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IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-seven | REVENGE OF THE PODCAST

Ethan S. Parker — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 22:43:16 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by NO GUESTS as we discuss the return of the Ideas Don’t Bleed podcast, what happened and what books we published during our hiatus, some upcoming changes to our format, the sinister intentions of Ponytail Griffin, and more!
IDB is a weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

They said it would never happen. They said it was impossible. But good readers of the Ashcan Press Comics Corporations newsletter- We’re fucking back.

I don’t want to get into the specifics of why we were gone so long (Griffin kidnapped me), but suffice to say we’ve made our triumphant return and we are ~~better than ever~~ returned. Cards on the table, this episode we’re shaking off the cobwebs and we are a bit rusty. And maybe there is some residual tension over the kidnapping. But rest assured dear listener, we’re back and holding ourselves to the same non-standards we always have.

Next week’s episode is a fun one, I promise.

While you wait for our next episode you can embrace the real reason we haven’t been around by grabbing some of the books we’ve been making. Ethan and Griffin have been working hard in the comic mines making a ton of stuff. Make sure you tell your local comic shop you want to check these ones out.

BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT vol. 1 is in comic shops June 16th.

THE HORROR OF GODZILLA #1 is in stores July 29th.

SUPERGIRL: SURVIVE #1 hits shelves June 3rd.

MARVEL ZOMBIES: RED BAND is out May 19th.

If you buy them all it unlocks a special reward where you have to make a podcast with Ethan and Griffin for the rest of your life.

As for me, I’ve been a bit busy as well. For starters we have one week left until final order cutoff for IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT #1. Our little sci-fi odyssey about finding your purpose, defying extinction, and really lonely robots had some fun news this week. First you can hear me talk about it on Word Balloon last week.

We got an excellent new logo from the amazing Tim Daniel. We were informed people were having a hard time reading it. We were in denial about that. But it turns out that was true. Huge thanks to everyone who poked us on this. Behold-

Sexy. And here’s the cover all put together.

And we also announced that we’re doing a fun variant cover program. Every issue will feature our hero, Animatronic Abe, wandering onto the cover of another Image Comics series that we love. You can read all about in Screenrant right here.

For issue #1 we had the amazing Martín Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran of ICE CREAM MAN fame come and let us play around in their world.

So creepy. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading ICE CREAM MAN I can’t emphasize enough that you need to change that. Truly one of the great existential horror comics.

And for issue #2 our pal let Animatronic Abe loose in the world of SEX CRIMINALS.

So modest. Sex Criminals is all time favorite book of mine and Chip is pretty great. They recently put out a really lovely complete edition of the series and you should grab a copy for yourself.

If you’re looking to get a copy of IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT… #1 it helps us (and you) so much to preorder it from your local comic shop this week. If you don’t have one some of our good friends have the book available to order online.

Midtown Comics in NYC has it for sale right here.

Third Eye Comics in the DMV has it for sale right here.

Ronin Brothers Comics has it for sale right here.

Forbidden Planet in London has it here for all you Brits.

Also on FOC the same day (Monday the 13th) is my first SPAWN story. Stephen Segovia and I have a 5 page hint of what’s to come in the back of SPAWN #375 before we take over the book in #376 in June. If you’re a lifelong Spawn fan, a lapsed reader, or have never even heard of Spawn we’ve got something for you in this run. So let your local comic shop know you want SPAWN #375.

And then a few weeks later my run on KING SPAWN with Thomas Nachlik begins with #55. Let your comic shop know this week if you want to check out both titles.

Not to bring this down too much, but it’s been weighing on me this week. I grew up in hardcore. I wouldn’t say its my family (I don’t have my area code tattooed on me) but I would say for a long time it felt like home. Well the hardcore community lost two giants this past week. Matt from Boysetsfire and Bo from Harm’s Way are both gone and it hit me really hard.

I’ve known Matt for over 20 years. I toured Europe with him. I know his family. I’ve seen him play shows since I was a little kid. What he built with his music, the impact I saw it have on people up close, was always inspiring.

I didn’t know Bo. We had some mutual friends but I was a fan of his bands and I truly loved his podcast. I guess I had that parasocial connection to him that we form when we spend all that time with people talking in our ears, but I felt a bond even if it was all imagined. More than that I loved what he did for the things he cared about, how much of a champion he was, how much of a supporter. He always reminded me that there is nothing cooler than being passionate and outspoken about the things you love.

This is just me putting out into the world that I cared about them and what they made and who they were. And I will continue to strive to make things that matter and fight for the things I love.

Rest in Peace Matt. Rest in Peace Bo.

There is a fundraiser for Matt’s daughter. If you can, please consider donating.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Eat some jellybeans.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 4/5/26

UPCOMING RELEASES:

AGENTS OF SHIELD Omnibus- April 8th

IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT… #1 - May 6th

SPAWN #375- May 6th

KING SPAWN #55- May 20th

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-six | Frank Barbiere and Morgan Beem, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:03:07 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined once again by Frank Barbiere and Morgan Beem (Five Ghosts, You Belong Here) as we discuss being in relationships with other comics creators, death of the author, their new Image Comics series The Author Immortal, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Two weeks in a row for podcasts! A new record. Please clap.

Here we have Part II of our chat with artist Morgan Beem and writer Frank Barbiere as we dive into their upcoming Image Comics series THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL. And what an amazing coincidence today is Final Order Cutoff for issue #1. So you can listen to this while you head to your local comic shop and ask them to order you a copy.

Obviously you saw Morgan’s great cover above but check out these other great covers-

Yuko Shimizu’s gorgeous one-

Jorge Corona’s very cool 1 in 25 cover-

And there is a rare 1 in 50 foil version of Yuko’s cover too. So get your orders for the book in now or risk missing out.

A number of people have been asking me about getting some rare books, out of print books, and more signed books up in the shop. In the interest of A) making people happy B) clearing stuff out of my office, I have decided to start more regularly putting up stuff in our webstore. If you’re looking for specific books, issues, covers, or sets let me know and I’ll do my best to find them.

First up are our amazing tour variants from the month long YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS / WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US tour. We had our good buddy Dylan Burnett (Cosmic Ghost Rider / Arcade Kings) draw a set of connecting covers of both issue #1’s. We made like 400 of them and sold them on tour to help pay for our gas, hotels, rental car, and crippling burger addiction. Good news- we sold a lot. Bad news- we spend a lot more on hamburgers than is physically of fiscally wise.

