Comic Recommendations, House of Satisfactions, and ComiClub Podcast

I sit at a coffee shop typing this email. The hustle & bustle of a coffee shop creates an energizing white noise that somehow makes creative work easier.

I can’t help but peek at other people’s screens to see what they’re working on. It’s usually a mixture of email, design work, and mobile gaming.

And the conversations I overhear are wild. I try not to eavesdrop, but it’s unavoidable. People often meet old friends and talk about their feelings here. It gets deep.

In This Issue:

• House of Satisfactions Update

• Favorite Recent Comics

• New ComiClub Episodes

• What to [play] this weekend

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House of Satisfactions Update

House of Satisfactions is my alternative comic book studio that is publishing a Southern horror anthology on Kickstarter in October.

Seven of our eight stories have contracted artists who are delivering character concepts, layouts, and art. This is the most exciting time!!

Learning the comic creation process is a great experience, and writing narrative work has unlocked a creative side that I’ve missed.

Miller and I are about to transition a lot of our efforts from scripting into promo, business tasks, Kickstarter campaign planning, and cover art decisions.

Sign up for the House of Satisfactions email list so you get VIP pricing for the comic.

Favorite Recent Recent Comic Reads

Tomorrow Stories Vol. 1

A masterclass in short comics from Alan Moore’s America’s Best Comics line. Moore writes five new characters and spans (whimsical boy genius, tongue-in-cheek superheroes, pulpy noir, etc.). The economy of the storytelling is impressive and its shocking how funny Moore is despite culture’s perception of him being an ultra-serious grump.

20th Century Men

Deniz Camp is THE hot new writer. And for good reason. His Absolute Martian Manhunter and Ultimates runs are spectacular. 20th Century Men is his early Image comic with artist Stipan Morian that put him on the map. It’s a dense political story with light super-heroics exploring an alternative Russia, Afghanistan, and America controlled by super soldiers. I didn’t fully understood half of this comic’s ideas, but I am impressed by the ambition.

Tongues

This will go down in the canon of graphic novel storytelling. Truly an incredible work of art. Tongues is a complicated era-spanning tale of the Roman mythological pantheon as they interact with a new chosen one destined to overthrow Jupiter who wants to destroy our world. Cartoonist Anders Nilsen injects wild panel layouts with a unique hexagon panel style that also uses the book design (fold out pages, etc.) to make for a unique reading experience.

A Star Called the Sun

A brilliant anthology of sci-fi stories. Simon Roy is my favorite sci-fi comic storyteller. His deep love of the genre shows in these unique stories set in his fictional Griz Grobus future universe. The tales span Miyazaki-esque whimsy and brutal terror. Listen to my interview with Simon Roy for more insight:

ComiClub Podcast

Last month we read Spectators by Brian K. Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon. It’s an ultra-violent and sexually explicit comic. Your appetite (or lack thereof) for viewing these things is the whole point.

In America, we have a weird relationship with violence and sex. One is normalized while the other is deeply repressed.

This comic was serialized on Substack as a part of the comic grant program Substack was offering to creators during the pandemic. I don’t think we would have gotten a comic like this if not for the company sponsoring these artists to create something truly idiosyncratic.

Listen to our spoiler-free First Impressions episode to learn more about the comic:

And if you’ve already read it, here is the full episode:

This month we’re reading Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. The art is truly some of the best in modern comics. It tells the story of the daughter of a famous fictional Sword & Sorcery artist going to her grandfather’s estate to grieve her father’s death. And her father’s stories might be more real that she realizes.

Listen to our spoiler-free First Impressions episode to learn more about the comic:

We’ll be embarking on our huge Avengers read through to prep for the MCU movies Doomsday and Secret Wars.

More coming soon…

What to [play] this weekend: Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup in Bellabel Park

This expansion adds Assist Mode that will help my kids enjoy the 2D Mario experience more. Mario is simple, but holding Y to run while hitting B to jump is a skill that my kids haven’t mastered yet. Also you can play as Rosalina in this update which has my daughter stoked. We’re gearing up for the new Mario Galaxy movie and are loving these 2D cooperative Mario games.

Directed by: Shiro Mouri

Logline: “Get ready for new friends, new challenges and lots of surprises in this expanded version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Nintendo Switch 2.”

Have I played it yet? A little

Where to play? Switch 2

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See you next week.