THE CULL #2 - COVERS!

Things have been wild over here — busy writing BIRDS OF PREY and IT’S JEFF SEASON 3 and prepping both THE CULL #2 and BLACK CLOAK #6 for their August releases, and I’ve also been busy pulling together the BLACK CLOAK VOLUME ONE trade and it is looking SO BEAUTIFUL.

Huge thanks to Rian for digging in with me this weekend and pulling off some gorgeous stuff that feels just right for everything BLACK CLOAK. If any of you intend to pick up the trade, I think you’ll be pleased. I’ve also been trying to finish off two big pitches (as always, my own personal hell, pitches)… but I don’t want to bore you with any of that… I want to show off THE CULL #2 COVERS!

Which I should have shown off a few weeks ago — but see above re: wildness!

So here we go:

Mattia’s A Cover:

Tula Lotay’s B Cover:

And as I mentioned before, Tula is doing the B Covers for all 5 issues (well, on issue 1 she’s the H Cover, but otherwise she’s the “B Cover”) and they’re CONNECTING COVERS (and they’re gorgeous!)

Below you can see a mock up of the first two together. Looking at this you can see a difference between these connecting and the one above… and I’m actually not sure which is correct as we went back and forth a bit and well, they’re both beautiful so…I don’t know, who cares?

Andrew J Seles’ C Cover:

Okay. Quick post today ‘cause I have to get back to all that other stuff I mentioned, but if you’re planning to get THE CULL #1 in print, make sure to tell your shops — FOC for issue 1 is MONDAY 7/24/23.

THE CULL will be available in its entirety here on the Substack, as promised, we will be turning the paywall back on before THE CULL goes up. And I’ll be attempting to grandfather in those of you that subscribed for a yearly (or higher) membership in year one — but I am preparing for a few bumps in the road on that front. It’s worth noting that the plan is for there to be ADDITIONAL content along with THE CULL… I’m working hard to get that ready for you. Everyone cross ‘em if you got ‘em. ;D

Those of you that are FOUNDERS will be getting your rare variant Founders Edition (two copies for each of you). We have not debuted that art yet, but will soon. Those packages will hopefully go out in mid-August (trying hard to get better about my shipping — I hate it and so does my knee! lol)

Like we did with BLACK CLOAK, we’ve offered up some promotional packages to retailers (mostly US shops) that include 11x17 signed double-sided posters and postcards and vinyl stickers — so keep your eyes peeled — some shops will probably give them out to people subscribing to the book — you might be able to grab something fun (and free).

We’ve really had to hold off on talking (or showing) too much about THE CULL because the first issue is very hard to talk about while still protecting your reading experience — but now that we’re finally at the finish line — expect lots more THE CULL talk and sneak peeks — full media blitz! ;D

Speaking of media blitz — we got all these incredible quotes from all your favorite pros and I’ll be spreading them around over the next few weeks — first up is the epic GAIL SIMONE:

Yessssss. Thank you, Gail!

Oh. Twitter. Yeah, it’s broken as hell, man. I’m not doing Threads, but I am pretty hopeful (despite some recent alarming setbacks) about Bluesky. So I’m over there if you want to follow me — I’d love to see you: https://bsky.app/profile/kellythompson.bsky.social

I’m still on a bunch of others too (Spoutible, Post, Hive) but Bluesky is definitely the one that seems the most promising, fingers crossed they can stop fucking it up. I’m also still on Instagram and Tumblr. Ugh. No wonder we’re all so tired. Also, if you’re here and reading this, it’s LITERALLY the best option for us staying in touch and connected — so if this is all you follow me on, it’s enough.

And honestly? THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME ANY WHERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. <3

Okay, I really gotta run now, but more soon!

Oh. SUPPORT UNIONS! SUPPORT STRIKING WORKERS!

<3

Kelly