Tales of Syzpense #37

Comic-related travels, a Haunted Girl finale, and a Highball on the Low Road

A couple weeks back, I made a return to the Big Lick Comic-Con in Roanoke, VA. And once again, the con organizer JD Sutphin and his team treated everyone right.

JD, who also owns Big Lick Comics in Roanoke not only took care of all of us at the show itself but he threw a private dinner for all the convention guests at his new 6 and Sky Rooftop Grille a few weeks before it opens to the public. And then he and his guitarist played a 90-minute set to end the night, too. Oh, and even while he owns a store that sells comics, you’re also going to see his name connected to comics in a different creative capacity before long, too. A real renaissance man, is JD.

The con was a blast not only for the chance to directly peddle our wares, but also just for the ample opportunities that manageably sized cons allow for the creators to spend time together. Among the guests I spent plenty of time with were table mates Guy Dorian Sr. and Joe Staton and his wife Hillarie), along with Christopher Priest, Keith Williams, Claire Lim, Ming Chen, John Beatty, and the inimitable Howard Chaykin (a fantastic dinner companion and, as he likes to remind everyone, a true prince among men).

Dinner at 6 and Sky with Guy Dorian Sr, John Beatty, Howard Chaykin, and Keith Williams

Also said a hello to fellow guest and former Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, as well as Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson, the Pink Ranger from the series in which I was an extra. She and her Power Rangers comic co-writer Matt Hotson kindly signed a copy of their new comic for me, and I returned the favor by giving them, uh, an 8 x 10 of me getting trash dumped on my head by Bulk and Skull from one of my PR episodes.

It was all a nice full-circle moment for me if not her, anyway, since it was very early on in my time running Kevin Smith’s pop-culture website in 2001 or so that I wrote a 4-part piece about my Power Rangers escapades. Bringing it home even more was the fact that Ming Chen was the guy handling all the site architecture for Kevin at the time.

Another highlight: Joshua Melvin and his wife Deena, who create these great custom pieces through their company Melvin Woodworking were kind enough to present me with this impressive Rom piece based on a cover by artist Nathan Greno from my Rom series.

And here are a few more assorted scenes from the weekend. My first con of 2024. I’m ready for more.

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The Evergreen State of Comics

I was back from the Big Lick Con for just one day before flying out to Seattle and other parts of Washington state this past weekend. It was nice to arrive home and find comp copies of our two latest releases, too — last week’s debut issue of The Cabinet, and also advance copies of this week’s concluding issue of A Haunted Girl.

I heard from a handful of shops—and got that confirmed by the two shops I visited in Washington—that The Cabinet snuck up on some people and initial demand outstripped many shops’ supply. So hopefully you can find a copy at your local shop, but if not, prod them to order more, there are still copies available from the distributor or from me directly.

The Cabinet #1 covers by Chiara Raimondi and Marguerite Sauvage

A Haunted Girl concludes this week with its 27-page final issue. The series has featured some stellar covers throughout and ends in particularly strong fashion with these three covers by E.M. Gist, André Lima Araújo and Chris O'Halloran, and Cherriielle:

All three covers for this week's A Haunted Girl #4

While in Washington, as I try to do in any city I visit, I checked out a couple local comic shops while in town: first, The Comics Place in Bellingham, which had some great Darwyn Cooke art on their exterior windows:

And the next day, amidst everything else to see and eat at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, there’s a great comic shop on one of the lower levels, Golden Age Collectibles. The best part about visiting both was all the customers prowling around inside both shops.

If only my timing had been a bit better, I would’ve been there for this coming weekend’s always great Emerald City Comic-Con but the timing didn’t work out.

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Photo Miscellani

Francis Coppola released this first image from his coming film, which excited me as much as everyone else. Meanwhile, our work on the graphic novel continues on, but we’ll keep images from that under wraps for just a bit longer.

Since I can’t yet show more of Jacob Phillips’ Megalopolis art, I can instead show his cover for the coming collected edition of the Enfield Gang Massacre. This was one of the best comics I read last year, made even better by the newsprint paper it was printed on. Now the book is coming your way soon, and final orders for it close soon so if you’ve not giving it a look, or even if you have, this one will certainly be worth having on your shelf.

IDW in September is releasing the complete collection of Owen King & Stephen King’s graphic novel, Sleeping Beauties, with both an all-new cover from series artist Alison Sampson, but also fully reworked and remastered lettering by Shawn Lee, which makes a huge difference in the reading experience. And speaking of comics by Owen King, I should also mention that… wait, what’s that? It’s a bit too soon to say more? Okay, will talk it up next time, then.

We lost longtime penciler/inker Paul Neary last week. Neary is probably most well-known from his lush inks over the pencils of Alan Davis and Brian Hitch but I remember first seeing Neary’s work as penciler of comics like this Annual and issues of Mark Gruenwald’s Captain America. He also had a solid history with 2000AD prior to his Marvel work, too. He was a great talent and, from all indications, a decent person, too.

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Highball on the Low Road

Finally, there’s been a recent influx of new subscribers, unpaid and paid, too — I certainly appreciate any and all eyes on this newsletter, so, first, a quick hello and thanks to all of you.

But a little something more for paid subscribers this time around, too. I was thinking about both the recent release of my book The Colonized, with artist Drew Moss, as well as his new Thundercats comic, which launched to truly stellar numbers. And it reminded me that Drew and I worked together a few other times, too. He did a series of Rom covers for me, but we did also do one full story together, too.

We had a short story in a western anthology called Outlaw Territory (Vol. 3). I’d never written a western before and really wanted to — I’ve never leaned hard into the genre but as a kid, I did love consuming my dad’s array of Louis L’Amour paperbacks, and then years later, I just consumed all of Elmore Leonard’s western tales. So Drew and I did this down and dirty little tale called “Highball on the Low Road.” And as you can see, Drew’s adept at drawing not just cats but also horses, too. A PDF of the full story can be found just on t’other side’a the below paywall as a little thanks for the added backing.

This one ran a bit long so I’ll get back to another spinner rack category next time around, and will talk up a couple more coming Syzygy titles, too.