SPECTATORS - Part 127
Plus, win a signed copy of a new Chris Burnham/BKV comic, in stores this week!
So much spectating!
Brian here, and over the weekend, I attended a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis AND a live concert featuring Mitski and Sharon Van Etten, three masterful artists at very different stages of their lives/careers, all grappling with creation, mortality and dystopia.
I wouldn’t say that all of these varyingly batshit big swings were successful… but I’m definitely still thinking about everything I witnessed.
And more than ever, I’m grateful to get to work out my own weirdness alongside two incredibly stable collaborators, artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks… who today pass their 300th consecutive page of Spectators!
I’ll never be able to thank my friends enough for their consistent hard work and dedicated artistry over these past thirty-plus months. Still, our unconventional ghost story for adults ain’t over yet, and the team and I will be going hard with these final scenes, so please be aware that there will be plenty of NSFW material ahead, including today (catch up on all the sinfulness so far in our handy Archives).
While I usually encourage you to read Spectators on the biggest, brightest screen possible, discretion is the better part of not getting shitcanned from your office job, so if you’re still at work this Monday evening, maybe read tonight’s installment in the privacy of your own mobile device…?
Now that’s what I call a graphic match.
More splendor from Niko next week.
Recently, I was interviewed by NPR reporter Lauren McGaughy, who informed me of this somewhat depressing stat:
As always, U.S. censors seem to have a limitless allowance for violence in fiction, but zero tolerance for any kind of artistic depiction of human sexuality.
So I’m also very grateful to our hosts here at Substack and to readers like YOU, who’ve allowed us to make exactly the graphic novel my partners and I set out to tell, with absolutely no creative/moralistic restrictions.
All 126 previous installments of Spectators are still free to read online, but if you’ve been looking for a convenient way to experience the complete story so far, we’ll be releasing a “digital collection” of our first 300+ pages exclusively to you generous paid subscribers in the Tower next week.
Speaking of the Tower, you contributed a ton of compelling “lost media” cases in our weekly chat, and your fellow members already helped solve a few mysteries.
Longtime reader Justin Z. even unearthed this buried treasure for us:
How’s this for some lost media - Farel Dalrymple tackles Ghüs (and one of his herd) for the win circa many, many years ago, uncovered in an old drawer thanks to a trip to the Boise Comics Arts Fest.
Too cool, Justin! Thanks.
Meanwhile, Bojack Norseman wrote:
How about the never-made BKV sci-fi mockumentary pilot about... space debris cleaners? Something like that. You mentioned it in past back matter, and while Roundtable has been out in the world of script sharing for a long time, I don’t think said mockumentary every made it into the wild.
Good news for Mr. Norseman, who’s referring to Smokers, my fictional “reality show from the future” following a group of blue-collar exterminators who keep space safe for wealthy people by fumigating ships, colonies and satellites that have become infested with various species of extraterrestrial vermin. Kind of The Deadliest Catch meets Alien, you know?
Against all odds, I ended up developing this concept with legendary filmmaker Sam Rami, and we eventually sold my pilot script to a network. Like most TV projects, Smokers ended up not moving forward, but you Tower members can still read what might have been:
But enough about my forgotten past.
Our overtaxed/underpaid intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe promised to send signed copies of last week’s Saga #69 to a few random commenters to our lost media discussion, so take it away, Fickle Hand of Fate…
First up, Catie M. writes:
My father keeps a giant trunk of his comics from his childhood in my grandmother’s basement. My favorite that I would always dig through them for was an issue of Thor (?), I think, with a blonde Valkyrie and her Pegasus. I look for that specific issue every time I visit and I haven’t been able to find it in years. I have tried to look up the specific issue, where somehow she accidentally switches bodies with a villain, but I can never find it.
Anyone have any leads for Catie?
Next, longtime reader Ready Player One goes even more obscure…
My Dad was a distributor of RC Cola and in the mid 1990s there was a cassette tape of commercials that we used to listen to on the way to school because we all loved one of them so much, and I cannot for the life of me find it anywhere!
