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September 30, 2024

ONE FOR SORROW F.O.C. day, Previews, Sakhmet and more

Hi everyone!

Today is Final Order Cutoff day for ONE FOR SORROW #1, your last chance to guarantee a copy before it's released on November 6th. Speak to your retailer today!

Over the last week I've been busy promoting it on social media, so I thought I'd share some of that with you here. Below you'll find intros to the main characters, reactions to the book by some of my fellow writers and artists, and an 8 page preview of the issue!

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

An image of ONE FOR SORROW character Bess Turner on a cyan background. She is a young white woman with blue eyes and red hair done up in an Edwardian pompadour. She is wearing an Edwardian blouse with lots of detailing, and she is turning to face the viewer.
BESS TURNER: Clever, charming, and a hard worker - what’s a nice girl like Bess doing in a place like The Nine Bells? It’s a notorious East End pub where the clientele are dodgy, and the landlord is dodgier. Why is she so keen to prove her worth to these criminals?
A drawing of a white man in his 60s, with a grey handlebar moustache and oiled-back hair. He is wearing a 3 piece suit with a high, stiff Edwardian collar. He is looking towards the viewer and smiling. In the bottom right of the image is text which reads "Introducing Ignatius Thorn".
IGNATIUS THORN: Thorn was a famous consulting detective, until one night of tragedy destroyed his career and reputation. He lives a quiet, empty life - until the Magpie murders begin. Now, Thorn must re-enter a world that took everything from him bar his life. This time, it might finish the job.
An image of ONE FOR SORROW character Madame Hendrikov on a magenta background. She is a white woman with dark hair, wearing Victorian mourning dress. A heavy black veil covers her face, which is in deep shadow.
MADAME HENDRIKOV: A Russian widow and spirit medium, Madame Hendrikov holds seances for wealthy clients who want to talk to lost loved ones - for a fee, of course. The spirits can’t hurt you, she’ll say. You’re safe in her hands. Until one of the seances is gatecrashed by the spirit of the Magpie’s latest victim...
An image of ONE FOR SORROW character Lewis Mohamet on a cyan background. He is a young South Asian man with black hair and brown eyes. He is wearing a butler's outfit, with the bow tie undone and collar unbuttoned. He is smiling and looking up to his right, as if he is reminiscing.
LEWIS MOHAMET: It’s the staff’s job to fade into the background, and Lewis is very good at his job. But are his impeccable manners and dedication to his job as Madame Hendrikov’s butler just a cover?
A drawing of ONE FOR SORROW character George Hooper, on a magenta background. He's a white man in his late 30s, with sandy brown hair and brown eyes. he's wearing a shirt without the collar, with the top two buttons undone, and a black waistcoat. He looks angry.
GEORGE HOOPER: He's a man of principles. At least, as much as a man in his position can be. The landlord of The Nine Bells, a working-class East End pub, but also the local boss of an organised crime gang operating throughout the city. Respect him and he’ll respect you. Disrespect him and, well…

And lastly…

An image of ONE FOR SORROW character the Magpie. It's a hooded figure wearing a black cape, with a face shaped like a bird skull, emerging from a black background. Its eyes glow magenta from the hollows of its eye sockets. It is reaching a clawed hand towards the viewer.
THE MAGPIE: When the Magpie comes for you, the last thing you’ll see is its eyes glowing fiercely behind its skull face. The last thing you’ll hear is its voice, surely belonging to the Devil himself. And the last thing you’ll feel is its knife, slicing you open from stomach to throat...

PEOPLE ARE BEING SO NICE

I’ve been blown away by the response to the issue from peers who have read it. It’s always nerve-wracking putting new work out, especially after so long, but this has really helped calm those nerves.

A collection of quotes about ONE FOR SORROW on a background of the cover of issue 2, featuring Magpie about to fight a large gang of man armed with various weapons.  The quotes read:  “Stalks, pounces, and demands your attention at knifepoint.” —Kieron Gillen (THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, THE POWER FANTASY)  “Everyone knows Jamie’s a superb artist; not many know he’s also a great writer. Recommended.” —Antony Johnston (ATOMIC BLONDE, THE DOGSITTER DETECTIVE)  “A great twisty slow burn that explodes into flame in the last few pages. Do not miss.” —Greg Pak (MECH CADET YU, PLANET HULK)  “Just absolutely hooked, completely delighted by it.” —Amal El-Mohtar (THE RIVER HAS ROOTS)  “It is GLORIOUS.” —Louie Stowell (LOKI: A BAD GOD’S GUIDE)

