SPECTATORS - Part 137 (our penultimate edition!)
Plus, the rest of BKV's Favorite Comics of 2024!
“The end is extremely fucking nigh.”
Brian here, and I almost can’t believe that today’s installment includes the penultimate pages of Spectators, featuring the best work yet by my brilliant collaborators, artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks.
This will also be an extra-long edition of Exploding Giraffe, as next week’s dispatch will only feature our story’s finale, which Niko and I hope will speak for itself, so no additional blathering from yours truly.
But next Monday, all of you paid subscribers in The Tower will ALSO receive an exclusive digital collection of our ENTIRE ASSEMBLED 330-PLUS PAGE GRAPHIC NOVEL. And we’ll be closing paid membership in a few days, so this is your last chance to join!
Subscribing at the monthly level still costs just FIVE BUCKS, unlocks all three years’ worth of our past bonus content, AND automatically enters you in our final Mega Contest.
Of course, if you’re a longtime free reader who’d like to throw the team some extra scratch by joining us at the annual level, we certainly appreciate your generosity, but there’ll be no new Spectators in 2025, so please don’t go out of your way.
Regardless, we’ll pause all payments indefinitely before the end of the month, as Exploding Giraffe transitions from a weekly paid production to an occasional free dispatch.
For now, let’s finish observing our futuristic ménage à trois at (perhaps) le fin du monde…
To be concluded…
If you’re interested in owning a gorgeous hardcover volume of Val and Sam’s voyeuristic adventures, have I got an exclusive announcement for you:
Our friends at Image Comics will be publishing a collected edition of Spectators in the Fall of 2025!
Spectators will also be published in multiple languages around the world next year, so stay tuned to this very newsletter for updates, as well as exclusive info about where you might be able to see Niko and me in person, and maybe get your book scribbled in by us.
Which reminds me, at the end of today’s missive, I’ll include a SECRET PASSWORD for all current members of The Tower. Just mention it to me at any future signings or other live appearances, and I’ll have something cool for you, while supplies/my failing memory lasts.
A few years ago, I never could have imagined that I’d be able to be part of a self-contained graphic novel of this scope (or subject matter!), much less that we might be able to actually complete it, so thanks very much again to Substack and readers like YOU for making our dream project possible.
Thanks also for the outpouring of love for this past weekend’s birthday boy, Niko Henrichon. How awesome is it to finally see his future NYC in full color?
He is truly “Best of the Best,” as David Harper was nice enough to call Niko in this year’s SKTCHD AWRDS: The Creators of 2024:
Niko Henrichon was already one of the best artists in comics. But the work that he’s doing on Spectators is career-defining work. It’s staggering on every level it can be staggering, and you never know if he’s going to almost singlehandedly drop your jaw, make you cry, or blow your mind whenever you open your Monday email from the team.
Much appreciated, David. Sounds like the rest of The Tower agrees, as evidenced from last week’s chat about our favorite Henrichon moments.
First up, Mark H. wrote:
This is probably a bad/cliched/obvious answer given the name of the site, but the image of the giraffe being beheaded has always stuck with me. I read a lot of comics as a kid and then didn’t for many, many years. It was Sandman (read a bit after the fact), then Y and Fables (read as they came out issue-by-issue), that brought me back.
The first graphic novel I read as a single piece of fiction was Pride of Baghdad. I didn’t know what to expect, and that image (and the whole book) helped me realize what the medium could do, and that there were no rules or expectations that couldn’t be (literally) blown up.
The story itself was powerful, but the art, beautiful and brutal, made it all hit so hard.
Meanwhile, Andrew B. chose:
I was really intrigued by Niko’s Artopsy from Part 71, where he took us through the creative process of working with Darren Aronofsky on Noah. Pretty cool worlds colliding moment of comics, the movies, and the Bible.
