Did you also check out Rebel Ridge over the weekend?
Brian here, and I happened to go to film school with wildly talented writer/director/producer/editor Jeremy Saulnier (who’s already made several classics, including the masterful Green Room) and his gifted visual effects supervisor/my pal Chris Connolly, and I was beyond impressed with their latest movie, a grounded, substantive thriller you should add to your Netflix queue now.
Speaking of must-see cinema, let’s catch up with spectral protagonists Val and Sam in this latest installment of Spectators from artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks, as our friendly ghosts each think back to their most formative viewing experience…
What a treat to get more superb full-color scenes from Niko. How about that panel of Val’s imagined Terminator three-way?
And if you were wondering, yes, that shockingly graphic movie from 1915 that Sam is enjoying (A Free Ride, also released as A Grass Sandwich) is indeed a REAL silent film, which you can watch online after a quick search if you’re so inclined.
It’s a reminder that, as long as motion pictures have existed, audiences have been seeking out the taboo and/or forbidden, which creators have been more than happy to provide, especially when they can do so with a degree of anonymity (Niko noted that the still-unknown cinematographer of A Free Ride is credited as “Will B. Hard”).
Anyway, as we build to the explosive climax of Spectators, please feel free to share our story so far with any other adventuresome adult viewers in your life, thanks again:
You only have a few days left to pick up these exclusive shirts (and high quality prints!) featuring Fiona Staples’ instantly iconic cover to Chapter 68 from The Official Saga Threadless Shop…
…because soon, that design will go back into Fiona’s vault, replaced by NEW limited edition merch with artwork from her smoldering cover to Saga #69, at your friendly neighborhood comic shop THIS WEDNESDAY:
Hang on to your pearls, because as our industry’s favorite muckraker Rich Johnston writes…
Oh boy, the S-E-X Issue!
And if it’s in a clickbait headline about a comic no one has actually read yet, you KNOW it’s gotta be true.
Regardless, if you’d like a shot at winning a signed copy of this allegedly scandalous issue, please let us know:
Is there any long lost media you’re still trying to find?
A few weeks back, loyal member of The Tower Henning asked if anyone had access to a recording of a one-act play he was fortunate enough to have seen live two decades ago: “Sawbones,” written by my beloved Coen Brothers.
I’d also been looking for this audio drama for years… but clearly not hard enough, as fellow Tower member Rocco R. instantaneously replied:
Indeed it is, thanks so much, Rocco! A very fun listen, though bittersweet to hear the dearly departed Philip Seymour Hoffman’s voice again.
Rocco’s revelation was another reminder that we have nearly 20,000 hardcore spectators reading this thing every week, and they’ve already helped me find otherlost media from my distant past, so if YOU have an odd book, commercial, television pilot, whatever that you perhaps read or saw or heard once ages ago but haven’t been able to locate since, please give us whatever details you can remember in the comments.
Even if we can’t help, you still might win a signed copy of Saga, which ain’t too shabby a consolation prize, yeah?
Sorry I won’t be able to make New York Comic Con or any other conventions this year (I’m hoping to come out of hiding a bit more in 2025), but I wanted to give you a heads-up about a dear friend/collaborator/Exploding Giraffe mainstay who will be at NYCC next month, Goran Sudžuka.
Here’s the scoop from his rep over at Splash Page Art:
Goran Sudzuka 30% OFF Art Sale & Free Sketch Opportunity Until NYCC
Goran Sudžuka is a Croatian artist who won the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He started working for DC Vertigo in 1999, co-creating Outlaw Nation with writer Jamie Delano, and stayed with Vertigo for ten years working on some of their flagship titles like Y: The Last Man and Hellblazer.
In 2013/2014, he drew the series Ghosted for Skybound/Image, and was a regular fill-in artist on Brian Azzarello’s critically acclaimed run on Wonder Woman.
Beginning in 2015, he worked a long stint for Marvel, providing pencils and/or inks on Wolverine, Thors, Master of Kung Fu, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again, Black Panther, and worked with writer Charles Soule on his Daredevil run.
He has since been working with Garth Ennis on various creator owned series including A Walk Through Hell and Marjorie Finnegan, Temporal Criminal.
NEW YORK COMIC CON APPEARANCE
Goran will be a part of the Splash Page Art crew of artists located in Artist Alley at table number H-21
Goran Sudzuka 30% OFF Art Sale
From today until Monday October 14th, ALL of GORAN’S ORIGINAL ART IS ON SALE - 30% OFF the original Price!
FREE SKETCH OPPORTUNITY!
If 30% wasn’t a BIG enough reason to buy Goran’s art right now, as a BONUS, if you purchase a piece of Goran’s cover art or more than one page, you will receive a FREE A4 SKETCH to be drawn at the con. If you are not attending the show, it can be sent with your art shipment after I return from NYCC Oct. 22nd.
Original comic art doesn’t just look amazing on your walls, it’s also one of the best ways to directly support working artists you love.
So while you’re at it, why not also finally pick up your own page of hand-drawn splendor from Niko Henrichon over at Essential Sequential?
Along with some spicy Spectators splashes, Niko has a few remaining pieces from Pride of Baghdad and some of his full-color Marvel work for sale, so add these sound investments to your collection before I do.
In our remaining months together here at Exploding Giraffe, Niko will be generously giving away a few last pages of original art to you equally generous paid subscribers in The Tower, just in case you needed another reason to finally join your fellow giraffes.
And now, here’s a sneak peek at the first TWO full pages of interior art and story by my faithful friends Fiona and Fonografiks from this week’s new issue of Saga, just for you loyal members of The Tower.
Remember, if you dislike even minor spoilers, feel free to hold off until you can pick up the whole chapter from your friendly neighborhood comic retailer on Wednesday, and Niko and I will see you back here next Monday evening for more free Spectators, cool?
Everyone else, strap in…
SPOILER SPACE!!!!!
HONESTLY, SPOILERS FOR THIS WEEK’S NEW ISSUE BELOW!!!!
ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE READY?
THEN AWAY WE GO:
Oh, wait, that’s my latest original comic art acquisition, a gripping title splash by versatile artist George Tuska (from a true crime story written by Dick Ericson) from 1947’s Crime Does Not Pay #54, starring “Mr. Crime,” the Crypt Keeper-esque host of this fascinating pre-Comics Code series.
It also features a real-life criminal from my hardboiled hometown, making this page a valued addition to my weird-ass collection of comic art by and/or about Clevelanders:
