East Coast Dispatches: May 31, 2022

It's Batman Day!

Hey folks,

Going to see how short I can keep this one. My guess is not very, but I’m trying!

It’s been a busy month in terms of deadlines and trying to stay on top of work. I’m planning a road trip/signing tour (see below) and as a result, have been hustling to get ahead on everything. I’ll still be working on the road, but the more I can get off my plate in advance, the better. Though, knowing me, I’ll probably be sitting in the middle of the Grand Canyon with my laptop out and my head down.

Over the last few months, I’ve been taking any free time I have to develop a pitch that has been kicking around in my head since about 2008. If things had gone a different way, this pitch would have ended up being my first published work — the artist and I had some interest in it about a year before Comeback came out.

The publisher who was interested put us through about a million rounds of notes and revisions but eventually passed on the project. It was heartbreaking at the time, but now that I’ve been focused on it again, I’m relieved that they did. The book wasn’t ready then. There were plenty of good ideas at play, but the way they all tied together…it just didn’t work.

For fourteen years, I’ve been poking and prodding at it. Pulling it out of the digital drawer, fiddling around with it, then shelving it again, letting it collect cobwebs for months, years. But, this time around, I think I’ve finally keyed into it, it’s all coming together and I’ll be pitching it to publishers in the next month or two.

Except…I don’t have a title. Titles are the absolute worst. They always take me forever to land on and when I do, I often end up finding a reason that the title I’ve finally picked doesn’t work. Over the last 14 years, this project has had at least 20 different titles, plenty of them good, but none of them right. So, right now, I have a script, a pitch, but no title. IT. IS. KILLING. ME.

I’m calling it PROJECT: GHOST TOWN for the time being and am going to do my best to keep subscribers in the loop as it develops. Look for art and other teasers soon.

Anyhow, I’m already doing a terrible job of keeping this short. On to the table of contents!

Table of Contents

• Out This Week
• Bat-nnouncement!
• FOC Fever!
• Upcoming Tour
• I Know You’re Only Here for Lasagna

Out This Week

Very excited to finally have this book out in the wild:

(W) Ed Brisson (A) John Timms (C) Rex Lokus (CA) Mikel Janin
Following the events of the Abyss story arc, Batman has now tasked Ghost-Maker to finance and lead Batman Inc.! First order of business for the new management? Clean up a huge mess Luthor created in Chechnya...but is this new group ready to face fearsome new threat the Gray Wolf? And prepare yourself for the evolution of Clownhunter!

John Timms really went all out on this bad boy. Everything seems absolutely epic throughout.

The big secret we’ve been hiding with this book is that it leads us right into…

Bat-nnouncement

John Timms and I will be launching a new Batman Incorporated series later in the year, and this annual serves as a primer/set-up for what’s to come.

I’m very excited to get the annual out there and to be working on Batman Incorporated. John and I have some pretty massive plans for the series. Plenty of familiar faces, and a slew of new friends and threats. Juggling such a massive cast has been a real challenge, but a welcome one. If you have a favourite Batman Inc. member and don’t see them getting as much screentime as you’d like, don’t fret, everyone’s going to have their moment.

You can click on the image for CBR’s Exclusive Scoop on the story.

Now that I’m writing Deathstroke Inc and Batman Inc, I just need to convince DC to let me tackle Infinity Inc, so that I can get the Inc Hat Trick.

FOC Fever

Final Order Cut-Off Fever is a very serious, though often misunderstood illness. If you don’t pre-order these books from your retailer, you will become absolutely sick to your stomach with regret.

For those unfamiliar with FOCs and why they’re important, here are the two biggest reasons you should let your Local Comic Shop know that you’re interested in a book before FOC.

• FOCs are the final date that stores can order copies of a book to ensure they receive the amount they want/need. Customers adding the title to their pull-list or otherwise requesting the book before FOC helps stores gauge interest and gives them a better sense of how many copies they should be ordering for the shop.

• Publishers use these FOC numbers to determine their print runs. Generally, most publishers will print the FOC order, plus a few extra. But, once those copies are gone, they’re gone. Some publishers may do a second printing, but we’re currently dealing with a paper shortage and so second printing are not often possible. Even when they are, second prints are generally more costly.

Worst human being in the world, Matthew Rosenberg, posted a pretty great thread about the importance of ordering a book before FOC. Give it a read if you have the chance and consider ordering What’s The Furthest Place From Here Vol. 1 by Matt and Tyler Boss.

THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH PATRICK TODD #1
FOC - Monday, June 6th, 2022

(W) Ed Brisson (A/CA) Gavin Guidry (C) Chris O’Halloran

Fifteen-year-old Patrick Todd lives on the run, hiding out in seedy motels, living out of his backpack and making sure that his mom - recently struck down by a mysterious illness of the mind - is well cared for. But doctors cost money. A lot of money.  And, so, Patrick turns to a life of crime. Using the telepathic abilities he's been hiding all his life, he forces the worst of the worst to rob banks, taking the money before making them turn themselves in to the police.

But someone has taken notice of Patrick's schemes. A reckoning is coming. Will the police find Patrick in time to save him, or will he become yet another victim of the killer called Zeus?

Written by Ed Brisson (BEYOND THE BREACH, Uncanny X-Men, Old Man Logan) and illustrated by Gavin Guidry (Captain America: The Ghost Army, Going to The Chapel), THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH PATRICK TODD weaves a web of intrigue, deceit and hot pursuit as danger closes in from all directions.

In Shops: July 6, 2022

DEATHSTROKE INC. #10
FOC - Sunday, June 5th, 2022

My first issue as writer of Deathstroke Inc!

(W) Ed Brisson (A) Dexter Soy

Slade Wilson's blood-drenched past and exploits are well chronicled, but how did Slade become the infamous assassin and mercenary known as Deathstroke? What dark turns did his life take that set him on the path of destruction that would tear his family apart? Find out as "Deathstroke: Year One" begins...

In Shops: Jun 28, 2022

Upcoming Tour

From July 13th through August 14th, I’ll be hitting the road with my family, seeing what America and Canada have to offer these sight-starved eyes. Along the way, I’m going to be doing a bit of a signing tour. So far, I have confirmed seven shops, but am still waiting for word on a couple more. I’ll make a more official announcement in the next newsletter but will confirm that I have signings set up in NY, Vegas, Portland, Vancouver, Kelowna, Regina, and Oshawa. I’ll also be popping into a few other stores just to say hi; sign some stock and any pull-list books; before getting back onto the open road. I’ll include those shops in the next update as well.

I Know You’re Only Here For Lasagna

I didn’t have a photo ready to go, so just snapped this one of him sleeping in front of my keyboard as I work — this is pretty much what he does 90% of the time I’m in my office working.

Okay, that’s it from me this week.

Ed