I Can Taste Your FEAR
Somewhere outside of time and space lies the Akashic Library, its phantasmal shelves stretching off endlessly into the distance. What esoteric lore shall we uncover there today?
Hello, I hope you're well! I'm feeling pretty good, which is exciting, because I was sick for about a week and a half at the beginning of the month. I made it through the school year--hurray!--and went on a trip out of town with my wife and kids, ready to have some fun, and then I started to feel very, very tired. Even after a full night's sleep I felt groggy and really didn't want to go anywhere other than the couch. I took a test and, indeed, I was Covid positive. Overall I was lucky, I barely had any symptoms, just a mild sore throat and fatigue. But the fatigue kept me from doing much of anything other than napping and reading. I read a lot of comics. Man, I love comics. Hey, speaking of comics . . . 
FEAR IS HERE!
I had planned on having printed copies of Matt Kish’s mini-comic Fear to sell at SPACE last month, but sadly the printer was delayed, world-wide supply chain problems and so on, and the books didn’t make it in time. Since then I’ve gotten the books, and they look good! It's a solid, handsome volume. The book just went on sale last week and I am happy to report that it had the best first week of sales in Spandangle Press history! If you want one, you can order a copy here. 
Fear is, like the subtitle says, a Laser Brigade story. Laser Brigade is my comic about a team of space mercenaries in the future. In the first volume, a member of the team named Zars is lost in a wormhole, where he dies and is reborn (that's him dying on the cover there.) The rebirth happens off panel, in between chapters. I asked Matt if he'd be willing to write and draw the story of Zars's transformation. Thankfully he said yes; the end result is much more beautiful than Laser Brigade volume 1, which you don't need to read to enjoy this story.
When I pitched this comic to Matt, I told him to imagine that the story was based on an obscure toy line from the 1970s. I think this is what sold him on the idea. Matt is best known to the public for his brilliant work illustrating Moby-Dick and Heart of Darkness, but he is also a man who deeply adores the work of Bill Mantlo, the writer who turned simple toy lines like Micronauts and Rom: Space Knight into epic comic book sagas. In Fear, Matt follows in Mantlo's mighty footsteps.
DOES WHATEVER A LIGHTNING CAN
I debuted my comic Lightning Man at SPACE, and as of this week it's also available to purchase online. You can order a copy here, if you are so inclined.
You know, when I was sitting there at SPACE trying to sell Lightning Man--this is going to sound self-deprecating at first, but hold on, I'm going somewhere--I reflected that, from a marketing point of view, it's a pretty terrible concept. It's a black-and-white indie comic, drawn in a minimalist art style, and it's a superhero story. Indie comics fans tend more toward, you know, autobiographical comics, humor, that sort of thing. A wide variety of genres, but usually not superheroes. Superhero comics fans tend to want color, detailed artwork, precise lettering, all that stuff. If you were to get a small press comics fan interested in a superhero story, it would probably be a satire, or some fresh twist on the genre. But reader, there is no twist to Lightning Man, no high concept, and no satire; it really is the story of a teenaged boy who gets lightning powers and then decides to be a superhero. Also, the name "Lightning Man" is really generic. What can I say? I didn't approach this from the angle of what the public wanted. I started drawing Lightning Man on index cards, back when I was drawing little pictures on index cards all the time, and I decided I wanted to draw a comic about him, and this is how I draw. It evolved organically. If I told you "It's about a teenager with lightning powers!" I really wouldn't blame you if you said, "Oh, so it's like Static Shock, but less professional looking?" There is something distinctive about the approach and the way the story is told, but it's not something I can easily articulate. If you give it a chance and you read it, I bet you'll say, "Oh, that is different!" I guess you'll just have to trust me on that. The lovely thing--I told you this wasn't self-deprecating, I'm ending on a positive note--is that I am totally satisfied with how the comic turned out. The story, the print quality, the cover, everything. Though it may not attract a wide audience, it's a sincere labor of love, and I'm happy to share it with those who are interested.
AKASHIC TITAN: BLUE BOLT UPDATE
Akashic Titan: Blue Bolt is the project that's taking up most of my time these days. My goal is to finish layout by the end of June; I got started late because of Covid but I've been working steadily since I became a functional human being again. There are eight chapters and two appendices, and I have laid out chapters 1-5 and 7, so only 6, 8, and the appendices remain.
In order to make the layout for Chapter 5 work I needed a few more illustrations. Fortunately I'm the main illustrator for the project, so I was able to assign the job to myself and get it done fairly quickly. One of those illustrations was of the ferocious Croco-Tiger. I did this recreation of a Golden Age comics panel:
and this Giant Scorpion:
Tune in next time to see if I meet my self-imposed deadline!