But we kept a bunch off to the side so nice folks who couldn’t make it out to the signings (or didn’t want to) could still get copies. And today I remembered that we did that!

This is what they look like when they’re put together.

We have copies of both covers individually or the set of both up for sale on the site right now. If you order them I’ll make sure to throw in some extra goodies as a thank you. And I promise to use the money on something other than hamburgers. Probably. Maybe.

Grab Them Here!

Just a heads up, shipping these outside the U.S. is going to be a real headache. Our mail system is not playing nice with the rest of the world so it’s costly and unreliable. I’m down to try if you want to pay that much for them but it’s probably not the best idea.

Superchunk. Always.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Feels weird to be doing the podcast again regularly.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 9/8/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-five | Frank Barbiere and Morgan Beem, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 17:45:41 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Frank Barbiere and Morgan Beem (Five Ghosts, You Belong Here) as we discuss being in relationships with other comics creators, death of the author, their new Image Comics series The Author Immortal, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. Frank is literally the first person I ever met “in comics”. I put that in quotes because he was only marginally more in comics than I was, as a person who wasn’t in comics at all. But marginally is more than 0, so we began chatting so I could pick his brain. Since then we’ve roadtripped thousands of miles to signings together, eaten hundreds of disgusting meals, slept on dozens of strange floors, and we’ve rooted for each other on every book we’ve put out. Since then he’s put out a ton of books that I love like FIVE GHOSTS, WHITE SUITS, VIOLENT LOVE, BROKEN WORLD, and so many more and I’m always learning about the business and the art of making comics from him.

But this time it feels extra exciting because Frank’s new book is with an artist whose work I have been a fan of for a while, but didn’t personally know. Morgan Beem’s style is so instantly recognizable and really sucks you into the page in a way that most artists I know would kill to be able to do. Her work on books like THE FAMILY TRADE, SWAMP THING: TWIN BRANCHES, CRASHING, and YOU BELONG HERE is really something to behold.

And now together both of them are maybe doing the best work of their careers in THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL. It’s a hard book to describe in some ways. And that’s because it’s a character first story full of huge ideas and rich textures. The appeal of a book like this isn’t something that you can easily distill into “it’s Cannibal Holocaust meets the Gummi Bears cartoon” or “Saló meets Dora The Explorer”. But if you want to read about complex characters, moral compromises, separating the art from the artist, and the power that art has over us, I can’t recommend THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL enough. So I was thrilled to get the chance to speak with both of them this week. Hope you like it.

And seriously, THE AUTHOR IMMORTAL is the kind of book we don’t get enough and I’d urge all of you to give it a try. Final Order cutoff is next Monday, so please let your local comic shop know you want a copy today. I think you’ll really dig it.

Here’s a not so fun one. Last week Get Ready Comics in the UK almost burned down. It seems someone tried to light the store on fire which, if you haven’t spent a lot of time in comic shops you might not know, sucks. Getting open again and repairing the fire damage damages isn’t cheap and many comic shops operate on really thin margins. Big repairs and loss of sales can have effects that a shop feels for years, or even be a deathblow. Even just the time to deal with stuff like this can be more than a regular small business can easily handle. So there is a gofundme set up to help Get Ready get back on their feet.

Donate to Get Ready

If you value comic shops, the services they provide, and the community the build, please consider giving them a few bucks. And if you’re near Kent stop in and buy too much stuff. Or oder online from their site.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Stop lighting places on fire, okay?

-Matthew Rosenberg

CT 9/2/25

QUICK QUIZ: RYAN NORTH

Ethan S. Parker — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 13:03:38 GMT

We taped a new episode of the show today!

But…

We didn’t edit it today and [REDACTED] said so much messed up stuff it’s going to take Ethan a few days to clean it all up and make it suitable for your delicate ears. Don’t blame us.

In the meantime we have another installment of nobody’s favorite mini-podcast The Quick Quiz™! This time we are joined by the brilliant and tall Ryan North.

If you haven’t been reading Ryan North’s run on FANTASTIC FOUR you’re really missing out on an all time great one. So go to your local comic shop and grab issue #1 on shelves now. Or go pick up previous 33 issues in his run. Sigh. Marvel.

And of course you should be reading his daily web comic DINOSAUR COMICS. How he has the time to draw all those I’ll never understand.

And if our deep dive into Ryan’s smart brain makes you hungry for more, I can not stress enough how much I loved his adaptation of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. Truly the high water mark for adapting prose to comics.

Anyway, Ryan is great. Ryan’s comics are great. Quick Quiz is… fine. New episodes coming soon.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this kickstarter by a friend of his. Honestly, it looks pretty fun. I know some of you like comics okay so now I’m sending it to you.

TRANSLUNAR could use a little help to get over the finish line. If you want to support an upcoming book this seems like a pretty interesting one. Go give them some money so we can all read it.

Support TRANSLUNAR

Why is this in my head all week? No idea. But still such a banger.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. I promise we’re going to have a real new episode soon.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 8/12/25

Upcoming Releases:

DETECTIVE COMICS BY MARIKO TAMAKI OMNIBUS - August 20th, 2025 (I wrote a bit of this)

DC VS. VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #12- August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #5 - August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #6 - September 24th, 2025

QUICK QUIZ: AMY CHU

Ethan S. Parker — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 22:53:29 GMT

So it turns out we’re all still recovering from San Diego Comic Con, and I didn’t even go. On the plus side I went to an animal rescue/zoo this weekend and they had this informational sign telling you what kind of fish you were looking at.

But on the minus side, we weren’t able to tape an all new episode this week. But that means you get another installment of our mini-podcast The Quick Quiz™! This week we’re once again visited by the great Amy Chu as we probe her mind with hard hitting questions about fears, hopes, and sandwiches.

After listening to this you should run to the store and grab every issue of her EMMA FROST series they will give you.

And then you can go back and listen to both episodes of our podcast with her here and here.

While we’re here I might as well mention that this weekend is Final Order Cutoff for WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #5: THE PENULTIMATE ONE! (It’s not really called that I’m just trying to make it seem a bit more exciting.) Anyway, you know the deal by now. If you want it please consider telling your local comic shop.

And, as a special reward for doing that, here is a short preview. Torture! Double agents! Zoom calls! What could be more exciting.

Exciting.

And if that doesn’t get you excited check out these sexy as hell covers. First one is from my old NEW MUTANTS partner Adam Gorham. You should all be excited about his upcoming work on EXQUISITE CORPSES #4.

