How was your weekend? I think my experimental Thirteen Layer Dip was a modest success at yesterday’s outdoor gathering. Hope your Monday has been tolerable so far.
Attached are the next couple pages of Spectators from artist Niko Henrichon and letterer Fonografiks. And this is your periodic reminder that our serialized story will often feature graphic sex and/or violence, so please read at your discretion (or scroll down to our fun-filled Bonus Content if you’re not in the mood for a massacre this Valentine’s Day).
Does anyone make bloodshed feel quite as visceral as Niko?
A question for those of you who are still with us (and we’ll leave the comments open to anyone who wants to contribute this week, thanks!):
What’s the most memorable moment of violence you ever encountered in a comic?
Here’s one of my top picks, the original art to which I was lucky enough to pick up last year:
What a splash!
Or does that image within an image make it a panel page...?
From The ’Nam #24, pencilled by Wayne Vansant, inked by Geof Isherwood, written by Doug Murray, and lettered by Phil Felix, all doing A+ work on this surprisingly effective war comic, one of the most underrated “mainstream” series of all time.
I can’t believe Marvel Comics ever published this image, much less only twenty years after the real-world execution it so unflinchingly captures. And all from a point of view and depth of field only this medium could deliver.
Anyway, curious to hear which moments of violence in comics made lasting impressions on your innocent young minds…
Our generous paid subscribers have already seen the incredible sketch Niko did of my hilariously awful childhood superhero the Orange Knight, and now I’m delighted/mortified to share his take on the terrifying supervillain I created when I was 10, Black Coressian (and no, I have zero idea what the fuck a Coressian is):
How great is Niko’s Devil Bat?!
Gorgeous hand-drawn sketches like these will start going out in the Exploding Giraffe Prize Packages to our Founders next month, and we greatly appreciate those of you who are able to help back our dream project at any tier.
Later this week, Niko himself will be taking you behind the scenes of how he creates his magnificent full-color artwork, mandatory viewing for any of you aspiring/practicing creators out there.
And then we’ll return with more new Spectators next Monday, as we perhaps discover the fate of our unnamed protagonist (if she even is the protagonist??).
XOX,
BKV
I think for me it was the first time I read Negan destroying Glenn's head with the baseball bat in the Walking Dead. I remember where I was, read it, and I felt upset. You spend so much time with these characters that they become friends and it was such a brutal and vicious way to kill him off, it really was upsetting. I remember being down after reading that, almost at the point of tears.
Glenn's death in The Walking Dead #100. It made me nauseous, even in black and white - full page.