Newsletter #28: Armpits & Doom
I hate to see you go but I love to watch you leave because honestly we have a love/hate thing going on here and I need you to go now
Having, like, three months between newsletters signifies that I’m … quite behind on some things…
SO YOU’RE A COMIC FREELANCER IS WHAT YOU’RE SAYING
Hey! I’m delivering work on time! It’s quite bad, but very much on time! I just haven’t mentioned any of it!
So here I am to talk about some of these things while also apologizing to my collaborators, like a proper Canadian!
GO OFF THEN
First up, there’s the Eisners.
I was lucky enough to be nominated in three categories this year: Best Writer, Best Digital Comic and Best Continuing Series. I can honestly say I don’t care about the first one. I’d rather crawl into a deep hole than win it. Is that my privilege speaking? Sure! But also a nice healthy dose of low self-esteem and honestly loving deep holes!
But Best Digital Comic is for Afterlift, and by not talking about it online (except acknowledging it happened) I surely didn’t “get out the vote” and as a result let down Jason, Paris, Aditya and Allison, who deserve all the trophies because they are the best. The same goes for the brilliant Marco and our team on Daredevil, which had a pretty astounding year of visuals.
So yeah, we were nominated, the voting happened, I couldn’t even bring myself to vote because the world is on fire, and the awards will be streamed in two days. Taa daa! See you then, I guess.
WOW I FEEL REALLY SORRY FOR YOU
I’m not intending for anyone to feel for sorry for me. I hate even making this about me in any—oh. You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?
YEAH
Cool cool
Well, here’s someone I hopefully am NOT letting down because our book is out today: Anthony Oliveira! We “co-wrote” Emperor Hulking for Marvel, and I put “co-wrote” in quotation marks because Anthony is a force of nature when it comes to writing. Clear, beautiful prose; layered storytelling and an incredible knack for dialogue. I was just there to give mostly unhelpful notes and cheer him on. With the pandemic, the release got pushed back, but now it’s finally out and it’s pretty great, with gorgeous art from Manuel García, Cam Smith and Triona Farrell!
It’s a superhero queer love story from one of my favourite queer writers and I think everyone’s going to fall in love with it and Anthony’s voice.
Also, he insisted on the armpit hair and we’re all the better for it.
I LOVE ARMPIT HAIR
So do I. You … you know we’re the same person, yeah?
SURE DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT MOST DAYS
Agreed.
SO YOU HAVE A COMIC OUT TODAY THAT YOU DIDN’T EVEN REALLY WRITE CONGRATULATIONS I GUESS
I—yes, but weirdly enough, this week is actually … a TRIPLE CHIPPLE!
X-MEN + FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is out, finally! Final issue! Terry, Rachel and Laura really know how to illustrate giant Dooms battling everyone. My only regret is that it took to issue four for me to call them “Latviathans.”
This was an incredibly fun series to write, and I’m excited for what our ending means for the rest of the Marvel Universe going forward. Lookit me! Changing the course of the Marvel Universe! Are you proud of me NOW, mom? Are you?!
UH
So … so today is also the release day for DAREDEVIL #21, the beginning of our new arc, TRUTH/DARE, and the start of a wild new chapter in Matt Murdock’s life! Look! Marco drew the cover!
What a hunk that Daredevil is! I hope his life goes very smoothly from here on out!
The next year of Daredevil (barring my firing) is about how we work within the systems while maintaining our moral sense of self and also maybe toss billy clubs at people?
But also, hunks?
It’s gonna be fun, I promise!
A CHIP PROMISE MADE IS A CHIP PROMISE KEPT I HEAR
Unless I’m lying, obviously!
OBVIOUSLY
Oh, here’s a thing too: I had a new series announced with Ramón Pérez and Mike Spicer called STILLWATER!
It’s a comedy!
ha ha i’m so funny obviously it’s a horror book. We’ve been working with Skybound since 2017 on this, so I’m pretty excited to have it finally coming out into the world. It’s about a small town where no one can die and the lengths the townspeople go to in order to keep that secret from the world. Out in September! Tell your local comic shopkeep! Tell two local shopkeeps and have them compete to see who orders the most copies!
If that fails then I guess I’ll go be a game show host
BUT YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE
But I WILL in a couple of days!
I’ll be hosting an online COMIC BOOK MOVIE TRIVIA NIGHT, Friday, July 24 at 5:00p.m. PST! All that info is here on Deadline.com, where you get your Hollywood business news and also find out about Comic Book Movie Trivia Nights apparently!
Also, as part of this virtual SDCC show, I’ll be doing a panel with comiXology on Afterlift, Saturday, July 25 at 3:00pm PST!
WOW IS THERE NO PROMOTION YOU WON’T DO
Apparently not!
THAT MUST HAVE BEEN FUN
Yeah, I guess. It’s just that—
YOU NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT IT’S OKAY TO HAVE SLIVERS OF HAPPINESS FROM TIME TO TIME. JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE MISSING A SENSE OF SAFETY AS A CHILD DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN AS AN ADULT TO ALLOW FOR A GOOD THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU
I…