Next up is this stunner from Jacob Phillips. I’m super excited for his upcoming zombie series EVERYTHING DEAD & DYING.

And finally we have this incentive cover from my Red Hood partner Nikola Čižmešija. You can find his work on the awesome new GODZILLA series.

This is a fun issue so if you were thinking of stopping reading the series maybe stop after this one.

Been listening to this record on repeat all week. Some albums are just tied to time periods and this Spice record is a late summer jam.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Let yourself become at peace with the world around you, like the Crappies.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 8/3/25

Donate to Help Flood Victims

Upcoming Releases:

DETECTIVE COMICS BY MARIKO TAMAKI OMNIBUS - August 20th, 2025 (I wrote a bit of this)

DC VS. VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #12- August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #5 - August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #6 - September 24th, 2025

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-four | Greg Rucka, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 21:24:10 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Greg Rucka (The Old Guard, Wonder Woman) as we discuss his process of vetting collaborators, how he learned to write for film and television, his new Image Comics series Lazarus Fallen, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Well this is an exciting one. Greg Rucka is not just one of the best writers in comics, he is also among the kindest and most generous. So it was with great trepidation that I shot him an email abusing that kindness by asking him to come on the show. And here we are.

If you’ve never read any of Greg’s work it would be nearly impossible to tell you where to start. Personally, his immaculate spy series QUEEN & COUNTRY is an all time favorite comic of mine and huge influence on my own series WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US (in that it showed me what I shouldn’t even bother trying because we’ll never get close). But his creator owned books like VEIL, THE FORGED, and BLACK MAGICK are all peerless.

The long running LAZARUS has just returned this month for it’s conclusion with LAZARUS FALLEN. And of course, there are the amazing comics that have also been adapted for film and TV such as WHITEOUT, STUMPTOWN, and THE OLD GUARD, which Greg wrote and whose sequel just dropped on Netflix as well.

Then there are his legendary runs at Marvel and DC on titles like WONDER WOMAN, THE PUNISHER,nm THE QUESTION, CYCLOPS, CHECKMATE, DETECTIVE COMICS, and two of the best superhero comics ever made- BATWOMAN: ELEGY and GOTHAM CENTRAL. Or maybe you should start with his acclaimed novels in the ATTICUS KODIAK or JAD BELL books.

*deep breath* Point is he’s made more awesome things than a lot of publishers I can think of. You should be reading as much of it as you can. And, if you hunger for even more of Greg’s work you should subscribe to his newsletter FRONT TOWARD ENEMY right here.

The flash flooding in Texas that took dozens and dozens of lives and has uprooted countless more is the type of tragedy that we should all be expecting more and more these days, but also the type of tragedy that we should never allow ourselves to become complacent about. There are still tons of people in need and struggling in the aftermath and Give Directly is a great way to donate cash directly to low income families hit by this disaster.

If you can, consider helping out people who could really use it.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. That email title hit extra hard since our podcasting software crashed while we were taping and we really thought we’d lost this whole episode.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 7/14/25

Upcoming Releases:

DC VS. VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #11 - July 23rd, 2025

WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? #22 - July 30th, 2025

DETECTIVE COMICS BY MARIKO TAMAKI OMNIBUS - August 20th, 2025 (I wrote a bit of this)

DC VS. VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #12- August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #5 - August 27th, 2025

WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #6 - September 24th, 2025

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-three | Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan Return, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 18:52:16 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan (Kill Your Darlings) return to the show once again as we discuss looking back on past works, entering the Marvel Universe with Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin, their new BOOM! Studios series Blink and You’ll Miss It, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Well it happened again. I had some guests on to talk about their new book and POW!, it’s sold out and going to a 2nd print. Ideas Don’t Bleed podcast is the undisputed kingmaker. Marvel, you can send my my check whenever. No rush.

But yes, Ethan and Griffin return as guests to discuss KILL YOUR DARLINGS and promote all their new stuff like GODZILLA: ESCAPE THE DEADZONE, BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT, MARVEL ZOMBIES: REDBAND, and GREEN GOBLIN #1. Check out the cool 2nd printing cover above and if you missed it the first time around tell your shop you need a copy of this one.

Thanks to Ethan and Griffin. Those guys are my favorite. Please don’t tell them I said that.

As we all wait patiently for WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #5 and YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS #5, a surprise guest is headed to comic shops soon.

WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? #22 is on Final Order Cutoff this weekend. It’s been a second since we put out an issue so it would help us a lot if you reminded your local comic shop you wanted a copy.

Even the best plans sometimes fail. And this wasn't the best plan. But at least they won't have to deal with the Piggies... Right?

And check out this gorgeous cover by Cayetano Valenzuela. Hell yeah. In shops July 30th!

Also forgot to mention this last week because I’m dumb.

Our 4th (of 6) connecting webstore exclusives is out now on… umm… our webstore. Limited to 100 copies, all on shiny foil (to make robots and sports cars look extra good). Grab a copy today. We also still have copies of the first 3 issues and our exclusive YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS cover as well.

Get yourself some foil!

You can also grab some other cool stuff like the Furthest Place 7”s our exclusive variants of the first 4 volumes with signed bookplates. Cool.

The very good sci-fi comic ROCHE LIMIT is being collected in a giant omnibus for the first time and if you never read it (or did but want a shiny new version) you need to hurry up and back this on Zoop.

Buy ROCHE LIMIT!

It’s a really fun and gorgeous hard sci-fi story about space colonies and weird energy and crime. What’s not to love?

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Eat too many hot dogs (or veggie dogs).

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 7/4/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-two | Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan Return, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:03:03 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan (Kill Your Darlings) return to the show as we discuss looking back on past works, entering the Marvel Universe with Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin, their new BOOM! Studios series Blink and You’ll Miss It, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan S. Parker, sometimes Griffin Sheridan, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Well you all asked for us to bring Griffin back and look what happened. Good job, you goofs.

I am actually excited to have Ethan and Griffin as guests again because they’ve spent the past year working their asses off making a ton of new stuff that is all amazing and a bunch of it is coming out now. The first one you should be telling your local comic shop that you want to buy is their new creator owned series from Boom! Studios BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT. It’s out August 6th. Which means final order cutoff is June 30th, so tell your comic shop you want it now!

