Table of Contents
• So Good To See Your Pretty Faces
• Out This Week
• Your Questions
• Lasagna On Pot
• Upcoming Releases
So Good To See Your Pretty Faces
This past weekend, I was a guest at DCAF (Dartmouth Comic Arts Fest) 2021. It’s not a huge show but is one of my favourites to do every year. They always have a good mix of creators and artisans and it doesn’t hurt that it’s only a 10-minute drive from my house.
This was my first public appearance since just before the world shut down due to Covid. My last show was C2E2 in March of 2020. We all knew that the Corona Virus was a thing, but no one seemed to realize just how much it was going to impact our lives. It’s unnerving to look back on it and think that I was in a convention center with 20,000 others just a couple of weeks before everything shut down.
But, this last weekend, there was an energy in the air. Everyone was excited to finally get back to a show, to some sort of normalcy. I had a lot of great conversations, met a lot of great folks and probably signed more books than I do at most of the bigger shows. It was good. It was nice.
I don’t know if I’m ready to do bigger shows in other cities just yet — Nova Scotia, the province where I live, has only 41 active cases of Covid and the infection rate is currently about 1 new case per day. We also have very few anti-maskers — I can easily go at least a month without seeing someone not wearing a mask. I know other cities are still struggling and losing gains and so I’m being hesitant with planning other shows at the moment.
I’m still in the trenches doing research for a couple of projects that I’m developing. It’s been a weird feeling to take several weeks off from writing in service of research, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it. I wish I always had this much time to read.
Out This Week
Beyond The Breach #2
Official Solicitation: The Breach has hit California. Thousands of interdimensional creatures now trapped in our world have begun to wreak havoc, leaving a trail of bodies up and down the coast. Vanessa is fighting to save those in her care when she encounters a strange man and his traveling companion. A man who may hold the secret to what the Breach is and how it can be stopped. But is he a friend or foe? Is he here to help her...or kill her?
Very excited to get this second issue into your hands. Last issue we threw you, Vanessa and the rest of them into the shit, this issue we’re going to give you a little more scope of what the world looks like and who some of the players are.
A couple of my favorite characters make an appearance here. Damian really knocked their design out of the park.
Beyond the Breach is out on August 18th from Aftershock Comics. Written/co-created by me, illustrated/co-created by Damian Couceiro, coloured by Patricio Delpeche, and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
A limited number of signed copies are available in my store.
Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter #1
Official solicitation: Clownhunter’s brutal mission to hunt down all the clowns from The Joker War continues! The untrained but focused vigilante stalks a boss-level clown, but his luck might be running out as he walks into an ambush set by Punchline! In a horrific parallel to his days at Gotham Academy, Clownhunter finds himself overwhelmed and outgunned...just the type of odds he likes!
My first DC work in nearly 6 years!
Clownhunter is such a fun, spunky character to write. He’s an angry and misguided teen who’s not afraid to dole out the most brutal of justice. His worldview is very much black and white, which puts him at odds with most of the Bat-Family, but also presents an adversary that many of Gotham’s underbelly haven’t had to deal with. He’s not taking prisoners, he’s leaving a trail of bodies and that’s put him in the crosshairs of Punchline.
Rosi Kampe is great at capturing the essence of the character. She’s a name to watch!
Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter #1 is out on August 17th from DC Comics. Written by me, illustrated by Rosi Kampe, coloured by Andrew Dalhouse, and lettered by Simon Bowland.
A limited number of signed copies are available in my store.
Also out this week: Sinister War #3
Official solicitation:You haven't read the end of SINISTER WAR #2 yet, but when you do, YOU WILL BE VERY MAD YOU HAD TO WAIT TWO WEEKS FOR THIS! Things have never been worse for Spider-Man, and it'll be a MIRACLE if he makes it through this alive.
Sinister War #3 is out on August 18th from Marvel Comics. Written by Nick Spencer and me; illustrated by Mark Bagley, Carlos Gomez and Ze Carlos; coloured by Brian Reber; and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Your Questions
Taking this one from Twitter, because I’ve been asked it a few times:
Weapon X & Final Flight #1 was a one-shot comic set within the alt-Heroes Reborn universe that Jason Aaron had built over in his Avengers series. Unfortunately, that means there is no #2 coming. Weapon X will never get out of the jam that he’s in.
Also, I’ve been asked on the Kickstarter for a Murder Book: Catch & Release update, so here goes: The Digital Edition is ready, as is the Director’s Cut Digital Edition — which came in at a pretty incredible 320+ pages. The Director’s Cut includes the digital edition, the script, thumbnails, pencils, inks, design process and a few behind-the-scenes peeks and notes from both Lisandro and I.
The book itself is with the printer and, after a few hiccups, is all signed off on. It’s going to take roughly 3 more weeks to print and bind and then the books will be sent on a ship from China to two shipping centers: one in the US, which will handle US and all international shipping EXCEPT for Canada. The other shipment is coming directly to me and I’ll be handling all the shipping within Canada.
The Backerkit survey SHOULD be going out this week at some point. Once backers have submitted their Backerkit surveys, they’ll get the Digital Edition and the Director’s Cut Digital Edition right away.
It’s all taken a little longer than hoped, but I’m thrilled with the book and think that it’s worth the wait.
Lasagna On Pot
An oldie but a goodie.
Upcoming Releases
August 2021:
• Amazing Spider-Man: Sinister War #4 (with Nick Spencer)
September 2021:
• Beyond The Breach #3
October 2021:
• Beyond The Breach #4
• Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper-01 #1 (with James Tynion)
Love Lasagna On Pot! Yessir! Your work has been an inspiration for sometime, and I want to Thank You for continuing to really deliver quality narratives! I’m really looking forward to what you have in store for readers in coming months!
Any chance you'll have copies of catch & release in your store?