I Think I'll Miss You Most Of All...

So we’ll start with some news first this week, because I know with DC’s December Solicits now out, people have figured out that BIRDS OF PREY is ending in December with issue #28.

BIRDS OF PREY #28 cover by Annie Wu

Saying goodbye to a title you love doesn’t really get easier, but having a longer run as we did here, and having some notice so you have a chance to end on a slightly better foot, really helps how you feel about it. But it still doesn’t feel great. I loved these these characters and this book and I hate moving on without them.

But I’m seeing a lot of people speculating that it was my choice to end the book because I’m busy with other books and that is just not the case. I mean, yes, I am fortunate to be very busy, and my health, as many of you know, has been really frustrating the last couple years and made me slower than I want (and need) to be, but I didn’t leave Birds to make room for other books.

When DC suggested they thought we needed to cancel the book, I DID pitch a sort of “light reboot” of BIRDS to see if we could tweak the formula a bit and keep going with something “slightly new/different” but it didn’t quite come together in a way that we all thought would have real legs on it. And to DC’s credit, if I had really put my foot down about doing a new version and staying on the book, I think they would have let me keep going and see if we could make it work.

But making a book is tough even if everything is going great — and once you feel like things are working against you… it starts getting really tough. So it felt like maybe we’d be piling on some rough challenges that we couldn’t realistically defeat and for diminishing returns, so in the end, I felt like ending it strong and on our terms was a good offer that we should take.

I AM pitching something else at DC that’s quite big and that I’m very excited about — and it does involve a couple of the Birds — but I have been very behind schedule in submitting my pitch due to my workload and health, and I can’t say for sure whether it will happen or not, or when I’ll be able to let you know. I only bring it up now so you all know how committed I am to working with DC and how excited I am about doing another big book there. I’m not going anywhere.

I hope for those of you that have loved BIRDS OF PREY — and thank you so much to all of you who have been reading and talking about the book, it has brought me so much joy to see — that this is bearable — at least we have a few more issues to go through our mourning process — and I’ll do my best to end it well and leave it ready for future BIRDS OF PREY creators and readers.

My greatest hope for the book when I started was that we could get a big beautiful long run and really re-establish a modern BIRDS OF PREY that worked. And I think we did that very well. BIRDS OF PREY is a terrific and flexible idea that can take many interesting forms and rope in all kinds of characters and I hope that message that got through and that will help us get many more takes on the Birds in the future.

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Orders. Ugh. I am so sorry guys. My health issue includes a nausea side effect (which makes doing pretty much anything — but especially anything that involves reading — really difficult)… and I always have to prioritize writing over shipping, so shipping is, despite my intentions, always running a bit late. I apologize to all of you who have been waiting.

That said! Everything is packed up and ready to go — and everything will be shipped on Monday (tracking numbers will be in your Paypal on Monday). Let me know if you don’t see your tracking number and/or don’t receive your package this coming week.

And thank you as always for your patience!

The Webstore IS updated with what I’ve got on hand — which includes the new ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #12. Unfortunately it looks like Marvel was in charge of the DEADPOOL/BATMAN #1 comps instead of DC (endless sigh) so I probably will only get a few of those (who knows when) — and most likely only the main cover. Fucking annoying, honestly. Fix your comps, Marvel!

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This is a terrific interview by Publishers Weekly Susana Polo with Chris Conroy about the Absolute Line.

Interview I did recently with Comics Frontier. Fair warning there’s a very large ad at the top, so you have to scroll a bit — I know it’s not great, but y’know, people gotta try to stay alive out here. Also, I misspoke in this interview, saying we were headed toward SIX collected volumes of BOP, but I should have said FIVE (that’s where we’ll land with that issue 28). I’m sorry about the confusion (and any dashed hopes).

Podcast Interview I did recently with Capes & Lunatics.

This is very flattering. Incredible books on this list to check out.

So, I care about this because I write for a living, and it’s also the thing I always most want to do (i.e. ingest the writing and art of others in all kinds of forms). And if you’re here on this site you probably care quite a bit about that too. But you might also care about it because you’re a parent or have nieces and nephews (like me). Anyway, I hope this link works, I’m pretty sure it’s public, but this was an upsetting but important read on Publishers Weekly about Gemini’s Ai shit.

In related news… having zero respect for the dead is not surprising given the lack of respect we currently also seem to have for the living, but I gotta tell you guys, as a once geeky sci-fi kid I am SUPER disappointed in the future we have gotten. All the cool sci-fi shit I hoped I’d one day see is instead stupid and offensive.

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Take “HODGEPODGE!” to mostly mean here’s some cool shit?

Like this Absolute Wonder Woman fanart. I mean, um, YES. PLEASE. Art by Hisao.

And this one. I mean… this is so good I wish it was a cover. Wow. That face and the motion of it, the textured line work in her hair… I am VERY into this! By NamNums.

Gorgeous. I wish she had a more “AWW nose,” but I love that they did the black lipstick that is often missed. By Kath Lobo.

This meme I found is sorta true and also sorta not true (Did Bats or Supes have to cut their own arms off yet? Just checking) but I laughed real hard and loved it anyway.

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So this is fun. As most of you know THE EXPANSE is my favorite television show of all time (okay, fine, it’s tied with ANDOR). ANYWAY. I’ve been doing a sort of comfort re-watch (it’s weird that things are so bad in reality that a diverse story about future heroes still trying to save the world after we broke the planet is a comfort watch, but here we are).

In the series finale, there’s a big action set piece that includes a trio of 10-person military team “pods” — Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie — descending through space toward a dangerous target in super dramatic fashion. In that scene there’s a blink and you miss it moment when they show the names of all the soldiers in the “pods.” Two of our series leads are listed of course — Bobby Draper and Amos Burton — but they also draw attention in the scene to Hudson checking in, and next to him on the board, is Hicks. And any good sci-fi fan knows Hudson and Hicks are from ALIENS.

