304: a narcissistic form of empathy
Hullo.
TPF1423
Oi!
NYCME
1977
Links
Bye
It's a story as old as time (assuming you define “time” as “since August”).
We print more The Power Fantasy. It sells out. We print some more.
Issue 1 is going to a fourth printing, and issue 2 to a third.
The fourth printing of Issue 1 highlights Valentina, where we split the print to get a nice “She's totally an angel” and “But is she really?” dichotomy.
Cover A - Lunar Code 0924IM852
Cover B - Lunar Code 0924IM853
As you can order which one you want, I'm going to take this as a referendum on whether you lot think she's lovely or a bit suss. Democracy in action.
For the third printing of issue 2 we decided to highlight an alternate approach to the cover we considered. Rian did a million cover designs (note to prod: please check) so there's lots of roads not travelled. This one actually is more than a little reminiscent of where we're going with the trade, so consider it a tease.
We're also doing a 1:10 foil variant of it, as frankly, we're addicted to foil.
Cover A - Lunar Code 0924IM854
Cover B 1:10 copy incentive foil variant - Lunar Code 0924IM855
Talking about my foil addiction, comps for the Second Printing of The Power Fantasy #2 arrived this week. Here I am, going Coo.
@kierongillen.bsky.social on Bluesky
The Comps for THE POWER FANTASY #2 's second printing arrived, which includes a shiny variant, so here's some oOooooooOOohhh shiny footage. Out October 16th, in both shiny and non shiny forms.
That and the non-foil version should be in shops next week, and as it's sold out at distributor level means you should be swift in grabbing it.
The Power Fantasy #3 is out the following week, on the 23rd. Caspar's comps have just turned up, which is exciting. I'm not quite sure Caspar's comps turn up before mine, every single time.
Oi, journos.
As I say in the next item, I'm at NYCC next week, and my schedule is really quite casual. As such, if you're someone from the press (or youtube or tiktok or whatever) I'm almost certainly be able to carve out time to talk. With the Power Fantasy in progress and We Called Them Giants only a few weeks away, I've got lots I'd like to talk about.
I figured I should put this first, as I know not to bury the lede.
It's New York Comic Con next week. I'm there, and it's my last US con of the year.
My schedule is actually a simple one. I've no panels or anything else. I'm just on Artist Alley, sitting (or standing) next to Caspar, signing stuff. Also, I'm part of the Kinetic Collectibles area, so they'll have quite a bit of my stuff for sale too (which I'll obviously more than happy to sign).
We're at A-30. Where is A-30?
In terms of specific table times, I'm thinking...
Thursday
10:00 AM -12PM
3:00PM - 5PM
Friday
10:00 AM -12PM
3:00PM - 5PM
Saturday:
10:00 AM -12PM
2:00PM - 5PM
Sunday
10:00 AM -12PM
2:00PM - 5PM
Though this is a moving target. I suspect I may be there outside of these times too, but I just don't want to be promise it.
In terms of signing policy: basically, anything up to 5 is free.
Anything exclusive for the con? Caspar's been showing off some shiny stickers and a retailer actually has an exclusive for the con, but I don't think that's actually been shown publicly yet.
So I'll confirm all this in next week's newsletter.
Looking forward to seeing folks!
Caspar's well into issue 5 of The Power Fantasy by now, so he's been posting teases. Here's one...
Part of issue 5 is set in 1977, so he's working a lovely Zine style here. Also – hey, it's Eliza, before (y'know) being all demonic and stuff. The vibe I was hoping for was “post-punk Joan of Arc”, and I am delighted.
This was great. We Called Them Giants was included in the New York Times' round-up for horror comics for Halloween.
Chip breaks the cone of silence of the Marvel summit to bring some terrible news about Ryan North. Or, as he likely says, Ryian Northee.
There was a lot of chat prompted by pieces on Hollywood's courting of toxic “Superfans” but I think Charlie Jane Anders cuts to the core of it. “Here's the conundrum about super fans in a nutshell: they have some ability to do damage to a movie or TV show, but they have zero ability to make a project successful.” Read the rest to see her unpack that and where it leads.
Jim's latest newsletter includes a thoughtful essay on what the romantic thing is, and how that works into his creativity, and how THAT works into his GMing. “This is perhaps why I am motivated to keep playing and making games generally, and not just TTRPGs, for my palette is both paper and pixel: I am searching for the combination, the moment, the equation of procedure, art, conversation, chance, and conceit that brings me the unimagined alloy of discovery.”
