Ahoy, Space Cadets, new and old!
At this venture, I am starting to pull back my social media presence….well, Twitter because I see nothing of value there. I’m finding more and more since I took all these apps off my phone that my life has grown more productive and filled with less venom. I think that Twitter might be the downfall of comics in America based on how “pros” conduct themselves and how the indie community (when not generously supporting each other, which they consistently do!) is filled with bad actors just looking to leapfrog over others without works of substance to put forward.
It reminds me a lot of AINT IT COOL NEWS, a website I lurked on in my high school and early college years, which I’m being forced to relive thanks to the excellent podcast DOWNLOW.D: The Rise and Fall of Harry Knowles and AINT-IT-COOL-NEWS.
God, what chilling times.
END OF RANT
So, I am going to get more consistent here (oh crap, I used that word twice) and see if we can turn SPACE CASES into a more substantial outlet to show work.
Here we go:
NIGHT OF THE COMET
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
A blood-thirsty yakuza and a tired old samurai spend a night playing a game…in the end, they both win, and they both lose.
As we reported, SOURCE POINT PRESS will be putting out this wild-ass book I did with the great Attila Schwanz in November as a floppy, but we just wanted to do more. After talking things over and playing with some options, Attila and I decided to do a large (A4 size, to be exact) overstuffed (100 or more pages) hardcover exclusively through Zoop this July.
We even got a new cover for it which may be limited to just this edition:
Attila and I just needed to see this book bigger, and I hope that any of you who didn’t grab it the first time might be interested in this version. We’ll also be swapping out some pages that may not have worked the best in the first edition. NIGHT OF THE COMET is a living organism at this point!
You can sign up HERE to make sure you’re notified. There will be rewards that include original art (in two different sizes depending on Attila’s materials), and I’m still seeking something cool to be part of the package.
INTERNAL CHANGES
Attila and I are also working on a pitch to shop to publishers. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it is called INTERNAL CHANGES and is the story of a father returning home after being missing for three years and claiming aliens abducted him. Was he? Well, yes, but that’s not Mike’s real secret.
I’m excited about this one and plan to share more as we go through part of putting this baby together.
Check out the first page and the layouts for pages 2-4!
DON’T SLEEP ON THESE
Eh, let’s start a section where I recommend things.
This time it’s a three-way dance for three different types of entertainment.
First, I want to recommend my pal Matt Kund’s newsletter, which you can sign up to HERE.
Matt is a great, positive energy who gets me excited about comics more than anyone else I see. I met Matt with his buddy Noah Ray (also excellent) through their podcast CONSTRUCTING COMICS, and I’ve gone on to be on their show a record number of times (maybe six?) And I’ll keep doing it. Matt puts in the work. Every day he is writing, and since launching his newsletter, he keeps cranking it out. He’s my inspiration to do this more and ensure I’m sitting at my desk daily.
Second, THE GOLEM OF VENICE BEACH.
The current Kickstarter phenom with art by Jae Lee, Bill Sienkiewicz, Nick Pitarra, and more. This was brought to my attention by editor Chris Stevens who is helping Attila and me with INTERNAL CHANGES. This book looks killer, and I recommend clicking the link and grabbing a copy if it pulls to you.
Finally, THAT TEXAS BLOOD is back.
Third arc and going strong. Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips have me for whatever they do since the first arc of this tense Texan noir, and this new story seems to dig even harder at what happens in the dead of night to good people when nobody is watching out for them. If you haven’t checked this book out what are you even doing? There are two volumes and this new arc just began Wednesday so it’s the perfect time to dig in!
Well, that’s all for now…hopefully, I’ll be back soon to do something I’ve wanted to write about for a while now:
I’m feeling similarly about Twitter, though due to the ability to really create a solid groundswell around a crowdfunding campaign I’ll remain on the platform.
My ventures here on Substack have felt way more “worth it” despite any huge potential for “gaining followers” here. This being the tail end of my funnel makes sense. Readers get here and things open up substantially.
I'm on a similar journey with social media, but for different reasons. I've seen but never really suffered the hate that is often cited on social platforms (especially twitter).
I have found that I am getting less and less done every day in all the other areas of my life but the time invested in social isn't returning the value I want. So I've all but dropped them.
I spend one hour every morning scheduling all my posts for the day, replying to messages/comments, and liking a few relevant posts. 1 hour only and I am out.
I use focus mode on my phone to keep myself from even being able to access the apps if I were to have an urge (and also keep others from intruding on my day). And I use bullet journaling methods to keep myself focused and on track to get things done every day.
I find myself less and less interested in social every day and I never have an urge to interact outside of that one hour. I find I am accomplishing more than ever, knocking out my list with time left over in the day, and I'm happier and healthier than I've been in a while.
Whatever your reason, I can't suggest getting away from the platforms as quick as possible. They are designed to waste your time and polarize people so that they stay on the platform. Ditch them however you can.
Hope you continue to post here, as I do love Substack and the connectivity offered through newsletters (and podcasts). Hope to hear you on CONSTRUCTING COMICS again soon as well!