Newsletter #10: We Totally Won, You Guys

(Now with more ACTUAL Eisner-flavor!)

Hello, my doves. How I have missed you! Have a kick!

Art and colors by Khary Randolph - from Wolverine Black White & Blood

Thank you for your patience, and I apologize for the interruption of service! I dared to try to go on a family vacation (having not seen my family since X-Mas 2019!) and while I am very glad I did it…the lead up to even being able to go on the vacation was intense. I worked most of the days I was ON vacation. And then post-vacation catch up was intense too.

What is a vacation again?

Anyway! We’re back, apologies for the delays and thanks for staying tuned.

Before we get into this I just want to say that I honestly can’t believe we won the Eisner for BLACK WIDOW for Best New Series. It completely took me by surprise. Huge thanks to all of you that read the book and talked it up and forced it on your friends, and also to those of you that were eligible and voted. TRULY, THANK YOU. I want to say it’s the last time I’m gonna talk about this, but you know I’m gonna have to throw a picture up when I get that trophy in my hands. ;D

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1. This Week And Also Last Week!!!

2. Sneak Peeks!

3. What I’m Doing!

4. Upcoming Releases!

5. CATS!

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THIS WEEK & LAST WEEK

So I totally did not realize CAPTAIN MARVEL #31 was coming out this week, but it is! It’s out TODAY. Make sure to pick yours up. This is a stand alone issue (that sets up the forthcoming Last Of The Marvels arc) with the incredible Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring. It was my first time working with Takeshi and it was everything I dreamed it could be. It was also wonderful to work with Ian again, who I hadn’t worked with since my A-Force days! Feels like a lifetime ago. Primary cover by the wonderful Marco Checchetto and Matthew Wilson below, so you know what to look for. But there’s also a gorgeous Ms. Marvel variant by Inhyuk Lee to keep an eye out for too! You can also check out a preview here if you’re on the fence.

Marco Checchetto and Matthew Wilson main cover, Inhyuk Lee variant cover.

And LAST WEEK, which I totally missed, but I hope you did not, was the collection release of WOLVERINE: BLACK WHITE & BLOOD. I have a short story in there with the incredible Khary Randolph. The book is just filled with great writers and artists telling Wolvie shorts - Saladin Ahmed, Chris Bachalo, Vita Ayala, Jesus Saiz, Ed Brisson, Adam Kubert, Donnie Cates, Joshua Cassara, Gerry Duggan, Jorge Fornes, Matthew Rosenberg, Kev Walker, Jed MacKay, Declan Shalvey and so many more. I think, as is an anthology’s strength, there’s truly something here for everyone. And this is the trade cover of the collection so you know what to look for:

Adam Kubert Trade Cover

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SNEAK PEEKS

I had some Captain Marvel 31 Sneak Peeks prepared that I was pretty excited about…but now that it’s ALREADY OUT, we’ll have to go to CAPTAIN MARVEL 32 and BLACK WIDOW 10 sneak peeks (still pretty excited tbh).

Art by Sergio Davila, colors by Jesus Aburtov, lettering by Clayton Cowles.

Art by Rafael de Latorre, inks by Elisabetta D’Amico, colors by Jordie Bellaire, lettering by Cory Petit.

Art by Elena Casagrande, inks by Elisabetta D’Amico, colors by Jordie Bellaire, lettering by Cory Petit.

Not really a sneak peek, but I love Adam Hughes cover for BLACK WIDOW #10 so much I gotta show it off here again. That said…when you guys see the cover for #13…WOOOOO:

Black Widow #10 main cover by Adam Hughes. Look at that text integration! Swoon!

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WHAT I’M DOING

As mentioned, I was on vacation…sort of. Four days of driving (did NOT love the maskless-ness I encountered out there). Six point five days at a great big house with my family and a big pool. Which is sorta my idea of paradise…well, maybe not ALWAYS with my family, but definitely always a pool. And though I worked a lot on 4 of the 6 days, I did manage to get in the pool every day and it was truly soul restoring to be with my family again after 19 months without them.