And while you’re there you should be telling them you want GODZILLA: ESCAPE THE DEADZONE from IDW. Do you like Godzilla? Awesome. You’ll love this one. Not a fan of Godzilla? Who gives a fuck. You’ll love this one. It is ALSO out August 6th. Which means final order cutoff is ALSO June 30th, so tell your comic shop you ALSO want it now!

But that’s not all. They also wrote the upcoming GREEN GOBLIN #1 from Marvel. These guys were basically genetically engineered in a lab to make Spider-Man comics, so this isn’t one you can miss. If there is any justice in the world Ethan and Griffin will be writing Amazing Spider-Man one day, so get a small taste of what that will be like here. On sale July 2nd.

And lastly (finally), they are also writing the just announced MARVEL ZOMBIES: RED BAND series for Marvel. Awesome. Issue #1 out September 17th.

Anyway, it’s the year of Ethan and Griffin. Get on board or get run over.

While you’re here hopefully enjoying our little podcast I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge one of the greats of comics podcasting- John Siuntres of the amazing WORD BALLOON Podcast.

If you’ve never listened to John’s show you’re missing out on some of the best conversation around comics. I believe you can tell a lot about an art form by looking at its critics; and comics is infinitely richer for having a show like Word Balloon that takes the medium seriously and gives creators a platform of real value.

Recently John announced that he’s been ill and he could really use a bunch more people supporting the show on Patreon. I am a supporter so I can say that I recommend it with my whole chest. Not only do you help a great person and a pillar of the comics community, but you get lots of bonus stuff like being able to participate in the Bendis Book Club! Amazingly worth it.

Support WORD BALLOON!!

For cheaper than a single comic a month you can help out a good guy and get yourself some good stuff in the process. I mean seriously, you are listening to our fucking podcast? My cohosts were our “special guests” this week. Prove that you have some standards by supporting a great podcast and making your life better for it.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. WHY IS IT SO HOT?!

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 6/25/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty-one | Rick Remender, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 21:48:06 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined once again by Rick Remender (Deadly Class, The Holy Roller) as we discuss his comics origin story, finding inspiration and positivity during dark times, creating books like The Seasons for his imprint Giant Generator, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Here we are. Part II of our chat with the best punk rocker in comics, Rick Remender. While you listen I urge you to duck over to Rick’s publishing imprint, Giant Generator, and look around. So many amazing titles like DEADLY CLASS, FEAR AGENT, TOKYO GHOST, SEVEN TO ETERNITY, LOW, BLACK SCIENCE, A RIGHTEOUS THIRST FOR VENGEANCE, THE SCUMBAG, THE SACRIFICERS, DEATH OR GLORY, THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME, THE HOLY ROLLER, and more. You can even buy yourself some books right here.

And while you’re supporting Rick’s stuff, ask your local comic shop to to subscribe you to Rick and Daniel Acuña’s new Image Comics series ESCAPE, which will be in comic shops August 20th. Easily one of my most anticipated of the year.

Over on your #2 favorite comics podcast*, David Harper welcomes some familiar faces. That’s right Ethan S. Parker and some other guy showed up to discuss their upcoming books like GREEN GOBLIN #1, GODZILLA: ESCAPE THE DEADZONE, and BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT.

It’s a very fun interview and well worth a listen. I am always in awe of how good an interviewer David is and how he brings out the best in his guests. That awe is only increased by his ability to get Griffin to actually come on his show. Truly he is the best podcaster.

Do you think that’s a font or does he actually write out the names on a piece of tape?

Anyway, give it a listen here and get excited about Ethan and Griffin’s new books. They’re going to rule.

* I know. I know. I just pretend you like us more to make myself feel better, okay? Just let me have it.

Anyway, that’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Can I pretend we’re in your top 10 favorite comics podcasts?

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 6/17/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred forty | Rick Remender, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:17:07 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Rick Remender (Deadly Class, The Holy Roller) as we discuss his comics origin story, finding inspiration and positivity during dark times, creating books like The Seasons for his imprint Giant Generator, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hi again.

Back with another new installment of our little podcast. I often say this is our best episode yet. It’s sort of a bit I do. But honestly, this is one of the episodes I have been most excited about doing since this show was birthed into the world a few years ago. Rick Remender is a writer whose work constantly inspires me. He is a creator whose career should be held up as a shining example of what a fulfilling career in comics could look like. And, most importantly, Rick is sometimes nice* to me. And I think it’s safe to say my optimism about this episode was well founded. This is a very good episode of our show. Solid B. More guests should be openly combative with us.

We hope you enjoy this episode. But, even more than that, we hope you go out and buy some of Rick’s amazing books. I truly can’t speak highly enough about them. You can get books like DEADLY CLASS, FEAR AGENT, TOKYO GHOST, SEVEN TO ETERNITY, LOW, BLACK SCIENCE, A RIGHTEOUS THIRST FOR VENGEANCE, THE SCUMBAG, THE SACRIFICERS, DEATH OR GLORY, THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME, THE HOLY ROLLER, and so much more directly from his own Giant Generator shop right here. Or you can ask your local comic shop to get them for you if they don’t have them already. But they probably do.

And while we discuss your local comic shop, make sure to tell them you want to subscribe to Rick and Daniel Acuña’s new Image Comics series ESCAPE, which will be in comic shops August 20th. Easily one of my most anticipated of the year.

*Nice for him. Not nice in the conventional sense.

This past week the hardcover of DC VS VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V vol. 1 came out. I’m really proud of this one. It’s big, dumb fun and has some wild twists, great action, and pretty good jokes. And, as always, my partner in all things vampire Otto Schmidt brings the most gorgeous art.

Damian and the Unknown Soldiers.

There are better characters at DC than Mister Miracle. But not many.

Otto doing what Otto does better than almost anyone else.

It’s not really a horror book anymore. But that is still in the DNA a bit.

So grab it from your local comic shop now.

Remember last week when I told you to order Gerry Duggan and Jae Lee’s new Image series THIS ENDS TONIGHT because it was on FOC. Well I totally made that up. FOC isn’t for a bit, so if you didn’t do it- shame on you! But also, there’s still time!

BUT…

It turns out GODZILLA: ESCAPE THE DEAD ZONE #1 is on FOC tomorrow. Why should you care? Well it’s a badass Godzilla story and badass Godzilla stories are worth their weight in gold.

