A Fan's Notes
Hi friends!
Hope you’re doing well as the year wind down and the holidays start taking over. Please remember to be kind and gentle with everyone - these days aren’t always fun-filled romps for all.
Anyway, a not-so-brief housekeeping note - this newsletter’s a bit late, mostly because I was cranking to finish a ton of stuff, including a comic overview pitch doc and an important revision of Alter Ego, the follow-up to my Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning crime novel, Secret Identity.
I sent the revised Alter Ego manuscript to my amazing editor, Zack Wagman at Flatiron, on Friday and I’ve been ruminating over it all weekend. It’s weird when you become so immersed in something that it consumes your mind nonstop and then, the next minute, it’s gone.
I did my usual “I wrote a book” ritual and printed a copy of the book out. Eventually, I’ll mark it up. For now, it felt nice to hold something big and meaningful - that represents a lot of time, self-reflection, and lots of doubts and anxiety.
Every book is hard to write in its own way - I say this all the time because it’s proven to be true. But this one was particularly challenging. Hell, it almost broke me. The conceit seemed easy - write another Secret Identity! But that would’ve felt too easy and perfunctory, and, honestly, not interesting to me. So what I ended up with was a book that lives in the same world where we met Carmen, Doug Detmer, and everyone - but today, with a new protagonist, Annie, and a new mystery that fits squarely in the comic book and entertainment industries of today. But, like Secret Identity, it’s not just about figuring out who the killer is. It’s really a story about unearthing who you are (even as an adult), parenthood, subverting generational traumas, and the connections we have with these amazing fictional characters and worlds - and their creators, no matter how flawed they are.
I’ll have ample opportunities to talk about the book, which should hit late next year, so I’ll keep this brief. But I hope you’ll consider preordering it or picking it up when the time comes. Thanks for reading this!
Okay, onward…
Like many of us, I have a few constants in my life.
One of them is being a fan. And by being a fan, I mean letting creators know that I love their work. It brings me joy, and as a creator myself, I know and appreciate a well-timed note or comment. It makes up for bad reviews, missives, and social media churn.
Before Twitter became, well, what it is, I’d routinely tweet out “Never feel like you’re too cool to write a fan letter.” I stand by that. It’s important, I think, to just love what you love - and to celebrate those things when given the opportunity.
Not to make this about social media, but I think I lost my connection to Twitter when it felt like I couldn’t do that anymore - celebrate friends and creators I admired - because the background noise to the site had just become too toxic. It was really a bummer, because I’d met so many people through the site - and ended up becoming friends with many writers and artists that I’d just engaged with because I loved their work. But I also feel like social media is cyclical, and the next thing will crop up and be very different from Twitter at its peak. Heck, it might be this - if Substack can fix its Nazi problem. More on that below. But I digress.
My point is - it’s cool to talk about the things you love. It’s also extra-special when one of your friends makes something you really love.
Or two or three friends, in the example I’m about to share.
You’ve read Waller vs. Wildstorm, right?
The DC Black Label series, written by said friends, Spencer Ackerman and Evan Narcisse, with art by the talented Jesus Merino, and edited by another old friend, Chris Conroy, is a superhero book unlike any other - blending the deep-dive character work Evan made a name for himself doing on books like Rise of the Black Panther with the razor-sharp natsec/geopolitical analysis that makes up the bulk of Spencer’s insightful writing. I read the first issue when it came out, eager to celebrate a comic by two pals - I’ve known Evan since my earliest days in the industry, when I was just a cub publicist and he was one of our most important press contacts. Spencer was a newer pal, someone I’d gravitated to via his writing, specifically the chilling and insightful Reign of Terror, a national security reporting masterpiece you should all read if you’re at all wondering how we got to, well, this state of our nation. Because of that social media connection, we hit it off when we met in person two NYCCs ago, and since then have bonded over working in comics, a shared love of the X-Men (do yourself a favor and listen to his episodes of Cerebro! Start here!), and some friends in common. Anyway, once I’d read the first issue, I knew I’d need to wait to read the entire series - it was novelistic in its storytelling, the kind of narrative I appreciate - it doesn’t pull punches and it doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Like many great works, it requires you to pay attention, and like my favorite comics (ahem, Chris Claremont, ahem) it uses subtext and the fantastical to shine a light on some very prevalent real world problems. Merino’s art also adds a Dave Gibbons-like depth to the narrative, making it all feel quite real and haunting, even when the characters are doing otherwordly stuff. It embraces the trappings of superheroic stories - particularly the Wildstorm 90s flavor and mid-to-late 80s DC Comics - through the filter of realpolitik.
As a kid, I grew up on the Wildstorm books - having gravitated over to Image to follow Jim Lee, who was my favorite X-artist. I fell hard for the Wildstorm universe - from the core WildC.A.T.S. team to spinoffs like Stormwatch, Gen13, Team7, and more. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Spencer and Evan do something really smart here - seamlessly weaving the Wildstorm history with existing DC lore to make it all sync together in an organic, intentional way that serves the story they’re trying to tell. It was fun to revisit some old Wildstorm concepts (Cybernary! Battalion! Team7!) and see them living and breathing in the DC universe, and, on the flipside, I think someone who doesn’t know squat about the continuity or history of any of these characters will still have a great time reading the book. It’s high-stakes political intrigue with a nice helping of capes and tights, basking in the gray areas of our world and of superhero narratives. I mentioned Gibbons before and while I’m sure Spencer and Evan will blush at this, the Watchmen parallels are there, and we should recognize them.
