SAGA Update from BKV...
…plus, SPECTATORS comes to Italy and France!
This has been one nutty month.
Brian here, hoping that Niko Henrichon and/or I got to meet you during the first leg of our mini-tour across Los Angeles, New York City and Baltimore.
But if you didn’t have a chance to get your copy of Spectators autographed by us in person, you can still purchase a SIGNED FIRST PRINTING directly from some of the outstanding shops we were lucky enough to visit:
The Strand Bookstore (update: looks like they may be out of signed copies, but still have books available!)
I like to think that our 344-page romantic, horrific, sci-fi ghost story makes the perfect holiday gift for your oddball significant other, so thanks for ordering from these brick-and-mortar retailers, and for supporting our sophisticated smut.
And thanks for continuing to allow Exploding Giraffe into your inbox! Today’s newsletter will probably be our final dispatch for the next several months, but we’ll be back later in 2026, so if you just stumbled onto our free Substack, be sure to subscribe for future thrilling updates about what each of us is disappearing to work on:
Loyal correspondence-hound Milkshake can’t believe that I’m about to abandon her again (the rest of my family is indifferent), but my fellow hard-traveling hero Niko and I are next headed to Lucca, Italy, home to arguably the most spectacular comic convention in the world.
I can’t wait to reconnect/overeat with our cari amici at Bao Publishing, who just released this stunning Italian edition of Spectators…
…as well as this glorious new collection of Barrier…
…co-created by my most cantankerous collaborator Marcos Martín, who I’m delighted will also be at the show!
Marcos and I will be there this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but you lucky Lucca attendees can catch Niko starting on Wednesday:
Speaking of good ol’ Marcos, this December, Image Comics will be releasing a softcover edition of The Private Eye, and Monday, October 27 is the “Final Order Cutoff” for retailers, so if you want to make sure a copy will be waiting for you, please drop your local shop a line today.
And next year, The Private Eye will finally be joined by the first North American trade paperback collection of Barrier, heretofore only available in print as single issues!
As always, if you don’t want to wait to read those stories, you can still download them for any price you think is fair (including $0.00!) directly from Panel Syndicate, now one of the longest-running and most successful purveyors of digital comics in the world.
After Lucca, Niko and I will be traveling by car/train/plane to France courtesy our chers amis at Urban Comics, publishers of this jaw-dropping French edition of Spectators (or rather, Spectateurs!).
From November 5th to the 8th, Monsieur Henrichon and I will be visiting four wonderful retailers in Lille, Paris, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, so I hope any girafes explosées reading this will please join us:
Meanwhile, if you’re trapped here in the States, there will apparently be some fun Spectators events happening, including one in Lancaster, PA, where the awesome-sounding Mayhem’s Bookstore & Board Game Café will be hosting this event next Monday:
If you’re not yet sick of me rambling about our explicit graphic novel, I recently did one of my most in-depth interviews yet, this one with the prestigious Backstory:
And in next month’s installment of the hilariously demented Zdarsky Comic News, you’ll be able to read my surprisingly serious conversation with Substack’s own Chip Zdarsky.
Here’s a taste:
CHIP: Niko is given an incredible amount of space to fill this world. The pacing of Spectators is refreshing as you manage to give it a lot of propulsion, while managing to take your time through Niko’s beautiful art and the wild amount of detail we can pore over.
You originated this on Substack in chapters. Did that format influence how you and Niko told the story?
BKV: Niko is so fucking talented, isn’t he? When Substack offered us this generous grant, I knew it was an opportunity to do something that we couldn’t do at Image or even somewhere like Panel Syndicate, which was pay an artist of Niko’s caliber enough upfront to work for years on a true graphic novel, one that would be over 300 pages, without the need to first release our story as multiple divided issues of the same length, each with their own artificial cliffhanger, etc.
I worried that forcing our first audience of online readers to watch us create this laborious thing at the clip of only two or three pages per week would be incredibly boring, but I was relieved that it seemed to work out pretty well, in no small part because it gave everyone time to really savor each of Niko’s hyper-detailed panels.
