What plans?
Chapter 57: It's party time!
Big week!
Support your new favorite comic!
Support some people in need!
Stegman time!
Me time!
Vampire time!
Mixtape- That’s a nice surprise!
Hi again.
And hi for the first time for all you new subscribers. Thanks for joining us. It’s been a big week for me and I’m happy to have you all here to share in it.
Of course the big news I’m referring to is that I finally finished watching THE REHEARSAL on HBO. It is truly one of the most fascinating, bizarre, and hilarious things I’ve ever seen. I was a big fan of Nathan Fielder’s previous show NATHAN FOR YOU, but that never made me question reality. There is truly nothing else like THE REHEARSAL and I urge you to give it a watch if you can. I don’t think I’ve been as amused or uncomfortable in a long time. And blurring that ground between nervous laughter and genuine laughter is truly a remarkable gift. More than anything it both deepened my understanding of my fellow humans and made me feel totally distant from them at the same time. It’s a feat of bizarreness that may not be rivaled in our lifetimes and I loved every second of it.
Bonus points because I used to hang out at the Alligator Lounge a long time ago and seeing it (sort of) made me feel so disoriented.
In other, less important news, I launched the paid version of this here newsletter last week. Thanks to all of you who paid and subscribed. It has been really overwhelming in the best ways. We are going to be rolling out the start of our paid content next week, including a variant cover reveal and some fun secret stuff we didn’t even tell you were were doing. Why so secretive? Because we can be.
Substack reminded me to remind you that if you like the free stuff you’ll like the paid stuff even more. I am not sure that’s true, but only one way to find out.
Also the response to our first podcast was incredible! Thanks so much for listening. I started to type ‘make sure to check back on Monday for part II of our interview with Kelly Thompson’ but we literally email it to you. So you don’t have to check back or do anything except, I guess, continue to have email?
In the meantime next Wednesday we are doing something a little different. We’re going to have a live discussion with a very special guest. Mr. VENOM and VANISH himself… No, the other one… Mr. Ryan Stegman!
We’re going to talk about his career, Venom, Vanish, and of course mostly the covers he did for my NEW MUTANTS series with Adam Gorham.
But here is the fun part! You can send in questions and if we ask your question on the show you are automatically entered to win a very special prize we will mail to your house!
I’ll send out info on how to watch live next week, but for now you should probably call out sick to work next Wednesday. It’s going to be fun.
And if you want more of me talking, without all that Ryan, I was on the always wonderful Comic Book Club live last week.
It’s always a pleasure to hang with Justin, Alex, and Pagey! This episode also has special guests - Chris Giliberti from Zestworld Comics, the legendary Phil Jimenez, and Giles Clarke talking about his excellent sounding new comic ROUGAROU. Give it a watch or if you’re more of a podcast person (pod-person) you can just set that up here.
This is the second time they’ve had me on the show where they read the names of all their Patrons. While they were doing it I was trying to think why it stresses me out so much and I realized it feels like waiting for them to call your name at high school graduation…. and then they don’t. I guess if I really cared about that stuff I could have supported them on Patreon or studied harder in school. Anyway, it’s a fun episode. Give it a listen.
One last bit of housekeeping, I want to thank all the other comic creators who said nice stuff about the ASHCAN PRESS launch in their newsletters. All my love to Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman, James Tynion IV, Skottie Young, Kelly Thompson, Josh Williamson, Tini Howard, Ryan Lindsay, Kieron Gillen, and Brian K. Vaughan. And thanks to anyone I missed.
I have probably mentioned this on here before, but I truly think Christopher Sebela is one of the best high-concept writers working, not just in comics, but anywhere. If I were a studio exec I’d be throwing money at the dude to get him to sit in a room and spit out crazy ideas for movies and tv shows. Alas, I am not. So I am here to tell you he has a new project on Kickstarter right now. It’s the 3rd and 4th issues of his Bee Crime series FOUL BROOD.
Yes, it’s a crime story set in the world of beekeepers and it fucking rules. Claire Roe provides the gorgeous art and the first 2 issues are some of my favorite recent comics. And the good news is, you can still get those from this Kickstarter in physical or PDF form. Or you can get a personalized video from Chris’s amazing, man-eating dog Zola, whom I love very much and who does not feel the same about me.
This book is so much of what I love about comics. Wild stories, amazing art, the kind of stuff you can’t do anywhere else. But it needs your help to get over the finish line. If you have some extra money laying around, throw it their way. You will be happy you did.
Switching gears for a moment. What’s going on in Puerto Rico right now is truly heartbreaking. They were hit with a major hurricane earlier in the week leaving the entire island without power or fresh water. It is an incredibly dire situation for millions of people.
The people of Puerto Rico could definitely use your support but, like many places, getting money and help to those most in need is very complicated. That’s why it’s best, whenever possible, to support small local organizations who are on the ground in the affected area. One such organization is Taller Salud. They are working to get aid and help to those most desperately in need. If you can afford to help out, please consider donating directly to them via Paypal or via their website.
Any help is appreciated.
Onto my comics! This week the third issue of the suicide mission known as DC VS. VAMPIRES: ALL OUT WAR dropped. People seem to be really digging what Alex Paknadel, Pasquale Qualano, and I are cooking up in gorgeous black, white, and red. This issue also has a wild and brilliant backup story from the wonderful team of Emma Vieceli and Haining as well, because we aim to give you your money’s worth and then some.
We have a few awesome covers but I will always point out when I am lucky enough to have my name near the work of James Stokoe. Behold is badass cover. DEADMAN!!!!
If you want to read a preview the folks at ComicWatch have got one for you right here.
Last bit of news. This Sunday both Tyler Boss and I will be special guests (virtually) at the wonderful Cab Comics to discuss volume 1 of WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE?. Hit them up if you want to watch or join this bookclub. Or, if you’re near Arizona, stop into the store! I signed a bunch of books for them so you’d make me seem cool if you went and bought them.
It’s 10pm Eastern, which I believe is after your precious dragon show. Come hang out!
I’m normally not big on joke or novelty songs. I don’t plan on sharing them here ever. But here’s the thing… I am choosing to not view this as a novelty song. It’s my fall jam. It’s truly disturbing and truly hilarious. I am sick of texting it to my friends so now I’m emailing it to you. Enjoy having some really inappropriate lyrics stuck in your head for days.
I love Kevin so much.
Stay safe. Take care of each other. Fuck the Universe ‘til it hurts.
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 9/22/22
A quiet voice in my head said not to listen to "Party Time". I didn't listen to that voice, and now... I'm selling all my S*** and following the Northern Boys like the Grateful Dead. Curse you, Rosenburg!!!
Wasn’t sure how to send in the Stegman question so just putting it here:
Ryan was a good artist before Venom but he took things to the Superstar level. What did he do to take his art to the next level?