SPECTATORS - Part Four

And a sneak peek at new SAGA!

Happy Presidents Day? Is that still a thing? More importantly, how does everybody feel about this season of Euphoria?

It’s only been a few weeks since Niko Henrichon and I started working with Substack, but we already feel very much at home here. I love pressing “publish” seconds after we finish a new scene, with zero interference from anyone. Like my friends at Panel Syndicate, it’s great to release comics digitally with people who so clearly care about both readers and creators.

Thanks to Substack (and subscribers like yooooooooou!), in the last month alone, a ton of genuinely excellent new comics have been brought to life—all creator-owned, many 100% free to read—and I was particularly grateful to discover this A+ short story about gun violence from two of my favorite creators, Kelly Thompson and David LaFuente.

It’s told with subtlety and restraint, two things that I should warn our new readers you’ll rarely find here at Exploding Giraffe. 

With that in mind, attached are Niko’s next beautifully brutal pages of Spectators, followed by a sneak peek at this week’s new issue of Saga from Fiona Staples, all lettered by the tireless and versatile Fonografiks…

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Spectators 017 019

3.68MB ∙ CBZ file

Read now

Read now

Spectators 017 019

6.87MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

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I’d seen the thumbnails and inks for this particularly graphic scene several times over the last month, but still got chills at the coloring stage when Niko added that smoke wafting across the silent theater.

Sounds like a lot of you kind readers also enjoy watching this hopefully epic graphic novel come to life more or less in “real time," so please join us back here in seven short days, as our story takes yet another turn.

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This Wednesday, Saga is back on shelves less than a month after the double-sized Chapter 55, which I’m proud to share was somehow our highest ordered issue ever.

We’ve been hearing from a lot of happy retailers, so thanks very much for supporting your local brick-and-mortar, paper-and-staples comic shop. If you haven’t been to one in a while, or just moved to a new town and haven’t found your spot yet, Comic Shop Locator will get you where you need to be.

Speaking of which, let us know a favorite recent comic-shop experience in the comments, and we’ll randomly select one entry to receive some Secret Saga Swag.

For now, check out this latest heartbreaker of a cover from Fiona Staples:

And here’s your exclusive look at its very first page and some all-new faces:

Are these swashbuckling oddballs friends or foes? Future fan-favorite characters or inevitably despised Poochies…? 

I guess we’ll find out in this installment, which also contains another long-awaited Reader Questionnaire, so start hunting for those old Forever stamps you once saw in that junk drawer.

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And while you’re at your friendly neighborhood retailer this week, why not pre-order a copy of this May’s X-Men Legends #1, with a smashing variant cover by none other than Niko:

The original art for that showstopper will eventually be on sale through Essential Sequential, where a few other killer Niko pages are still available, including this beauty from Pride of Baghdad:

If those all sell out before you get to them, never fear, our generous Annual subscribers are automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win original art from Spectators, and Founders additionally receive a full-color drawing by Niko (as well as a signed script to Saga #1, and much, much more, o shill-tolerant patrons!).

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I loved the Tower’s recent discussion about violence in comics, so this Friday, we’ll be talking with our paid subscribers about sex in comics, and some of my favorite scenes ever.

And if that’s not already a grossly off-putting level of intimacy, I’ll also be sharing what my wife got me for Valentine’s Day last week, as I reluctantly strip-mine my private life in search of more precious Bonus Content.

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Finally, I just got back from a writing retreat in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I used my skill and knowledge to score big at a bonus round of Star Trek the Next Generation the Slot Game by Aristocrat. I was boasting about my (soon to evaporate) winnings to friend of the Tower Daniel M. Kanemoto, who texted back:

That impressive level of nerdery reminded me that, while I’m still in no hurry to option the film/tv rights to Saga, this gambling granny is extremely open to anything I ever helped create being crassly exploited for use in quality one-armed bandits (so long as they remain 100% faithful to the economics of the source material). Please send your serious collaboration inquiries to the “To Be Continued” offices at the physical address below. 

Look, we all have vices. Don’t you judge me!

Assimilated,

Brian