SPECTATORS - Part Nine
Plus, our Exploding Giraffe Prize Package winner announced!
Brian here, and a rare dense fog has transformed Los Angeles into Cloud City this morning. I don’t trust that Lobot guy.
Thanks again to all of you who read and/or shared the first 30 pages of Spectators last Monday. We ended our first act with the introduction of a mostly unclad new character…
…and now Val, still in shock, finally learns something about the individual responsible for her current predicament.
Thanks as always to Niko Henrichon and our letterer Fonografiks for burning the midnight oil to finish another beautiful installment.
Next Monday, Val’s education continues, still 100% free to read.
PRIDE OF KHARKIV?
This just popped up in the news (well, The Daily Star, at least) moments ago, but a Ukrainian man has apparently “become a hero after embarking on a series of death-defying trips to a shelled out zoo in Kharkiv and transporting animals such as kangaroos to safety in his van.”
“Much of the zoo’s infrastructure has been completely destroyed and many animals have died. As a result, the park is now a dangerous place to be regardless of the bombing, as the hungry zoo population, which includes lions, stalk the facility…”
Our thoughts are with all the animals, human and otherwise, still in harm’s way.
Before we get to relatively meaningless contest stuff, I wanted to pass along some other shocking international news (sorry, gonna be that kind of week) from Saga co-creator Fiona Staples.
A great comic store in Edmonton called WonderHarbour where Fiona did her first signing 15 years ago was completely destroyed, apparently by an act of arson?!
Jesus.
The owners have started a GoFundMe page, where they explain, “Our beloved WonderHarbour has been destroyed by arson. They spread gasoline throughout the store, and lit a fire that consumed everything. There is nothing left. Thankfully, no one was hurt and Rufus is in the good hands of the people at the Edmonton Reptile Rescue. Thank you for looking after our little guy. The fire was contained and it looks like the building will survive, but all the hard work you’ve seen the WonderHarbor team put into building Canada’s largest comic store has been lost. We are devastated. This will be a long road and any help is appreciated. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your outpouring of support and love.”
If you’re in a position to help this important part of our comics community, please donate directly here, thanks so much.
Changing gears, did anyone else see Everything Everywhere All At Once last night?
I won’t spoil anything for those of you who haven’t, but it’s the latest film from writers/directors Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, whose monumentally inventive Swiss Army Man was one of my favorite movies of 2016.
I’m still processing this new one (which features amazing performances from Michell Yeoh and especially Ke Huy Quan), but I was reminded of something a big director once mentioned to me several years ago. They said that The Matrix will haunt my generation of creators the way that Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey haunted theirs, and that every science fiction film for the foreseeable future will be in some way commenting on, responding to, or reacting against the Wachowskis’ film.
For those who’ve seen Everything Everywhere, how did it compare to The Matrix for you, if at all?
And for everyone else, what was the last sci-fi flick you saw that didn’t seem to share at least some connective tissue to The Matrix? We’ll leave the comments open to everyone this week if you want to chime in, thanks…
Right, contest time.
First up, I promised some goodies to last Friday’s Tower-only discussion about everybody’s current wall decorations, and our randomly selected commenter is…Brandon Johnson, who shared his love of original sketches by Edison Neo, an indie comic creator from Singapore. Thanks, Brandon, and our intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe will be in touch this week to get your mailing address.
But now, the moment at least a few hundred of you have been waiting for, as we finally give away this free Exploding Giraffe Prize Package (which are also always available to our generous Founders at the $250 level), the best one we’ve assembled yet, featuring an original color sketch of Doctor Strange by Niko, the very first printing of my limited edition script to Saga #1, as well as a copy of Saga’s ultra-rare and obsessively coveted Retailer Variant:
And now, chosen at random from nearly 300 entries, the big winner is…
…Dallas Heisler!
Congrats, Dallas. Our semi-fictional intern will soon be in touch with you, as well.
And for those of you who didn’t win, please don’t explode yourself just yet. There will be plenty more contests and giveaways in the weeks ahead, some with prizes even cooler than the ones above, believe it or not.
This Friday, only for you munificent paid subscribers in The Tower, I’ll be sharing some hopefully interesting revelations about my long strange history with the Silver Surfer.
See you then?
Also still processing The Animatrix,
BKV
Congratulations, Brandon and Dallas! Also, does anyone else still feel a bit iffy about crowded movie theaters after two years of this pandemic? I've gone twice in the last few months and still can't quite relax just yet.
Congratulations Brandon and Dallas. I am hexadecimal color code #056608 green with envy.
This is my favorite new panels so far. Worth the extra wait! Love where this is going.
Real quick, all my 80s star wars action figures were discount bin back scene characters. I also hate Lobot... and Walrus Man.
Last post matrix sci-fi flick you that didn’t rip off The Matrix? I was going to say Tennet, but I think that movie is just the Matrix played backward. I'm going to dust off my bong and sync matrix up backwards to it. I'll get back to you.