I’ve been away on an ACTUAL HOLIDAY for the last couple of weeks, with the stated intention of having a complete break from work and not doing any writing or drawing at all. Which mostly held, until on the way home I accidentally on purpose sat up all night and wrote / roughed out a couple of months’ worth of Donut Squads over the course of a 14-hour flight back from Japan. (Yes, I went to Japan. Again. Don’t worry, I am fully aware this is entirely ridiculous.)
Anyway, I’m not going to go on about My Lovely Holiday too much here because, well, people don’t want to read about that sort of thing. Do they? Tell you what, if you make it through this whole newsletter, at the end maybe I’ll do a quick Top 5 Things I Ate In Japan (This Time). Regardless, the title of this post made a promise, and here by way of delivery on that promise is a photo of:
Very nice, would recommend.
Anyway. I was a bit out of touch while away so it was nice to get home and catch up on several weeks’ worth of Phoenixes, and also in the case several weeks’ worth of really lovely and heartfelt messages from Phoenixers and Phoenixer Parents about the just-about-concluded final stretch of the Business Donut Saga. It seems like this one really touched a nerve for some people, in a good way I think, and it was really lovely for me to hear that.
There’s a lot of fellow Anxiety Donuts out there, it turns out. Genuinely, my love to you all.
Anyway, onto regular business!
UPCOMING EVENTS
A bunch of events coming up, let’s have a quick run-through…
I’ll be back at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer, doing a big Donut-related solo show on Saturday 22 August, and then on Sunday 23 August a smaller How To Make Awesome Comics workshop and what should be a really fun Penguins Vs Donuts draw-off event with the brilliant Laura Ellen Anderson. And a quick look tells me that, oops, I think those are all sold out already, sorry. But there is probably a reserve list or something!
In October I’ll be back at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival on Saturday the 3rd with the aformentioned Laura Ellen Anderson as well as more amazing Phoenix comrades Thiago de Moraes and Jess Bradley - we’re all doing solo shows, and then TEAMING-UP Avengers style for a big SPECTACULAR Phoenix Comic Books Draw-Off, which I think should be incredibly fun. Tickets available now!
…and then there’s LOADS more fun stuff coming up in October, but that is probably enough to be getting on with for now? Let’s have some comics for a bit instead!
THE MEGA ROBO CHRONICLES
You know the score by now - in between books 7 and 8, Alex and Freddy - the two robotic brothers colloquially known as the Mega Robo Bros - had a series of locked-down adventures that we were never able to fit into the collections.
The Story So Far: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
and now… part 7!
You do you, Freddy.
I was really happy today a chance to do these ones. Alex originally Went Pink back in book 2 (?) / the early days of the strip, and after that story I always had a the vague idea that they hadn’t really settled anything, and would maybe just go back and forth between blue and pink / try out different colour schemes over the course of the rest of the story, without it being a big deal. Unfortunately, it never seemed like the right time to get back to it - I don’t know if you’ve read any Mega Robo Bros but there’s Quite A Lot Else Going On, plot-wise, and I think I worried it might be confusing or distracting to readers if one off the main characters kept changing appearance completely without it being remarked upon. So anyway, it was really nice to have this kind of enforced narrative lull in which to just check in, see where Alex was with that whole thing, and kind of flag it up again as we got ready to head towards the conclusion.
If somehow you have NOT read Mega Robo Bros before: you should! It’s pretty good! The full 8-book series is available now, dive straight in with this handy linktree of a bunch of places you can buy it! Thank you!
Anyway! time for some…
GOOD COMICS
SQUID BITS: THAT’S A NICE HAT by Jess Bradley - a whole 200-odd pages impossibly densely packed with gorgeous ideas, hilarious jokes and all-round absurdist comedy genius. Possibly the greatest value for money comic book ever created? EXTREMELY RECOMMENDED. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EFFIE IS OFFLINE by Karen Harte - a funny, contemporary and incredibly likeable GN about social media, families and being a kid in the confusing and exhausting messiness that is the modern world. Stylish, wise, and kind, I absolutely loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CONTEXT FREE DONUT SQUAD PANEL OF THE WEEK
Okay thanks b… wait! For those of you who’ve read this far, I promised you a…
BONUS SECTION
TOP 5 THINGS I ATE IN JAPAN (THIS TIME)
(See previous edition of this unlikely-to-be-repeated-anytime-soon, seriously, I simply cannot do that flight again feature).
5: FAMI-CHIKI (Family Mart, various locations)
Convenience store fried chicken! As amazing as last time but perhaps familiarity has, if not bred contempt, slightly lessened the joyous awe of it. No wait, no it hasn’t. It’s convenience store fried chicken!
4: OKINAWAN BAKED DONUTS (Kabira Bay, Ishigaki)
As mentioned above. A spiritual cousin to the classic UK fairground / pier donut, with that same freshness and simplicity but more cakey, warming, brown-sugar-y. Delightful.
3: COLD BUCKWHEAT SOBA (Kamekura)
Delicious and refreshing on a particularly muggy sweltering day, and perfectly complimented by a local Kamekure black lager. Would have been an ideal light, refreshing meal if not for the fact that I had ordered it as part of a set which also included a whopping and equally delicious pork katsu donburi. NO REGRETS.
2: YAEYAMA SOBA (Ishigaki town)
Noodles again, in a simply absurdly delicious broth, served with great chunks of fatty, absolutely melt-in-your-mouth braised pork. Plus delicious salads, pickles, local sea grapes and melon rinds (?). So good we went back the next night and had basically the exact same dinner again.
Man this would be a much better blog post if I’d remembered to take pictures of any of these, huh? But never mind, on to the Absolute Best Thing I Ate In Japan (This Time):
1: HIDA BEEF SKEWERS (Takayama)
Simply beef on a stick, served from a little riverside stand that only did this one thing. Grilled incredibly quickly, bit of salt, bit of pepper, done. Washed down with a cold beer, sitting by the river. Actual perfection, so delicious it will haunt my dreams.
Honourable mentions: mackerel sushi and seared cod roe at a Matsumoto izakaya, CHARLIE BURGER, mountain village curry soba, basically every other thing we ate for two weeks. Japan: doing it RIGHT.
BONUS BONUS SECTION: Top 1 Thing I Did Not Eat In Japan But Kind Of Wish I Had?
GODZILLA CREAM PUFFS (?)
Honourable mention:
Okay thanks bye xx
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