It was a gentleman singing about how boring Coke/Pepsi was to drink, and how RC was suggested to him by angels - super catchy song!
The best I have done is find a Washington Post article from September 14th, 1995 talking about the commercial and RC Cola’s attempted comeback.
“I was drinking a boring cola, I had a straw but not a clue. When suddenly a band of angels came to me. They said corporate colas, blah blah blah. RC Cola, cha cha cha.”
I would love to hear this song again.
Thanks!
Hmm, could RPO’s quasi-religious auditory experience possibly be real…?
Finally, Amy W. says:
Okay, so my lost media is a very specific song my now-husband put on a mix tape for me years ago. The mix tape was primarily 90s and early 2000’s punk rock. I can still clearly hear the tune in my head but have never remembered enough actual lyrics to find it. And my husband of course swears he has no idea what song I’m referring to. I’ve spent hours and hours looking for the mix tape and googling but have never found it. Not sure if this counts as lost media or just lost to me :)
Any chance it was “Assassins of Sadness” by Fartbox?
Sorry not to be more helpful, Amy, but Genesis will be reaching out for a mailing address to send you your consolation prize. We’ll also award some more signed copies of Saga to the first person to help with any of the above conundrums!
While we’re on the subject of Saga, my friends at Image Comics wanted me to remind you that the first volume of our affordable and convenient new 6x9 digest-sized editions—featuring an emotional new cover by peerless co-creator Fiona Staples—will be on stands in early November (sounds like a slight delay at the printer shifted our original release date, but the book looks awesome!).
These little guys are gonna fly off shelves, so reserve your copy today:
And, as a last resort: Amazon
Finally today, I wanted to brag about a new comic from across the pond that this yank is very proud to be a part of, one that will finally be on stands here in North America this Wednesday:
The writer who willed that comic into existence, Garth Ennis, promised me the best cheeseburger in NYC if I contributed to this anthology of new work featuring classic British characters… but the real reason I said yes was the opportunity to finally collaborate with spectacular artist Chris Burnham, who didn’t so much elevate my script as he did launch it into the stratosphere.
Our mean-spirited short story is set in the world of Kids Rule O.K., a notorious strip created by Chris Lowder and Mike White about a plague that kills off the world’s adults, leaving the UK under the control of roaming gangs of feral teens. You don’t need to know any more than that to enjoy our new tale, though I encourage you to track down those groundbreaking and influential old comics.
Submitted for your disapproval are the first several pages of our story “The Septic,” featuring colors (colours?) by the wonderful Len O’Grady and letters by my old mate Rob Steen, all lovingly edited by Oliver Pickles.
My fellow Americans will be able to read our whole sordid story later this week, so I hope your local store ordered a few copies.
And if you’ve still got time to kill today, you can watch my pasty face struggle to keep up with my brilliant international friends/fellow Battle Action contributors in this fun group chat:
Regardless, if you’d like a shot at winning a signed copy of that new issue, just let us know in the comments: What’s your favorite British film?
You may be asking what, exactly, makes a film “British?” Well, TimeOut includes Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (“Okay, so the director, money and most of the cast are American, but it was shot here, dammit, so we’re claiming ‘2001’ as our own.”) in their Top 100 British Films, though the British Film Institute does not. Use your best judgment, Tower commenters/fellow Anglophiles .
Everyone else, have a smashing week, and Niko and I will see you back here next Monday evening for more free Spectators.
Probably going with 24 Hour Party People,
BKV
P.S.
As we were about to head to “press,” I was sent an advance copy of DC Comics’ Absolute Wonder Woman #1 from artist Hayden Sherman and friend of Exploding Giraffe Kelly Thompson, and I thought their first issue was killer, with some extremely clever moments of visual storytelling.
The last day to reserve a copy is TODAY, so if you want to get your hands on this bold reinvention of everyone’s favorite Amazon, let your local shop know asap!
Being a Brit might lead to some bias... but Hot Fuzz may be the greatest comedy movie ever made
Looking forward to checking out Battle Action.
My favorite British film is hands down Four Weddings and a Funeral. I watch it at least twice a year.