Hey, how’ve you been? Hope your weekend was as great as mine.
Brian here, and on Friday, Elder Child and I went to see a screening of the 1988 film They Live, a subversive masterpiece which further confirms that John Carpenter is one of the boldest creators of all time.
And then, since my Los Angeles-based, ex-pat Cleveland friends and I aren’t really feeling the Browns this season, our families instead gathered to watch Sunday’s Guardians game. And while the Guards literally dropped the ball against Seattle in a tough loss, a swell time was still had by all.
But enough reminiscing, it’s Monday, which means it’s time for another brand-new installment of Spectators, our planned 300+ page graphic novel that you mature readers can catch up on for free anytime over in our Exploding Giraffe Archives.
Speaking of mature readers, we had a ton of new subscribers last Friday likely lured here by the chance to win a spot in the American Newspaper Delivery Guild, but if you’re a Paper Girls fan, I wanted to warn you that this new comic of ours is significantly more graphic (in terms of both sex and violence) than Paper Girls, so if you’re a younger reader, or if this kind of filth just isn’t your jam, I’d encourage you to PLEASE unsubscribe now.
No hard feelings, and thanks for stopping by!
All right, the rest of you pervs still with us?
Then please enjoy today’s erotically charged vignette from artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks:
Who the hell is this dude?
Just a character Niko and I have been obsessing about behind the scenes for over a year, so I’m excited for you to finally learn more about him next Monday, as our unpredictable epic takes yet another weird turn.
Thanks again to all of you lovely new readers who signed up last week. Spectators will always be free to read here at Exploding Giraffe, but if you’d like to go deeper, we invite you to consider joining The Tower (not a cult or pyramid scheme, just what you call a group of giraffes!), where for seven bucks a month or just $69 for the year, you’ll get lots of bonus content every week, have exclusive opportunities to get your comics signed, and be automatically entered in contests like this one, where we give away an original page of Niko’s hand-painted artwork from Spectators every single month.
So which randomly selected Tower member will be receiving this gem?
August’s lucky winner is… steveodestructo!
Congrats, Steve, and Niko himself will be reaching out to you for your mailing address soon.
But we’re not done giving away cool shit yet!
Tons of you Tower-types stopped by on Friday to enter our 2025 Time Capsule Contest, and I’m honored to welcome THREE new members to the A.N.D.G., randomly selected from those of your who were brave enough to make your predictions about the future in this weekend’s private chat:
Wendy S.
Johnny Hall
State_of_Kait
Congrats, new deliverers!
Plus, we’ll also be sending some fun swag from the rad Paper Girls Threadless Shop set up by co-creator Cliff Chiang to a few of you existing A.N.D.G. members who checked in with us:
John Mosher
T. Miller
Andrew Stanger
Congrats again, and our semi-fictional intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe will be reaching out for all of your mailing addresses later this week.
If you’re not yet part of The Tower, here’s a small taste of the madness you’re missing out on from our weekend discussion threads, where superstar weirdo Chip Zdarsky recently stopped by to share his predictions for 2025:
1) Who will be President of the United States in 2025?
Kevin Feige
2) Will artificial intelligence be a danger to humanity by 2025?
n0 why d0 y0u a5k
3) Who will play James Bond in 2025?
a sentient gun with a dick drooping into a martini glass, slowly slurping it up
4) Will the city of Cleveland have won any (additional) major sports championships by 2025?
wtf ask me a real question about batman or something
5) Which nation or group will pose the greatest security threat to the world in 2025?
neo-furries
6) Will superhero movies still dominate Hollywood in 2025?
yes and none of them will be released
7) Which will be more valuable in 2025, Apple or Google?
trick question. they will be Goopple.
8) What company, if any, will be more valuable than either of those companies by 2025?
Macrohard, my antagonistic answer to Microsoft
9) Will climate change have significantly impacted your country by 2025?
no because i'm buying an electric car
10) Which beloved celebrity will no longer be with us by 2025?
this is SICK
11) Will marijuana be largely legalized throughout most of the U.S. by 2025?
yes but not for those who truly deserve it (the teens)
12) What disease will we have a cure for by 2025?
not being high!!!!
13) What food will be the new “superfood” by 2025?
whatever you're carrying, mister. hand it over and no one gets hurt
14) What current technology will be completely obsolete by 2025?
newsletters
15) Will there still be print newspapers in 2025?
yes but they'll just be crossword puzzles and old Nancy strips
Goddamn has “Macrohard” been making me laugh all week…
All right, this space-nerd is gonna go catch up with the latest on today’s scrubbed Artemis launch, which reminds me, what are YOU looking forward to this week?
Comments are open to everyone, so I hope you’ll stop by and let us know about whatever might be filling you with the opposite of dread this Monday.
Your pal,
BKV
Damn Val got caught red handed lmao
Congrats everyone who won shit this week!!!
I’m excited for the new lotr show! Fuck the haters.
I always hate it when a cowboy talks to me whenever the action starts heating up.
(That's a lie, I'm never near the action like Val)