Is that still not enough for you? How about this- It is written by the Eisner Nominated co-host of IDEAS DON’T BLEED Ethan S. Parker and the also Eisner Nominated guy who is too cool for us Griffin Sheridan. That’s right. The motherfucking Supples have a new Godzilla book, it fucking rules, and the only way you’re getting it is if you call, email, or stop in to your local comic shop and tell them you NEED it.

Don’t be a sucker. Get that big lizard in your life.

And now something a bit more serious. Brandon Forrest, owner of Altered State Comics in St. Louis was recently diagnosed with cancer and could really use your support.

Donate To Brandon

I don’t know Brandon and have never been to Altered State. But I know that running a small business in this country is hard and you don’t get a lot of breaks. I know that the people who run comic shops are some of the most passionate and dedicated people I know. I know the comics industry wouldn’t exist as we know it if it weren’t for people like Brandon. And I know getting cancer, especially in this country, is a hardship I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I still believe in the idea that comics is a community. Or it wants to be. And in that, we need to take care of each other when in need. Brandon needs our help. I hope, if you can spare it, you’ll consider donating a few bucks to help one of our own.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Which is the sexiest member of the Mario family?

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 6/8/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-nine | Ethan Sacks, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 01:24:42 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined once again by Ethan Sacks (Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, Old Man Hawkeye) as we discuss his comics origin story, how working as a journalist built his skills as a writer, collaborating with his daughter Naomi on A Haunted Girl, and more!
You can support the crowdfunding campaign for A Haunted Girl right here- https://zoop.gg/c/ahauntedgirl.
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hi again. Part II of our chat with Ethan Sacks. The first issue of his new Image series DARK HONOR just dropped this week and I hope you all picked it up. It’s a fun crime story with a very interesting twist.

And there is of course still time to support the crowdfunding campaign for his award winning book A HAUNTED GIRL.

A HAUNTED GIRL on Zoop!

I really liked getting to catch up with Ethan and discuss his work and career. Hope you all like it.

So with WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #3 in stores this past week, that means Monday is time for comic shops to place their orders for #4. Honestly issue #4 is my favorite issue so I’m excited for it to come out. Check out these badass covers below.

This is of course Stefano’s badass cover.

Chris Matthews did this stunner. If you haven’t picked up Chris’s brilliant crime series MUGSHOTS yet you’re missing out on a truly great one.

Carson Thorn delivered just a stunningly creepy cover. I LOVE Carson’s work and you should too.

And Andy MacDonald took a break from our Top Secret project to do this cover with colors by Rico Renzi. It rules.

But that’s not all. It seems that issue #3 is sold out at distribution and selling out at shops across the country so we’re reprinting it. If you want a copy that is also on FOC monday.

Over on social media I said that it was very flattering to have our book going back to print for the 4th time in 3 issues, but it was also a bit frustrating because it costs us money. A few people asked me about that so I thought I’d explain what I meant here.

First of all, anyone buying our book is just so shocking and amazing. So thank you to all of you that do. Stefano, Jason, Hassan, Becca, Steve, Eric, and all the Tiny Onions who work on the book appreciate it so much. And however you are buying it or getting it, we appreciate it.

Now, with that out of the way, I’ll explain a bit about how comics are made and sold. If this sounds fucking boring I get it. Feel free to skip it.

Comics are printed based on orders from shops. Those numbers are finalized in a period called FOC- Final Order Cutoff. For us, that’s this Monday. Then those order numbers are sent to the publisher, they tally them up, add extra copies to cover late orders, comps, etc, and send the order to the printer. This is why we as comic creators stress preorders so much. It literally determines how many copies of our book exist.

But here’s the part that confused people. Printing is a volume based business. Printing 1,000 comics is very cost prohibitive. Just turning on the machines at the printer is the most expensive part, so you want to print more copies to offset that startup cost. With that, each copy that you print basically makes the overall cost per book go down a bit. It is usually tiered in weird ways but as a hypothetical we may pay $2.50 per book if we print 1,000 and maybe only $2.00 if we print 2,000. Those numbers are made up, but not far off. And that curve continues for a really long time. When you get up into the hundreds of thousands of copies printed, the cost of the books is so much lower that you really start to see your return skyrocket not just from the amount of copies sold.

So, with that logic, when I say that we lose out on money having to reprint the book so much, it’s a bit of a glass half empty way of thinking. But the idea being that if we were going to sell 40,000 copies of issue #3 it is much more profitable to sell them all at once rather than sell 30,000, then 5,000, then 5,000. Doing that makes each book more expensive for us to make (and ship) while still selling for the same. And that doesn’t take into account the number of people who try to buy the book at their local shop, can’t, and just give up.

So, while yes, reprinting the book makes us money and is great. It also would have been better for the orders to have been correct the first time. Which is why I’m here reminding you that if you want to read issue #4, or any of it, tell your local shop now.

And yes, this is all a little bit like complaining too many people came to your birthday party, but here we are. Thanks for coming to my birthday party. We are buying another cake to feed everyone. Next time RSVP when someone puts the invite in your locker. But I’m glad you came.

While I’ve rambled on about preordering my books so much, I might as well tell you about another book you should preorder. My pal has a fun new Image Comics series with the brilliant Jae Lee coming soon.

I’ve read the first issue and absolutely loved it. It’s gorgeous, funny, and pure chaos in the best way. It is also on FOC tomorrow so call your shop and tell them you want THIS ENDS TONIGHT.

And if you want to know what it’s about I will let them tell you-

“The pulse-pounding comic event of the summer aims for your jugular, courtesy of master artist JAE LEE (Inhumans, SEVEN SONS) and GERRY DUGGAN (X-Men, FALLING IN LOVE ON THE PATH TO HELL). THIS ENDS TONIGHT is the kick-off of three interconnected tales of bloody revenge in Las Vegas. The debut issue stars two sisters hunted by assassins for their shocking family secret. It's an over-sized, action-packed romp, and every panel is crushed with love by JAE. The series is completed, and we've got some special guests, too. Stay tuned for a beautiful ADAM HUGHES variant, and a sketch edition, too...THIS ENDS TONIGHT!

REGISTER PITCH: A Thelma & Louise-like duo barrelling through classic Quentin Tarantino-esque action.”

Sounds fun, right? It is.

Anyway, that’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Was I too whiny about my book selling out?

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 6/1/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-eight | Ethan Sacks, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Sat, 24 May 2025 21:58:33 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Ethan Sacks (Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, Old Man Hawkeye) as we discuss his comics origin story, how working as a journalist built his skills as a writer, collaborating with his daughter Naomi on A Haunted Girl, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hi there.

