Go get it so you can drool over the art!
Okay! So! I illustrated another cover! It was a fun gig, drawing Marco’s Ultimate Spider-Man for ULTIMATE ENDGAME issue one! I figured since the Ultimate line of books was about “real time” that I’d base it off my Spider-Man: Life Story cover. Happy with how it turned out!
Look, don’t shoot the messenger!! Don’t hate the player, hate the game!! I also can’t afford my own cover!! Sorry!!!
Okay, in ZCN NEWS, we have a true comics superstar for our November issue! Mr. BKV himself! Will he withstand a classic Chip grilling?!
And in CHIP CHUMZ NEWZ, pals David Brothers and Nick Dragotta have their new collection, GOOD DEVILS DON’T PLAY FAIR WITH EVIL, ready and waiting for your comic shop orders! It’s an incredibly fun book from two guys at the top of their game, so if you like FUN (and punching) you should order it!
SO GOOD
OK BYE
(Go read White House Robot Romance #1 thanks)
UPCOMING BOOKS WHITE HOUSE ROBOT ROMANCE #1 — Sept 3 CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 — Sept 10 HOWARD THE DUCK TPB — Sept 17 ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #15 — Sept 17 CAPTAIN AMERICA #4 — Oct 15 ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #16 — Oct 15 WHITE HOUSE ROBOT ROMANCE #2 — Nov 5 CAPTAIN AMERICA #5 — Nov 19 ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #17 — Nov 19 BATMAN BY CHIP ZDARSKY VOL 1 — April 28
UPCOMING SIGNINGS MCM LONDON, London, duh — Oct 24-26
Ha heh heh
When I went into my LCS this morning to buy my copy of White House Robot Romance, they told me it was "possibly the most Chip Zdarsky comic."