Young Solomon Kanes
All-New All-Different Puritans
FIRST OFF
Get yourself some original pages from TIGRESS ISLAND! ←[Click that]
Own a piece of the comic while you can. It looks like issue 1 pages are going fast. EPHK painted these in b&w, which means every one feels immediately frameable! Beautify your walls!
ALSO IMPORTANT
GEHENNA IN TOKYO and TIGRESS ISLAND #4 are at FINAL ORDER CUTOFF THIS WEEK! That means if you want them you gotta call your comic shop! THIS WEEK! These are both beautifully drawn comics from true masters. I am proud to have my name on these books and I can virtually guarantee you will love them. Make the call!
PAGES IN MY INBOX
Out of context, images from this series I’m doing with Pramono must look insane. But I promise you’ll love it.
THEMES
Talk of generations is doomed to dismissal. If I comment on Gen Z, it’s natural that Gen Z should disregard what I have to say. After all, I’m old. What could I know?
I say this largely without judgment, because I’m no different: the only take people are willing to hear is “people older than me suck, I blame them for [whatever thing.]” That’s the “you’ll find two envelopes in the desk drawer” of social commentary. Everything is the fault of the guy before you.
All that said, I think I have to comment on young people. I would hesitate to say I’m worried about them. Only because it’s not precisely true. How they conduct their lives is their business and if they want to live in ways that feel disastrous to me, it’s not really my concern.
But I will say I am confused.
Whatever generation is represented by 18-28-year-olds is struggling with intimacy. Not just literally, but as a concept. Depictions of sex being the most overt example. Scratch that, depictions of THE HUMAN BODY being the most overt example.
I found some of the comments on TIGRESS ISLAND posts perplexing. I expected any offense taken to be from church moms who tripped over the book while furiously searching another island that’s in the news a lot lately. I did not anticipate young people being the aggrieved party.
These comments are coming from young people. I checked. But I didn’t need to because words like “gooner” came up multiple times. No one over 30 knows what that is. For old people, it means someone unreasonably invested in pornography and masturbation.
What’s up, young people?
There’s many theories about this. All some mix of ‘internet native’ and ‘Covid youth.’ Occasionally ‘lowered alcohol consumption' is thrown in. Whatever the case, what seems clear is that there’s a new morality bubbling. A repressed (hence, repressive) one that holds all sexual (or potentially sexual) content to scrutiny.
Let’s pretend, for a moment, that sex isn’t an essential part of how humans interact and a life-affirming act in its own right. There’s still the small matter of art. Forget TIGRESS ISLAND or our contemporaries. How does/will the Sexless Generation view art and literature throughout history? Is Tropic Of Cancer a gooner novel? Is Reclining Nude a gooner painting? Are we starting at Year Zero for creative endeavors?
I know there is no answer, because the party in question isn’t asking any real questions. There’s a post-MeToo current-Epstein slurry that young brains swim in. All sex is dangerous, ugly, and has a baked-in victim/victimizer dynamic. The framework is revolting so anything contained therein is likewise gross. That baseline is reinforced in gaming lobbies and Discord channels and social media platforms. Young people simply think this is normal and old people are debauched, perverted, and predatory.
This won’t work because it can’t work. Puritanism is a mole that pops up on occasion, but soon retreats back down its hole. Years can go by in that miserable state, and I feel bad for young people looking for art (or looking for physical contact with their peers) who have to deal with this type of moral straightjacketing. But it will pass.
For my part, I’ll be pushing work that has complex (if any) moral frameworks and whatever sexual atmosphere benefits the story and reflects the characters. I’m grandfathered in. A rare benefit of being old. Everyone else, good luck.
PEOPLE I SPOKE TO
Black Cat Comics in Jacksonville was kind enough to have me and I had a nice opportunity to speak with readers. I try not to take compliments any more seriously than I take critique, but I was really taken by everyone’s kind words.
MEDIA CONSUMPTION
TORPEDO 1936 would boil the brains and melt the skulls of comic moralists in 2026. I’ve read what I thought was a decent chunk of the original run, but I was unfamiliar with most of the three volumes Matt Battaglia gifted me. These stories are DARK. The idea of a protagonist using sexual violence at all is shocking enough. But the casual mode of it would be bracing for most, maybe all, readers in the current moment. Of course the point of a story isn’t to advocate, so let’s get to brass tacks: these are great comics. Unreal craft. RECOMMENDED.
Warning Sign would be a fun double-feature with The Chain Reaction, though nowhere near as good. It’s a 1.5 location story about the dangers of what we’re not being told. Dumb and small, but sorta a good time. Lightly RECOMMENDED.
Badge 373 is a rare thing: unapologetically street grit. Could have been titled Duvall Vs the Puerto Ricans in foreign markets. I kept waiting for the “and now we learn why stereotypes are wrong” compulsory Hollywood moment, but it never came. The result is a stronger movie, though a bit on the ugly side. RECOMMENDED.
While this newsletter is on the subject of New Puritans, I think they may’ve been at work in 2007. Kane & Lynch was pilloried by critics on release. Too crude. Unnecessarily dark. Too edgy. Times were changing and this game felt retrograde to many (critics). Having played through it this week, I was bubbling with anger towards those who dismissed it. Five years later, they’d praise Spec Ops: The Line for what they saw as a transgressive work critical of America’s military action in the middle east. If any one of those critics was the same person, shame on them. Both games were complete successes in that they both met their specific aims. You’d have to start any review with “I don’t like [goal of game] and therefore I’m the wrong person to review this, however here we go…” Otherwise you’re being a total bedbug of a writer. There’s plenty wrong with Kane & Lynch technically, but there was plenty wrong with Spec Ops: The Line too. Be an honest critic. These are upper-mid games relying entirely on vibes. And both are successful in that regard. RECOMMENDED, GODAMMIT!
FROM THE DESIGN FOLDER
I spoke to a musician whose band has a dated sensibility. The band knows it. It’s just what they like. But selling that (very good) thing to young people might be hard. I think about this a lot when I encounter guys who love Old Hollywood aesthetics. It’s just so ‘boomer-coded’ that a potential audience is turned off before they experience what you’re actually offering.
The movie poster above is one of those vibes I could see a comic cover trying to pull off and immediately hitting that same wall. “Looks old, you old dickhead!” But I like it. And I try to keep my mind open to aesthetics I might otherwise disregard.
THANKS
Call your comic shop! Do for self!
Do you get any stats on which cover variants are selling the best?
I really like the NIW Variant. Not as raunchy as some of the others, but it's really pretty; honestly.