NEW ARMISTICE HAWKINS CHAPTER
The hiatus is over, my serialized novel Armistice Hawkins and the New Architects of Creation is back! Chapter 22: International Terrorist Ringleader just came out, and you can read it here. You can see all the chapters listed here; the first chapter is right here.
MY SECRET ORIGIN
When I was in 4th grade my friend Dale and I started making comic books, but by 8th grade we, as newly sophisticated adolescents, had largely drifted away from such things. Until, on a whim, we started drawing a comic called The Adventures of Spifto and Friends. It was very simple, crude stick figures drawn on lined notebook paper. It started like a game--I drew the first panel, then handed the paper to Dale, he drew the second panel, passed it back to me, and so on. The first couple of pages were very crude. But something clicked, and we became engaged in the story. Some of Spifto's friends died; he went on a quest to find a magical artifact. We kept going, expanding the cast, fleshing out the setting, adding twists and turns to the plot.
Since we were taking turns, drawing while the other was waiting, the drawing was usually sloppy. The panels butted up against each other with no gutters and there were way too many panels on each page, making everything look cramped. None of the pages looked very good. Comics is a visual medium, but if you don't care about visual appeal, all you're left with is story. Communicating clearly what's happening. I was constantly improvising, reacting and responding to whatever Dale drew, building and expanding and crafting a shape to the narrative. Drawing Spifto, panel after panel, page after page, is how I learned how to build stories. More importantly, it's how I learned that building stories is the greatest and most worthwhile thing you can do, and basically what I wanted to do with my life. When we sat at the kitchen table at Dale's house and passed the paper back and forth I never wanted to stop.
We spent countless hours at that kitchen table. Last week I drove down to my hometown to visit Dale and we planned on sitting at the ol' kitchen table (okay, it's a different table now, but it's the same kitchen) and drawing. Unfortunately Dale was sick almost the entire time I was there and couldn't do much of anything. Once Dale and his kids were in bed, though, I crept into the kitchen and, like a pilgrim worshipping at a holy site, got out my art supplies and redrew a panel from The Adventures of Spifto and Friends. This is from near the end of the story, when the characters have finally been reunited: 
Isn't that a happy scene? Warms the heart.
BOOKS I'VE READ SINCE LAST MONTH’S NEWSLETTER
Snow White, Matt Phelan
The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Benjamin R. Foster
The Avengers: Operation Galactic Storm, by Bob Harras, Mark Gruenwald, Steve Epting, and various
Karmen, Guillem March
Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem, Michael Schmidt
The Immortal Hulk Omnibus volume 1, Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and various
Show Your Work!, Austin Kleon
The Dolphin Bros in The Angry Plant, Joseph Morris
Cozmic Taco volume 1, Joseph Morris
The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher, Ryan North and Derek Charm
Tin Man, Justin Madson
Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas, Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin
Astounding Space Thrills: Undersea Menace from the Year 3200, Steve Conley
Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts, Joseph Harris
The Knight, Gene Wolfe
As I said earlier, I read a lot of comics when I was sick. Eventually I got back to reading The Knight, which I started a few months ago, and finally finished it. The subject matter seems familiar--it's very much drawing on Arthurian legend, Norse mythology, old timey tales of chivalry and fairies, things you've all seen before, but Wolf's approach is completely his own. He just takes these old building blocks of fantasy stories and discards all the traditional narrative rules, as well as traditional ideas about pacing. Periodically you ask, "Where is this going? What is happening?" but you have to have faith, because Wolf knows what he's doing and he's not going to lead you astray. It's all worth it for his depiction of the different layers of reality. What a writer! I'm going to read the second part of the story soon, but not until after I read the fourth book in the Books of Babel series, which I have been eagerly anticipating.
Also, you may notice that reread The Epic of Gilgamesh, and then read a nonfiction book about the Gilgamesh poem. Is this research? Am I planning some sort of Gilgamesh-related project? Reader, the answer is PROBABLY. More on that later, I'm still busy wrapping up these current projects. Akashic Titan: Blue Bolt isn't going to lay itself out.
SHOWS I’M WATCHING
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The Boys season 3
I know it's gross but, man, The Boys is so good. I just love it. I'm not going to write about it, though, because I seem to have written three paragraphs about Spifto--I didn't see that coming, and I doubt you did, either--and I need to wrap this up.
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this! Let me know if there are any topics you'd like to see covered in future installments and, please, enjoy the remainder of the month.
Your Pal,
Leighton
www.leightonconnor.com