SPECTATORS - Part Nineteen

And some more comic recommendations for you!

Hey, thanks so much for opening this. I’m grateful for your eyeballs.

Did you happen to use them to check out these lovely first-look images of Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Paper Girls in my interview with fellow creator Cliff Chiang over at Entertainment Weekly?

Fina Strazza, Sofia Rosinsky, Riley Lai Nelet, and Camryn Jones in Paper Girls. Photo by Anjali Pinto for Amazon Prime Video.

These four young performers are so ridiculously gifted, and I can’t wait for you to meet them when the series debuts July 29.

For now, comics!

When last we left our favorite voyeuristic ghost Val, she’d just spotted a massive gathering of her fellow immaterial specters in the distant future of Manhattan they continue to haunt.

So what’s all the hullabaloo about…?

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When we were recently discussing viewing habits in our Exploding Giraffe Forum, most of you said that you actually weren’t into binge-watching, instead preferring to savor your art in smaller installments over time (not surprising since you subscribed to a site that’s serializing a 300-plus-page graphic novel a few panels per week).

Either way, thanks for taking some time to linger on the above gorgeous, hyper-detailed, double-page spread, which Niko Henrichon has been toiling over for the last several days.

Letterer Fonografiks will be back on Spectators duty next Monday, as we and Val hear from an important new character. Stay tuned.

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Still hungry for more comics?

I’ve got a few recommendations, starting with a new one from my good friends at Panel Syndicate, where you can always read extraordinary creator-owned comics for any price you think is fair (including $0.00, if you’re tapped out at the moment).

The terrific sequel to Mayday (also available at Panel Syndicate) from Alex de Campi, Tony Parker and Blond is called The Brandenburg School for Boys, and follows CIA officer Jack Hudson in May of 1972, as he infiltrates a left-wing gang in West Berlin responsible for a wave of bombings and robberies.

It’s a razor-sharp espionage tale as fantastic as this cover, and I couldn’t recommend the first issue highly enough:

Read it and plenty more cool comics right now over at Panel Syndicate!

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I’m way behind on my Marvel and DC reading, but my brother/fellow writer David Vaughan insisted that I check out a story in last week’s DC Pride 2022 Special written by Kevin Conroy, who you probably know as the greatest actor ever to play Batman.

I don’t want to spoil anything, other than to say that this short story (beautifully drawn and colored by J. Bone) is one of the best comics DC has ever published, a non-fiction tale that’s both emotionally devastating and incredibly life-affirming.

I’m sure it’s available to read online, but I’d encourage you to please support your local comic store and pick up a copy there:

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I’m not normally a fan of content warnings, but that Kevin Conroy story opens with a very thoughtful one.

And I feel like I should provide something similar before sharing this next image from Y: The Last Man co-author and fearless editorial cartoonist Pia Guerra, who is generously allowing us to reprint it here.

If you’re still reading Spectators, I imagine you’re prepared for confrontational depictions of gun violence, but this comic from Pia puts our story to shame when it comes to challenging viewers to confront the toll of mass shootings in the U.S.

Please feel free to scroll past it if you’re not ready for a piece of art that pulls no fucking punches, and has haunted me since the moment I saw it.

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Yep.

If you’re not already, it’s imperative that you follow Pia Guerra and her amazingly bold work on Instagram and/or Twitter.

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How’s that for an intense start to your week?

There’s plenty of fun-filled escapist fiction out there for you, but I love all of the above comics because they take me to places that only an outsider medium like ours can, so thanks for continuing to support graphic narrative for mature readers.

And speaking of comics, are YOU going to the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con this July 21-24…?

I didn’t think I’d be emerging from hiding to do any shows this year, but I’m excited and nervous to share that Cliff Chiang and I will suddenly be attending in support of Paper Girls, along with our fellow creators Matthew Wilson and Jared K. Fletcher.

I don’t know our exact schedule of panels/signings/etc. yet, but I promise to let you know the second I do.

Either way, please tell us in the comments if you think you might make it to the con this year, and maybe I’ll find a way to set up some kind of small gathering exclusively for you generous paid subscribers in The Tower. Monkeypox willing, it would be very cool to finally meet some of you mask-to-mask.

For now, stay safe this week, and I’ll see you Tower members back here on Friday for a joyous blast from the past, and another exclusive contest with some neat-o prizes. Stuff!

Thanks again,

Brian