So. We’re gonna try doing this weekly.
It’s maybe gonna be too much…or maybe it will be baby-bear-just-right-style? I don’t even know, guys. I just know that making it more regular (I’m gonna aim for Tuesdays) seems like the best way to keep it going and not have it be a thing I forget to do after three months? I’m still going to try to make each shorter, even though so far that’s a big failure. But hope, she springs eternal!
We’ve also added two exciting categories to the contents this week including one that we borrowed >cough< stole >cough< from the lovely Ed Brisson’s terrific newsletter that has a section featuring his cat Lasagna. And how can we not do that here? So every week we’ll have a new photo of Ed’s cat Lasagna.
I wish. Instead it will be MY cats, who are cool but also somehow not as cool as Lasanga? Foiled again!
Has anyone noticed I’ve been saying WE a lot? Like I’m doing some sort of ROYAL WE thing? I don’t know what’s up with that, but I’m going to choose to think of it as either A) This newsletter has made me so drunk with power that I now think I’m a monarch or B) I’m including you all as part of my process…it isn’t MY newsletter, it’s OURS. You get me? The latter is nicer to imagine, so let’s go with that.
This Week!!! <— important because it has THREE exclamation points
Other Times!
Announcements!
Sneak Peeks!
What I’m Doing!
Q&A!
CATS!
THIS WEEK!!!
Out TOMORROW (6/9/21) is my issue of Black Hammer: Visions (issue #5). This is with my Hawkeye reunited dream team - Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire - and we had an absolute blast playing in Jeff Lemire’s rich and gorgeous Black Hammer world. I urge you all to pick it up. You can read it on its own, but it’s obviously an experience enhanced by reading other Black Hammer stories, especially the terrific Skulldigger mini-series by Jeff Lemire and Tonci Zonjic.
OTHER TIMES!
Captain Marvel #29 is out 6/23/21. Finally! If you’re having trouble waiting I did an interview with CBR that went up today and includes a bunch of gorgeous art from issues 29 and 30!
Black Widow #8 is out 6/30/21. The internet is telling me that second printings of issue #6 are already sold out/selling out…so you really need to add this one to your pull list if you’re able so you never miss an issue!
And then the new edition of HEART IN A BOX, my first creator-owned work (and my first comics work period!) is out 7/14/21!
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Nothing I can announce right now I’m afraid. I hope to have something landshark-shaped more officially announced soon…and two other things that are SO COOL (only one is a new comic book)…but for now:
SNEAK PEEKS!
Not much I can show (although there are technically two sneak peeks already in this missive!), but here’s a shot from the forthcoming Captain Marvel #29 and one from Black Widow #8!
I WILL be updating my online store next week - I don’t have a ton of stuff, but it will include a few Black Widow and Captain Marvel trades that I haven’t had previously, some more Hawkeye: Go West, and a selection of floppies. Maybe we’ll throw a discount code in there as well if I’m feeling saucy.
WHAT I’M DOING!
Recently finished Mare of Eassttown (HBO) and it was terrific. Just across the board Adam and I loved it. I could have watched 100 episodes. In fairness, it hits all my favorite ideas/themes/genre almost like it was tailor made for me…plus Kate Winslet! So it was sure to be a winner. But highly recommended if you like great detective/PI stories and enjoy a slower (but deeper!) burn.
We also recently consumed The Leftovers (HBO), which most of my comic book writer friends love, and I fucking HATED. So that’s fun.
Nothing makes you doubt yourself so much as being out of step with colleagues and friends you admire and respect. Good times!
Adam and I have just started the new season of Alone (History Channel) and even though we were both not sure we were feeling super into it, we were immediatly hooked. Helped that there were goddamn grizzly bears AND mountain lions in the first episode. Yikes!
Onto comics. My reading pile is monstrous. I always have so much I have to read for research and that plus just keeping abreast of Marvel stuff means that I am always painfully behind. But I read James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, and Jordie Bellaire’s A Nice House On The Lake #1 (DC BLACK LABEL) this weekend and it blew my mind. It was everything I wanted to read in a first issue and it made me more than a little jealous that I didn’t get there first…which sounds petty but is truly one of the highest compliments I can pay to another creator. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend doing so immediately.
Q&A!
You guys didn’t have many questions last week, so this feature may go the way of the dodo bird, despite your professed excitement. Only YOU can save it! No Pressure. ;D
FROM - JACKI (APPLEJ) - Really important question here: How do Shark-Girl and Jeff feel about each other? Kindred spirits or super unimpressed, like one of them is giving sharks a bad name?
I’m sorry to say I don’t have a good answer to this…but I do know now that I want to write it! Going into my pile of things I gotta figure out a way to do someday! Thanks, Jacki!
CATS!
My boys, for those of you that don’t follow me on Instagram (which is wall to wall cat photos), are Clive Warren (Grey Stripe) and The Monarch (Honey/Orange). They are brothers from the same litter and we adopted them almost exactly 4 years ago from a terrific woman in Oregon named Sheila who fosters lots of cats/kittens. Anyway, they rule my whole entire life. And I’m not even joking. Though they are 4 years old now, for their first appearance in the newsletter, let’s do one of their first day photos:
Okay, my lambs, I think that’s it. Next week, hopefully shorter…maybe that should be our call to arms…NEXT WEEK, HOPEFULLY SHORTER!
In the meantime, read more comics and be good to each other. <3
Kelly
Oh no we have to save the Q and A section?? 😵😵😵 uhhhhh .... ok here's a few 1) since you're writing both BW and CM will there ever be an arc/issue where they take over each other's titles? 2) Or at least cameo in them? 3) [depending on how this next arc goes] is there any chance Amora shows up/gets invited to Carol's next group hangout? <you know, just to make things awkward/interesting?> and 4. Will Nat and Yelena's new charge be a permanent addition to the cast or is this arc really it?
Wait I didn’t know we could leave questions every issue! I saw your tweet were you shared that Black Widow is greenlit up to issue 15 so far! That’s awesome and you deserve it so much!! Are you allow to share with us how far off is Captain Marvel greenlit as of now? You deserve that 50 issue milestone and that 51 issue record more than anyone!
Your fur babies are adorable! I have been feeding the stray cats on my street all lockdown and even got most of them sprayed by now! I also adopted a kitten from one of their litters late last year.