Going to be brief because I got deadlines. Ethan Sacks has been a buddy for a long time and he always brings a thoughtful, interesting perspective to his own work and comics in general. So I was excited to finally have him on. If you’ve never read his stuff there is a ton of great Marvel and Star Wars work to choose from, but I’d suggest you check out his Image series A HAUNTED GIRL. And, lucky you, he has a crowdfunding campaign going for a deluxe version right now and a portion of the money goes to suicide prevention. What more could you want than to support a good book and help people? Click the nice button below to

A Haunted Girl on Zoop!

And while you’re picking up Ethan’s books, make sure to grab his brand new series DARK HONOR #1 in comic shops this upcoming Wednesday!

Crime and corruption in the early days of Covid. What’s not to love?

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Two Ethans is maybe too many, but one Matthew definitely is.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 5/24/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-seven | Mark Waid, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:01:19 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined once again by Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Irredeemable) as we discuss his comics origin story, competing with your past self, his DC Comics series Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hi again.

Time for Part II of our chat with Mark Waid. If you missed Part I you can listen here. And honestly? You probably should. If you’ve never read anything of Mark’s I can’t recommend his runs on The Flash, Captain America, World’s Finest, Black Widow, The Fantastic Four, Irredeemable, or Kingdom Come enough. They are foundational works for me and a generation of creators.

Also just super nice dude. That’s worth at least a few bucks, right?

If you’re a New Yorker (or nearby), I am signing Monday at the great EVERYONE COMICS in Long Island City. I was supposed to do this a little while ago but had some personal stuff come up, so now I’m a jerk unless a bunch of people show up. Or like a few people but they buy a ton of stuff. That’s probably fine too. So come hang out.

We’re doing a little Q&A after and this will be the last time I respond to any sort of question or stimuli for the rest of the year, so speak now or forever hold your peace.

While I have your ear, I hope you all grabbed EXQUISITE CORPSES #1.

The first issue is from buddies Michael Walsh and , lettered by our designer on WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US Becca Carey, and edited by my editors Steve Foxe and Eric Harburn. But this isn’t just your normal serial killers fight for control of the world comic. It is actually a giant comic event featuring upcoming issues by my comic bffs like Tyler Boss, Pornsak Pichetshote, Adam Gorham, as well as creators I love like Che Grayson, Claire Roe, and Valentine De Landro.

Anyway, the first issue is creepy and smart and fun and absurd in the best way. If you missed it, grab it now or miss out on one of the best books of the year.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Felt like this was actually a good one, right?

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 5/15/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-six | Mark Waid, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Sat, 10 May 2025 21:33:20 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Irredeemable) as we discuss his comics origin story, competing with your past self, his DC Comics series Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

I’m supposed to write a little intro for Mark Waid. What the hell is there to say about Mark Waid? Do you love a superhero? He probably had a defining run on the character. From KINGDOM COME to SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT to DAREDEVIL to CAPTAIN AMERICA to ARCHIE to FANTASTIC FOUR to THE FLASH to WORLD’S FINEST to 52 to BLACK WIDOW to IRREDEEMABLE, Mark has helped shape modern comics in a way that very few people can claim. And he’s incredibly nice. Honestly, kind of wish he was a dick so it balanced out. But alas.

This was a bucket list one for us. I’ve known Mark for years and was so happy to get to catch up. Hope you like it.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Why have I eaten so many bagels since I came home from tour?

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 5/10/25

It's Chip Zdarsky's Newsletter, Okay?

QUICK QUIZ: TOM KING

Ethan S. Parker — Sun, 04 May 2025 18:00:39 GMT

Hi.

I hope everyone had a nice Free Comic Book Day for all who celebrate. I was camping on Cape Cod and only remembered it was FCBD the night before. So I googled around, found the closest shop, and popped in to The Cape Comics in Hyannis, MA. And there, signing for the masses, were my buddies Ricardo López Ortiz and Tradd Moore. All made extra fun because we all went to go to an advanced screening of Thunderbolts this week and then got dinner afterwards. When you leave your house as rarely as I do, running into people you know feels like nothing short of a miracle. Seeing the same people twice in a week? Well that has to mean something, right?

While I was there I bought some books (because that’s the real meaning of FCBD) and grabbed some free books, including one I am VERY excited about.

IDW’s excellent GODZILLA: THE NEW HEROES issue has the start of a story written by your 2 favorite IDEAS DON’T BLEED co-hosts- Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan! A.K.A. The Godzilla Boiz! Their story is great and everyone should be getting excited for their upcoming big lizard series. And if you’re near Cape Cod, stop in to The Cape Comics and grab some books.

I also got a fried clam roll and hung out on the beach. All around good time. No notes.

Between traveling the country for a month, some family things to deal with, and workloads, we once again find ourselves without a new episode. But fear not! That’s why we have a vault full of tapes of us probing the minds of some of the worlds greatest comic book creators. And what a mind we have this week.

We are joined by none other than Tom King, writer of this such as Batman, Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures, Love Everlasting, and more! A little while back we put Tom through the wringer by asking him our patented 24 questions designed to crack open his head like an egg and expose the gooey inner-core of his soul. If you’d like to hear more from Tom, and who wouldn’t, you can listen to our interview with him here and here.

I just wanted to take a moment to add a somber note here. The great artist Butch Guice passed away this week. I was a fan my whole life and was struggling to find words to say here. But my friend , who was lucky enough to work with Butch, wrote up a beautiful tribute and said everything much better than I ever could.

Butch

a year ago · 124 likes · 13 comments · Chip Zdarsky

Please give it a read and try to tell the people who make the stuff you love what it means to you before they’re gone.

Onto the business of me trying to get you to buy stuff.

I mentioned it might be happening but here we are. Issue #2 of WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US is sold out, as is the 2nd print of issue #1. So this weekend we are putting the 3rd print of #1, the 2nd print of #2, and the 1st print of #3 on Final Order Cutoff.

For those that don’t know, FOC as it’s unaffectionately known, is when shops have to place their orders so publishers know how many copies to print. Print runs are determined by shops orders, which are in turn greatly influenced by customers pre-orders. So when you hear comic creators begging you to preorder on FOC, that’s why. In layman’s terms this is when we find out if our book sold a lot of copies or not so many copies.

