Hello Friends,
My laptop died and I had to get it repaired in the last week of my warranty, and I have to say, I’m a little embarrassed how much not being able to work from a coffee shop threw a wrench in my routine. But, we’re fully back and ready to start swinging, so let’s get to it!
What We’re Working On:
We have a small break in our normal production schedule, so we decided to try something new! We’ve been talking about this for a while, but we finally launched our Modern Affirmations Enamel Pin campaign over on BackerKit. We’ve got 6 really fun designs to remind you that life is weird and you’re doing your best with it. So far, the reception has been really good and we’re already 40% of the way to our goal. Given the scale of the project (small), every backer is incredibly siginificant toward hitting our goal, so if you like the designs, consider backing! It helps a ton!
As I’m sure you’ve seen already, we launched the first two chapters of In the Pines right here on Substack and I’m curious what you all think about it so far! It’s still early, but Kayla and Sarah have been with me for so long, it’s hard to imagine what someone reading about them for the first time thinks about them. If you’re reading along, sound off and tell me your impressions in the comments!
Smut enjoyers rejoice! We’re almost all the way through inks on Smut #1 and are looking for covers and a launch date for issue #2. This comic has been such a joy to work on and I’m loving how good it looks and how well it’s turning out! If you didn’t get this first issue, you’ll definitely want to join for the next.
Frankenstein the Unconquered #3 and #4 have had a rough development cycle, but we’re over the hump and headed toward the last pages of inks, which means Frank #5 is on the horizon! The epic conclusion of the series is gonna be brutal and cathartic and I cannot wait! So much so, I think I’m gonna have to give you a sneak peek of one of the covers. This one comes from a bit of a recent indie darling and, while I can’t show you the full cover because I’m in a coffee shop and I might get in trouble for public indecency, this should give you an idea of the tone of the last issue!
Finally, I want to talk a moment to introduce a new script I’m writing. It’s something I’ve wanted to tackle for a while, the idea of a modern witch, specifically based on what historical witches were and how they operated in society. Putting aside the Halloween monster idea of a witch, there was a real life profession that amounted to a witch: A woman that makes medicine, tells your fortune, does midwifery, sex work, tells you when to sow and reap your crops and when to rest based on the cycle of the moon, etc. It confers a huge amount of social and political power in the hands of women (which recontextualizes what the witch hunts were all about) and has fascinated me for a long time.
So, I finally started writing a story about Alice and Scarlet, a modern working witch and her assisstant, and what they do for the community they live in. Also, what happens when a frightened woman shows up at their door, scared that her boyfriend might be possessed by a demon. It’s gonna be a lot of fun and I hope I get to start showing you concept art and covers soon!
Upcoming Conventions:
Capital City Comic Con (Lansing, MI) — July 12-14: Getting super excited for this one, I’m leading my first panel and stocking up on books! If you’re in the Midwest/Michigan/Lansing area, I hope you make it out!
Rose City Comic Con (Portland, OR) — September 6-8: Okay, we’re wait listed on this one, but I REALLY want to get in, so this is more of a manifestation thing! Last time I was in Portland, it was right before I met my wife, so maybe the next time I go it’ll be right before I land a big deal with Image or something!
Baltimore Comic Con (Baltimore, MD) — September 20-22: Alex Breen and I are going to Balitmore! This will be, by far, the largest con I’ve ever tabled at (excluding Rose City, if we get to go), and I can’t wait to introduce MechaTon and Frankenstein to the East Coast!
St. Louis Comic Con (St. Louis, MO) — October 5-6: Ah, St. Louis. Home away from home. Really excited to get to come back to this city and hang out with my Comic Book Yeti fam. Also, you know, sell books to my awkward Midwest/Southern middle children! If you’re in Arkansas, I’d love to see you make the trek (but I totally don’t blame you if you can’t make it!).
What We’re Reading:
(Wells’s Pick) I’ve referenced this one a lot in promoting Smut, but I only ever read an issue or two of the actual comic, so I figured I should correct this problem and sit down with the first volume of Giant Days. Then I sat down with the next couple of volumes as well because OH MY GOD this book is addictive!
Giant Days is a comic that’s difficult to summarize in a traditional way because it doesn’t really have a plot, and describing what happens and how shapeless it is runs the risk of making the book seem sloppy and ill-formed. Make no mistake, this book is about characters and vibes, but that doesn’t hold it back in any meaningful way.
Following the University experience of three quirky friends, Susan, Esther, and Daisy, Giant Days doesn’t have a grand design or overarching plot, at least not one that its in any hurry to reveal or develop. Instead, it’s the episodic, free flowing drama of three highly animated characters that aren’t searching for anything specific, besides maybe the general idea of dating someone, and that only occasionally drives the story. Mostly it’s what actually happens in college: dealing with whatever’s in front of you and trying not to drown in homework.
Where this book thrives is in the moment to moment interactions between the characters and the highly expressive art style that allows big emotions to arise from small moments. It’s kind of hard to describe what any of that means, but it’s self evident the moment you start reading the book for yourself. Beyond just being a cozy, slice of life, elevated webcomic, Giant Days captures a spirit of youthful naivety and spontaneous sisterhood that needs to be experienced to be understood.
