SPECTATORS - Part 27
Plus, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talks PAPER GIRLS?!
How is it possibly the first day of school already?
Brian here, hoping you also had a fast-but-excellent summer, finally got out of the house, and somehow managed to stay relatively healthy.
This week, Spectators co-creator Niko Henrichon and I welcome letterer Fonografiks back from break, as our ghost Val follows the surviving fighter and his girlfriend back home to their apartment in an outpost of futuristic Brooklyn.
By the way, I wrote that line about “the Taiwan War” months ago; here’s hoping it doesn’t end up being unintentionally relevant.
Regardless, next week in Spectators, things heat up.
Well, this was the coolest recommendation ever, from fellow writer, fellow Substacker, and fellow legendary athlete Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:
I’d suggest checking out all of his thoughtful reviews, but I was especially grateful for the Paper Girls love:
This show is based on one of my favorite graphic novel series written by Brian K. Vaughan (every series he’s written are among my favorites). Ready for the plot? Hang on: a group of teen girls are delivering newspapers in 1988 when they encounter warring time-travelers, forcing them to also time-travel in order to save the world. During their adventures they encounter future, older versions of themselves—not always to their delight.
It’s a wild ride that is witty and charming and filled with adventurous derring-do from a motley gang of young girls thrown into the ruthless wood-chipper of time travel. I love the scenes in which a highly ambitious and motivated young Chinese-American meets her older self and is disgusted by what she’s become, or rather hasn’t become.
Thanks so much to Kareem (am I allowed to call him that??), and to all of you who’ve watched so far.
I don’t know much about how stuff works behind the scenes at streamers, but I think it matters how quickly/whether or not viewers finish a season, so if you Amazon Prime subscribers haven’t caught all eight episodes of this lovely series yet, I hope you’ll move us to the top of your queue this week, thanks again.
Over the weekend, I had a great time discussing drugs in comics with you kind paid supporters in The Tower, where I learned that you’re particularly fond of those LSD scenes of Deadly Class by Rick Remender, Wes Craig and Lee Loughridge.
I also promised to give away a couple of these drug-related collections to one lucky commenter…
…and this week’s winner is Greg McKeon, who posted:
If we’re including alcohol, my favorite drug-related comics issues are:
Garth & Steve Dillon’s Hellblazer #49 (intro of the Lord of the Dance)
Hellblazer #63
Hellblazer #70 (where Kat returns to Belfast and ends the evening drunkenly singing and sobbing “I’ll Tell Me Ma” with her sister [never thought I’d see that song in a comic])
Spider-Man Extra #2, Zeb Wells & Paolo Rivera’s fantastic 12 page Spidey/Wolvie drinking story (I love this one so much I own a page!)
I told Greg I was very jealous of his Rivera page, but also bragged that I own artwork from another of his (and my) favorite issues, the original painted cover to Hellblazer #70 by the incredible Glenn Fabry.
It’s the one and only piece of Ennis-related memorabilia I had to get, despite how much shit I knew Garth would give me for buying old stuff instead of writing new things for artists to actually draw. But I just love the character of Kit, so it’s an honor to have this haunting cover on my wall.
Greg said I had to share a pic now that I’ve already boasted about acquiring it, so I guess you’re a double winner this week, sir:
Speaking of tasty beverages, what was your go-to drink this summer?
Doesn’t have to be booze, of course, but I sure did enjoy a shot of aguardiente in my luladas while in Colombia.
Let us know in the comments if you’re feeling chatty, but otherwise, I’ll see some of you back here on Friday for an exclusive look at a never-before-seen comic I made over 20 years ago with two spectacular creators… both of whom I also eventually married?!
Stay tuned for the shocking explanation, and have a classy week, classmates.
Already playing hooky,
BKV
I began drinking a lot of water (instead of coke) and lost some weight. I still feel the call of soda pulling at my soul.
Coffee and citrus is a combination that is slept on. I get lot of weird reactions to my Starbucks order, but I promise it’s refreshing. Plus you get a nice caffeine buzz. Get yourself a Grande Lemonade with an added espresso shot and one pump of ginger pineapple syrup.