With all that said, we are very happy that demand on WTEDWU is strong, but selling out and reprinting books kinda sucks. It’s expensive, and time consuming, and it means there are weeks and weeks when our books are hard to find. So, if you want to read WTEDWU going forward it would be really helpful if you reminded your local comic shop to get you copies or add it to your pull list. It makes the lives of literally everyone involved easier. Yay.

Anyway here are the neato covers for issue #3 as well as the reprints of #1 and #2 for you to check out.

Here’s Stefano’s amazing cover. Speaking of Stefano, his great series with Mark Millar- PRODIGY: SLAVES OF MARS is in shops this week. Make sure to grab a copy.

Tyler Boss made this fun tribute to the original FOR YOUR EYES ONLY poster. Tyler’s excellent giallo horror series YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS #3 is also on FOC this week.

Tyler also made a cover so top secret that it is in a polybag and you can’t see it until you buy it. Ooooh.

The amazing Alison Sampson made this cover that is only available to shops who order 25 copies of the regular covers.

Here’s the 2nd print of #2. We’re making the 2nd prints all off-white, or giving them “the cream treatment” as one member of our team referred to it as and then immediately regretted it.

The great Daniel May also did this variant for the 2nd print of issue #2. It’s only available to shops that order 10 copies. Daniel is a pretty new artist but we’re big fans and think he’s going to be a big deal. So grab this to say you were down from day 1. Also, cream treatment.

And lastly, here’s Stefano’s issue #1 cover for the 3rd printing. The Creamsicle treatment.

If you want any of them, let your local comic shop know. Like, now. Nowish.

(Also, we still have have our exclusive foil covers of #1 and #2, as long as the badass variant for YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS #1, and a ton of other stuff in our webstore. Just sayin’.)

After a long bout of ~~shameless~~ self promotion I try to promote some other people’s stuff. Lately there have been a ton of cool looking kickstarters and here is another one.

Friend of the newsletter has a new one for his amazing series with Nic Klein- DRIFTER.

It’s a beautiful omnibus or “omnia” as they are calling it, which is definitely a word. I was a big fan of this series when it was coming out years ago but hated that it was spread out over multiple volumes. Who can carry all of that? Well they finally took my note and put it out in one book. I am so excited that it will finally find the audience it deserves in this new, managable format.

Get Drifter!

If you like badass, smart, gorgeous sci-fi, or just pretty as hell books, don’t sleep on this.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. May the 4th be with you!

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 5/4/25

QUICK QUIZ: HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU

Ethan S. Parker — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:17:55 GMT

Hello again.

We’re doing something a bit different this week. I was hoping to tape a new episode of the show this week but being on the road has made that impossible. So we went into the vaults and dug out something really fun.

THE QUICK QUIZ is something we tape for paying subscribers only, a mini podcast. But we haven’t sent one out in a while (we will be doing more soon!)… Until now. But since we don’t have a podcast this week I thought I’d send out one of these for everyone to enjoy. And who is more enjoyable than award winning Letterer, Comics Journalist, Writer, and all around excellent person Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

While Hassan is hard at work on a million excellent books like WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US and YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS (issue #2 of both books are out next week!) we took some time a little while back to ask him 24 questions designed to probe his brain and unlock all its secrets for the world. And now you get to root around in there.

If you missed our interview with Hassan about his work and his excellent comic THE UNLIKELY STORY OF FELIX AND MACABBER you can listen to those episodes here and here.

This is out next Wednesday. As is the reprint of #1 if you missed it.

In other “cool stuff you should check out” news, our pal has a new Kickstarter going for his new true crime graphic novel THE DEATH OF BOBBY HART. I was talking to David about it the other day and it sounds 100% like the kind of thing I’m into, so I’m guessing some of you might be into it too.

Buy This Book!

There are less than 48 hours left to get this book, so click the little button above and fill your life with more cool comics.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. I seem to have booked us into a swinger’s hotel in Seattle so I have to go find Tyler before he misreads a ton of social cues.

-Matthew Rosenberg

Seattle 4/25/25

books-with-pictures-eugene.myshopify.com

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-five | Amy Chu, part two

Ethan S. Parker — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 17:41:20 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined once again by Amy Chu (Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death, Carmilla: The First Vampire) as we discuss her comics origin story, collaborating with musicians, her new Marvel Comics series Emma Frost: The White Queen, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hello,

we’re back with Part II of our chat with Amy Chu. If you missed part I you can find it here. It was great to chat with Amy and made me even more excited to pick up her upcoming third volume of CARMILLA with the great Soo Lee.

Meanwhile the YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS vs. WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US signing tour continues with 8 more stops to go. Huge thanks to everyone who came out, grab some books, or just share some kind words. It really has meant the world to Tyler and myself.

We’ve signed in some amazing shops, eaten too many burgers, sang along to a lot of Chappell Roan and Mindforce, bought too many comics to bring home, wandered the desert and spit in the ocean, and met hundreds and hundreds of awesome comic fans. Couldn’t ask for a better time.

If you want to come hang you can find us at the following comic shops when we’re not wandering in the woods-

Mon 4/21

Comix Experience - 2-3pm

305 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

ComixExperience.com

Flying Colors – 5-6pm

1170 Concord Ave #140, Concord, CA 94520

FlyingColorsComics.com

Tue 4/22

Books With Pictures Eugene - 5-7pm

296 E 5th Ave suite 224, Eugene, OR 97401

Wed 4/23

Cosmic Monkey – 2-4pm

5335 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97213

CosmicMonkeyComics.com

Floating World – 5-7pm

1223 Lloyd Center, Portland, OR 97232

FloatingWorldComics.com

Thurs 4/24

I Like Comics – 1-2pm

1715 Broadway St, Vancouver, WA 98663

ILikeComicsShop.com

Arcane Comics – 6-7pm

15202 Aurora Ave N A, Shoreline, WA 98133

ArcaneComicBooks.com

Fri 4/25

The Comics Place – 5-7pm

107 W Holly St, Bellingham, WA 98225

TheComicsPlace.com

And we will have our limited edition tour exclusive covers available at most of these places, as well as some other free goodies. Hope to see you there.

And a little reminder that we still have our webstore exclusives up for WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #1 and YOU’LL DO BAD THINGS #1. Both books are sold out and going back to print but if your local shop doesn’t have copies you can get them from us.

Over on Kickstarter, my buddy has a really incredible looking new comic about pets, love, and loss.

LIFE ON PAWS

Sina is an amazing writer and cartoonist and always brings something unique to everything he does. I don’t expect LIFE OF PAWS to be anything less than incredible and you should make sure to grab yourself a copy now.

