PUBLIC DOMAIN RETURNS!
And a tour update!
Oh, hey! People seem pretty excited about my big ol’ road trip! That’s nice!
But there have been QUESTIONS, so I’m here to answer them.
What are the dates of this fucking thing?
Glad you asked! I wasn’t going to put dates on the poster because they could be in flux, but I have amended it below to show the dates as they stand! It’s possible they could shift by a day or two depending on my ability to drive, but I think they’ll stay as is:
Why the fuck isn’t Daredevil on the poster?
Great question! I’m promoting work that I know shops can order. There’s a new edition of SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY coming out in early May with our extra Annual issue, the BATMAN: FAILSAFE hardcover will just be out with a, frankly, shocking print run of 80,000 copies, and Image always makes sure that their volume ones are in print, so PUBLIC DOMAIN is eternally available to order!
Also, one Marvel, one DC, one Image character on the poster just makes sense!
Why the fuck aren’t you coming to my shop?
Shouldn’t have said those things about me behind my back I guess
Will there be a fee for signatures? What about CGC?
No fee for signatures! And for those who don’t know, “CGC” stands for “Certified Guaranty Company”. They’re the people who, uh, watch me sign my name so they can go “yup, he signed it” and then they take the comic and inspect it thoroughly for blemishes, ticks and signs of distemper, and then they hold it aloft and scream out its rating between zero and ten before they slab it between pieces of plastic so no one can ever read the horrible things contained within.
Anyway, check with your shop to see if they will have one of these people on hand to look at my hand doing its (non-sexual) thing.
Again, I won’t be charging for these signatures either. The guy watching my hand might charge hundreds, I don’t know.
Are you free for dinner when you’re in my city? Or are you too fucking good for me?
I won’t be free because on top of driving across the country and constantly signing, I still have a job! I will be doing a lot of room service while I write Batmans and Daredevils, etc. This tour is a very bad idea and every editor I work with is sweating buckets right now reading this.
And I’m not too good for you. If anything, you’re too good for me.
And now for a reader question!
When a series like Public Domain takes off (I've the sense that it has received more attention than Stillwater or Allnighter), does it change how you first envisioned the story unfolding? Is it tempting to try to stretch the run out at all?
-Aris G.
First off, every series is different! And most get the majority of attention in the first month or two after they come out. So, Stillwater and Allnighter got plenty of attention back when they debuted, and we’ve managed 18 issues of the former and have started in on Volume Three of the latter so I’m pretty happy with how things have unfolded!
Public Domain is doing well, but we’ve got the blush of newness still and also the very kind inclusions on the Best Of 2022 lists. I’m grateful! But I also recognize it’s part of a cycle. Nobody will be talking about it in a year’s time!!!
I’ve never stretched anything out based on success. Stillwater was always planned to wrap around this time, give or take an issue. And Allnighter is the same. We’ve had the broad strokes for three volumes from near the beginning. Public Domain is the one where I have it planned for three volumes, but because of the nature of the book I could keep on going if it’s still doing well. Being the artist on it helps, because I can play more of a “let’s see how it goes” game since there isn’t an artist’s career I have to consider. Like, I wouldn’t want to hold back Ramon from planning out his next projects by going “hm maybe one more arc. I’ll let you know.”
Now, all that being said, I once had to scale back a book because of its sales. When I signed up to do STAR-LORD with Kris, we had a bunch of stories to tell. But literally after issue one came out I got the call that we had to wrap up the book at issue five. Such is life.
Okay! Now! For my PAID SUBSCRIBERS who have been itching to find out what happens next, here’s the first chapter of PUBLIC DOMAIN 6! And yes, this means there will be a print edition at some point through Image! I’ll let you know when that gets underway!
