We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel...
Chapter 30: The start of the year!
It’s the start! (of the year!)
Grab a record or listen to a stream if you’re not into the whole vinyl thing!
Detective time!
Some things I made that I thought were cool this year! Part II
Back again! This time coming to you live from a blizzard. Or maybe just a snow storm. I don’t think I’m qualified to say which is which, but it snowed a lot and that’s fun. I’m pretty much for any weather that is hot cocoa weather, but obviously snow is the best hot cocoa weather.
I hope you had an enjoyable new years, if that’s your thing. I watched Shang-Chi and read some Batman comics, which was all quite fun but also could have been any other night of the year.
I will say I do plan on going into my thoughts on movies more in this newsletter because A) I like movies a lot and B) I don’t really go out much so watching movies is becoming the sum total of my personality. But without going into it too much I watched Benh Zeitlin’s WENDY the other night and was really blown away by it. I really loved both GLORY AT SEA and BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, but for some reason I never got around to watching WENDY. So I saw it was on Home Box Office Max and decided to throw it on, and… It’s just a really beautiful film. A brilliant reimagining of a story we all know, shot with this amazing dreamlike pace, full of great performances and smart character-driven writing. I also love how Benh has developed this sort of driftwood aesthetic for his movies, where the worlds feel both lived in, and beautifully destroyed at the same time. It may be the only move I watched this year so far, but it is also the best by far.
In some fun news, WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? #3 is in comic shops next week. It’s a wild one and it answers a few questions I see some of you have been asking. But not all of them, because that would be boring.
We should also have the WTFPFH? #2 Deluxe 7”s in comic shops soon. What’s the supply chain hold up been this time? Good question! The records were finished well over a month ago but we can’t get the white paper sleeves that the records go in because there are global paper shortages. Fucking neat.
And for those of you still looking for the first 7” the wonderful folks at TFAW are putting copies on sale in a couple hours. They have an exclusive White/Red vinyl.
But a word of caution-
In the meantime, because of the delays on the 2nd record we wanted to give you all something for free! FREEEEE! So our good buddies in RESTORATIONS agreed to let us put up their song from the 3rd issue for streaming now. You can check it out right here courtesy the fine folks at Brooklyn Vegan.
Anyway, they do a great cover of R.E.M.’s “Radio Free Europe” and you should listen to it to get excited for the next issue. And also get excited for the next Restorations album which they are working on right now.
In comic shops this week is DETECTIVE COMICS #1047 which is the start of a 12 part weekly epic by Mariko Tamaki, Ivan Reis, and co. that is really brilliant and status quo shaking for the whole Batfamily. It’s a great jumping on point if you are thinking about reading some Batman stuff. But it also has the first of 12 10 page stories by Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, Rob Leigh, Paul Kaminski, Dave Wielgosz, and myself. We’re telling the story of a young boy who falls through the cracks of Gotham’s safety nets and finds himself immersed in the underworld. The story spans from Year One to the modern day. And, I can say this because I don’t draw it, Fernando and Jordie’s work is so unbelievably good that even if you think I’m a total hack (which would be weird since you subscribe to this) it is worth reading for their art. Look-
Everything that happens after that is fine. Don’t worry.
And lastly a couple end of the year stuffs I should have posted before.
Comicon named WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? #1 the Best Single Issue of the Year. That’s pretty neat.
Broken Frontier had a year end poll where WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? was up for Best New Periodical Series. Also our brilliant letterer Hassan was up for Best Letterer. We didn’t win, which is fair because a truly great book made by my buddy Ram did! So that is coo.
It was a pretty great year for comics all around actually and we only put out 2 issues so far, so for anyone to even consider what we’re doing to be among the best is very wild and very flattering. Mostly we’re just happy people are picking it up. So thank you if that’s you.
AND NOW TO CONTINUE MY RUNDOWN OF ALL THE STUFF I WORKED ON WITH A LITTLE SPOTLIGHT ON THE AWESOME COLLABORATORS WHO LET ME RIDE THEIR COATTAILS.
THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #1. This is one of the weirdest, most difficult, and most fun projects I’ve ever done. It’s the Joker talking to police about the murder of the Riddler. 14 chapters about 14 of Gotham’s baddest baddies by 14 of the most exciting artists in comics. Since the Joker is not the most reliable narrator figuring out whats real and what isn’t becomes the real challenge. Jesús Merino is such a perfect Batman artist.
THE JOKER #5. James Tynion IV, Guillem March, & co. invited me and the legendary Francesco Francavilla to come tell some flashback stories in their excellent Joker series.
BATMAN URBAN LEGENDS #5. The goddamn WILDC.A.T.S.
THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #2. So each chapter of this book was released digitally first on Comixology and the DC Universe Infinite app, which got an extra 6 page story with each chapter. Then those chapters with the bonus were re-released a month later on Comixology called “Director’s Cut“ which is funny because comics don’t have directors. And a few weeks after that every 2 “Director’s Cut” chapters were put together to be single issues of comics for stores, which were then of course re-re-released digitally on Comixology. So yeah, if you’re trying to start reading the book on Comixology don’t be alarmed that there are 3 different versions of issue #1. Anyway, this Riddler chapter is one of my favorites. Josh Hixson is amazing.
THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #3. Black Mask and Two-Face go to Siberia. Keron Grant’s dreamy art really made this story.
DETECTIVE #1041. To set up the TASK FORCE Z series I’d be starting later in the year, I teamed up with the brilliant Darick Robertson for 3 issues of Detective Comics.
BATMAN URBAN LEGENDS #6. I finished out my time on B.U.L. by doing a 10 page one shot about Zealot and Wonder Woman. The mighty Chris Sprouse made it gorgeous.
And that’s it for now. Part III of my year end recap next week. And maybe a special treat for you…
Stay safe. Take care of each other. Go watch Wendy!
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 1/7/22