“Hello Lover…”

I did a little interview with Superhero Hype about Black Widow if you’re interested in hearing me ramble EVEN MORE (but it does also have some gorgeous BW 10 preview pages too).

I got a fair amount of reading done while “away” including a few comics. I’m still head over heels for James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez, and Jordie Bellaire’s NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE - it’s currently on issue #3 and if you’re dragging your feet to read it, I suggest you…stop doing that. It’s excellent.

I also, with much sadness, read what looks like the end of Rainbow Rowell’s exceptional RUNAWAYS run. Issue #38 (legacy issue #100) came out today and it’s glorious…but obviously bittersweet. I love that Rowell gave us this wonderful final issue that both wrapped many things up, but also set the characters up for all new adventures. I hope someone will get to pick up where she left off an tell more great stories with these incredible characters. Shout outs to Kris Anka, Andres Genolet, Matthew Wilson, Dee Cunnife, Joe Caramagna, and Nick Lowe who poured so much love and passion into this book, I’m so grateful to them all. <3

Also, I appreciate the Jeff The Landshark shout out…I don’t know that it actually IS a shout out, but I am choosing to believe that Molly is OBVIOUSLY wearing a Jeff The Landshark beanie and I am here for it:

JEFF! Art by Andres Genolet, colors by Dee Cunnife.

I also read Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani’s I AM NOT STARFIRE and really enjoyed it. It’s getting a lot of flack from the exact people and places you’d expect, but it’s a terrific little coming of age story that deals very honestly with a mother and daughter that feel they couldn’t be more different. It gets bonus points for being nicely diverse and including a lovely LGBT burgeoning romance. The story is quite simple and a little bit predictable, but I think that’s exactly what a YA book like this should be - it IS aimed at younger readers - those going through these same kind of growing pains - and given that context, I think it’s sort of perfect. If I’d found a book like this when I was 13 it would have been EVERYTHING to me. Full of heart and hope and even though it’s not necessarily superhero forward, the soul of superhero themes beats powerfully within.

Interior spread from I Am Not Starfire, art by Yoshi Yoshitani.

TED LASSO is back. Finally. The too pure comedy that I NEED in these dark times. Brett Goldstein’s Roy Kent is the grouchy foul-mouthed good guy of my dreams.

A still from a Taskmaster episode that I have not seen yet!

Adam and I have been really enjoying TASKMASTER. I don’t know if any of you guys know about this Brit game show, but we’ve been watching it on Youtube after a friend’s recommendation and we’re really obsessed with it. It’s a sometimes very clever (and sometimes quite dumb) “game show” that has a guest panel of 5 comedians (new each season) competing in tasks. Tasks range from the very simple (eat as many peas as you can in 100 seconds!) to very complex. The show is often very funny, and sometimes very clever, and yeah, we’re enjoying the hell out of it. It’s been a really nice respite from the real world. Check it out if you dig that kind of thing.

Last week we went to our first theater movie in something like 17 (?) months to see THE GREEN KNIGHT.

I did not care for it. Which surprised me. There was a lot to like about it, especially in the risks it took, which I appreciated, but ultimately I didn’t connect to anything and it - characters or concepts - and thus it was a real disappointment. And now with all the Covid spikes, I guess that will be my last theater movie for a bit. Boo. :(

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UPCOMING RELEASES

I stole this section from my pal Ed Brisson’s newsletter, because it already feels like SO much promotion of my own stuff in these newsletters that I wanted to give a quick hitlist of what to look for while keeping it a bit less excessively promo-y if that makes sense. So we’re gonna try something like this:

• Captain Marvel #31 - 8/11/21

• Black Widow #10 - 8/25/21

• Captain Marvel #32 - 91/21

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CATS!

These are my two favorite photos of the boys that our amazing house sitter Steve took while we were away:

I love when they stick just one limb out.

so handsome and polite. mostly.

All right. Back to work with me. I hope you all have lovely days and weeks. Please be kind when possible and put on a damn mask this crap is all still very very scary. Protect yourself and those you love. <3

Kelly