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I love Ben Acker and you should too!
The Mixtape! - Drifting too close to the sun!
Hi again. Hope your week is going well. In keeping with my promise to try and leave my house at least once a month I went kayaking the other day up in New Paltz, New York. As I get older I find myself being much more enamored with nature than I ever thought I would be. Growing up in New York City I think deep down I always felt like trees and grass and animals that weren’t rats were “for other people.” Now I’ve come to enjoy a tall tree in the same way that I assume people from the country enjoy a nice mugging. It’s not something you want all the time, but it’s an exciting treat every once in a while.
I ended up getting to the river late in the day so I’d only have an hour or so on the water, but I think if I kayak for much more than that my arms will fall off, so that was fine. But 15 minutes into my own mini Heart of Darkness, a giant shape passed overhead and settled into a dead tree sticking out over the river. Imagine my shock at seeing a bald eagle. Imagine his seeming complete lack of shock at seeing me. I ended up just floating beneath him for like 20 minutes as the sun set, watching him watch me. It was a really wonderful experience.
I don’t think most people experience much “majesty” in our daily lives, but spending time with a good eagle definitely reminds you of the importance of being impressed by things. I guess that’s why the Muppets hang out with Sam Eagle even though he’s a little… how do I put this gently? Let’s go with Nationalistic. His song ‘A Tribute To All Nations (But Mostly America)’ still makes me laugh though. Anyway, I didn’t take a picture of the eagle for all of you because I like to live in the moment, not because I was 95% sure I’d drop my phone in the river if that’s what you heard.
I could talk for a long time about growing up in the shadow of the idea that we had hunted and poisoned our national mascot to the brink of extinction, and what that information does to some young minds such as mine. But I’d rather talk about it in relation to the fact that, through the hard work of conservationists and activists, bald eagles still exist and are now flourishing in many parts of the country. Obviously, I am an intellectual toddler in so many ways and therefore think that giant fucking birds, with razor claws and bad business beaks, who can swoop down and steal a baby (they would never!) are a pretty rad idea. But more than that these giant animals that were once thought of as the symbol for American industriousness or perseverance or whatever, were almost killed by the very thing they were thought to represent. It’s the sort of poetic justice that gets you laughed at in freshman writing classes across this great country of ours. But now the eagles are coming back in great numbers because it is possible to change our bad habits, en masse. The intellectual non-toddler side of me thinks there is something really powerful about recontextualizing our national symbols like that. I looked at that big mean turkey and I couldn’t help but see a better world was possible.
And then he swooped down and I thought he was going to gouge my eyes out but he was just moving on. To quote Indiana’s (unofficial) Poet Laureate John Mellencamp- “Ain’t that America.”
In other news I got interviewed by Dan McMahon-Young for Fangoria Magazine! So fucking cool. The interview was supposed to be about the horror stuff I’ve been doing at DC like DC VS VAMPIRES and TASK FORCE Z, but of course like all the big interviews I do, it ended up mostly being about my mom.
That was some weird Freudian joke, of course.
But yeah… the interview was mostly about my mom.
Hi mom.
Last week I shared the link to the Comix Experience Book Club video chat that Tyler and I were doing to discuss WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE?. Well, for those of you who missed the chat or wanted to relive our VERY deep dive into our book, our process, and our unqualified thoughts on lots of stuff you can listen to it now in podcast form right here. It’s somewhere between the length of a Dune movie and a Batman movie, so pee and make some popcorn beforehand or you might miss me say something dumb.
In stores this week, right now, as you read this, is the second hardcover volume of THE JOKER series.
In addition to the excellent issues by James Tynion, Guillem March, Arif Prianto, & co. there is also a standalone Jim Gordon flashback written by yours truly with art by the incomparable Francesco Francavilla. I’m really proud of the 3 issues I wrote for this series and truly in love with Francesco’s art on them. And you can check these out for a taste of how Francesco and I work together to get excited for our upcoming series THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING, which starts this October. Want to know more about that? Tough. But I can show you a cool as hell cover for issue #1 by Lee Bermejo.
Yeah. It’s going to be a trip. Tell your local comic shop you want a copy now or risk all of us laughing at you.
It’s rare that I will hype a prose book on here because I’m a comic book writer who supports the scene. But this is from one of our own, the great Ben Acker- comicker, podcaster, funny person, and now, novelist. He’s very talented. It’s fucking annoying.
Ben’s new book, STORIES TO KEEP YOU ALIVE DESPITE VAMPIRES, is a Middle Grade story collection of ghost, ghoul, werewolf, and monster tales to amuse, frighten and delight readers. If you like stuff like Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl, or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, you owe it to yourself to grab a copy… Roald is a wild name, huh? Like you’ve known how to spell it your whole life but then when you type it out your brain just screams a little….
Anyway, it’s an incredibly fun and clever book. Grab a copy for yourself today. Grab a copy for any kids in your life. Hell, grab a couple copies to give out at Halloween and make some kids really happy. Give them candy too, of course. Books are not an acceptable substitute for candy.
Or ask your local bookseller to get you a copy!
Got The Mekons stuck in my head today. Listen to it a couple times and get it stuck in yours.
Stay safe. Take care of each other. Recontextualize your icons as needed.
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 9/1/22
Bald (or any other raptor) Eagles are cool as fuck, thanks for sharing. I still believe there are Thunderbirds out there (not the Mothman) keep an eye out.
Really excited for your (longer) take on the clown prince!