BKV here, still shaken after another weekend of all-too-imaginable gun violence here in the States. Deepest condolences to everyone affected.
As always, I prefer to process contemporary horrors like these through my weird fiction, so I’m more grateful than ever to readers like you for allowing us to create a graphic novel that will continue to explore mass shootings, a topic that’s extremely difficult (if not outright forbidden) to tell stories about in most media, for a host of financial, political and other bullshit reasons.
Our main character Val may have lost her life to a deranged gunman, but her incorporeal spirit has survived far into New York City’s future. And now, courtesy artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon and triumphantly returned letterer Fonografiks, Spectators continues…
Wait, what year is this supposed to be? And where the hell are all the other ghosts...?
Stay tuned, impatient voyeurs. Val’s tale resumes next Monday, but you can revisit any/all past installments of Spectators for FREE in our handy Exploding Giraffe Archives.
And remember, if you’re reading this on your phone, you can download the above comic files via email or the app to enjoy later, as Niko’s ridiculously detailed artwork is best experienced on the largest screen you’ve got. In the words of David Lynch:
Hey, thanks for the kind posts about the Paper Girls teaser.
More torn-from-the-comic footage coming soon, but for now, we’re giving away signed copies of the new $1 “Image Firsts” edition of Paper Girls #1 to FIVE of you randomly selected subscribers from last week’s busy chat:
Richard Boisvert
PotatogrlA
Josh Henderson
Alexandra
Ben Ledger-Jessop
And the lucky winner of those eye-popping deluxe hardcover editions is card-carrying member of the American Newspaper Delivery Guild… Erin Kelly!
Congrats to all the winners, who should be on the lookout for an email from our intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe sometime this week, after Gen finishes shipping out a few more of these Prize Packages to our patient Founders.
And if you didn’t win anything this time, no worries, there will be plenty more contests in the weeks ahead, including ones exclusively for our generous paid subscribers in The Tower, so thanks again to those of you who joined up at any level. Niko and I literally couldn’t do this without you.
Finally, my mother-in-law was recently watching the PBS News Hour, which was doing a piece on celebrated novelist Jennifer Egan.
At one point in the broadcast, the below image of Egan’s impressive body of work was apparently shown. But see if you can spot which one of these is not like the others, which one of these is not quite the same…
I have no idea what happened there, but I do know that a version of Y the Last Man (or any story, really) by Pia Guerra and the author of A Visit from the Goon Squad would have been fucking awesome.
Anyway, that mysterious snafu reminded me I wanted to ask: Which novels (without pictures) have you been reading and loving this year?
Please let us know what’s stacked on your nightstand in the comments, and I’ll see you Tower members back here on Friday for something cool.
Stay safe,
Brian
PS
Finally about to publish this at 3:29pm here in Los Angeles (sorry we were a little later than usual), but here’s some breaking “news” for my fellow original comic art nerds. Heritage Auctions has just revealed the centerpiece of their June auction:
Yep, it’s the actual cover to 1986’s The Dark Knight Returns #1 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Doesn’t get much more iconic than that. Is this the most culturally significant page of comic art ever offered? It’ll definitely annihilate all previous records, but by how much? And will you be bidding…?
Finally got around to reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. Completely blown away, don’t know why I waited so long. Picking up the sequel next!
Spectators is so good! When substack jumped off, I thought I'd be super-frustrated reading it in bites like this, but it's really satisfying. Kudos.
Been reading John Darnielle (of Mountain Goats) new novel.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693663-devil-house
Really like his turns of phrase that are poetic, but somehow different from his song lyrics.
I recently enjoyed this horror book, The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. Very creepy, but driven by non-traditional protagonists that are super-compelling.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52180399-the-only-good-indians
Also recently read the first George Smiley book by John LeCarre (Call for the Dead) and yes I am officially an old man. All the Dad, none of the children.