The ultimate goal for Niko and me was always our printed graphic novel, but the initial Substack experience turned out to be kind of like doing an extremely filthy version of Prince Valiant, an ongoing comic epic that gradually unfolded with just a few beautiful images every week.
I had such an excellent time at both NYCC and Baltimore Comic-Con, especially getting to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Paper Girls with co-creator Cliff Chiang (pictured here with our classy chums Joseph Melchior, Joe Rybandt and Torunn Grønbekk, all of whom gave me shit for my totally not-stupid velvet jacket).
This Wednesday, Image Comics will be releasing the debut volume of what Cliff has brilliantly dubbed our “Backpack Edition” of Paper Girls, the first ten issues of our series in one compact and affordable package, featuring a new cover from Cliff and an updated design from the great Jared K. Fletcher:
The cover on the right with the swanky “pearl metallic finish” will ONLY be available in comic stores, so be sure to grab one while supplies last.
When you stop by your favorite shop this Wednesday, you can also pick up two other recent digest-sized collections from my wildly talented collaborators, including the first volume of Y: The Last Man…
…and the third volume of Saga, featuring an adorable all-new cover from co-creator Fiona Staples:
If you’re traveling soon, you could fit all three of those compact volumes (and Spectators!) in your carry-on bag, and have over 1,000 pages of masterfully drawn comics to keep you company.
Or you could just keep scrolling through your dumb phone. No judgment from this junky.
Finally, that all-important Saga update.
I’m happy to share that I’ve already written all the scripts for our next arc, and completed my most detailed overview yet of the other remaining issues of Saga (which everyone corrected me is actually 30 more chapters after this volume, not 48 as I originally mistyped; I am dumb at math). Fiona and I are still 100% committed to completing Hazel’s 18-volume journey to young adulthood, and, spoiler alert, it’s going to be fucking awesome.
Our upcoming storyline (featuring Hazel’s life-changing journey to meet a relative, Squire’s action-packed adventure at an alien sleep-away camp, and the arrival of an important new character we’ve only glimpsed once before) is my personal high point for our entire series so far, especially our landmark 75th issue. Fiona said that she absolutely didn’t see the last page of Chapter 73 coming, and I hope that issue’s conclusion will be equally surprising to you.
So yes, Saga will return in 2026… but I can finally share that it will be alongside two other top-secret comic projects that Fiona and I have (separately) been working on for some time!
I know that waiting for new issues is a drag, but like getting to spend time with our real-world families, these other creative pursuits have only enriched and improved our work on Saga, so we greatly appreciate your kind patience, and we’re excited for you to see what else we’ve been cooking up.
Oh, and next year will also see the long-awaited release of Saga: Book Four, a deluxe hardcover collection that will include our second SAGA ART GALLERY, this one showcasing work by a wide array of some of our favorite living creators, from relative newcomers to established superstars like Zoe Thorogood.
You’ll have to wait until April to see all of their magnificent pin-ups, but… well, maybe I could give you lovely giraffes one little taste? In appreciation of all you’ve done for us, here’s a striking contribution from Spectators’ own Niko Henrichon!
Fantastic, right? If you’re interested in purchasing the original art for that masterpiece, it’ll be available soon at Essential Sequential, where you can also find Niko’s hand-painted pages from Spectators and more.
In addition, my tireless co-creator has been hard at work on a brand-new cover and some cool extras for a special edition of our first graphic novel together, Pride of Baghdad, which Niko and I plan to release with our pals at Image Comics for the book’s 20th anniversary (how can that be possible?!). More details in our next installment.
For now, thanks so much again to everyone who’s read, shared, subscribed to, and/or commented on Exploding Giraffe over these past four years. Spectators has been one of the happiest experiences of my career, and it wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Take good care of yourself, and I hope you have a joyous rest of your 2025.
Peace,
BKV
