watch her watch the morning come
Tallulah is meditating.
She's sitting in a laundry basket with her legs in full lotus and her hands in mudrakhya mudra. How can something so peaceful be so frightening?
- matt fraction -
Today’s a big day in my life. I don’t know why but, time and time again, June 25th is a day where Things Happen. My first graphic novel came out 6/25/03. Quit smoking on 06/25/05. I quit my old career on 6/25/06. I bought a house in Cascadia from a hotel lobby three-thousand miles away on 6/25/12. A really good friend got sober today a few years back. There’s probably been more stuff but that’s about all I remember now. This 6/25, I join the WGA. And then I’ll be in a car to Asheville, NC, where I’m signing at Comic Envy from noon to seven. It’s at 144 Tunnel Rd. Kelly Sue will be with me too. So, y’know, no pressure.
I’m writing this about twenty-four hours after leaving the post-HeroesCon Dead Dog party. I’d say my ears are still ringing but they’ve been ringing for a couple months now. I should probably get it checked out; I'm kind of starting to worry. Anyway it was a great party after a great show that quite honestly taxes the limits of believability. Or maybe I just don't want to feed that cynical over-it bullshit that passes for commentary these days, I dunno. It was good. It was the best.
I don't know how to explain HeroesCon this year. The lines were long. We were very busy. We moved a lot of books. I barely saw any of my friends and the ones I did I saw in passing, in fragments, and always wrapping up with the promise to catch up later at a time that never came. The people were great, were kind, were unending. Chip drew a lot and for a lot of people and we tried to make people laugh. There was a panel; a couple kids dressed like our characters and got engaged. I played 'Fat Bottomed Girls' for them after she said yes, thank Christ she said yes.
I feel like I have more than just readers now; I have co-conspirators.
What came before was fun. I'm even more excited though for what's coming next.
•
SATELLITE SAM #9 is out I think next week. 10 will be late but it's the extra-long wrap up to the second 'arc' and I think the strongest issue to date. Everything torqued up 900% for the finale arc, starting with issue #11, early next year.
SEX CRIMINALS #7 is being drawn now. That lateness is totes on me. I'm going through some shit.
HAWKEYE. David roaring to a finish on 19, Annie cranking on 20. Ha ha. Soon there will be a HAWKEYE 20. Crazy.
CASANOVA v4. Brazil is still alive and strong in the Cup so I bet #2 is in great shape. #3 shaping up to be extra weird. Which for CASANOVA really says something.
ODY-C. Me. Ward. November.
These are just for you. They are rough, obviously. You'll see the finals soon enough but, hey, I wanted to do something special. Shh.
- kelly sue deconnick -
That's Shane Blackwell up there, duck-facing (yes, I'm making it a verb) with me at Heroes Con. Shane helps curate the Carol Corps Crafts and Carol Corps Cosplay boards on Pinterest. Thanks, Shane! It was great to see you.
Heroes Con was a blast -- as always. I was nervous about the Carol Corps panel because they put us in the big room and I was scared, frankly, that we wouldn't fill it. But WE DID! And everyone seemed to have a great time. We had some fantastic giveaways (thank you, Mittie!), great guests, and we previewed Marcio Takara's Carol with a page from Captain Marvel 7. My never-ending gratitude to Skottie Young, Chris Sebela and Marcio for being our surprise guests and to Vincenza, Ashley, Jessica and the rest of the Carol Corps Prime who not only showed up in full costume but also did things like BAKED COOKIES FOR EVERYONE. You are all AMAZING. (Lisa, Kit, Gilbert: you were missed.)
If you didn't see Amelia, the youngest member of the Carol Corps Prime and Amelia Earhart's namesake, you need to click here now. (While you're at it, make sure you didn't miss this.)
Those cool Carol and Kamala paper dolls we gave out as prizes? You can make your own by downloading the templates right here.
I do owe a huge apology to Chujo-Hime from Tumblr, who was kind enough to put together a Carol Corps resource list that I proceeded to not hand out because I spaced it. Like an idiot. So. I will put that up in some downloadable format once I get home. My most sincere apologies -- I am mortified.
OTHER THAN THAT, things were pretty spectacular, though.
My con haul was OUTSTANDING. I bought a Ramona Fradon! Red Sonja. I couldn't help myself. Walked over to her booth with Veronica Fish, who is gonna be huge, by the way. Ditto Vanesa R. Del Ray, whose portfolio made my heart beat so hard I could feel it in my ears. Kris Anka gave me a print so cool that I'm going to have to have it framed and hang it in my office. Oh, and I met the incredibly-gifted Kevin Wada, whose selfie game is STRONG. I'll be honest: I felt my selfie superiority threatened.
I should probably talk about what I'm working on this week, but it's getting late, I'm tired, and we have a signing at Comic Envy in Ashville tomorrow and I need sleep. Can't hang with Flatbear when you're feeling any less than 1000% Elephants, right?
THING YOU NEED TO KNOW: Emma Ríos is selling Pretty Deadly prints and original pages from several other books over at Cadence Comic Art. We own a few of Emma's pages (as does Henry Leo). They're easily among our most prized possessions.
Oh, and this happened:
"I totally think you guys should kick this newsletter old school family style and do 'two truths and a lie' at the end in that endearingly annoying way extended family members do like."
"Tallulah Louise" was almost named "Tallulah Snowblood."
Henry Leo was nearly "Huckleberry."
Fraction got his nickname from Ed Brubaker, who was a high school buddy.
The lie was 3: "Fraction got his nickname from Ed Brubaker, who was a high school buddy." (Fraction got his name from a telemarketer and never went to school with Ed.)
We had 53 correct answers -- we used a random number generator to pick a winner: Kate Duncan Butler. Kate, we'll email you when we get home next week for a mailing address to send your prize.
Thanks for playing!
Now, this week's special request:
"Favorite Fellini moment?"
KS: That's tough. Any moment that Giulietta Masina is onscreen. La Saraghina. The mirrored openings of LA DOLCE VITA and 8 1/2. The dream journal. Actually, no. I'm going to go with "It's showtime!" from ALL THAT JAZZ. My favorite Fellini film was made by Bob Fosse.
MF: The Asa Nisi Masa sequence from 8 1/2. The way it faded in and out from dream, from memory, to a living moment. Or the opening dream. Or Guido chasing his father on the beach... 8 1/2 was the first time I ever saw someone film a dream the way I dream. Fellini, and at times Lynch, make dreams; everyone else makes dream sequences.
tl;dr
June 25 - Store Signing at Comic Envy in Ashville, North Carolina
July 15 - Kelly Sue's Birthday
July 19 - Kelly Sue & Matt Clackamus Town Ctr Mall Barnes & Noble Signing, Portland, OR
August 29-31 - Kelly Sue at Dragon*Con
September 5-7 - Fraction at Cincy Comiccon
September 9 - Henry Leo's Birthday
September 20-21 - KS & MF at Rose City Comic Con