It’s a book that asks you to change the way you approach taking in a story, or at least that’s what it did for me. Enjoyers of sitcoms, which are by design shapeless and episodic, will be rolling their eyes at my hapless reaching to express what to them is very obvious, but I always liked How I Met Your Mother more than Friends because the former always felt like it was going somewhere and the later never did. Giant Days is like the comic version of Friends (only funny (burn)), and that made me hesitant to get into it fully for a long time, but it’s so worth the investment if that style of storytelling is something you can get behind!
(Dalton’s Pick) I haven’t been shy about my love for the work of Michel Fiffe. His art is expressive and experimental and energetic and the childhood wonder of comics permeates every page he touches. I’ve sung the praises of his flagship series Copra in this newsletter before, but now Fiffe has deigned to share his studio secrets with us.
Michel Fiffe’s Creating Copra: The Definitive DIY Guide to Making and Self-Publishing Comics is a book I would have treated as sacred text when I was younger. Though there were similar books like So You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist? that I read and re-read voraciously, it was only surface-level advice you would pick up at your local Scholasitc Bookfair (which, fair, I was 11).
Creating Copra is intended to be a complete guide to creating comics from the ground up (at least, how Fiffe does it). Broken down into chapters concerning plotting, writing, layouts, penciling, lettering, inking, and coloring, Fiffe goes step by step through his process. Each chapter is packed to the gills with personal anecdotes, visual aids, and clear guidelines that Fiffe follows while he brings every issue of his action-packed opus to life.
But lest you think Fiffe is just going to be breaking down the creative process of Copra Press, there are two chapters devoted solely to the self-publishing experience. Printing labels, shipping, online orders, making friends with postal services and comic stores, it’s all here. This is truly meant to encapsulate what it means to make comics as a one-man show.
I wish I had had this book when I was a kid. Hell, I wish I had had something like this when I was 25. It would’ve been such a boon to have this at the start of our comics careers but having it now feels like a new chapter is right around the corner.
Creating Copra is mandatory reading for anyone interested in not only the art of independent comics but the business of independent publishing. While you may not be the auteur cartoonist that handles every aspect of every page, you owe it to yourself to study each piece from a master of the craft.
Cocktail of the Month
The modern cocktail revolution, oddly enough, owes a lot to a show from the 2000s called Sex and the City. I’m assuming most of you didn’t really watch it when it was on, I was certainly to young for its target demographic of 20-40 year old women, but doubtless you’re vaguely familiar with the name, premise, and influence of the show on pop culture. The characters, as I understand it, very often found themselves in a bar in the late afternoon/early evening ordering what was then an obscure little drink called the Cosmopolitan.
This translated to an EXPLOSION of the drinks popularity and a renewed interest in the cocktail as a social experience that persists to this day—before this, the cocktail scene had been fairly stagnant for decades and this was exactly the kind of interest bartenders needed to start pushing the form again. So, let’s talk about the drink that paid my bills for years while I was trying to get someone to notice that I can write words good (on occasion). Let’s talk about the Cosmopolitan.
Recipe:
2oz Vodka
3/4oz Orange Liquor (Cointreau or Dry Curacao is preferred)
3/4oz lime juice
1/2oz Cranberry juice
Shake and double strain into a coup or diva glass, garnish with a lemon twist
Like most things popular with women, a lot of people turn their nose up to the Cosmopolitan, labelling it as basic and worthy of derision (see Pumpkin Spice Lattes and the genre of Supernatureal Young Adult Fantasy Novels as further examples of this phonomenon). However, the cocktail does a lot of really interesting, sophisticated things with its ingredients, balancing sweetness, tart, and acidity of its juices and liquors perfectly while smartly avoiding overcomplicating the drink by basing it with vodka instead of gin or rum. It’s the perfect drink for a young socialit looking to drink casually at the beginning of a fun night out, which is why it was so often featured in the show. I recommend ordering it the next time your out, and if the bartender rolls their eyes, it might be a good indication you need to get a better bartender, one that understands that without this drink, they may not have a job at all.
Adventures in Cat Ownership
I wanted to highlight a buddy of mine’s cats because they have a few quirks that bring me an infinite amount of joy. Meet Alex Breen’s wonderful tabby girl, Edamame:
Edamame is super friendly and always gets really excited whenever I come visit. She’s lithe and bouncy and there’s so much I could talk about with her, but the reason I’m bringing her to your attention is very specific: She LOVES coffee!
Now, I want to be clear, she does not drink the coffee, that would be dangerous and potentially harmful. But, if you know Alex (go follow him on Twitter @A__Breen), you know that he’s a fiend for coffee at any time of the day. Edamame, desperate to be the center of attention, now gets excited any time coffee is brewed and, like Alex himself, has something of a reaction to the smell of the glorious stuff.
As such, when presented with freshly brewed coffee, Edemame will lovingly smell the air and begin pawing around the bowl in an expression of joy I can’t quite describe without just showing you (if only I had a full video!).
It’s extremely precious and I recommend that you go pester Alex for video evidence of this behavior. It’s great!
That’s all for now! See you next time!
Wells Thompson