Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back to A Matter of Fiction in this Gregorian Calendar year of 2024. As a personal annual tradition each January, I think of the Roman God Janus—the deity of beginnings and endings whom the month is named after—and often depicted with two faces: one facing front that looks ahead and another looking back.
Like Janus’s visage, I’ll take a moment here to look back at the year with some accomplishments, and then forward to the future. I’ll share what’s ahead as it relates to my work and how you can support the comics that I’m helping bring to life. Huzzah!
A Snapshot Into the Past
If you read my posts last year, you may know this info already, but if not, I spent the majority of my free time last year helping my husband and contractors with the construction of my mom’s apartment in our home. It was a beast of a project and such a worthwhile undertaking. My mom moved in in the fall and all has been well.
I also worked on a dozen comics such as, Super Best Friend #3, Chasing Yesterday, Amelia Sky #4, One-Shot, and several I cannot name. A comedy horror short that I wrote with Jack Van Thomme was included in the Containment Breach Vol. 4: Monsters, Beasts and Bastards anthology and it was successfully funded on Kickstarter.
Over the summer, I had a rare opportunity to spend time in Medellín, Columbia with good friends. They kindly showed us around “The City of Eternal Spring” which sits at the bottom of a valley and it was so full of life and vibrant. To get there, we traveled through a newly opened tunnel that’s five miles long! We also visited coffee country and in taking a tour of the Ocaso Coffee Farm in Salento, we learned the ins and outs of the coffee-making process from the ground up.
For Halloween, I had big dreams of being Mon Mothma from Andor (2022) but that didn’t pan out. Instead, I was Rogue and my husband Ross was Wolverine from one of my favorite shows as a kid and still to this day: X-Men: The Animated Series (1992). It was loads of fun and you may catch me wearing the jacket regularly…
Comics Ahead
First is the relaunch of AMELIA SKY #1-4 on Kickstarter on Monday, January 22nd by Writer Jermaine M. Boyd, artists Martina Niosi and Gwynn Tavares, letterer Kuen Tang, myself on edits, and more.
This sci-fi horror series follows the young Amelia Sky who traverses a post-apocalyptic world and faces all manner of monsters, alien or otherwise. It’s a dark tale of survival, self-discovery, and corporate corruption peppered with hopeful moments and death-defying escapes. Think The Last of Us meets The Bourne Series. Writer Jermaine M. Boyd and artist Martina Niosi are bringing us issue #4 with artist Gwynn Tavares and letterer Kuen Tang on the previous issues.
Sign up here to get notified on day one of launch for those discounted rewards. We’d love your support on that first day (so we can spend the next 29 days of the campaign less stressed, haha)!
Next is the relaunch of ONE-SHOT on Kickstarter on Wednesday, January 31st. Inspired by fantasy role playing games, ONE-SHOT is the first chapter in an anthology series featuring convicts who risk their necks to save their lives.
ONE-SHOT’s team includes writer Jeremiah Espinoza, artist Butch Mapa, colorist Fabi Marques, letterer Lucas Gattoni and myself on edits. This campaign will feature a brand new D&D Adventure Guide as well so folks can play along with the story. Check out the guide’s rad cover below by Pete Collins, and don’t forget to sign up so you don’t miss launch day here!
There are more exciting things ahead but alas I must save some of them for future newsletters. Plus, I’ve got to get back to the day job, so thanks for dropping by and do leave a comment about the things you’re looking forward to this year!
Mercy buckets,
Brittany