Houston...We've Had A Problem(s) Here
So you may have heard that the comic industry (like many others) is struggling against a handful of challenges - labor shortages, supply chain issues, paper shortages, shipping delays, etc. I thought of laying it all out but I honestly can’t do it near the justice as this blow by blow offered up by my pal Matt Rosenberg in his newsletter.
Matt - and artist/co-creator Tyler Boss’s WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE new creator-owned comic from Image - launches TODAY (it’s brilliant, you’re gonna want it) and so of course these challenges are hitting them really hard (also Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillips NEWBURN #1 that just launched - also fantastic - and I’m sure many other new books launching right now).
Matt has some really good advice in his post about how to help and also how to give yourself the best chance at getting a book (or series) you’re trying to get in the coming months so I advise you all to check that out.
I do think the thing to remember above all as readers is to try to be patient and kind through this frustrating period — I can assure you that that nobody else is happy about it either — it’s sort of a nightmare scenario for shops and publishers and creators — and especially hitting at the holidays it’s just…well, a mess. So let’s everyone do our best out there and try to remember that there are things worse than delayed comics books.
ALSO. Not for nothing, but if a few of your books are delayed or unable to be found for a bit…might be a good time to satisfy that craving with a few…COOL DIGITAL books. ;D I’m of course talking about Substack primarily (we’re going to have ACTUAL comics on this very Substack soon!) — and a few creators have already come out guns blazing with content — like James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Omening’s BLUE BOOK, Chip Zdarsky’s PUBLIC DOMAIN, and Jeff Lemire’s FISHFLIES. But there’s also Scott Snyder’s new Best Jackett Press, which is not on Substack but is releasing a whole slew of interesting books with fantastic artists/co-creators on Comixology (CLEAR, NIGHT OF THE GHOUL, and WE HAVE DEMONS all have their first issues out already).
Unfortunately we’ll have a bit more of this bad news talk in both This Week! and Upcoming Releases! It’s a thing!
This Week!
Sneak Peeks!
What I’m Doing!
Upcoming Releases!
Q&A
CATS!
THIS WEEK
So this week we got very lucky and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78 (which was supposed to come out last week) was only delayed a week! This is a win, trust me! So this is my second issue of Amazing Spider-Man, again with the incredible Sara Pichelli and Nolan Woodard but this is my last issue for a bit and then I come back in with a few issues toward the end of the Beyond arc, but if you’re reading, I hope we’ve hooked you whether I’m the writer or not.
IT’S JEFF! was a skip week last week for some reason…but I know there are at least 2 more strips coming, maybe one will be this week? (I do not know).
SNEAK PEEKS
Not gonna lie, this section is getting rough. CAPTAIN MARVEL #34 has lots of spoiler-y stuff for a big thing that’s debuting, and since that book got pushed to December (last I heard)…it’s pretty hard to find things to show off week to week without getting in spoiler territory, but I’ll try my best.
BLACK WIDOW is tough too, because while BLACK WIDOW #13 already got pushed from November to December, now over the weekend I saw that it was listed for the first week of January 2022. SO LONG. That is technically unconfirmed I guess, but I have no reason not to believe it.
So I’m gonna show you guys stuff for both, but it’s maybe gonna get tricky over the next couple months. I’ll do my best.
From CAPTAIN MARVEL #34:
From BLACK WIDOW #13
From JEFF #11
WHAT I’M DOING
I’m still too busy making (well, sometimes TRYING to make) comics to give this section the proper attention it deserves, but I’ve been watching and reading some incredible stuff lately - some of it has been staying with me so powerfully — RESERVATION DOGS (FX/Hulu), MAID (Netflix), SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (HBO) and SQUID GAME (Netflix) all definitely come to mind on the TV front. But I’d still like to talk about them in some (reasonable) depth at some point. In the meantime, I highly recommend them all. That said, they’re all pretty intense (in different ways) - so enter with caution - even Reservation Dogs, which is genuinely funny and heartfelt, deals with pretty serious issues and trauma. I think it’s brilliant, but YMMV, so, as always, proceed with caution.
UPCOMING RELEASES
So. This section is now a mess. These dates suck and I’m not really sure that they’re right or that they won’t move again? But here’s where we stand at this point as far as I know:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78 - TODAY - 11/10/21
IT’S JEFF #11 (Marvel Unlimited only) - Hopefully Friday 11/12/21?
CAPTAIN MARVEL # 34 - 12/1/21?
BLACK WIDOW #13 - 12/14/21 now moved to 1/5/22?
CAPTAIN MARVEL #35 - 12/29/21?
BLACK WIDOW #14 - 1/15/22?
Q&A
Instead of a Q today, I’m gonna give you an A…which sounds naughty even though I didn’t mean it that way? A handful of you have been giving a really strong effort in the comments section of a previous post trying to guess the name of my horrible T.N.T. comic I created when I was a teenager.
A) All of your suggestions were better than the actual name.
B) This was really hard to do on multiple levels, including because the real name is WORSE than all of the guesses, which makes the title hard to even imagine.
So. drumroll please or whatever…
The answer is T.N.T. = TOTAL NULLIFICATION TEAM
Hardcore, right? Yikes. Cue a thousand eye rolls is more like.
Also, the team never killed anyone let alone “totally nullified” them. It was mostly about interpersonal soap opera level drama plus some cool superpowers. Sigh.
CATS
I sort of messed up by not giving you guys some Halloween cats in October, let me rectify that by giving you NOVEMBER Halloween Cats. Still cute!
So, that’s it for today, but I’ve loaded up a terrific CAPTAIN MARVEL “Dark Carol” interview with the great Lee Garbett for Friday! And next week I’ll be doing a new scripting post that includes short script samples from some of the industry’s best writers - and THAT will definitely be behind a paywall, so it’s a good time to subscribe!
Be good and kind whenever possible. <3
~Kelly
I'll wait for you, Black Widow #13!!!! 😭 Yeah, the delays are a huge bummer, but what can anyone do? It's crazy times we're living in.
So I guess it's a bad time for conjecture about whether It's Jeff might get a TPB someday? I hope so! He's so adorable I want to put him on my shelf!
And I never ever was going to guess Total Nullification Team! 😂 I mean, dramatic sure, but very creative! Getting nullified is quite extra compared to merely being destroyed.
We watched Maid and it was SO good - painful truths, but a rewarding journey.
Just read BW #12 and Oh. My. God! Everything off the charts! Loved it all so much but I wanted to give special mention to Elena's design for Nat's "Black widow" outfit (the hair!!!!) for the gala 👌💯🔥🔥🔥 brilliant work guys 👏👏👏👏