Tales of Syzpense #50

Self Help in the press, Rom in the world, Lore at the printer, in praise of Peter B. Gillis, and an extra-length, 50th anniversary vacation-minded Spinner Rack

Helpings of Self Help

Self Help #1 was released this week, but thanks to a distributor snafu, it will also make its debut next week. So if your local shop didn’t get it this week, they’ll have it next Wednesday for sure. In the meantime, the series’ writers/co-creators and I talked it up in various places.

We all did the live Comic Book Club podcast (available as both an audio download and as a video conversation as well):

Comic Book Club Live with Owen King, Jesse Kellerman, and Chris Ryall

And thanks to the CBC’s resident chef/mixologist, the series also has its own cocktail recipe (which can also be created as a mocktail if that’s more your thing):

The comic received a couple solid early reviews, too:

• “An enigmatic premise that hooked me right from the jump” - Comics Beat

• “The debut of Self Help sets up a thoughtful, funny, and satisfying crime story that takes down the empowerment community with grace and skill.” - AIPT Comics

• “King and Kellerman craft an intense and fun story, and Ignazzi delivers fantastic art in the issue.” - Superpowered Fancast

Also this week, while it wasn’t focused on Self Help, I was a guest on The Writers Block podcast with David Avallone and Rylend Grant, also available as a video conversation, above, or as an audio download.

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The second Rom Omnibus was released this week as well. It’s available with two different dustackets: the one I went for, Bill Sienkiewicz’s cover for Rom Annual 2, and also Mike Zeck’s cover for Rom #50. I contributed the introduction to this one, as I did for volume 1 and also the concluding volume 3, due later this year.

The self-cover image is the cover to Marvel Two-in-One 99, a favorite of mine, by artists Ed Hannigan and John Byrne

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Tales of Lore

The second issue (of 3) of Ashley Wood & T.P. Louise’s Lore was sent out this week, with an in-store date of July 31. These are the 3 covers for the remastered 100-page issue. The book arrives just after the conclusion of San Diego Comic-Con but we should have some advance copies available at Ash’s UV booth at the show.

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The Spinner Rack on Vacation

School’s out for many right now, and that means it’s time for vacation! So in celebration of the non-comic-making world’s ability to light out for vacation spots domestic and abroad — and because there’s a storied history of celebrating landmark issues like #50 or #100 with extra-length affairs — I thought I’d offer much more than the usual nine covers this time around.

While I tend to avoid the easy comics with “Summer” or “Vacation” in the title, especially in the modern era where themed comics are much more prevalent, there were still a few that deserved inclusion here.

And really — I know the Punisher’s whole schtick is his ponderous “one-man war on crime” but based on the series of covers below, the guy sure does find plenty of free time to spend doing water sports in various tropical locales.

You might note that there are no sharks featured on these covers — that’s because there are enough of those to warrant their own theme altogether, which I offered up in Tales of Syzpense #26 back in October.

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The Social Scene

The concluding issue of The Cabinet, issue 5, is in stores next week! Here’re all the great covers by both Chiara Raimondi & Jordan Hart, and Marguerite Sauvage (image courtesy of co-creator David Ebeltoft’s Insta):

Matt Hotson, co-writer of Boom!’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return, posted this recently, proving he’s both talented and wise:

And finally, just before closing this down for the week, I saw word that writer Peter B. Gillis passed away. Peter was one of those writers that always made me want to see more work from him. He wasn’t the type of writer to have years-long runs on any one book, but instead, would show up here and there and always do great, highly intelligent work. As Editor Mike Gold put it, “If there was a device that measures intelligence, Peter would have melted it. For crying out loud, he could write in Sanskrit!”

Peter did do some relatively lengthy runs on The Defenders, and he wrote The Micronauts for the final two years of Marvel’s time with that property (a run being collected in the third Micronauts Omnibus, slated for release in late fall). He wrote some great issues of Marvel’s first What If? series, my favorite two of which are pictured below.

And he also created with artist Brent Anderson a series called Strikeforce Morituri that is one of the unsung great comics of its era.

Peter was just solid on everything he did. My one and only time working with him was on the adaptation of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn. I didn’t really work directly with Peter on it, but I did bring him in because I knew he had the brains, wit, and talent to make the book something more than just a straight adaptation, and he certainly delivered on that. The book, with Peter’s adapted scripts and the gorgeous art by Renae DeLiz and Ray Dillon, remains one of my favorite projects from my time at IDW.

I enjoyed Peter’s work a lot as a kid and still do now. He gave a lot of us some great memories, and I’m glad I got to experience his stuff when I did.