A collection of quotes about ONE FOR SORROW on a background of the cover of issue 2, featuring Magpie about to fight a large gang of man armed with various weapons.  The quotes read:  “Love to see a cartoonist pushing himself to new heights like this.” —David Brothers (TIME WAITS)  “Unsurprisingly phenomenal ... The tension!! The eeriness! I cannot wait to see where this book is going.” —Preeti Chhibber (Payal Mehta's Romance Revenge Plot)  “I don’t know if this is indeed a passion project, but it sure as hell reads as one.” —Greg Rucka (THE OLD GUARD, LAZARUS)  “The work of someone in complete control of their craft.” —Dave Wielgosz (MAN-BAT)  “GOOD. Like, instantly addictive good.” —Nick Harkaway (Gnomon, Karla’s Choice)

And this isn’t even everybody! Just the people I could fit on two images without the text getting too small.

8 PAGES OF SEQUENTIAL NARRATIVE

Here’s the first 8 pages of the comic. Written and drawn by me, coloured by me and Courtney Vokey, lettered by Ariana Maher, edited by Katie West. What a team I have around me!

A man runs through the streets of the East End of London on a foggy night, seemingly scared for his life. As he tries to open the door to his home, a shadow falls across him and a voice from off panel calls his name.

The man, Oscar Hobbes, runs into his house and up the stairs, entering his room and locking the door behind him. He lights a candle, retrieves a handgun from under his mattress, and points the gun at the door, hands shaking. A hooded figure with glowing eyes appears from the shadows behind him.

Hobbes turns to fire his gun at the figure, who catches his hand and tears the gun from his grasp. He pleads his innocence regarding something that happened ten years ago that resulted in deaths. The hooded figure says that staying silent for the last decade allowed those responsible to escape justice. As they talk, Hobbes tries to reach behind himself to unlock the door out of the room without the figure noticing. Just as his hand reaches for where the key should be, it has disappeared, and is in the clawed hand of the hooded figure.

The figure moves forward out of the shadows, revealing it has a bird skull in place of a face. It is reaching forward with one hand and brandishing a long dagger with the other. It presses the dagger to Hobbes' face while promising he will confess everything, and in the last panel, the candle he held is on its side on the floor, as blood spatters across the door and, off-panel, Hobbes screams.

In a new scene, a group of wealthy people sit in a townhouse parlour room and discuss the reason for being there. They are about to be guests in a séance where one of them, Rosamund Sutton, hopes to find proof of her belief that there is nobility in her family's history. Unnoticed by the group, the butler standing to one side raises his eyebrow as their conversation leans towards beliefs in inborn class characteristics. Off-panel, a bell rings, and the butler tells the group to follow him to the next room.

The group are introduced to Madame Anastasia Hendrikov, the host of the séance. After a brief conversation while the butler, Lewis, lights candles on the table they sit around, Hendrikov asks Lewis to turn the lights off so that the séance can begin.

Hendrikov's voice changes as she enters a trance and it appears that spirits are speaking through her. After a conversation with someone who says they are the father of one of the attendees, another more aggressive spirit takes over, claiming to be Hobbes, the man murdered in the opening scene. He asks for someone called Sutter. Rosamund thinks he means Sutton, and so is talking to her.

The spirit talking through Hendrikov gets angrier and louder as it says that the Magpie is coming for Sutton. The group is confused and disturbed. As Hobbes continues to talk, Hendrikov rises up from her chair and begins to levitate above the group, eyes glowing.

IN OTHER NEWS, SAKHMET

As part of the WicDiv Covers artbook Kickstarter we ran earlier in the year, we promised backers a new headshot cover for Sakhmet, the one god who didn’t actually get one in the series. It was an absolute delight to work with Matt Wilson again on colours after so long. Really pleased with how the cover turned out - and here it is!

A Wicked and Divine cover featuring a headshot image of the character Sakhmet. She is a young black woman with long bleached blonde hair, shaved on one side. She is snarling, exposing sharp canine teeth. She has lion-like eyes, and is wearing an ear cuff that imitates the shape of a cat's ear. She's wearing an ancient Egypt inspired necklace with a Sakhmet head in the style of the period statues at her throat. She is lit in red, and the background is a swirl of fire colour.

It’s not too late to pre-order a copy of the book. I’ve just seen a draft of the layout and it’s looking spectacular.

AND FINALLY

It’s also FOC for THE POWER FANTASY #3 by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard, and FML #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez. If you’re going in to pre-order OFS #1, you can do much worse than also adding these books to your list. Previews for both in the links above.

Hope you're all doing well out there.

J

PS Oh shit, I haven't included pictures of my cats for ages!

A photo of my black cat Agnes sitting on my shoulder.

A photo of my tabby cat Eddie lying on the stairs with his head and front paws over the edge of the step.

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