Lovely rainy day here in Los Angeles. How was your weekend?
Brian here, and as someone who abhors all acts of (non-fictional) violence AND cheap bald jokes, last night’s Academy Awards was most unpleasant. Still, congratulations to the winners, especially brilliant and hilarious film editor of Dune Joe Walker, who I was fortunate enough to meet during my time at Legendary. Oh, and reluctant congrats to my older brother David, who beat me in our annual Oscar pool for what I believe was the 28th consecutive time.
Exploding Giraffe had a lot of new subscribers this past week, so if this is your first missive from us, welcome! Every Monday, you’ll be getting FREE pages to our NSFW new graphic novel Spectators.
I’m extremely proud of this story I’ve been wanting to tell for years, and it’s so cool to get to share Niko’s gorgeous pages with you as he finishes them in “real time.” But if you’re one of those readers who would rather wait to experience our planned 300+ page tale in longer chunks, we’ve also got you covered.
Attached are the assembled first thirty pages of Spectators, representing what you might call the First Act of what will eventually be a self-contained epic. As always, graphic violence and explicit sex abound, so please make sure your boss isn’t nearby if reading on the job…
Our unexpected narrative swerves are just beginning, and Niko and legendary letterer Fonografiks will be back with new pages for you next week.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for last Friday’s live discussion with Garth Ennis (which members of The Tower can listen to anytime). Niko and I are enormously grateful for all of you generous paid subscribers, and we look forward to offering you a lot more exclusive content and original art giveaways in the months ahead. It’s never too late to join our pack, for only 7 bucks a month, or just 69 (heh) for the whole year.
And if you signed up as one of our Founders (still available to you moneybags with $250 to spare), I’m pleased to share that someone should be reaching out to you later this week for your mailing address, as we’re finally preparing to send out the first wave of Exploding Giraffe Prize Packages, featuring an original color sketch by the amazing Niko Henrichon (one of which just sold for over $200 at auction this past weekend), a limited edition printing of my never-before-seen, 45-page script to Saga Chapter One, AND a signed comic randomly pulled from the depths of my personal collection.
If you don’t have the scratch to become a Founder at the moment, never fear, here’s your chance to win—for FREE—perhaps the very best Prize Package we’ve assembled yet (containing one of my last copies of our ridiculously rare Saga #1 Retailer Variant, which I’ll taint with a signature if you’d like):
All you have to do to enter this contest is share today’s message with any “mature reader” in your life who you think might enjoy Spectators and/or this charming community we’ve all formed…
…and then drop us a line in the comments (which we’ll leave open to everyone this week) to tell us that you did:
That’s it!
We’ll then randomly select one lucky sharer to receive those invaluable goodies. And this contest is open to absolutely everyone, including those of you who already signed up as Founders (if selected, you’ll receive the above prizes AND the package that was originally slotted for you).
Thank you so much again for putting up with all of this shilling, everybody. Your subscriptions help keep Spectators free to read, and Niko and I are having the time of our lives getting to share our story with you directly.
Finally, an important update for all of you aspiring comic writers and artists out there.
For the past few years, I’ve been part of Creators for Creators, a fantastic nonprofit that has already provided four $30,000 grants to a diverse group of ridiculously talented comic creators.
If this is the first you’re hearing about it, don’t panic. The organization has just announced that we’re extending the deadline for 2022 submissions to May 31st. Creators only need 5 sample comic pages to submit their project, so you can totally still pull this off!
To find out if you’re eligible and for more details about how to apply, please visit http://creatorsforcreators.org/submissions-2/
Oof, it’s a real gullywasher out there. How are my spoiled California mutt Milkshake and I supposed to take our obligatory two-hour thinking walk in this? Guess I’ll just have to stay inside and read comics instead…
Have a great week, and we’ll see you Tower-types back here on Friday for something fun (not my pitch for G.I. Jane 2, though I’ve got a humdinger of a take if Hollywood is interested).
Your pal,
BKV
Shared with my brother!
Shared with a good buddy of mine, coaxing him into reading spectators. I'll wear him down eventually