SPECTATORS - Part 39
Another Monday = More Free Comics
Good afternoon, you! How was your weekend?
Brian here, and mine was just the right balance of work and farting around. Figured out a broken scene in a script that had been tormenting me, enjoyed watching Trollhunter with one of my troll-obsessed smaller humans, and looked at (but mostly resisted purchasing) a ton of beautiful artwork at another Comic Art Live.
Meanwhile, Spectators co-creator Niko Henrichon was somehow adding in even more detail to today’s jaw-dropper of a double-page spread (which I always encourage you to please admire on a tablet or other larger screen if you get a chance).
Our new ghost pals Sam and Val have been elevating to a better perspective on the living world’s potentially impending nuclear war…
No matter what bizarre new direction I throw at Niko each installment, he just keeps smashing it far out of the park. Thanks, pal.
Next week, letterer Fonografiks returns, as we get a better look at those mysterious spirits atop our futuristic “scrubber.”
The three of us literally couldn’t be making this ongoing epic without you, so thanks again for reading, especially you generous paid subscribers.
Speaking of you lovely folks in The Tower, in this past weekend’s private chat, reader ML pointed us to a more recent (and even more devastating) remembrance of Kevin O’Neill by Alan Moore, which you can read in its entirety over at the Facebook page of editor Scott Dunbier.
Jesus, I could only hope to live the kind of life that would inspire one of my collaborators to write something like that. Mine mostly just want me to stop murdering all the beautiful characters they design.
I also promised to give one of you Tower members a copy of Illuminations, the magnificent new book from Mr. Moore, and this week’s randomly selected lucky winner is… Brett Bates!
Congrats to Brett, who echoed the vast majority of commenters when asked about “current favorite collaborations in comics:”
My collection of every Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips hardcover I think settles the question for me... So many amazing collaborations listed in the comments here, but these two are just in an entirely different league at this point.
BRUBAKER?!?
Heavy sigh.
Okay, I reluctantly admit to also adoring Ed and his collaborations, but I’ve never read anything from my old nemesis quite like his most recent horrifying installment of Friday with artist Marcos Martín and colorist Muntsa Vicente, available exclusively from our dear friends at pay-whatever-you-want digital comics haven Panel Syndicate.
Marcos writes:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
What? But it’s not Halloween anymore, you say? Well, it was when we initially wrote this but a technical glitch hasn’t allowed us to send this out until today... Seems like the White Lady’s powers reach way beyond the pages of FRIDAY.
Anyway, what better way to celebrate than with the newest and spookiest issue of FRIDAY to date by the terrifying team of Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martín and Muntsa Vicente! You thought we wouldn’t make it in time, now didn’t you? Well, you were almost right but Marcos summoned all the spirits in hell to help him push it over the finish line for a very small price... his tiny, tiny soul.
The real question, though, is whether Friday will make it in time as she races to face her darkest and most dangerous threat yet!
These geniuses don’t need any plugs from me, but if you haven’t read Friday yet, now’s the perfect time to get caught up on what I have to admit is unfolding into quite the masterpiece.
Finally, in our past couple chat threads, we’ve discussed favorite films of the 1970s (Alien and Apocalypse Now are still duking it out for the top spot), and then the 1980s (cool to see Stand By Me getting so much love), so we might as well keep this party going with: What’s your favorite film of the 1990s?
The correct answer is, of course, Barton Fink, but I’ll also be willing to accept at least three of the other four movies Joel and Ethan released that decade.
Time for lunch,
BKV
Fight Club, The Matrix, Sixth Sense, The Iron Giant... oh yeah, all those came out in 1999 AKA the greatest year for movies ever
Shawshank.
BTW, thanks for the signed Saga #1 script; my daughter, who at 20 yes old is the best writer I know personally, got this from me as a birthday gift to illuminate what it's like to write in your industry and from your perspective...to demystify what types of careers you can have as a writer. So I'm very thankful to you for that.