But if you pause the screen when they show the pod screen — you immediately see there are tons of references to character names you recognize from science fiction and maybe ALL of them are sci-fi easter eggs?

Here’s my screencap:

Spoilers below the line if you’re trying to figure them all out on your own. But before you drive yourself nuts trying to get them ALL, I’ll give you the hint that there are a few that are real people — I think mostly writers/producers?

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As noted, B. Draper and A. Burton are Bobby and Amos from THE EXPANSE.

I also got: Duncan Idaho (DUNE), Douglas Quaid (TOTAL RECALL), Jason Nesmith (GALAXY QUEST), Ellen Ripley (ALIEN), Vasquez (ALIENS), Hicks (ALIENS), Hudson (ALIENS), Cooper/Coop (INTERSTELLAR), Deckard (BLADE RUNNER), Anderton (MINORITY REPORT), O’Neil (STARGATE), Louise Banks (ARRIVAL — was personally so happy to see this one!), Sarah Conner (TERMINATOR), William Riker (STAR TREK)

Not bad. Just over 50%. How did you do?

But I was curious about the ones I didn’t get (I have plenty of blind spots — nearly the entirely of STAR TREK for starters). And sure enough some good nerds got here long before I did: Den of Geek, Screenrant, and y’know, nerdy forums cuz, of course. :D

To bring this all back around like a good storyteller. I like to think if ANDOR had released before the series finale of THE EXPANSE we would have gotten a few of those names in the mix too: CASSIAN, A and BIX, C for sure. Maybe BRASSO? I’d love to see MOTHMA, M… but I think we all know she’s “more of a city belter.” (and THAT’S a super inside joke for you EXPANSE fans). ;D

This isn’t a mistake! You’re getting TWO of “one. good. thing.” this week — because I want everyone to be able to enjoy “one. good. thing.” and that one above is very tailored for EXPANSE-heads. ;D

So here’s another short animation that I love. Enjoy:

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In case you missed it, DEADPOOL/BATMAN #1, including a six-page (mostly silent) short by myself and Gurihiru, featuring Jeff and Krypto is out everywhere now. There are a few really great variant covers out for this of course, but I don’t even think it’s my bias showing to say the Gurihiru one is clearly the best :D

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #12 is out next week and it is a BIG ONE with not just the debut of an exciting character… but I think, conservatively a tease of FOUR characters. And more than that in fact. I think it’s a big issue for hinting at a lot of what’s in our future. There’s a beautiful preview here. And here are three of the covers by Mirka Andolfo, Hayden Sherman, and Yasmine Putri:

JEFF THE LAND SHARK #4 is also out next week. Nobody is talking about this book the way they are about my other books really… but it IS the little book that could, selling surprisingly well. You can check out the preview here. Also, they finally fixed the logo, Huzzah! Here are three of the covers by Tokitokoro, Gurihiru, and Mitsuhiro Arita:

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I am DESPERATE to have one of these. I might have to try to find/contact the creator.

I’m still hoping for us to get some more “Gurihiru-styled Jeff” merch, but for all of us waiting so long for more official merch of any kind, it’s fun to see some finally coming out. We’re on our way!

Jeff Marvel Rivals Funko:

Also from Funko — a Jeff Plush (looks like they’re sold out at that link — but there might be pre-orders other places, and if not, then check ebay?)

There’s also a Jeff funko keychain (I wish it was smaller!) and you can pre-order here (actually looks like you can pre-order all of them here?)

So. If you need some non-comics stuff for yourself or for someone under the tree this year… get thee to pre-order!

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Some sneak peeks for ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #12 (next week), #13 (October), JEFF THE LANDSHARK #4 (next week), and BIRDS OF PREY #26 (October). Enjoy!

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #12. Art by Hayden Sherman, colors by Jordie Bellaire, words by me, lettering by Becca Carey:

This is a crop of a panel and my god is it beautiful. When we came up with the idea for the trident and designed it, I knew between Hayden and Jordie it would look incredible, but I was not prepared for this “water reflection” treatment Jordie was going to do in issues 11 and 12 and boy did it blow me away. Look how beautiful this is!

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #13: Art by Matias Bergara, colors by Jordie Bellaire, words by me, lettering by Becca Carey (but SFX in first panel by Bergara):

JEFF THE LANDSHARK #4: Art by Tokitokoro, colors by Jim Campbell, words by me, lettering by Joe Caramagna:

Very “mistakes were made” energy. :D

And this is Jeff drawing his adventures to bring Elsa up to speed. I love it. And look how important Jeff made his time having claws — so funny and smart (and accurate). Tokitokoro is a wonderful storyteller and I’ve enjoyed working with them so much:

BIRDS OF PREY #26: Art by Sami Basri and Vicente Cifu, colors by Adriano Lucas, words by me, lettering by Clayton Cowles. This issue has a fun riddle/game element that I really enjoyed writing (Barda did NOT enjoy doing it, however).

Realizing too late that the bold is on the wrong word in that balloon is gonna haunt me. Cool.

Yeah, I will miss this bitch so much. I will miss them all, but Barda most of all I think. I always felt like Dorothy was sorta shitty to say that to her friends at the end of WIZARD OF OZ, but I get you now, Dorothy. I see you.

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Moment of zen brought to you by Monarch and Clivey.

Hold onto each other. Gonna get worse before it gets better I’m afraid. But maybe some of the horror breaking out so wide will help people wake up. That’s truly my greatest hope these days. <3

Kelly