Where are you going?
Chapter 33: Silver Coins and whatnot.
I watched Catch-22 and I don’t know what it says about me!
Want to be in an issue of WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE?
I made a fun thing with Michael Walsh!
Detective time again!
Some things I made that I thought were cool last year! Part III
The Mixtape
Hello again.
I heard from a lot of you about last week’s ‘OODER’S WOT’ newsletter. You all seemed to enjoy it so I’ve spent the last week racking my brain for other things I’ve misheard or misunderstood. Bad news everyone. That was it. Everything else I’ve ever heard I heard correctly and understood immediately. Oh well.
In addition to watching my Boba stories I recently watched the CATCH-22 mini-series on Hulu. I really enjoyed it and felt like it flew under most people’s radars (puns!). Growing up the book was very important to me, and a little later the movie. So this show had big shoes to fill and did a very respectable job. Christopher Abbott is good in everything, but he really was an amazing Yossarian. If you are looking for something to watch that is both very funny and wildly upsetting, it’s worth a go.
While I was enjoying the show it made me think about my love for the book and the sort of chicken or the egg relationship you can have with art. I have, up until the other day, described Catch-22 as a formative work for me. The tightrope balance between comedy and tragedy is something I’ve always been drawn to and, if you’ve read any of my comics you may notice, is something I look for in my work. I am a big believer in the peaks that makes you appreciate the valleys and vice versa. Whenever I think about stories that really grab me I’m often reminded of the rollercoaster story from PARENTHOOD, which both describes the sensation perfectly but is, ironically, exactly the type of storytelling rollercoaster I’m talking about. I am a lover of all things autological.
Lotta video clips today. Really phoning this one in.
At some point we should talk about the wildly underappreciated screenwriting of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. I mean they were Oscar nominated, so maybe not that wildly underappreciated, but still. So good.
Anyway… Back to Catch-22. I’ve always thought that my love for the book helped shape my love for the rollercoaster. But while I was watching the show I had the thought, ‘what if I loved the book because that is the kind of story I naturally like but I’d never experienced it?’ How much do the things we love shape us and how much do we love those things when we find them because that’s who we are? I don’t really have an answer for that but it did rattle around in my head like change that fell inside the AC vents of a minivan. And now I hope it rattles around in yours.
Oh, yeah. We are doing a letters page for the next issue of WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE?. Why now? Because we miscounted how many pages the issue was so now we need some filler. It’s hard to say whose fault that was. If you ask Tyler, he’ll blame me for miscounting. If you ask me, I’ll blame Tyler for listening to me. But the point remains, someone (Tyler) fucked up and now we need your help in fixing it. But here’s the thing, we’re going to do it in a few hours so you can either respond to me here or respond to the below tweet, but do it now or risk ruining your life.
That was overly dramatic. I don’t think your life will change if you don’t write us. But if we like your question we will make you so goddamn famous! Or we’ll put you on page 37 of our comic. Either/or.
First of all, since I like to keep people posted. A bunch of people in the UK and Europe have asked about getting the WTFPFH? #1 7”s. Our friends at FORBIDDEN PLANET have them for sale on their site right now. While you’re there grab a copy of the exclusive Black & White cover to issue #1. Tyler and I signed a bunch of them and they still have a few left.
They might have them in the shop too. If you’re in London pop in and grab one. And then grab yourself some Morley’s.
My big news this week is 2 issues I am really proud of hitting comic shelves. The first is issue #8 of Michael Walsh’s brilliant horror anthology THE SILVER COIN. Each chapter is a standalone story that tells the tale of a coin that brings a curse onto whoever possesses it. Previous issues have been written by people I’ve never heard of with names like Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson, Ed Brisson, Jeff Lemire, Mr. Walsh, Joshua Williamson, and Ram V. And now it’s my turn. So even if you missed the first 7 you can jump in right now. I actually think the best reading order is 8, 2, 4, 6, 1, 5, 7, but you can make up your own. It’s like a game within the book! (It’s not.)
Our story takes place in the late 60’s at a stock brokerage on Wall St. and is about wealth, the lengths some people will go to for a taste of it, and the growing rift between the have’s and the have not’s in this country. Very fun stuff. Walsh drew a gorgeous issue and I sort of worked my ass off to give him a hard one to draw, because thats what friends are for. You can pick a copy at your local comic shop now and while you’re there grab the first volume of the trade paperback. You won’t regret it.
And as a special little bonus for people who like signed stuff, I signed a few copies of both Walsh’s cover and Tyler’s cover and they are available for sale in our webstore right now.
Also, if you’ve been looking for the WTFPFH? #3 foil variant like 10 of you are in luck because I just put a few more in our webstore as well. I really buried the lede on that. I guess these are just for my most tenacious readers.
Also out this week is the third chapter in my little story for DETECTIVE COMICS #1049. ‘But Matt, didn’t you just bug us about DETECTIVE COMICS #1048 last week?’ Yes. Yes I did. It’s a weekly event for the next 3 months. Keep up.
I could talk a lot about how this story of a young boy, falling through the cracks in Gotham, and finding family in those often deemed unlovable, is a very personal story for me and one that I am very proud of. But honestly that’s sort of boring. You know it. I know it. So let’s just look at Fernando Blanco and Jordie Bellaire’s art.
Yeah. I know. So you should read this. It’s in comic shops now.
AND NOW TO CONTINUE MY RUNDOWN OF ALL THE STUFF I WORKED ON LAST YEAR WITH A LITTLE SPOTLIGHT ON THE AWESOME COLLABORATORS WHO LET ME RIDE THEIR COATTAILS.
THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #4. When I was young I used to wonder why so many of the DC Comics characters spoke in rhyme. It is very weird. Writing this Mad Hatter vs. Harley Quinn story made it clear. Writing rhyming characters is so fun. I know the Hatter doesn’t always rhyme, but he’s best when he does. So he rhymes in our book! Anyway, in the 4th chapter of our little not-quite-an-anthology book I got to work with the amazing Dani and Jeromy Cox. Clearly it was awesome.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1042. Following that our second chapter of the ‘shocked they let us call it this’ story ‘What The &*!% Is Task Force Z?” This chapter had the great Max Raynor on art and I got to do a diner scene. My love for diner scenes has no limits. I wish 100 times as many comics had diner scenes.
I love that neon sign so much. I don’t even really like pie.
Since we talked a lot about CATCH-22 I feel it’s only appropriate to play not just the best song ever written about the making of that movie, but also one of the best songs ever written period.
Written by Paul Simon when Art Garfunkel accepted a role in the CATCH-22 movie. Simon was afraid that Garfunkel would become a famous actor and leave him behind, the story goes. It’s very arguably the most beautiful break-up song ever written and they hadn’t even broken up yet.
Also BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER is the single best record to listen to on headphones if you want to walk around New York City after 3am. Fact.
And we’re done. Part IV of my year end recap next week. And I’ll probably find some more video links to pad out this newsletter.
Stay safe. Take care of each other. Walk around your town late at night listening to sad music.
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 1/19/22
Hey, your Silver Coin reading order is missing #3, asshole.
Silver Coin was brilliant, great read this week. Down here in lil ol NZ we are still waiting for the vinyl/comic editions to appear! Hoping against hope that they are still on the way!