SPECTATORS - Part 55
Plus, celebrating 10 years of Panel Syndicate!
Are you good at getting back to people in a timely fashion?
Brian here, and with apologies to everyone I owe a text/email/call/telegram, I am NOT. At the moment, I’m in a vortex of several very rewarding creative endeavors (one of which I hope to be able to tell you more about soon), which I realize is an annoying and unsatisfying excuse when we’re ALL busy with cool shit, but it’s the best I’ve got.
Sorry again, and I promise to catch up with my friends/colleagues/children in some distant future, but for now, this cat is in the cradle!
Thankfully, Mondays remain my oasis of Exploding Giraffe and more new Spectators from two creators whose emails I always excitedly open first, artist Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks:
Ga-Glunch?
Spoiler alert, but an amazing double-page spread is coming up next, and Niko wanted to give it a little extra love, so you’ll likely be getting FOUR new pages from him next week.
Speaking of Niko, you generous paid subscribers in The Tower learned about this last week, but Monsieur Henrichon is offering original pages of Spectators art for sale RIGHT NOW over at Essential Sequential.
Tower giraffes got first dibs on this inaugural “art drop,” but there are still some extraordinary pages for sale, including this 18.5 x 22-inch watercolor masterpiece I’m extremely tempted to pull the trigger on myself:
They’re not cheap, but each of these one-of-a-kind paintings represents at least a few days of Niko’s hard work, and all sales will help him generate more Spectators, so thanks for taking a look.
Oh, and there will be more art drops in the future (which Tower members will always hear about first), so if you’ve got your eye on a page from later in the book, stay tuned.
And while I can’t guarantee that any work of art will increase in monetary value over time, if you’re the lucky so-and-so who nabbed Niko’s incredible P0rnhub page last week, would you consider selling it to me at double what you paid for it? Niko has already generously offered me any page I’d like from Spectators, but I didn’t realize just how much I loved that one until I stupidly let it slip through my fingers.
What is wrong with me….?
Sales are now open to everyone, but Tower members get 10% off on ALL of Niko’s work at Essential Sequential, so if you’re thinking about buying a page, annual membership here at Exploding Giraffe more than pays for itself.
And if you don’t have any scratch for luxury goods at the moment, we’ve still got you covered, as all paid subscribers are automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win a page like this beauty:
And our randomly selected Tower member for March is…
TOM G
Congrats, Tom! Someone from Exploding Giraffe will be reaching out for your mailing address soon.
Everyone else, go get those pages before I do.
Tower folks, the latest signing bonanza is now CLOSED, thanks so much for the ridiculous amount of things you sent my way to get scribbled on.
That’s a small taste of the hundreds of boxes my unpaid child labor will have to help me with, so thank you in advance for your kind patience as we gradually mail everything back to you.
I’ll probably start working my way through everybody’s stuff during the Guardians home opener later this week, and I’ll hopefully be finished by the time we’re in the World Series.
Has it seriously been an entire decade since the launch of Panel Syndicate?
I get way too much credit for that site since I wrote a few of its first titles, but Panel Syndicate is truly the creation and ongoing obsession of my dear friend and bickering life partner Marcos Martín.
How many publishers and entertainment companies (not just the ones offering digital comics) have come and gone over the last ten years? But all the while, Marcos has almost singlehandedly kept the multiple Eisner Award-winning Panel Syndicate alive and thriving by staying true to his original concept: that comics should be an inexpensive medium for everyone (including those who can’t pay anything), and that creators should maintain 100% control and ownership of whatever they create.
As described by Marcos, here are some of Panel Syndicate’s latest diverse offerings, all available for instant download at whatever price you’re willing and able to pay (including nothing!):
PANEL SYNDICATE’S 10th ANNIVERSARY!
Yep, you read that right. Panel Syndicate turns 10 this week and what better way to celebrate than to welcome back superstar artist Víctor Santos with a very special one-shot issue set in the world of PARANOIA KILLER!
Retired detective Kindred has a special private case: to find a young girl, the typical spoiled rich heir. But what starts as a seemingly routine job quickly spirals into something more disturbing, dragging our detective down into a world of secret societies and forbidden experiments.
PARANOIA KILLER: VIRYA further explores the sci-fi thriller universe of the PARANOIA KILLER series, an unsettling place where strange gods await beyond the veil of a confusing and unstable reality.
And as a special bonus, we’ve collected the original four issues of the series in a convenient 131-page volume, ideal for old readers to revisit the story, or to discover for all those who haven’t read it yet.
ALSO...
THE BRANDENBURG SCHOOL FOR BOYS by Alex de Campi, Tony Parker and Blond is back with its fourth and penultimate chapter!
Amidst suspicion and infighting, the terrorists put their bomb plan into action… Jack struggles to get information to his superiors, and Felix plans his shot. But nobody’s cover is secure any more, and neither of them are safe.
You can find this 1970s spy noir/thriller, as well as its prequel series MAYDAY (both by the same explosive creative team), at panelsyndicate.com for whatever price you want to pay, including zero!
Never fear, Marcos is putting the finishing touches on the next outstanding issue of Friday with Ed Brubaker and Musta Vicente as we speak.
And maybe, just maybe, a certain chrome-domed writer might be making a return to Panel Syndicate one of these days…?
For now, I’ll be giving away a signed hardcover of The Private Eye to one randomly selected commenter in this week’s Tower chat thread. To enter, just let us know (in as much or as little detail as you feel comfortable sharing): What were YOU doing ten years ago?
In today’s bonus content, I’ll be writing about Panel Syndicate’s wild launch day back in 2013, and sharing for the first time anywhere probably my single favorite script I ever wrote for Marcos.
Everybody else, enjoy your free comics, and I’ll see you back here for more Spectators next week!