The Backlist

Plus! THE DOMAIN! ZCN reveal!

Look, I’m sorry I didn’t send a newsletter last week. It’s been a wild time. You know the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? Well, I got some lemons, but then I had to kill a man for the sugar to make the lemonade. I’ve been on the run ever since, but the lemonade is so delicious I don’t even see the man’s panicked face when I close my eyes anymore!

It’s been wild ups and downs (calm down, haters! I haven’t been fired from Batman!), but some of the ups have involved phone calls with my agent and Hollywood meetings! Can ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS translate to the big screen? We’ll soon find out!

Whenever I have Hollywood meetings I become insufferable for the next three weeks, where I keep talking to my wife about “points” and “linear TV assets” and visit Deadline.com ten times a day, nodding my head and muttering “hmm good good.” It also makes me wonder what of my “backlist” I can get in front of hungry execs (executives). I found my abandoned sci-fi epic Through A Gentle Techprism on my hard drive and thought that, with AI being so hot right now, I’d put it back out there to see if it drove any ‘rest (interest) in it. Enjoy!

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THROUGH A GENTLE TECHPRISM

Daxter accepted his techglass of neoCoke from the facsimilant with a slight nod. Why did he always insist on giving these machines gestures of etiquette? It raised some serious cyberquestions in him.

Murray noticed Daxter drifting off into deep thought thanks to his thoughtscanner eyes. “What’s up, Dax?”

Daxter leaned across the 4-D table so the other patrons of McDonalds 2.0 couldn’t hear him.“I … do you ever think about facsimilants? Like, do they have … souls?”

“Nope.”

Daxter lowered his head into his hands, the implications of what he was saying making him feel as heavy as a million xounds. “I mean, they’re so … human. Their AI is meant to replicate us in so many ways that I can’t help but wonder if they actually feel or … or dream.”

“Well, they don’t. So that’s that.”

“But if they do, Murray — if they DO feel —then what we’re doing is … is wrong. It’s slavery, really, when you think about it.”

“Thought about it. It’s not. They’re fucking robots, Daxter. Calm down.”

Daxter slurped his Big Mac through his cyberstraw, contemplating what Murray had just said. “Are … how can you be so sure?”

“Holy techshit, Daxter. What next? Are you going to ask me if dreams are reality and reality dreams?” Murray waved his fingers around, miming jazz hands. “Grow up. We aren’t God. There is no God. You’re an unattractive fucking animal and that …” Murray pointed at a facsimilant, wiping down a table with its washcloth fingers, “… is a bunch of gears and bullshit. Fuck, man, go write a sci-fi novel if your balls are in such a knot. Idiot.”

Daxtar cracked open his Quarter Ouncer Egg and let the delicious thoughtgoo slip up his arm and neck and into his human mouth. For the first time in days he felt a sense of relief and thought about TX-594 lying at home in the dark, covered in ejaculate and a tiny bit of poop and realized he’d done nothing wrong.

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Come on, Hollywood! I’m waiting!

Oh! Speaking of backlists, HUMBLE BUNDLE is doing a big Matt Fraction / Chip Zdarsky sale right now! It’s honestly kind of wild to see all our Image books in one place like this. It’s been over ten years since I’ve been in this business and holy shit no wonder Matt and I are so tired all the time. Look at this!

So, yeah, for digital readers this is a very good deal. Go check it out!

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One thing I missed last week was that THE DOMAIN #2 came out! It’s so fun! Especially with Rachael and Eren illustrating it! We get to know some of our alien pirate friends in this issue, like the E.T. hunk BOATSWOON:

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I love Boatswoon.

Also, finally, BATMAN: THE BAT-MAN OF GOTHAM, our second volume, is out in NON-hardcover format this week! So for those intimidated by hard things, you’re in luck!

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ALSO also, for ZCN-heads, I can now reveal the UNREDACTED cover to issue three now that news of James’ new project is out!

James and Elsa and DSTLRY! It’s going to be damned good. Find out more in the upcoming pages of ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS WOW

Speaking of DSTLRY, I read the first issue of THE MISSIONARY by Ryan Stegman, Jason Howard and Tamra Bonvillain and it’s disgusting. Ryan is disgusting. Looks great though!!! You should definitely check it out!!

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Last but not least, I did an interview with Dave Richards over on his Patreon about TIME WAITS, PUBLIC DOMAIN and BATMAN! Go reeead it instead of working!

Okay! Bye!

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UPCOMING BOOKS
SEX CRIMINALS: LETTER DADDIES — Aug 27
AVENGER: TWILIGHT TPB — Aug 27
PUBLIC DOMAIN #8 — Sept 4
BATMAN #152 — Sept 4
BATMAN: THE JOKER YEAR ONE — Sept 10
TIME WAITS #1 — Sept 11
THE DOMAIN #3 — Sept 11
CREEPSHOW VOL 3 #1 — Sept 25
BATMAN #153 — Oct 3
PUBLIC DOMAIN #9 — Oct 9
THE DOMAIN #4 — Oct 16
BATMAN #154 — Oct 16
PUBLIC DOMAIN #10 — Nov 6
BATMAN #155 — Nov 6
THE DOMAIN #5 — Nov 13
DAREDEVIL OMNIBUS VOL 2 —Jan 1
THE ALL-NIGHTER VOL 3 — Jan 21

UPCOMING SIGNINGS
ROSE CITY COMIC CON (Portland) — Sept 6-8
CXC (Columbus) — Sept 27-29
NYCC (New York City) — Oct 17-20
THOUGHT BUBBLE (Harrowgate) — Nov 16-17