Eight Eyes, Eight Legs, Full Hearts, Can't Lose
Yelps & Barks
Here’s the real benefit of being too busy this month to have put out a newsletter by now: it’s too late to reasonably do a 2022 round-up and subject you all to my favorite [insert media] of the prior year. Besides, the answer is just Chainsaw Man. Am I the last person to read and watch it? Maybe. Is it the best thing that came out in 2022? Absolutely.
Anyway.
2022 was pretty bonkers for me, personally. My partner and I did a big move; my first Marvel series came out; Marvel graciously kept giving me opportunities, including a bunch of all-ages Spidey shorts, more Spider-Ham, a freaking X-Men Annual, and an upcoming series I can’t talk about yet; I helped co-create a new superhero who kicked off an insane conservative backlash for a week or two (more on that below); a book I co-wrote got optioned for a movie; another book I co-wrote got nominated for Eisner and Ringo Awards; my first prose novel (for kids) released; my first “ongoing” series debuted and got cancelled early; I got to be part of a FCBD issue; I finished writing my first creator-owned series (more on that below, too); I co-wrote another original series for a different publisher; I worked with one of my favorite artists on a Substack short; I turned down an offer for the first time due to bad business practices; I wrote the first three books of an eight-book contract at a major publisher; the horror anthology I co-created got an oversized hardcover release; I got to contribute a short to one of the horror franchises that had a huge impact on me growing up; I found time to cram in about a dozen kids projects for various licenses; and I began editing two upcoming Image series, one of which has been revealed and will launch in April.
Woooooooooo
Goals for 2023 include taking a nap, maybe even two.
Before I totally bid adieu to 2022, though, an interview that Andrea Di Vito and I did to promote X-Men Annual just went up on Marvel.com. I never get tired of talking about the X-Men, so go check out what we had to say this time.
Announcing…ALL EIGHT EYES
When James Tynion IV and I conceived of Razorblades: The Horror Magazine, one of our hopes for the project was that it could serve as an incubator of sorts for testing out concepts and collaborations that contributors could develop further elsewhere, like how From Hell originated in the pages of Taboo. On his end, a three-pager he did with Martin Simmonds and Hass Otsmane-Elhaou eventually morphed into The Closet with Gavin Fullerton, Chris O’Halloran, and Tom Napolitano.
On mine, the Diamond Eyes short Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson, Hass and I did has now become All Eight Eyes, a four-issue original horror series debuting from Dark Horse Comics on April 19th. Here’s the official synopsis, taken from the announcement over at Rue Morgue:
ALL EIGHT EYES takes readers back to the forgotten corners of post-9/11 New York City, where college dropout Vin Spencer floats through life in a drug-and-party-fueled haze until one terrible night sweeps him into a drifter’s reckless war against the giant eight-legged horrors stalking the city’s most vulnerable residents.
This book is my tribute to giant-animal creature features, from Them! to Alligator, as well as the grungier turn-of-the-century NYC that I caught the tail end of when I first moved there. And while it did spin out of Razorblades, I should stress that this is a refreshed take on the idea and not in “canon” with the original story; no prior knowledge is needed to pick up All Eight Eyes #1. Piotr and Brad are an absolute dream team, with Piotr’s flare for architectural detail making him pretty much the only choice to bring this specific version of NYC to life. Sorry in advance to any arachnophobes, too: we get pretty gnarly. Both Brad and Hass, my eternal lettering icon, are grossed out by spiders, so this process has been a real treat for them.
It’s been a joy and an honor to work with Daniel Chabon and the Dark Horse team, as I’ve long admired their commitment to keeping horror alive in comics, even before it was trendy again. We’ve also lined up a mind-boggling set of variant artists: James Stokoe (check out his above), David Romero, Trevor Henderson, and Martin Simmonds will grace the alternate covers for the series.
This is my first creator-owned monthly mini-series, and books like this live and die by advance orders. If you’re looking for creature-feature urban horror, ask your retailer to reserve you a copy as soon as possible!
And welcome back…WEB-WEAVER
On a very different arachnid-related note, news just went out that Marvel is publishing Marvel’s Voices: Spider-Verse, an anthology one-shot spotlighting some of the diverse Spider-heroes from across the 616 universe and beyond. I was thrilled to be asked back for a Web-Weaver short alongside Luciano Vecchio, a friend and fellow Spider-Verse’r (go read the Spinstress debut if you haven’t already!). I’ve wanted to work with Luciano for ages, so to get the opportunity as the next chapter in Cooper Coen’s story is awesome. And check out the rest of that roster (Cody Ziglar, Jeremy Holt, J. Holtham, Jahnoy Lindsay, Eric Koda, Ken Lashley!) and the Leinil Francis Yu (!) cover!
OUT THIS WEEK(ISH)
Nada!
What? I can’t have something out every month.
ON THE HORIZON:
As I mentioned above, please ask your retailer to reserve a copy of ALL EIGHT EYES #1, out April 19th. Because of the way monthly comics work, preorders determine pretty much everything about the health of a series. And while you’re there, slap down a hold on MARVEL’S VOICES: SPIDER-VERSE for double the spider-y fun.
February sees the release of two trade paperbacks with some of my work in them: EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE, which contains the debut Web-Weaver story I did with Kei Zama and Brian Reber, and X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA—IMMORTAL which features the print version of my X-Men Unlimited serial with Alan Robinson and Carlos Lopez. Super stoked to have those in collected formats.
It’ll be a few months before the next things on my list get announced, but one of them is easily the most high-profile series I’ve written yet. I just got the first batch of layouts yesterday and I can’t stop drooling over them. Here’s a hint: I’m positively mad about it.
INPUT, OUTPUT:
Chainsaw Man, baby! What else is there?!
--Steve