It's ALMOST Historic, Bitches*
Alright, lots to talk about.
First of all, I’m sick, that’s cool, right?
NO. It is not cool. How dare you just blindly agree with me.
Sigh. Yes. After almost two years of not being sick with cold/flu/whatever, I finally got hit. And man, if you’re desperately looking for silver linings to pandemics, that’s…the only one I’ve got. People never leaving their house and washing their hands more, leads to fewer people getting sick. And right now…I cannot breathe through my nose and am falling behind on deadlines and am mad at everyone and so never leaving my house again to avoid this seems…pretty reasonable.
ANYWAY.
This is a historic week for comics and it involves…YOURS TRULY.
(of course it does, whose Substack did you think you were on?)
Let’s get into it!
Also, you should probably just subscribe already…just hit that little button. ;D
This Week!
Sneak Peeks!
What I’m Doing!
Upcoming Releases!
Q&A
CATS!
THIS WEEK!
This week is ALMOST HISTORIC, bitches. That’s right, my issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN comes out THIS WEEK. And that issue — ASM #77 — is the first time in history that an issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has been both written and drawn by women.
HELL YEAH.
Okay, wait. HOLD ON. NO. STOP THE NON-PRESSES.
Katie Pryde from the awesome Books With Pictures has pointed out that AMAZING SPIDER-MAN DOUBLE-SIZED ANNUAL #19 (1985) was written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Mary Wilshire and Pat Redding! Additionally, just this year, another annual - ASM Annual #2 (2021) by Karla Pacheco and Eleonora Carlini - was released.
AND!!! One of the issues we HAD noted in the Spidey-Office as being written by Ann Nocenti - ASM #295 (1987) - turns out to have been drawn by Cynthia Martin! So that makes us the second female writing/art team to take over the regular title and the 4th team to do it under the ASM name, regardless of annual or ongoing.
So we are not quite historic (and sorry for the mislead - we really did look into this - i swear!), but it’s all still very cool. And to be honest, this is a title I am HAPPY to lose and I’m sure you all understand exactly why.
For OUR issue - AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #77 - the artist is the absolute badass Sara Pichelli - someone who is so good that I had basically given up hope of ever getting a chance to work with her - and yet here we are - and with colors by the great Nolan Woodard! Ahhhh!
Total dream come true stuff.
Anyway, you should pick the issue up because we’re doing awesome stuff on this Spider-Man Beyond story line, but also, you heard me say it’s HISTORIC, right? Make sure to get yours before it’s too late!
Also out this week is BLACK WIDOW #12 - the start of all-new arc and Elena and Jordie are simply not messing around when it comes to the art in this issue.
And a bonus CLINT sneak peek from this week’s issue as a shout out to @WINTERKILLS on Twitter who is missing Clint right now (aren’t we all?)
I also did a couple interviews in the last week that you might want to check out if you’re into hearing me talk too much about cool comics stuff (and also probably dumb stuff too!)
Had a terrific time talking with Keenan and LZ on their podcast Another Relaunch.
And last week I got to talk to Anas and Nick on Geekable about comics, including a lot about this very Substack thing, we also talk about where the name 1979 Semi-Finalist comes from.
Thanks for having me, guys! <3
SNEAK PEEKS!
Crop of a panel from the forthcoming AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #77:
From the forthcoming BLACK WIDOW #12:
From the forthcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL #34:
From a forthcoming IT’S JEFF (I can’t always tell which issue is out next, I only know for sure which one is the last - but this is a panel from one of the remaining issues)…and I love it so much:
WHAT I’M DOING
Dune. There is only Dune now.
UPCOMING RELEASES
BLACK WIDOW #12 - 10/27/21
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #77 - 10/27/21
IT’S JEFF - 10/29/21 (releases every Friday on Marvel Unlimited!)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78 - 11/3/21
CAPTAIN MARVEL #34 - 11/17/21
Q&A
Hey! The Q&A is back! I’ve been answering a lot of questions in the comments sections each week, and I want to keep that up because I’m exited about the little community we’re building here, but I will pull questions as I see them (as much as possible) and try to answer them now and then in this column. This week’s question is from Damon Gray:
My question for you is: How much say do you have when you create a new character like Star (or even Jeff!)? Is it something that editors have final say in or do you get full range on early character development?
Kelly: I think it depends a little bit on the project and also the editor/publisher. The more experience you have working with your team(s) helps build those relationships and when you have earned the trust of your editors/publisher, they tend to give you more creative freedom. I have been very fortunate, not only at Marvel, but with all the publishers I’ve worked with, in how much they have let me be myself and build what I’m interested in - including characters. I would say for all the major characters I’ve created — from Dazzler Thor all the way to Jeff The Landshark — my artists and I have been given tons of room to create what we wanted to see within the story. The only real limitations I’ve felt in character creation has traditionally been for legit reasons (like: “oh, this is too similar to something someone else is doing over in this other book”) and it’s usually been something we can work with/around. But again, I think a lot of that comes from experience. I don’t think Kelly Thompson day one at Marvel gets the same opportunities that Kelly Thompson today does. So it takes time. That said, Dazzler Thor was created in issue 5 of A-Force - and that was I think…the 9th comic I ever wrote for Marvel? So sometimes a good idea is just a good idea. ;D And btw, anything Ben Caldwell draws looks like a hell of a good idea!
Thanks for the great question, Damon!
I’d also like to use the Q&A this week to ask YOU a question. One of the suggestions I really liked from previous discussions (and something I’m seeing some other Substacks do) was the idea of a book club and/or a movie/tv watch club/discussion.
Selfishly I was thinking of trying to make all of you watch Taskmaster, so that we can talk about it (and I’m still interested in that!)…but perhaps we should start smaller and more deeply within the nerdy/comic booky niche I suspect most of us inhabit (I argue Taskmaster is our niche adjacent but still maybe not the best place to start)?
We could instead maybe start with a new(ish) comic book series or OGN? A lot of folks are doing group zooms (etc) to discuss these things but since I don’t do video interview stuff, I find how to do this a bit puzzling - if you’ve got ideas - about how we could make this work in a way that’s interesting to you, or how it would be most rewarding to you - shout them out in the comments. Let’s build this place together!
CATS!
That’s right, it’s time for the cats. Since we’ve been doing a lot of comics process posts of late, and since I showed you the boys “album cover” last time, I though this time I could show you the “outtakes” that happened before, inbetween, and after getting that “cover” shot:
I say again, kids, don’t name your pets after supervillains, you’re only ASKING for trouble.*
*In truth, while this IS a fun little joke I like to make, and The Monarch DOES have tons of hilarious chaotic energy, he is actually a very good boy and he HATES being in trouble…which is maybe one of the reasons he’s good? Clive on the other hand could care less if he’s in trouble - he’s definitely the more naughty of the two, though they are both quite good boys.
Okay. On that note. Gotta get back into bed and blow my nose five thousand more times. Hopefully not all at once.
WASH YOUR HANDS AND DON’T GO OUTSIDE (or maybe just the first one).
~Kelly
*ETA: This post has been updated with new/corrected information about Amazing Spider-Man stats as awesome fans came up with issues we had missed on our first pass looking into this.
Hope you feel better soon and book club/movie watch is something I'm defo into, I think the Substack way is probs best 👍👍
It is my wish... nay, my DEMAND... that you feel better soon! (Did it work? I'm trying to be more assertive with viruses.) BEGONE FROM MS. THOMPSON'S UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT, VILE NUCLEIC ACID MOLECULES IN PROTEIN COATING!!!