TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE November/22 - Insert algorithm for successful heist movie here
Also: SPEED REPUBLIC needs your peepers for the preorder campaign!
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Little.
Just working through little things. Polished a pitch, sent it off. Got, I think, 3 active in the hands of people right now. Gotta just wait and see and hope and know it’ll work out. Nothing greenlit for next year, but the wheel turns, grinding me under it, but if my destination is to tunnel underground, then I guess it’s all working, right :]
Plucking at the strings for this little ZineQuest fantasy RPG zine I’ll Kickstart early next year.
Also plucking a different tune for a different Kickstarter, for the graphic novel Louie Joyce and I are releasing and the art on this one just keeps coming in better and better. I’m over the moon with this book, and am gonna hustle really hard to get the world’s spotlight on Louie Joyce’s art.! I’ve got some good little ideas for the Kickstarter on this one, so will continue pickling my brain now so I get it right next year.
But mostly, I’ll be honest, the last fortnight has seen me mark over 100,000 words of work, so I’m a little fried. I take my moments to relax, to read, to stay energised and enthusiastic. I’ve realised in the past month I’ve been in a good place mentally, not hounded by bullshit from the same moment my hand reaches for the alarm in the morning, and it’s nice to reflect in how good it feels. Been a long time since I last felt this way, so much like I try to appreciate when my neck isn’t actively sore or restricting my movement, I’m quietly basking in the glow of a brain not actively setting out to destroy each day.
So, while I feel bad I haven’t lined up my next miniseries greenlight, for cash money, I will force myself to reflect and then admit that things are pretty good.
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Look, what, a new comic from me! Speed Republic coming in February!
It’s officially in Previews and you can tell your local comic shop about it - SPEED REPUBLIC #1 launches my next miniseries with artist Emanuele Parascandolo, colourist Michele Monte, letter Joamette Gil, and through Mad Cave Studios.
I’ve long given you the drum about preordering comics, shops know what they can sell, they’ll preorder a few for the shelves, etc, etc. But now there’s an added wrinkle - international paper shortages. Who knew we’d eventually run out of this finite resource???
It seems there’s some issue at present with publishers being able to do second printings of comics, especially in any timely fashion, so the impetus is further on preorders so we know how many to print from the outset so no one misses out. It’s good to wander in and buy a comic, but it’s god-tier to preorder and have it set aside for you.
So, I hope you know how to email your comic shop and politely ask them to preorder all issues of SPEED REPUBLIC as they come out. Here are the details you need:
This crazy future race across Europe to find prosperity and hope is a really wild ride, and I centre character and heart through it all. It’s kinda unlike most other things I’ve done, so if you’re looking for a new angle on RKL stories, this would be a good one to buy in on.
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Tried to explain NFTs to my wife.
I explained the concept in very lay terms, mostly because I also don’t understand the intricacies of it all, but I didn’t even get to the environmental damage before she stopped me and didn’t understand.
“Are you sure? That doesn’t make sense?”
That’s the response to me explaining that people aren’t buying the art, they’re buying a link to it and a certificate of exclusivity, but everyone else can just right-click copy it from the sale site.
She straight up didn’t believe me. Because that’s how stupid NFTs are, as an actual thing. Forget the moral high ground people take about the environmental impact, or the art theft run rampant, whatever - the core concept is just insanely silly.
I saw yesterday that Marvel are selling NFTs of digital action figures, and people are racing to buy them, even though one was being sold as a limited edition of a finite number, but that number was more than 1. I then saw someone say it’s not that far from buying Fortnight skins, but at least those are something you can use. That I get, I see why that happens, but this is just...so ethereal as to be insane to my brain.
I’d say, power to you if it’s your thing, but knowing they’re also shitty for the environment just does my head in.
Also: if NFTs and Bitcoin are so cool, then why do they clog up my spam folder every day? Comics doesn’t need to do that, because comics are legitimately cool. The only crap in my spam folder is stuff trying to fleece money from it, and there’s a ton of crypto-spam getting deleted, just saying.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
ADVENTURE ILLUSTRATED #2 on Kickstarter - an absolute mint Aussie comics anthology series, you gotta check this out!
