WHAT A LOVELY DAY
if there's a |LNAME| in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now no one knows what a hedgerow is
- matt fraction -
ODY-C #5 hits this week; it caps the first slab of our story. Odyssia, having won the war, sets off for home, engaging with every single distraction she encounters along the way. After a traumatic conflict with the Cyclops which saw many of her crewgirls die, the acquisition of the starheart of Aeolous makes possible for Odyssia the collapse of her journey home into days rather than years but it comes a terrible price.
And she pays it.
So of course everything that can go wrong does.
When we started our ODY-C I thought, oh, okay, this is Odyssia’s story, the famous odyssey, the Ithica/Cyclops/Suitors trip done s/f with and for Ward. Just bam-bam-bam. Space adventure! Simple!
Dumby.
As with most things I write I started writing it and learned the actual story, the story that attracted me from the aether, the thing that reached out for me from ideaspace in the first place — and I learned that it had nothing to do with bam-bam-bam-space adventure-simple.
(I thought CASANOVA was me dicking around with superspies. I thought SATELLITE SAM was a five-issue whodunnit. I thought SEX CRIMINALS was four issues of semen jokes [which, y’know, it IS, but it’s maybe something else too] I thought HAWKEYE was — actually, no, HAWKEYE was exactly what I thought it was gonna be; it was more a case of how we would get there…)
[Re: the last issue HAWKEYE, your guess is as good as mine and my guesses are all terrible.]
So that’s why writing solicitation copy before you’ve written a thing is fucking stupid.
Three ships left Troiia-VII and I realized at some point I wanted to follow each of those ships. Odyssia and her story has primacy in ODY-C but between the arcs of it we’ll be checking in with the other two. One one ship, the Agemennenon analogue, which will, eventally, lead to a retelling of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF ATREUS. On the other, our Helen and Meneleus analogues.
Did you know there’s a tributary of thought, of myth, of story, that has Helen finding her way to Egypt?
There is. But more about that when 6 is nigh.
I love writing this book. I love sending it to Ward and then getting an staggering and eye-bursting blast of psychedelic science fiction back from him. I love that it feels like what we wanted it to feel like in spite of my constant conspiring to ruin it. I love Ward. I hope you do too.
The first trade is a lean-and-mean TEN BUCKS.
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Howard has almost finished SATELLITE SAM #15.
There will be an oversized hardcover that collects the whole sordid story that includes tons of new bonus material, including the Tijuana Bible, all the trade extras, a collection-only epilogue, out in the late summer.
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The CASANOVA train is getting back on track. Issue 3 wraps the first part of ACEDIA; Issue 4 will be a flashback to the early life of the man who would become Amiel Boutique and it’s drawn by Bá. We’ll follow that structure 3 issues by Moon, one by Bá, for the duration of ACEDIA, the Bá issues filling in the picture the preceding three by Moon have sketched out… you’ll understand when it comes out. Maybe. Bam! Breaking news. Both the boys are on this volume.
Anyway, apologies for the monstrous delays and we’re doing everything we can to get it up and running with reliability and regularity.
(I wanted chaos, I wanted the unpredictable with this arc. Be careful what you wish for, etc etc)
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SEX CRIMINALS #11 is awaiting a proofreading run by me and should go to press this week. Then in June, Chip and I have to go to the printing press to hand-vandalize several thousand covers that will all be in pink polybags. The first four XXX variant covers are in, and, jesus christ, are you people in for it.
Here is an exclusive look at SEX CRIMBO 11TEEN:
YOU ARE WELCUM
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Over on the TV side of things, the first project we’re trying to shepherd from comics to television that we didn’t create should be announced soon. It’s a book we love so, so, SO much and could not be more excited to bring it to Universal — but this past week all of the air in the television media was taken up by the networks deciding what shows were coming back, getting cancelled, or getting picked up. I expect as things slow down on that front our news will get dropped.
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Oh! And here’s some big-ass news (for me): I’m going to be a guest on LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS on THURSDAY, MAY 21st.
Like, a guest-guest. Like, on the show.
(Bendis yells at me for 'burying the lede' all the time. Putting this at the end of the newsletter is 'burying the lede.')
I have a really cool treat cooked up for the show, so — so yeah. Tune in! DVR that shit! Do whatever millennials do now i don’t even
Anyway I’m losing my shit. How was YOUR week?
- kelly sue demonic -
[gets to chillax this time around]
#ICYMI
Kelly Sue made Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business 2015 List.
Pull list: ODY-C on TOR.COM.
Uncaging Bitch Planet #4 on Atoll Comics.
tl;dr
May 13 - ODY-C #5 ACTUALLY on sale
May 13 - Captain Marvel #15 on sale
May 21 - Matt on Late Night with Seth Meyers
May 27 - Satellite Sam #14 on sale
June 10 - Bitch Planet #5 on sale
June 19-21 - HeroesCon
July 8-12 - SDCC
Milkfed Logo by Rian Hughes.