Ken Hite is the sort of classic polymath game designer I've always got time for, and the current Bundle of Holding collects a bunch of his critical writing around Lovecraft. I'd like to especially highlight Cthulhu 101 which is an idiots guide to all things tentacley, which is as good a crash course as I can imagine. Also, has claws. For example: “"Derleth tried to prevent any other (non- Derleth-approved) writer from writing Cthulhu Mythos stories. If Lovecraft had wanted bad writers to avoid Cthulhu Mythos stories, he wouldn’t have written back to August Derleth."
Greg Park writes about why he quit twitter while giving a starter pack for Blue Sky (and why he specifically likes Blue Sky). If you're not aware, I suggest reading the Nuclear Block bit. My main fear for Blue Sky is basically it recapitulates everything in twitter on Speed Run, but the way block works is a significant thing to alter social dynamics there.
A year on from the October 7th attacks and there's been a lot of people chewing it over. The piece which found its way into my notes was Matt Duss New Republic piece on the failure and complicity of the US in everything that's happened since. “The Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, were an abominable crime. The Israeli government had both the right and responsibility to protect its people. Biden was right to respond with support and solidarity. It was also right to expect him, at some point over the last year, to pivot to real pressure to end the war and save human lives. He never did.”
Similarly on my mind, The New York Times interview 65 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics in Gaza upon what they saw in their time there.
Okay, let's actually write something.
Iris wasn't sleeping soundly this time last year. I spent a lot of the time sitting, with her on me, on my phone, reading the news.
One early headline stuck with me: “Israel's Darkest Hour.” Even in the middle of that initial horror, it made me pause. I got it. It was monstrous, but I remember being afraid that Israel's Darkest Hour may still be to come, just not in the way the headline thought. To choose a relevant comparison, 9-11 wasn't America's darkest hour in the 21st Century. For all its specific terror, it wasn't as dark as everything America did afterwards, with the destabilisation and the deaths (and ongoing deaths) it enabled. Those 3000 lost were awful, and the many, many more innocents lost it led to were more so, simply by force of numbers. The only reason to think otherwise if you think lives have different values, that some deserve to die due to being born in a the path of a bomb.
In the weeks that followed, and more phone-flicking over a half-asleep Iris had me chewing over a lot. I kept on pausing. “Hamas have their bases beneath these areas, so we have to accept these casualties”. If Hamas had a base under Tel Aviv, they wouldn't have bombed it and figured the death of tens of thousands of Israelis were justified. The idea is obviously ludicrous. However, It was necessary that X number of Palestinian Civilians die because X/30 Israeli Civilians died, and perhaps X/30 could die in future. The math only works if human life isn't equal.
But if I carried on writing in this vein, it'll imply that I've been mainly looking at this from a place of a logical observer. I haven't. I've mainly been feeling primal horror.
On October 7th, as Iris lay on me, I was thinking about parents in Israel doing exactly the same thing. They would have been rocking a kid, and then they know there's armed people moving between the houses, into the houses and knowing what happens if the door opens. I tried to imagine that.
Later, when the Israeli attacks hit, I was thinking of families in Gaza under that petrifying level of ordnance. This other parent, with a sleepless child, holding them and knowing that it's outside their power to protect them. The brain screaming like an animal in a trap, looking for something to do, and there just isn't anything. I tried to live with that too.
The year goes on, the scenarios change. Iris sulkily demanding a snack and how annoyed she is when I've failed to bring another baby-bel, and thinking of parents and kids, and the basic horror of not being able to offer succour when it's all you want to do. And, yes, this isn't just about the Middle East now, but any news story, warping, un-ignorable. Yes, This is a narcissistic form of empathy, but it's also unrelenting and powerful. I can't escape it right now.
Because when I look after my child and ensure she's safe, I am aware that others can't. What I am doing is a privilege that, for others, has been annihilated, bombed and starved out of existence.
There is no difference between Iris and any other toddler, except she's in my house, and these children are elsewhere.
It's deeply upsetting, as the last twelve months have proved time and time over that I live in a world where people think Iris is expendable.
If those kids could die like that, any kid could die like that.
My heart goes out to everyone, except those who have the power to stop this and aren't. I wish they would wake up and want to scream until they do.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
London
10.10.2024