We Got The Beat
New press coverage and, hoo boy, is it a doozy! But first…
Support my work
Work-Life Balance – the multi-award-winning prose/comics hybrid co-created with Benjamin Chee
Worlds Apart: A Conversation About Mental Health – a comic co-created with Nurjannah Suhaimi
HANTU – Spotify channel for the narrative series, Ghost Maps, and the talk show, Dead Air, both of which were co-created with Kyle Ong
Tales From Incredible Tales – a podcast by Kyle and I, looking back on the cult classic horror series, Incredible Tales
Beat ‘em up
The Beat is one of my favourite comic news websites, so I had a big ol’ smile on my face when I saw their article dedicated to Work-Life Balance and Difference Engine’s entry into the global market.
“We’re honored that Difference Engine chose to break into the international market with Work-Life Balance. We can’t wait for the whole world to discover the folklore we grew up with which is such an important part of Southeast Asian culture—albeit in a painfully familiar office setting,” followed both Chee and Rée. “Work-Life Balance is also our love letter to storytelling with two genres across two mediums coming together in service of one story. We hope it resonates with everyone, whether you’ve struggled with your sense of identity or just think your supervisor’s a demon.”
Sure, we had a feature in PREVIEWS the other month, but this is certainly the first piece of international news about us that’s widely available, so here’s hoping that it gets more eyeballs on the book.
Smart Alex
I’m not the biggest fan of social media, but every once in a while, it’s a channel through which a bit of magic happens.
Eisner-nominated writer, Alex de Campi, and I connected on Bluesky, where she very generously talked about how excited she was to read Work-Life Balance.
Alex had no idea who I was prior to our interaction and she was not obligated to speak so kindly of our book—but she did so anyway because, as it turns out, Alex de Campi is just an incredibly lovely, supportive and awesome person.
If you want to follow Alex’s lead and you live outside of Singapore, you can currently pre-order Work-Life Balance too at…
The pull of malaise
You might have noticed over the last few editions of this newsletter that I've been spiralling a little. It started with all the stuff that happened in comics earlier this year and just went downhill from there. The good news is that I spoke with my therapist, which helped a lot, but trying to get out of the malaise that it’s left me in has been rough.
Next week, I'll be returning to the hot-desking space I rented—and finally start working on my novel again. It's not going to be easy, but it needs to be done. The longer I put this off, the more I feel like shit. The more I feel like shit, the stronger the hold that malaise has on me.
I love what I do for a living and I'm on an upward swing with it right now. It's not about being "productive"; it's about not letting my own head get in the way of my happiness.
What’s more, I’m working with someone very important on this book, and they’ve been immensely patient with me, so if nothing else, I certainly owe it to them—and myself, of course—to get back on this horse.
Happy Birthday, Nadia
My wife, Nadia, turned forty-one earlier this week. If you don’t already know our story, we first met in 2006 and remained friends for eleven years, before we got together.
She is, to put it lightly, everything to me: my best friend and the best partner I could ask for in marriage; a source of strength and a source of inspiration. In all the years I’ve known her, she’s constantly evolving, growing and learning to be a smarter, better and more caring person.
On top of all of that, she also makes me laugh and makes me feel seen.
Happy Birthday, sayang. Oh hey, look! I’ve found yet another medium where I can gross people out with how lovey dovey we are.
Favourite parent
Speaking of Nadia, that’s her flipping off Luca for resting his head lovingly against my foot while I sleep, clearly showing her where she sits in the pecking order of his affections.
Links and things
It’s my birthday in a little over a week and, for those who don’t know, I am a massive fan of Spider-Man’s infamous clone, Ben Reilly. So, if you’re exceedingly rich and wanted to get me anything, either the original art for this unused cover or a recreation of it would be lovely.
Robot Playground Media, the studio we’re working with for the Work-Life Balance animated series, has released the trailer for another one of their projects—Egg Fried Rice, based on a story from Ying Chang Compestine’s book, A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts—and, oh man, does it look incredible.
And that’s it
As always, don’t forget to support my work. It’s almost as good as giving me a birthday present! (Almost.)
See you in two weeks, folks.