Longtime reader Fisherina selected:
Like many others here, I’ve loved the aerial cityscape spreads in Spectators, and have enjoyed zooming in and spending time admiring those. But another Niko spread that stands out in my memory is Val and Sam at the nightclub. I think I commented at the time how impressed I was with all of the clubgoers’ clothing and accessories, just so much great detail around that. It was all obviously of a future time, but unlike things we’ve seen before.
This last set of pages is ultra-wow. I came across the Giraffe about halfway in, I think? And I don’t want it to end.
And Megan H. picked:
My favorite Niko moment is when his artwork for the X-Men Legends #1 variant was released. I picked up a copy of that comic, his cover, from my LCS. Many, many times, I visited Essential Sequential and contemplated buying the original artwork, but I never could pull the trigger. Even with our lovely and thoughtful Exploding Giraffe discount, my better half would have sent me to the moon. I see that it has since sold. Of course it did. It’s awesome!
Sorry you missed out on that cover, Megan, but a reminder that there’s still plenty of original Niko Henrichon art for sale over at Essential Sequential, where for the next week, ALL readers (not just those of you in The Tower) can take 20% off the price of Niko’s artwork by entering this special code at checkout: HOLIDAY20-2024
I regret that only one of you courteous complimenters could go home with our final Founder’s Prize Pack:
Our favorite/only intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe selected… Nava:
Reader since the beginning, but first time commenter! When this question was posed, my mind immediately jumped to Niko’s standalone Artopsies sent way back in 2022, when he elaborated on the process by which a comic is created. In particular, I love Artopsy #5: Ink Clot Diagnosis because I am fascinated by the way that contemporary artists integrate digital and physical techniques to create truly astounding work. Even with the same tools, every artist has a different method and end result! I find it very special to get to see the in-progress moments, especially as it highlights the enormous amount of labor that goes into creating one page. All this to say that I love Niko’s unique style and have been really enjoying getting new, gorgeous art in my inbox every week--because of this Substack, I also checked out y’all’s previous work like Pride of Baghdad! Can’t wait for the last pages :)
Thanks very much for the great first post, Nava.
And special thanks to Genesis, Exploding Giraffe’s unsung hero for the last three years.
Some Substacks have full staffs of people helping out their creators, but we’ve only ever had our one semi-fictional intern, a real and exceptional human being who prefers to remain cloaked behind our mascot’s imaginary ossicones. Niko, Fonografiks and I are forever in their debt for the countless emails they replied to, envelopes they stuffed, and runs to the post office they made. You’re the fucking greatest, Genesis.
To wit, check out what our loyal ruminant stumbled across while cleaning out The Tower’s basement:
A pristine copy of Fiona Staples’ absurdly rare retailer variant to Saga #1, straight out of the box that I received directly from our printer almost 13 years ago.
(Speaking of Saga, if you haven’t already read my most recent update, please check out this post for the full scoop on our completed next issue, which will hopefully be in stores soon!)
Anyway, that variant cover is apparently worth thousands of dollars… but for our final contest, we’ll be giving away both it AND this truly invaluable page of hand-painted Spectators artwork straight from the desk of Niko Henrichon:
If you’d like a shot at winning BOTH of these spectacular prizes, all you have to do is be a current member of The Tower, no comments or other participation required.
Doesn’t matter if you’re a Founder who’s been with us since the beginning or a monthly subscriber who signs up today, ALL paid members will be automatically entered in this mega drawing, which we’ll do next Monday.
Best of luck, and thanks again for your generosity.
Next week’s dispatch is “just” going to feature the final pages of Spectators, and since many of us will be traveling for the holidays, I’m afraid this week will be our last Tower chat thread.
I haven’t really been part of an online community like this since the good ‘ol BKV Cabal in the early aughts, and I couldn’t have had a better time hanging out with and getting to know you lovely, hilarious and kind spectators, all of whom have such excellent taste in stuff to read/watch/imbibe.
Sorry to bring this wonderful space to a close, but over the years, I think my writing has benefitted from taking periodic extended retreats from the internet. As I continue to dream up some new projects for the future, it’s probably time to listen to just the weird voices in my head for a bit.