Spencer goes deep on the book at his own newsletter (and showcases this great sequence of nauseous storytelling by Merino, too!), and I urge you to read that, as it’s probably more insightful than my fawning - but either way, do yourself a favor and pick the book up, then we can all raise a glass to old Twitter for at least bringing me into contact with Spencer’s work so I can celebrate this book now.
(Also, not to make this about me at all, but I think if you dug Waller vs. Wildstorm, you might like The Awakened, by me, Michael Moreci, Dean Kotz, Jason Wordie, and Jim Campbell. It certainly doesn’t cover the same territory, but the grounded, realistic POV shares some connective tissue with WvW. Enjoy!)
SUBSTACKERS AGAINST NAZIS
This preface was mostly cribbed from -
Below is a letter to the Substack founders that was drafted as part of a group of publishers seeking answers to questions about the platforming and monetizing of Nazis. We are all publishing the letter on our own individual Substacks for visibility, and to make our readers aware of our asks and concerns.
As noted at the end: If you are a publisher and the letter resonates, feel free to post it on your Substack page. The organizers/drafters are keeping track of the signatories here.
Dear Chris, Hamish & Jairaj:
We’re asking a very simple question that has somehow been made complicated: Why are you platforming and monetizing Nazis?
According to a piece written by Substack publisher Jonathan M. Katz and published by The Atlantic on November 28, this platform has a Nazi problem:
“Some Substack newsletters by Nazis and white nationalists have thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers, making the platform a new and valuable tool for creating mailing lists for the far right. And many accept paid subscriptions through Substack, seemingly flouting terms of service that ban attempts to ‘publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes’...Substack, which takes a 10 percent cut of subscription revenue, makes money when readers pay for Nazi newsletters.”
As Patrick Casey, a leader of a now-defunct neo-Nazi group who is banned on nearly every other social platform except Substack, wrote on here in 2021: “I’m able to live comfortably doing something I find enjoyable and fulfilling. The cause isn’t going anywhere.” Several Nazis and white supremacists including Richard Spencer not only have paid subscriptions turned on but have received Substack “Bestseller” badges, indicating that they are making at a minimum thousands of dollars a year.
From our perspective as Substack publishers, it is unfathomable that someone with a swastika avatar, who writes about “The Jewish question,” or who promotes Great Replacement Theory, could be given the tools to succeed on your platform. And yet you’ve been unable to adequately explain your position.
In the past you have defended your decision to platform bigotry by saying you “make decisions based on principles not PR” and “will stick to our hands-off approach to content moderation.” But there’s a difference between a hands-off approach and putting your thumb on the scale. We know you moderate some content, including spam sites and newsletters written by sex workers. Why do you choose to promote and allow the monetization of sites that traffic in white nationalism?
Your unwillingness to play by your own rules on this issue has already led to the announced departures of several prominent Substackers, including Rusty Foster and Helena Fitzgerald. They follow previous exoduses of writers, including Substack Pro recipient Grace Lavery and Jude Ellison S. Doyle, who left with similar concerns.
As journalist Casey Newton told his more than 166,000 Substack subscribers after Katz’s piece came out: “The correct number of newsletters using Nazi symbols that you host and profit from on your platform is zero.”
We, your publishers, want to hear from you on the official Substack newsletter. Is platforming Nazis part of your vision of success? Let us know—from there we can each decide if this is still where we want to be.
Signed,
Substackers Against Nazis
UPDATES
Our latest Mara Llave: Keeper of Time Sunday strip is live at King Features/Comics Kingdom by me and Nickolej Villiger! Hope you’re enjoying it.
QUESTIONS
We got some questions! I’m flattered. If you have anything you’d like to ask me, drop it in the comments below and I’ll do my best to get to it in the next installment.
asks:
How are you doing? The question I have is: Are there any recommendations you have regarding books on craft that you’ve found helpful to you?
Is it better to develop ashcan and other writing samples of your writing to hand to editors?
I’m doing well, I think! It’s been one of the busiest stretches for me as a writer EVER, and while I’m full of gratitude and excitement, I do feel a little run down. But I’m hoping to recharge a bit over the holidays.
Books on craft - that’s a great question. I guess it really depends on what kind of writing you want to do. For prose, I always find myself revisiting On Writing by Stephen King, hands down my favorite craft book. It’s not a textbook and is very much a memoir - so don’t go in expecting to get writing prompts or exercises, but it certainly puts you in the mindset to write - however you think works best for you. I love it. For comics, if you can find a copy, Denny O’Neil’s DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics is superb. I wish it was still in print! ’s Words for Pictures is also great.
As for your ashcans question…well, it’s certainly better than nothing. The reality is, editors want to know you can do the job, and most of the time - especially for work-for-hire comics, the best way to prove you can do the job for another company is by doing it for yourself.
ROBERT CULB has a statement, not so much a question:
I took your litreactor comic book pitching class back in the day - I just wanted to say THANK YOU for everything you taught and for sharing your knowledge. Have a good one.
Why thank you, Robert! I really loved teaching that class - and one of my favorite parts about it is seeing former students succeed and find homes for their projects. Now that, sadly, Litreactor is no more, I plan on dropping the lectures here for paid subscribers. I can’t commit to giving feedback to everyone’s pitches, but at least you’ll have the tools to start your journey!
That’s all for now! Wishing you a warm and pleasant holiday break, and we’ll talk soon. I may have some cool news to share later this week, but if not, see you in 2024!
Best,
Alex