SPECTATORS - The First 150 Pages
Plus, help BKV solve an Al Jaffee mystery!
Are you trapped at work right now?
Brian here, wondering if you’d you like to read 150 pages (longer than an entire volume of Saga!) from an explicit sci-fi/romance/horror graphic novel called Spectators by artist/co-creator Niko Henrichon, letterer Fonografiks, and writer-boy Me. It’s extremely “not safe for work,” but what do you care about safety?
The below digital collections (an old-school PDF or a fancy CBZ) should be instantly downloadable by all readers, for FREE, but please let us know in the comments if you run into any problems. Either way, beautiful pages like these deserve to be seen on the biggest screen you’ve got, so dust off your tablet or angle your cubicle’s giant monitor away from the boss and enjoy.
And yes, we’re still hoping to release a print version someday, but not until after our entire 300-plus-page epic is complete, so why wait? You were just going to doom-scroll online for the next hour anyway, so how about reading our dread-inducing ghost story instead…
Well, what do you think so far?
As always, if there’s a reader in your life who you think might enjoy Spectators and our future weekly vignettes, please feel free to spread the good news:
But if you’re an existing reader who just wants to go deeper, Exploding Giraffe is now 100% underwritten by generous paid subscribers in The Tower…
…and for this week only, we’re knocking 25% off the regular annual price, making membership for a full year just THIRTY BUCKS.
Wait, that’s only $2.50 a month?!
And what do you get for joining, besides the smug satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping a couple of your favorite creators make truly independent comics?
Well, along with first access and exclusive discounts to Niko’s original artwork, Tower members are automatically entered in monthly giveaways of hand-painted Spectators pages like this balls-to-the-wall masterpiece…
…which we’ll be gifting to one randomly selected paid subscriber next week. (And thanks to everyone who chimed in about last Monday’s fantastic Artopsy from the talented Mister Henrichon.)
Tower members also get unique opportunities like our recent Signing Bonanza, where you can send me stuff you’d like autographed, personalized, or otherwise defaced.
Here’s my #2 dog Milkshake looking at me with disappointment for having only made my way through about half of our last round of signing submissions so far. Thanks for your patience as I gradually work my way through this mega-pile, and if you already received your goods back, please let us know in the comments, if only to give your fellow Tower pals some hope that they too shall one day see their crap again.
Finally, paid subscribers get access to weekly bonus content, including creator interviews, sneak peeks at Saga and other upcoming projects, photos from my weird family vacations, and ongoing features like “Come Up and See My Etchings,” where I share some selections from my increasingly unhinged collection of original comic art.
Speaking of which, we recently lost famed Mad Magazine artist Al Jaffee at the way-too-young age of 102.
As a longtime subscriber to Mad1, when I started collecting art again during the depths of the pandemic, one of the first pieces of comic history I acquired was this Al Jaffee original Fold-In, crafted by hand with an unbelievable amount of care and forethought:
Here’s what the auction listing had to say:
Al Jaffee MAD Inside Back Cover Illustration Y2K “MAD Fold-In” Original Art (EC Publ., 1999). Jaffee’s folding puzzle poses a mystery as to what disasters the Year 2000 might bring. It is unusual to find a “Fold-In” painting without accompanying text, inasmuch as Jaffee customarily applied the typeset areas himself, as part of the finished artwork. Issue specifics are undocumented. Gouache on illustration board, measuring 17" x 15". Slight toning, acetate overlay and red-effect overlay taped at the top, text paste-ups, tape along the sides of the image, corner dings. Signed at lower right. Excellent condition.
I’m guessing that the original text would have been something like: “What coming technological nightmare threatens the planet?” And Al might have wanted you to believe that the answer would be something about “Y2K” (seen in those eerily prescient falling buildings), but of course, in reality, the folded image reveals the actual self-deprecating answer: a forthcoming Mad CD-ROM, featuring the subtly hidden likeness of Alfred E. Neuman.
Sadly, this is all just supposition, as I haven’t been able to find this image used anywhere, in analog or digital formats. It was probably unpublished… but, if YOU have any information about where this Fold-In may have appeared, the first person to share accurate intel in the comments will win this massive, out-of-print, hardcover collection of nearly 50 years of Al Jaffee Fold-Ins:
That Y2K image isn’t included in those volumes, so thanks in advance for any other leads, Usual Gang of Historians.
By the way, I got that collection of Fold-Ins off eBay, and found this kind note from a seller named Harper included with my purchase:
How sweet is that?
Anyway, this book has been a cherished part of my library (and formerly the library of Harper’s dad), but maybe it’s time to find a new home on one of your shelves.
Which reminds me, my old pal Brian Bendis (I hope you’re reading his hilarious new autobio-comic with artist Bill Walko Fortune & Glory: The Musical!) dropped me a note over the weekend:
hey! hope all is well. my editor forwarded me this and I found it SO weirdly flattering. you and Pia Guerra are in there too so I thought i’d share…
Sorry if you were hoping to get your hands on the 230 books that once belonged to the late, great Amy Winehouse (including dozens of graphic novels), but that auction apparently closed yesterday.
Still, as Bendis suggests, a huge and surreal honor to know that something I helped make was ever enjoyed by an artist I love. From the catalog:
Cocked from reading!
There’s the only blurb that matters.
So yeah, cheers for any info about that Jaffee painting, but for everyone else, I was wondering: what does your library look like?
I can’t wait to read your vivid descriptions in today’s chat thread, normally reserved for you generous Tower subscribers, but which Niko and I are leaving open to everyone this week.
We’re both extremely excited about this upcoming second half of Spectators (new pages next week!), so thanks very much again for helping us make the kind of batshit story that literally couldn’t exist without fearless readers like you.
Your pal,
BKV
Always been obsessed with comics and when I was a kid I dreamed about having a massive collection of my own. It wasn't until I came out (as trans) and properly started enjoying life that I embarked on my own collection and so I think of my shelf as like a benchmark of my awesome-ness :)
My proudest achievement, definitely, and ever growing. Not featured are my singles and word-books or whatever they are called. But here you go, most of my GNs ft. Art the Clown, Peanuts calendar, and a bunch of my fave horror DVDs: https://ibb.co/dp2q0zw
PS those wanting to upload pictures, just turn it into a link and attach via this website: https://imgbb.com/ Can't wait to see all a youses !!!
Peace and love and read lots of comics ! Have a sweet week all (I'm going to my first live wrestling event - can't wait!) xx
The only way to describe my "library" accurately would be "a fuckin mess".