SPECTATORS - Part 45
I missed you!
Brian here, extremely grateful for your patience while the team at Exploding Giraffe took a breather and reconnected with our loved ones over the holidays. How was your break?
Thanks to the implosion of a certain airline, my visit to Cleveland was slightly lengthier than expected… but more on my travel travails in a bit. First, let’s get back to Spectators with a few eye-popping new pages from artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and letterer/copy editor Fonografiks.
(And if you’re new here—or just don’t remember what the fuck happened in past installments—you can always catch up on the previous 117 pages of serialized Spectators goodness for FREE in our convenient online Archives.)
When last we left our ghostly protagonists Val and Sam, California of the future had been unexpectedly hit by some kind of nuclear attack. While the living world braces for the other shoe to drop, our spectral heroes set out on a (final?) voyeuristic mission: to witness a legit three-way.
Their noble adventure continues…
Did she?
Next week, a scintillating new chapter of our unconventional graphic novel begins.
For now, as we do every single month, it’s time to give away yet another original page of invaluable hand-painted art from the great Niko Henrichon to one of you loyal paid subscribers in “The Tower.”
And the lucky winner of this lovely specimen is… Matthew Kaplan, who joined us right before the break!
Welcome to The Tower, Matthew, and someone from Exploding Giraffe will be in touch for your mailing info very soon.
More prize opportunities and bonus content coming exclusively to you paid subscribers this Friday. Thanks again for continuing to make all this possible, you generous giraffes.
My wife and kids and I originally intended to spend a few days in Cleveland with my parents and a few days in Albuquerque with the in-laws, but my semi-annual pilgrimage to the Frontier Restaurant was dashed when weather/Southwest grounded us in Ohio into the new year.
Thankfully, my siblings have married and/or co-created some of the most fascinating humans on the planet, so it was a delight to get to spend some extra time with all of them. Shout-out to our folks for tolerating so many extra people in their house far past our sell-by dates.
Some brief highlights:
Favorite Meal (Non-home-cooked)
That would have to be the decadent feast we enjoyed at red-hot new Cleveland restaurant Cordelia, where I somehow consumed nearly every dish of midwest excellence, including this entire fried chicken:
Favorite Gift (Received)
This t-shirt given to me by a devout listener of Judge John Hodgman:
Favorite Local Charity
My kids and I were fortunate enough to get a guided tour of the garage headquarters of Motogo, a badass nonprofit created by my sister Molly Vaughan and brother-in-law Brian Schaffran to bring back shop class and teach young people problem-solving through motorcycle maintenance.
Favorite Awards Season Screener DVD
Definitely Todd Field’s new film Tár, a slow burn that put some of my extended family to sleep on impact, but which paid huge dividends by its extraordinary final scene.
He takes his sweet time directing new movies, but old Nick Nightingale scores again!
Well, how about you?
Did you do/see/hear/give/get/consume anything wonderful over the holidays?
Back home in the San Fernando Valley now, it’s another improbably rainy day, which is when I usually do my happiest writing, so I should get back to this next Saga script, but I look forward to catching up with everyone in the chat later tonight.
Digging ‘23 so far,
BKV
One of my best friend’s moms made me a whole German chocolate cake so I might have diabetes as I ate 80% of it in 4 days. & I started Mr Inbetween. Shame it isn’t being shouted about constantly. & I missed you all.
I got the gift of turning 39 on NYE, which was somehow not as heavy as turning 30, but still pretty weird????
For some reason, having a birthday at the end of the year makes the whole end of the year super weird and reflective, but also sorta celebratory?
I dunno, I've only been here four decades, this shit is still all-so-confusing.