Summer Lightning
Somewhere outside the realm of reason and coherent thought lies the Akashic Library, its infinite shelves stretching off into the distance. What obscure miscellany will we unearth there today? Read on, pilgrim, to find out . . .
It’s July, and it’s certainly hot here on planet Earth. Fortunately I am indoors, out of the scorching heat, writing this newsletter. This months I have big announcements about two projects I’ve been talking about for months, Million-Colored Sun and The Adventures of Lightning Man volume 1. Let’s start with the one that has a deadline . . .
THE LIGHTNING MAN VOL. 1 KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!
Over the last few years I’ve self-published four issues of my comic book series Lightning Man. Now I’ve gotten more ambitious, and am creating a handsome hardcover collection that includes all four issues, called The Adventures of Lightning Man volume 1. You can preorder a copy, and help this beautiful dream come true, right here!
This is my 7th Kickstarter, but my first comic book Kickstarter; all the previous ones were for RPGs. I figured it would be harder to find backers for a comic, and I was right. The good news is, the campaign has funded—we hit the minimum dollar amount needed to print, so the book is going to happen! And then we hit our first two stretch goals! The bad news is, since we hit the second stretch goal things have been pretty stagnant. But the other good news is, as I write this, there’s six full days left in the campaign, and we’re close to hitting the third stretch goal!
The third stretch goal is for colored endpapers, which will make the book look extra fancy. The fourth stretch goal, though, is even more exciting—that goal is called Profit, and at that level I get reimbursed for my labor writing and drawing the comic! Pledge now and help me hit that goal.
BUT WHAT IS LIGHTNING MAN VOLUME 1 ABOUT?
Lightning Man is the story of a teenager, Blake Robinson, who gets electrical powers and decides to become a superhero. It's drawn in a minimalistic cartooning style, so at first glance you may expect it to be some kind of satire, but it’s not. The story draws inspiration from classic comic book stories from the 40s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, blending various tropes and hopefully remixing them into something new.
Superhero movies have been so popular in recent years that most people now have an understanding of the genre. To me, though, the movies pale in comparison to the experience of following your favorite comic month in and month out, with the soap opera elements, character development, cliffhangers, and gradual worldbuilding all unfolding over the course of years.
But in 2024 we're busy, we have short attention spans, there's infinite media competing for our attention--does anyone really have time to read a whole stack of dusty old comic books from the 80s? For your on-the-go lifestyle, I’ve condensed 6-12 issues' worth of story into a tight four issues. You'll thrill to months of Blake's career as a superhero, from his origin story through his developing friendship with Marisol, his romance with a classmate, his battles with various villains like Silverstryke and the Mummy, culminating in his learning the secret source of his powers, all in about 112 pages. That's a lot of bang for your buck!
IF I BACK THE BOOK, JUST WHAT AM I GETTING?
You’re a canny consumer, asking all the right questions. The Adventures of Lightning Man volume 1 will be an 8.5” x 5.5” hardcover with a color cover and black-and-white interior pages. It will be 124 pages long, and will include an attached ribbon bookmark, head and tail bands, and (hopefully) color endpapers.
The book will include the full story of Lightning Man to date, plus an Art Gallery of pin-ups of Lightning Man characters by esteemed artists Byron Black, Josh Burnett, Matt Kish, Joseph Morris, and Michael Neno.
For instance, here’s Silverstryke by Michael Neno:
So that’s my current Kickstarter, happening now! I launched it as soon as I wrapped up the previous Kickstarter. Speaking of which . . .
MILLION-COLORED SUN IS AVAILABLE NOW!
Steve Johnson, Josh Burnett, and I finished our pulp sword & sorcery RPG Million-Colored Sun, and got the PDFs and the paperback copies out to our Kickstarter backers. Now it’s available to the rest of the world! Anyone who wants a copy can order the PDF or the paperback version from DriveThruRPG.
COULD YOU REMIND ME WHAT MILLION-COLORED SUN IS ALL ABOUT?
Sure thing! The blurb on DriveThruRPG goes like this:
Heft your axe and battle Lord Gorthanagon’s War-Pigs under a blood-red moon. Climb a mile-high tower in the middle of a desert, only to discover its pulsing, living organs. Squander your hard-won gold on booze and unsavory companionship.
Million-Colored Sun is a rules-light RPG of pulp sword & sorcery that lets you and your friends create and explore your own worlds of weirdness and wonder.
So far there are only a couple of ratings on the site, but they’re both five stars—the people have spoken, and they love Million-Colored Sun! Get four or five copies for the fantasy-lovers and gamers in your life!
WASN’T THERE SOME THIRD THING YOU WERE WORKING ON?
Yeah, in June I illustrated Clark Ashton Smith’s poem “Masque of the Forsaken Gods” and made a little book. The cover looks like this:
I’ve sent the files to the printer but I haven’t gotten the printed copies yet. More on that next time!
BOOKS I'VE READ SINCE LAST TIME
Letter 44 Volume 1: Escape Velocity, Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque
Murder Falcon, Daniel Warren Johnson
Barda, Ngozi Ukazu
The Name of the Game, Will Eisner
Something is Killing the Children volume 2, James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik
I’ve really been enjoying Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers series so I decided to try his previous graphic novel Murder Falcon and it didn’t disappoint. My only complaint, which sounds like a joke but is unfortunately very real, is that at times the lettering was so small it was a struggle for my aged eyes to read. But overall it’s got big action, big heart, and a cyborg falcon powered by heavy metal who fights monsters. And it’s a complete story in one book. Recommended!
I bought Will Eisner’s The Name of the Game when it came out and have been fully intending to read it ever since. A quick Google search tells me the book was published in 2001, so apparently it took me 23 years to get around to it. That number makes me confused and slightly nauseous, so let’s move on . . .
Barda retells (and expands) the story of what is my favorite single comic book issue, Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle #9, about the young gods Barda and Scott Free meeting on the hell-planet Apokolips and Barda ultimately helping Scott escape. This book makes the old story more accessible to a young, modern audience but still retains its heart. Since this is based on my favorite comic, you might expect me to be very picky, so the fact that I loved this book shows that Ngozi Ukazu did an incredible job. I’m impressed with how faithful she was to Kirby’s characters; I’m grateful that my kid now has an emotional connection to Scott, Barda, Auralie, Himon, and the rest. The artwork is in a modern webcomic style and quite different from Kirby’s bombastic style, but works for the character-driven love story. I feel tempted to say this is the best example of someone else writing Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters, but that might be recency bias speaking, so I need to let it settle in my brain for awhile before I make such a rash statement.
I also read the third book in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance trilogy, so I can now safely recommend the whole series. I’m impressed by how tight the story is—everything that happens, up to the end of the third book, feels like a logical outgrowth of what you learn in the first chapter of the first book. There’s no filler, no random elements added in late in the game to make the plot work, and all the surprising twists and revelations make total sense in context. Sometimes when writers plot everything out in detail in advance the story can feel lifeless, but that wasn’t the case here. Naomi Novik knows what she’s doing!
MOVIES I'VE SEEN SINCE LAST TIME
The Green Knight
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Back to the Future 2
The Holiday
Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1
No Hard Feelings
The Decameron
Can you find the pattern in those movies? No, you can’t. It’s a weird list. But I’m pleased to report that I’m following through on my vow to watch more movies.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter; if you haven’t yet, go ahead and subscribe—I won’t flood your inbox, it only comes out once a month.
Okay, next month is August, when the sun goes out, the sky cracks open, and ruin is loosed upon the world . . . that is to say, school starts up again. But I’m sure it will be fine! It’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you then.
Your Pal,
Leighton