Niko and I will miss getting to interact with thoughtful readers like you, but we’ll definitely be back in your inboxes later in 2025. You can also reach me via stamp at the analog To Be Continued headquarters: 4335 Van Nuys Boulevard - Suite 332, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
And I’ll be in this chat all week to directly answer any parting questions you might have. Here’s one for you: Do YOU have any creative plans for 2025? And where can we find you and/or your work online?
Only if you want to be found, of course.
Finally, I wanted to leave you with my remaining Favorite Comics of 2024.
You can see my previous ten faves from the first six months of the year here…
…so just zipper merge those selections with today’s to see the “best” 20 comics I happened to have picked up, finished sometime this calendar year, and somehow still remember today.
If I may boast about my own critical bona fides, the novel I called my favorite of the year way back in May (All Fours by Miranda July, who now has her own excellent Substack) was a finalist for the National Book Award and ended up on many fancy literary year-end lists, so my comic book picks must be equally unimpeachable, right…?
As always, I try not to include work from any of my friends, former collaborators, and/or colleagues here at Substack or Image, but you longtime readers already know who and what I love.
And sorry to everyone whose comics I still haven’t read yet. If your book isn’t included below, it’s probably just because it’s still trapped within my towering to-read pile. 2024 was a shit year for many of us, but it was a phenomenal year for comics, so I still have a lot of catching up to do.
Right, those caveats aside, let’s get to this nonsensical and wholly arbitrary ranking of works of art…
BKV’S FAVORITE COMICS OF 2024 (CONTINUED!)
10) THE MOON AND SERPENT BUMPER BOOK OF MAGIC
I hope this isn’t really the final comic work of Alan Moore, the greatest writer ever to grace our medium, but if so, this collaboration with the late Steve Moore (and artists including the late Kevin O’Neill) is a very sweet capstone to that majestic career, a book that’s ultimately about Alan’s relationship with his departed friends as much as it’s about the Dark Arts.
9) WHATEVER WHERE AND WHY
Pure comics, this collection of silent, (mostly) four-panel strips from cartoonist Alex Gamsu Jenkins contains some of the most memorably surreal and horrific images I saw in this particularly surreal and horrific year.
I discovered this book over at daring international publisher/distributor The Mansion Press, which happens to be having a big Christmas sale this week, so check them out if you have a strong tolerance for the strange and unsettling.
8) THE COMPLETE CREPAX, VOLS. 7 & 8
I’ve only recently gotten into the work of the late Italian cartoonist Guido Crepax, thanks in no small part to these breathtaking collections from Fantagraphics.
This latest slipcase contains Story of O, Crepax’s adaptation of the subversive erotic novel written by French author Anne Desclos, a comic so graphic it makes Spectators look like Spider-Ham.
Naturally, I liked it so much, I tracked down an original page from that story, if you don’t mind me sneaking in one last NSFW mini-installment of Come Up and See My Etchings:
7) VICTORY POINT
Back in June, everyone really seemed to dig my recommendation of the sci-fi comic The Hard Switch by cartoonist Owen D. Pomery, and I’m happy to report that he already has another equally beautiful graphic novel out, this one a more grounded slice-of-life story, featuring some of the finest renderings of imagined architecture you’ll find anywhere.
6) OCULTOS
Last year, I recommended the graphic novel Totem by Spanish illustrator Laura Pérez, and this year, she’s back with an even better work, a collection of gorgeous, dreamlike (and occasionally nightmarish) short stories. I can’t stop staring at her lavishly colored pages.
5) THE ROAD
There is no way I thought I’d ever enjoy any adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s perfect novel The Road, but this exquisitely bleak, oddly hopeful graphic novel from French cartoonist Manu Larcenet grabbed me with its first page and just kept strangling.
An unexpected triumph of visual storytelling, very highly recommended.
My full list continues below for you Tower types!
Everyone else, Happy Holidays, thanks very much for being part of this grand experiment, and here’s hoping you enjoy our final pages of Spectators next Monday evening.