Do Not Siege Walled Cities - 286
Barred From the Temple
HOPE YOU ALL HAD AN EXCITING WEEK
Here’s two barn cats on the roof of the cat condo I built them. They are using it incorrectly.
COLOR THEORY
Matteo Vattani doing his thing. Maurizio very happy with the outcome. Contacting Image this week about getting a solicitation date.
This book took me off the table for new series for almost a year. Not because it was so taxing, rather I really want this book to be the next thing with my name on it. I believe it will reach readers (and retailers!) I haven’t made an impact on previously. So everything else is in stasis while this title gets off the ground.
And now we’re almost there. Very excited for you all to see its final state. Soon.
SPEAKING OF WHICH
New cover art preview here, this time by Rifleman. It’s as wild as it suggests.
‘OUTSIDER’ ART
I heard this song for the first time this week:
And I was moved.
But then I had to self-examine a bit. We all have these hero stories about our careers. We’re always the hardscrabble outsider who made his way by grit and determination. Even when it’s not true.
Or at least not fully true. Because it can’t be. For our stories to be worthwhile they must have some payoff. We have to have arrived somewhere in our careers for the outsider tale to mean anything. But somewhere along the line, we owe someone or some circumstance a debt of gratitude. Millions of individual seconds passed in our lives without a fatal car accident or other unlucky end. We’re all blessed, is what I mean to say here.
Image Comics is the largest of the non-corporate publishers, and I’ve been blessed to have that association. If I attempted to sell my time in comics as a struggle against impossible odds, someone would be right to remind me of my good fortune. And before that, Black Mask was willing to publish my work despite it falling outside what was hot for the publisher at that time. Someone who self-publishes out of necessity does not want to hear any “I scaled Everest” nonsense from me.
All that said, I still relate to the song. Because regardless of how blessed I might be, there is something fundamentally more narrative in betting on yourself. Creator-owned comic books are not “I applied for a job and got it.” It’s catch-as-catch-can and requires a multidisciplinary approach to creation. It’s difficult, and having guideposts rather than rules provides its own challenges even as it allows for greater joys.
So, I am inside the temple I would like to be in. Perhaps, though, barred from the ones that insist you do bad work. And blessed in this regard.
ARE YOUR GREAT GRANDPARENTS YOUR FAULT?
I saw some consternation over the choice of Harry Potter streaming show showrunner(?) producer(?) something(?). Her name is Francesca Gardiner and I suppose TV people know her a bit though she was unknown to me. The reason she was the topic of conversations is that she’s from one of those British families with the capital F on Wikipedia. Family tree available upon search, etc. Really, really rich people who have been really, really rich for a long time.
And I generally dismiss this sorta shit, because I think jealousy is bitchy and resentment of the rich is just a signal you’re poor. Nobody cares. You cry while they yacht. What’s it doing for you?
But it did give me pause when I fell down a Wikipedia hole of the… ‘nepo babies’ doesn’t quite capture it… great-grandchildren of magnates and bank founders who work in the arts.
What is that? If you told me these individuals were better suited for a career in finance than someone with single mother who worked nights as a nurse, I would be open to the conversation. They’ve been bred for certain things, like dogs with strange faces. But the arts? What’s the qualification?
And, in relation to the bit above about being barred from the temple, I started to think about the born-rich writers (it’s always writers) in comics. And how much deference I’ve seen towards them by editors. They want these people to succeed.
That’s fucking weird, man.
“The rich stay rich” is more poor person talk that I try to avoid. But I do have to admit there’s something repellent about wanting to put on for someone who was born on. Do editors believe these individuals are better writers because they attended grade schools with Latin crests?
The premise of the anger online was that there is little pathway for the working-class in the arts. High-level positions are squatted on by the scions of banking fortunes. But, as some pointed out, who the fuck wants to direct Harry Potter TV? The arts have been democratized for better and for worse and it is your responsibility to make this new reality work for you.
TENNIS ELBOW
Not really. But my partner Al is recovering from an injury at the moment which has slowed us at the finish line of a great comic we’re doing together. Backers will get a more complete update soon, just wanted to drop some great cartooning here with the message that we are very nearly done with our best work to date.
LONELY COMMENT
I was thinking about the Credit Angel commercials from the 00s. No idea why. So I Youtubed. And found one sad comment attached to this video.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
A wild pile of poo this week. Street Girls is basically the Paul Schrader movie Hardcore done by a community college film and television class.
I sorta liked the long takes of characters walking while the theme song for the film played. And the final like of the film is very memorable. Really bad movie, however.
Next up is one I watched for the poster, which ChatGPT tells me is by Enzo Sciott, but I have my doubts. The size of the assault rifle is very funny and the whole thing reminds me of Ben Marra doing his Paul Gulacy thing. Really great. The movie itself is raw poop, with very few redeeming qualities other than the camp of a zero-talent production.
Here’s the villain being shot in the stomach. He deserved it.
Finally we’ve got Firecracker, which I was ready to file under POO, but ended up redeeming itself. The foreplay scene is Mystery Science Theater fodder for sure. Really, really funny and I do not believe it was intentional. Though I suppose all these films can play it both ways if they choose.
Also very funny was the in-world justification for toplessness. The blade cut her braw down the middle? What are the odds! I guess I enjoyed this one.
AND THAT’S THAT
I hope you all feel as blessed as I do. And if not, let’s get those blessings up this week. Every day an opportunity to swing and miss or make it to base. Stay in good repair. Pet a cat. Do for self.
Hyped to see the Destroyer track here.