Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 211
Hello, welcome to my first newsletter post using Substack. I don’t know if everyone’s address has migrated over from Tinyletter. I honestly don’t know how anything works in 2023. Every platform makes me feel like my parents navigating a new iPhone. But I needed a site with spellcheck, so we’ll give it a go.
If you’re somehow new here, welcome. Thanks for reading. In principle, this newsletter talks about my work. But during times when I can’t share anything, I’ll talk at greater length about other people’s work. As it seems Substack will make inserting media into posts a lot easier, I’ll work to make reviews a bigger part of what I do here.
First, a quick reminder that STRINGER is hitting stores this month. If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you know the deal. Wild manic crime story set on the tennis circuit of the 1980s. It’s just remarkably fun in my estimation. Call your comic shop, as there are still some at the distributor, or order online via any of the usual suspects.
And in other very important and pressing news, LEADED GASOLINE #1 is hitting stores this month. If you missed the window on ordering this one to you shop, ask your shop for a copy and see what can be done. It’s possible we go to 2nd print on this and I’d like you to get one. It’s fantastically evocative work from Lorenzo and, frankly, just not a type of comic I see very often. Actual crime-horror with no supernatural element. Going to movies for reference, I’d put it in the Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac territory.
And don’t forget to ask your shop for issue #2!
Ok, now onto news: The union formed in the Image offices is accusing Image of unfair labor practices. There’s a list of charges, though the language I’ve seen so far is (intentionally, I presume) vague. I haven’t been supportive of this union because, in my view, its demands were muddied with what looked like anti-art (and ultimately, ironically, anti-labor) editorial oversight. Beyond that, I’ve maintained I don’t work in those offices and therefore couldn’t say what’s real or not, and therefore couldn’t say what’s unfair or not. I’ve maintained a “best of luck to all involved” stance, as that’s my usual orientation.
But I just wanna say to any union members reading this: I know there’s an instinct to pursue what you view as justice. And if you’re caught in a righteousness fit, anything I say to the contrary will be perceived as villainous. But if you can hear me through the static of ‘fuck this job and fuck this guy’ then I hope you take this to heart. I don’t know your ages, but (statistically) I’ll be dead in 40 years. I imagine you’re in a similar boat. 40 years sounds like a lot if you’re 20. But if you’re 30+ it starts to register that there’s no time to waste. I don’t give a shit about changing places that are transitory to me. And that’s all a job ever is. I didn’t care about my colleges beyond the work I did there. I don’t care about jobs beyond the work I do at them. Not every situation requires a fight. Sometimes living a great life with the bullshit in the rearview is the thing. I love Image Comics. It’s allowed me to do good work. And I like every person I’ve dealt with there. But if it was causing me a great deal of stress, I would move onto other pastures. I know there’s a thing happening in online culture right now that presupposes the need, efficacy, and moral primacy of unions. But, in real life, all three counts have always been open for debate.
Speaking of solidarity in the zeitgeist, the WGA is still striking. And from friends involved, I hear the whole thing is quite ugly. As a writer I favor writers making money. I don’t care what’s fair or unfair; I care about self-advocacy and creating a life for my family. So, yeah, get that money, writers. That said, I am not informed enough to have real opinions on this strike. Some of my WGA friends hate it and believe it’s fueled by falsely-propped-and-promptly-failed showrunners. Of course, nobody says that publicly. The vibe online is rah rah. Ok by me. I’m outside of it all. But I wanted to take a second to talk about how aggrieved people sell their struggle to strangers and how it can go wrong.
I don’t wanna misrepresent this person’s point, but I also don’t wanna post a whole thread. Please find and read it if you need greater context. The gist is that writers are working for months at a time for producers who request rewrites outside of the agreement.
I am on her side. A contract is a contract. Asking me to work outside of it, with the tacit implication that if I refuse I may not get more work, is exploitation.
But there’s gonna be a large percentage of people who look at $1900 a week and say, “I lay roof for less than that.” Or “I spend four nights a week away from my family for less than that.” Or “I have bad knees and lower back pain for less than that.” This is an Empathy Marketing Fail. You look elitist and, more damning, you look like you don’t know it.
Maybe there really are two worlds.
Related, here’s a piece of media I really enjoyed this week. Maybe the only people I like in New York City are the small business working-class. I thought this was a touching look into their lives.
Did I talk last week about the announcement that Image is moving to Lunar for distribution? Or at least isn’t Diamond exclusive? Some pundits made a big deal outta the fact Eric Stephenson at Image trashed DC for doing the same a few years ago. I think that criticism is a touch disingenuous. A lot can change in three years. I don’t know the details, but I do know Image was the remaining big boy at Diamond and was in a position to negotiate insanely favorable terms. That DIDN’T happen, and I’m inclined to believe there’s a good reason why. I don’t know what the fate of Diamond is from here, but it’s wild to me that a monopoly everyone assumed was eternal has collapsed in less than three years.
Moving on, here’s a couple things I read this week and some thoughts.
Apparently a popular thing people like that I was not aware of until now, KNIGHT OF THE ICE is a sturdily built sports manga with a will-they-won’t-they romance angle and unabashedly knowing nods to the readership’s interests. The ice skater needs his childhood friend to recite a line from their favorite anime before he takes the ice. It’s become the pebble in his pocket and without it he fails. So his team will do anything to keep that friend around. It’s dumb, obviously, but in a way that romantic comedy fans will connect with. I really enjoyed it.
This is not the cover of DOG NINGEN. But I can’t find an image of the cover with the NINGEN name and I frankly don’t wanna deal with some of you if I post the cover with its previous name. Hint: it’s a word the writer is allowed to say that I am not. Apparently it was changed so it could continue to be sold on Amazon.
The premise is a man has a hard life because he’s got a dog’s head. He blames his dad so he intends to hunt down and rape his dad. Yes, you read that correctly.
The art is brutally bad and the writing is, in every regard, its equal. But I think there is a real enthusiasm to create here that I do not see in every book. It’s childish in all ways, including the good ones.
This is obviously the product of edgy young people. Which is exactly 50% of the creators I care to hear from in life, with the other 50% being experienced craftspeople.
Last up, KIRURU KILL ME. I like books published by Seven Seas, because they are 99% trash with the very real possibility they will be inspired trash. This is one of those lightweight trash manga that has a lot going for it. The conceit is a billionaire falls in love with an assassin and hires her to target him so he can be near her. Fun. It’s drawn well-enough with occasional flair and it’s written in a serious-enough but never self-serious fashion. Will check out another volume.
I’ve read 75 issues of BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT on this tour. I’ll start talking about them next week. Some really great work, some occasionally terrible work, and a ton of interesting work.
That’s it for me. Substack allows me to make this a paid subscription model, but I don’t think we’ll open that up just yet. I don’t understand exactly if I can leave it open for all readers while accepting subscriptions who just wanna support. Again, I don’t understand anything. In very short time I’ve become the sheriff from No Country For Old Men. Everything is suddenly too complex. I like the Ko-Fi model of “hey, I liked this, here’s $5.” Unfortunately that platform hasn’t updated itself in a decade and isn’t optimized for… anything… and certainly not newsletters. Subscriptions feel intimidating in an era where EVERYTHING is subscription-based. I’m starting to hate it all. That said, if you all gave me $5 a month I could quit two of my jobs. So that’s something to think about. Anyway, this will be the new place to find the newsletter unless/until this platform makes me angry. So tell a friend. Stay focused on doing good work. Do for self.