Updates
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Comics Newsletters/Blogs
Last week saw the release of w0rldtr33 #12 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire and myself, from Image Comics.
There was the delightful news that our books Spectregraph and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos were nominated for the GLAAD award for outstanding comic book, along with James’s book The Nice House by the Sea, with Alvaro, Jordie and Andworld Design.
Finally, The Fables of Erlking Wood has been printed and is being shipped to Goats Flying Press to begin fulfilment. Here’s some pictures of the regular edition as well as the limited black, white and gold edition:
In writing, I’m now 12 pages into SEASIDE (which I’ll remind you is a working title – we’ll be announcing the title and the book eventually). This week, I realised that I’d been aiming to finish the first draft by the end of March, but I had no idea what my pace needed to be for that to happen. So I calculated backwards, and assuming the book lands somewhere between 120-130 pages, I need to write 12 pages per week, which is a decent rate. The beginning was, of course, slower, because we need to get a whole lot done in the first 4-8 pages, so I had to rewrite these a bunch, diagram them on paper, and then write them again. But the next batch of pages has been coming much easier, and I’ll keep a tally in this newsletter. (I thought about keeping a tally on BlueSky, as I used to do back in the Twitter days, but that’s a tad too public. This is fine.)
SEASIDE page count as of 25/01/2025: 12/120
Links for the week:
- K sent me this delightful preview of Sasuke, a photobook by Masahisa Fukase, dedicated to his cats.
- Various fellow directors, friends and fans remember David Lynch.
- Ken Grace of Lingwistics on pluralia tantum – words that only occur in the plural form, e.g. trousers, cattle &c.
- Here’s a great recent interview with my friend Deniz Camp.
- I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Eggers’s lecture on screenwriting, where he talks about the features I love about his writing – research, authenticity, and the willingness to take historical people on their own terms rather than modernising them.
- Some links on Hindu India, since this is something that is becoming more relevant as India’s slide to the right continues – Raghu Karnad on Savarkar and the rise of the Hindutva ideology.
- I enjoy Useful Charts quite a bit – their channel was indispensable back in 2020 when I was reading the Bible. Here’s their video on Hindu denominations, which doubles up as a potted history of Hinduism. This is particularly relevant as our ideologues attempt to rewrite history to position Hinduism as an ancient religion, which it isn’t. There are some minor errors (e.g. it’s the “Atharva Veda”, not the “Atharveda”) and gaps (though these are a function of brevity and subjectivity), but it gives a good overview on the origins and development of what eventually became Hinduism.
- I’m still making my way through it, but a relevant read for anyone interested would be Gods, Guns and Missionaries, a political history of Hinduism by Manu S. Pillai, whom I find an even-handed and readable writer. I might have linked to it before, but his lengthy podcast interview with Amit Varma is a great primer on the subject.
There appears to be a new exodus from social media, because of Reasons, so I thought I’d list some of my favourite comics newsletters/blogs if you want an alternative way to stay connected to comics (or just want to follow some cool newsletters).
- Kieron Gillen’s newsletter is always worth a read – one of the quickest opens in my inbox.
- Fly by Soul by Ram V remains infrequent, but I’m hoping this pushes Ram to post more.
- thedeadairchannel by Dan Watters has been a delight to read recently.
- Ideas Don’t Bleed by Ashcan Press/Matthew Rosenberg is one of my two favourite comic-book podcasts (along with Off-Panel which I mentioned above), because of its intimate nature and the fact that there are industry discussions here that you wouldn’t hear on most other podcasts.
- Our Best Jackett by Scott Snyder includes Scott’s comics writing masterclass, which he has recently been posting for free.
- Juni Ba’s newsletter includes behind-the-scenes glimpses into his work and WIP sketches.
- El Sandifer’s Eruditorum Press has been one of my favourite blogs for more than a decade now, and has expanded to include other authors, like Jack Graham, a fantastic leftist blogger. El is currently serialising the latest volume of The Last War in Albion, a critical series on the British Invasion in comics considered as a magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. The latest posts are serialised on her Patreon before they appear on the blog, and she just wrapped up a series on Sandman and the recent reports on Neil Gaiman’s abuse.
- Restricted Frequency is Ganzeer’s fantastic newsletter, and he also runs a great blog at Ganzeer.Today.
- Declarations by Declan Shalvey is a good read, and he has restarted his informal podcast Tape Dec which you can watch through the links in his newsletter.
- Ritesh Babu blogs infrequently, but is always a quality, if occasionally bracing, read.
- The Empire of the Tiny Onion is James Tynion IV’s newsletter, and you can keep up with all things Tiny Onion plus James’s occasional thoughts on comics and life.
- Writer Kek-W’s newsletter is of the old-school variety – chock full of trivia and interesting writing.
- Brian Michael Bendis also runs a masterclass via his newsletter, and it’s a delight.
- Chip Zdarsky’s newsletter is the funniest thing you’ll read on any given day, and the paid version includes comics, random comedy stories, and his new comics magazine.
These are the ones I could think of off the top of my head. If you feel I’ve missed a good one, please let me know and I’ll happily post an addendum in the next edition.
Have a good one, folks!