That’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Do you have any idea how far Oregon is from San Francisco?!

-Matthew Rosenberg

San Francisco 4/21/25

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-four | Amy Chu, part one

Ethan S. Parker — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 15:01:47 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we’re joined by Amy Chu (Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death, Carmilla: The First Vampire) as we discuss her comics origin story, collaborating with musicians, her new Marvel Comics series Emma Frost: The White Queen, and more!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hello again.

New record in lateness for getting the podcast out. Yay! But I have a good excuse this time…

I was doing other stuff?

Anyway, it’s out now and I’m excited about this one. I’ve known Amy Chu for years and have always had a deep admiration for her hustle. It’s been very fun watching that pay off with the success of Carmilla and her upcoming Emma Frost series. So we finally had her on the show and it was a great chance to catch up and talk shop.

If you haven’t read her excellent series Carmilla with Soo Lee you should fix that. It’s the lesbian vampire comic you didn’t know you needed. But now you do.

Hope you enjoy this episode.

While I’m out here boosting people’s books, just a reminder that FREE PLANET #1 is on Final Order Cutoff this weekend so tell your shop you want a copy.

While I’m home for a few days I will take this moment to remind you that Tyler Boss and I are coming to the West Coast next week. If you’re near Las Vegas, San Diego, San Marcos, Newbury Park, Ventura, LA, Sunnyvale, Oakland, San Francisco, Concord, Eugene, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Bellingham- attendance is mandatory.

And if you aren’t in any of those places, fear not! Tyler and I have signed a lot of books at other shops and you might still be able to find them on shelves or mailorder them (might help to message them and ask before you just order them if they don’t explicitly say they have signed copies).

Midtown Comics in NYC has them for sale right here.

Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH has them here.

Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, MD has a bunch of signed books from us here even if their store exclusive is sold out.

Brave New Worlds in Philly should have a bunch of signed stuff from us left, maybe this stuff. Ask first I guess.

Fantom Comics in Washington D.C. should also have a bunch of signed stuff left, maybe this stuff. Ask first I guess.

Gutter Pop in Buffalo, NY has a bunch of signed books from Tyler and I. Maybe these are signed. Ask first.

The Dragon in Guelph, ON has signed books for all you Canadians out there. You can ask if these ones are signed.

Comicopia in Boston, MA should still have some signed copies.

Final Boss Comics in Lawrenceville, NJ should have a bunch of our books signed.

New Dimension Waterfront in Pittsburgh probably still has some signed books left.

Carol & John’s in Cleveland also should have a bunch of signed copies on hand.

The Beguiling in Toronto should also have signed copies left.

Fourth World Comics in Long Island, NY has a ton of signed books.

And I just left Aw Yeah Comics in Harrison, NY and signed a ton of books for them.

Plus, as a couple secret bonus shops-

Every Newbury Comics location got some signed copies of both Tyler and I’s books, as well as a bunch of WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? 7”s.

And if you’re over overseas, our good friends at Forbidden Planet in London not only have signed copies of our books coming, but they’ll have a few copies of the limited edition tour variant cover sets by Dylan Burnett that are otherwise only available from Tyler and me on this tour. You can order that stuff here.

I guess that’s it.

And that’s it for me.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. Still feel weird signing stuff.

-Matthew Rosenberg

NYC 4/13/25

Our Bluesky

IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode one hundred thirty-three | Mailbag #1

Ethan S. Parker — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 17:41:02 GMT

WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED!
This week, we take a break from our usual interviews to read your feedback! It’s a sleepy, sick, melancholic Mailbag special, so brew up some hot tea and get cozy!
IDB is an all-new weekly podcast presented by Ashcan Press and featuring Matthew Rosenberg, the Supple Boiz, and wonderful guests from the world of comic books!
Our theme song is “Where’s the Poison” by Summer People.
Enjoy!

Hello again.

We’re doing things a bit differently today. Apparently we’ve been threatening to read listener emails on the air for a long time. I have never noticed us doing this. But that threat has now come to pass so today is our mailbag episode (Part I?). Some of these questions are very old. Sorry. We’ll try to be better about all this going forward. Maybe.

Also, we answer a letter from longtime listener Nat Towsen, who is a great stand-up comic. If you’re near NYC Nat is doing an hour long set on April 26, 7PM
at A.R.T./New York Theatres - 502 W 53rd St, New York. You should definitely go. Click here to purchase tickets!

Just doing my due diligence and reminding you all that it is currently Final Order Cutoff both the WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #1 second print and WE’RE TAKING EVERYONE DOWN WITH US #2. Order them at your local comic shop today or risk missing out.

WHILE YOU’RE DOING THAT…

You also should tell your local comic shop you want LOST FANTASY #1 by best boy Curt Pires, Luca Casalanguida, Mark Dale, Micah Myers, and Image Comics, which is also on FOC this weekend.

What is LOST FANTASY? I’ll let Curt tell you first.

“Lost Fantasy explores an alternate history where a world of magic, myth, and monsters exists just beneath the surface of our own…and is threatening to break through. Fans of East of West and Something is Killing the Children will enjoy the monster-slaying historically-revisionist Lost Fantasy series, with the added bonus of a new Indigo Children mystery.
In Lost Fantasy, a magical world lies beneath ours, and first contact was made over a hundred years ago between the two worlds due to a natural disaster, resulting in a schism that allowed monsters to break through. Since then, secret monster slayers, known as The Great Hunters, have been working with global leaders to police the border and to keep our world safe from the creatures that lurk in the shadows. But last night, something broke through, resulting in a mysterious mass killing in Montana, and causing things to shift in a way that will ripple through both worlds. Now it’s up to rookie monster hunter Henry Blackheart to stop it…”

Now I’ll tell you.

LOST FANTASY is gorgeous, smart, and full of just the right amount of “what the fuck?!” moments. It’s got the perfect amount of goblins, magic, and big swords for all the fantasy nerds to fall in love with it. And it’s got enough cursing dragons, hungover adventurers, and Teddy Roosevelt for the lovers of weird stuff to go all in on it.

Don’t miss this one.

I was going to be posting tour songs all month to coincide with tour, but one of my musical heroes left us yesterday.

Thanks for showing the way, Al.

Stay safe. Take care of each other. More mail?

-Matthew Rosenberg

Buffalo 4/6/25

Our Bluesky