SPECTATORS - Part 65
Plus, your first look at next week's new SAGA!
Hey, how are you?
Brian here, and I’m embarrassingly excited to hang out later this week with Exploding Giraffe’s own Niko Henrichon, who I haven’t seen in person in several years, believe it or not. Niko’s traveling from his secret hideout in France here to the States for an unexpected Hollywood adventure, which you can keep up with via his hand-drawn travelogue over on his essential Instagram.
Niko understandably only had time to finish one new page of Spectators before he had to catch his flight, but for you process nerds, I’ll also include a second page that Niko just finished inking, which you’ll be able to see in glorious color and with ace lettering from the indispensable Fonografiks next week (when our usual CBZ and PDF files will also return for you paid subscribers who like to download each vignette).
For now, let’s rejoin the dearly departed Sam and Val, still shooting the shit while chilling inside a future exhibit about New York City’s past…
The finished version of the last page (and much more) coming next week.
But first, it’s time to give away yet another page of Niko’s invaluable original artwork to one of you generous paid subscribers in The Tower. And this week’s randomly chosen member is:
FilmnoirGrrrl
Congrats, Fimnoir! Niko will reach out to you directly about shipping you your treasure after he’s back home.
Everyone else, you can still find a few hand-painted pages of Spectators for sale over at Essential Sequential, OR you can always be automatically entered in future giveaways by joining us in The Tower. Thanks for your consideration.
Looks like it’ll be more Stupid Hat Weather on the picket line this week, but these past few days have been a brutal reminder that film/tv writing is far from the only creative industry struggling with unfair labor practices, as comics journalist Heidi Macdonald explains in this must-read article over at The Beat:
As we reported over the weekend, cartoonist Ian McGinty passed away at the tragically young age of 38 last week. According to his obituary, he died of natural causes…but as they mourned him, friends and colleagues pointed out that McGinty’s lifestyle, like that of many artists, was one of overwork and underpay. And that led to a twitter hashtag, #comicsbrokeme, introduced in a tweet from Eisner and Ignatz winning cartoonist Shivana Sookdeo.
To say that it touched a nerve would be the understatement of the year, as literally thousands of tweets unloaded years of all nighters, low page rates, bad management, health crises, trauma and burnout.
My deepest condolences to the friends and family of Ian McGinty. I’ve just started diving in to the many, many #comicsbrokeme responses, but it’s beyond clear that sweeping change is long overdue.
That article also made me feel more lucky than ever to have been able to leave behind “corporate” comics for creator-owned ones, an area of publishing that’s certainly not without its own problems, but one where my collaborators and I have at least been able to find a relatively stable work-life balance.
Speaking of which, Fiona Staples and I have been building up to this next chapter of Saga for several years, so we greatly appreciate the patience of you lovely and supportive readers as we took a little extra time to get this one right.
It won’t be at your local comic shop until next Wednesday, June 21, but look which lucky S.O.B. already got his comp copies from the printer:
God, I love the title treatment from Fonografiks behind Fiona’s artwork, where Lying Cat’s tail subtly completes the lowercase “g” in Saga.
Anyway, after our usual paywall, I’ll be sharing an exclusive preview of that issue AND giving away signed copies to several of you generous subscribers in The Tower.
Everybody else, have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Monday for more free Spectators and a full report of my upcoming hang with Niko…