Hello Everyone!
Fall is here! To commemorate the occasion, my wife whisked me away to the mysterious land of Wisconsin to pick apples and drink hard cider (which I highly recommend). As such, I didn’t get this out last week when I was supposed to. Oops! Well, strap in, we’ve got a lot to talk about.
What We’re Working On!
Frankenstein the Unconquered returns with the series finale! After dealing with a broken hand and all the normal obstacles of making a comic, issues #3 and #4 are finally complete and we’re ready to take to Kickstarter with issue #5! This idea has been with us since we first started making comics WAAAAAY back in 2018 and we’re super excited to finally bring it to a satisfying climax. We’ve already got over 120 followers on the campaign page and we’d love to have an explosive start to the campaign. Sign up now if you haven’t already!
Smut #1 is also at the printer as we speak and we’re hard at work on Smut #2, which we hope to debut before the end of the year! Bianca has been pumping out some preview pages and we’ve got our covers all lined up (and they are too spicy for this newsletter!). This project was super important to me during a time when I was facing a deep depression and a lot of adversity and it makes me so happy to see how much people are enjoying it. If you missed the boat on Smut #1, it’s not too late, you can still preorder the book before it ships!
Finally, I’d like to take a moment to draw attention to someone else in the community. Alex Breen has been a good friend and colleague for a while now, he showed me hospitality when I first moved to Chicago and has been a stalwart companion in this weird journey we call making comics. As such, I wanted to shine a light on his baby: From Within, a massive 240 page martial arts comic that Alex has been talking about and producing for as long as I’ve known him. The whole thing is available on Kickstarter right now and I’d like to encourage you to check out the book and support it if it’s your jam. Alex is an uncommonly good writer and I always look forward to reading his stories. Eventually, the rest of the community is going to catch up, but for now, he could use every set of eyes he can get!
Convention Schedule
Indie Comix Expo 2 (Chicago, IL) — September 26 (TODAY): Another smaller, local con in Chicago headed up by some really incredible local voices! I enjoy the vibe of a one day show, it’s high energy, a lot of fun, and leaves you wanting more.
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!).
Lafayette Comic Con (Lafayette, IN) — October 26: It’s a small show, but one I really enjoy. If you’re a small town Midwestern comics lover, it’s the perfect place to come meet me and show your support!
What We’re Reading Now:
(Wells’s Pick) Basilisk might be a perfect comic and I’m not mad about it. Like all of Cullen Bunn’s projects, it’s exceptionally well written with a compelling hook and well defined, motivated characters. Big whoop, what really makes it interesting is that, like David Fincher’s Se7en, Basilisk takes a trite premise for a story and makes it gripping, complex, and impossible to put down.
After an entire town is slaughtered by five people gifted with supernatural abilities based on the five senses (told you it was a trite premise), the lone survivor seeks revenge on those responsible despite overwhelming odds. All the while, the “family” of super powerful psychopaths known as The Chimera builds a cult following called “The Faithful” to carry out their bidding and wreak havoc on whatever small towns they come across. The hunt seems hopeless until Regan, who kills anyone that looks in her eyes, defects from The Chimera and seeks atonement for her crimes.
That kind of breakdown doesn’t really do justice to how distinct each character, plot twist, and moment of humanity really is. There’s a version of this book that is campy and insubstantial and that belongs in a dollar bin collecting dust, but that is not the version that we got. Bunn and Jonas Scharf create a highly textured, enthralling world of violence, power, ruthlessness, and regret that is rarely seen even in the most serious of dramas.
I’m biased toward talking about story as a writer, but I also can’t over emphasize the incredible art that carries the vision of this story. Scharf stylizes the comic so effectively whether it’s each characters distinctive designs or the flashback sequences which blur and smudge the line art so they feel out of time and slipping away. Or gore, oh my God, can this man draw gore better than almost any artist I’ve ever witnessed.
There are not enough words to properly praise this comic and I implore you to go check it out. It’s got two volumes (8 issues) out so far and you should be able to find/order it at any comic shop in the country. Do not miss out on Basilisk!
Cocktail of the Month
Let’s dig into some history, yeah? Lots of people drink Old Fashioneds, but most don’t know what the drink even is or how it got it’s name. Don’t worry, I’ll save the full history for after the recipe, but I wanted to take a look at a variation on an Old Fashioned that is, in a way, actually older and more traditional than the Old Fashioned itself. Let’s talk about the Sazerac.
Recipe:
1 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (or Cognac)
1 sugar cube (or 1/4 oz simple syrup, 1/2 if you desire a sweeter drink)
3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Absinthe Rinse
Lemon Peel
Dash the bitters on top of the sugar cube and muddle until fully crushed, add your base liquor and some ice to stir. Rinse a fresh, frozen glass with absinthe and discard before pouring in your cocktail. Express a lemon peel and enjoy without ice!
There’s more than a centuries worth of debate about the “proper” way to make this drink, so I’m using this recipe because it’s the standard of the Sazerac company (personally, I prefer it with the syrup and, as detailed below, think that’s probably closer to the truest expression of the cocktail, but regardless). In the 1800s, a cocktail was made using four ingredients: a spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. Ice was uncommon to find basically anywhere and syrups hadn’t really been in wide use until the turn of the century, at which point, this cocktail was standardized and named. As a result, “Manly men” would complain about newfangled cocktails with their syrups and their add-ins and request “a cocktail made in the old fashioned way.” And that is how the Old Fashioned got its name!
Adventures in Cat Ownership!
Did you know cats miss you when you’re gone? I went to Baltimore Comic Con last weekend and Brianna kept me informed on how dramatic my girls were being. Apparently they hounded her everyday demanding to know where I was being kept. I’m fine, it didn’t break me or anything…
They’re such babies. Don’t worry, I gave them lots of love and attention the second I got home!
Talk soon!
Wells Thompson