OLD MAN RUFUS comic on Kickstarter - it’s been impressive to see Darren Close turn his Killeroo comic series into a titanic publishing force on Kickstarter. He’s out with this latest dystopian tale of his warrior kangaroo man, and it looks like everything you want from those words. But mostly I just get a rush out of seeing comic people, especially Aussies, taking the world into their own hands, finding their audience, and making a way to get their comics out there. It’s inspiring, energising, and just awesome.
PRODUCING THE END OF THE WORLD comic anthology on Kickstarter - an Aussie helmed anthology that looks really damn cool. Help get this one across the line.
GORILLA MY DREAMS: TEAM UP #1 on Kickstarter - and yet another Aussie comic on Kickstarter - it’s a revolution. Plus, this is from good mate Big Tim Stiles, and it’s his comic which is still in my top 10 Aussie comics of all time, the crazy noir post-superhero madness of Gorilla My Dreams. 100% get all up on this.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
TOO MUCH LIP by Melissa Lucashenko - this tale of crime and family set amongst a Bundjalung family in the far NSW coast was a bloody ripper to read. The narrative itself clips along, continually drawing me back to the chair to read more, but I found I was really invested in the characters. I wanted to know where Kerry Salter, the returning daughter, would end up by the final page, but I also wanted to know about the rest of her mob. An insightful balance of drama, heart, and thrills from the Indigenous writer who brought an honest eye to life for this fictional Indigenous family. There are also two little twists in the final pages of this book that had me audibly exclaiming. Both well established from very early in the book, and they left me so satisfied.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY by James M. Cain - never read any Cain, so have dived into this one and am nearly halfway through and it’s so stripped back that’s it’s like reading a crime reporter’s take on a misdeed, or maybe an electric chair confessional. The flow is good, some light description, some action, and then rapid dialogue barely set apart with speaking verbs. As far as taut writing goes, it’s perfect - I’m completely in for the ride, and have to build my judgements of the main character through his choices and not what he tells me is in his thoughts. I mean, it’s a lot like real life, you judge a person on their deeds, not words. I’m dying to finish it because I’ve never seen the flick and have purposefully never let myself get spoiled, so I wanna know exactly how this is going to unravel.
RED NOTICE - a Netflix heist flick with Ryan Reynolds, Gal Godot, and Dwayne Johnson. It’s like an algorithm created this for the peepers, and it’s like an algorithm wrote the script, but be damned if the algorithm doesn’t exist for a reason - it delivers on what it knows you want. I want to watch Reynolds quip, and the Rock smolder, and Godot is given ever-increasingly intricate and skimpy swimsuits to wear. That male gaze aspect of her role is strong enough to be cringeworthy, to be honest, especially because I didn’t get enough of the balanced out shots of the bodies of the two fellas, but I guess the algorithm knows where to draw the line.
You won’t see this vying for any Oscars, but you will see most people watching it as it’s a narrative form of shutting down your brain akin to watching some Real Housewives of [insert city here]. I will say, though, the ending fell flat for me in that it felt like one last element was missing. Like, the algorithm is a formula, and so was this script, which I expected, but then I still expected just one more thing.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
In two weeks, I’ll be in Sydney for Oz Comic Con. The weekend after that, Canberra has the Geek Markets. It’s going to be nice to sell some comics again, and it's going to be amazing to buy some comics again.
I’m dying to buy some indie comics and enjoy the scene again. And, yes, also to sell. I’m no fool :]
I’ll be stressed about Covid, I’ll mask up, hand sanitise constantly, and keep my distance. But I’m also fully vaxxed, as is like 97% of the ACT, and Australia is looking very good overall for these numbers, so I’ll try not to have it cloud my brain.
Hopefully I’ll see some of you there - I have a lot of comics just waiting to hit the table.