57. A Tale of Two Seasons
Catching up and my latest comics round-up
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back, dear readers. It’s been a season…or two…since I last graced your inboxes with stories of comicdom. But alas, I have returned to the mighty digital pen…ahem, I think I may be starting to sound like Lady Whistledown from Bridgerton. 😂
Anyway, for the last many months, I’ve been a busy bee, gardening, reading, traveling, painting and making comics, the latter of which I’ll regale you with tales below.
Where I’ve Been
ECCC 2024
Back in March, I attended Emerald City Comic Con with Second Rocket Comics. Led by Tim Daniel and David “DB” Andry, Second Rocket is a creative services studio of designers, writers, editors, artists, and comic book specialists ready to help creators get their comics from script to print. ECCC was our first public appearance where we introduced our services to fellow creators and sold our books. It was awesome.
Thanks to the encouragement from the intrepid crew, I sold several copies of Dead Dreams: The Lucid Chronicles #1 and a few copies of Containment Breach Vol. 4: Monsters, Beasts, and Bastards. For me, it was extremely nerve-racking to sell my books in person—something I had only done online. Despite having sold books for Image Comics at their booth for many years, it was a whole different ballgame hawking my books.
When you’re so close to something, sometimes it’s hard to contain the excitement in so few words, but I decided to let that excitement speak for me. For Dead Dreams, I leaned on a new pitch I was toying with, Alice in Wonderland meets Total Recall, and it worked out well with the first person who showed interest in the comic since she was dressed as the Queen of Hearts! It was fate, I swear.
I also repeated the Dune adage, “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer” and leaned on my booth mates, who were all so wonderful and relaxed, helping me feel right at home. Ross even joined and repped Second Rocket.
It was a great time meeting fans, selling books, seeing old friends and making new ones. Plus, while we were slinging said books, artist Skylar Patridge joined DB and Comic Book Yeti’s correspondent Alex Breen for an interview about all things comics, their current work and collaborating in the medium. It’s a fantastic interview, so be sure to check it out here.
A Secret Garden
Early in the spring, my husband Ross, my mom, our neighbor and me built a small garden and we have been enjoying the literal fruits of our labor, from tomatoes and basil to green leaf and red leaf lettuce. My mom’s been watering and caring for the wee garden and I’ve documented its growth.
Across the Pond
Ross and I traveled to London, Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam with our lovely friends, Gina and Brian. It was a wonderful two-week break from the hustle bustle of our day jobs. The time off, and Nurse Practitioner Gina, helped me recover from neck/back pain from either sitting at my desk wrong or laying in bed for a week while I had covid (oh yeah, I got covid after the convention and it was terrible).
In Brussels, we went to the city’s Comics Art Museum and it was so freaking rad. They have a permanent exhibition detailing how comics are made from start to finish, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It made the process of making comics approachable to the masses, whether they’re familiar with the medium or not. I highly recommend it.
What I’m Working On
I’ve been working on a handful of comic book projects this year, some secret and some that will be revealed here and now.
Faster Than Light
I had the pleasure of collaborating on a short comic with Jen Vaughn and Nathan Kempf and it was accepted into Faster Than Light, a sci-fi anthology about family edited by Sarah Cooke and Lesser Known Comics! Here’s the solicitation for our story and the first page of our comic, entitled XP:
Headstrong teenager and gamer, Ari, argues with his aunt Elissa over his addiction to generative AI video games. Will they find common ground aboard their space craft or fight over a lost cause?
If you want to read more, be sure to back Faster Than Light on Kickstarter this Tuesday, September 3rd. The anthology will have covers by Dom Monette and Lydia Monette, Mike Seers and Alex Guenther, and an out-of-this-world logo by Tim Daniel of Second Rocket Comics of course!
Amelia Sky
Earlier this year, I assisted Jermaine M. Boyd and Martina Niosi with the Amelia Sky #1-4 Kickstarter campaign. But lately, I’ve been helping with their production timeline, keeping them on track for fulfillment next month. Plus, Martina is busy coloring issue #4 and Jermaine designed a new logo for the series. We’ve also been working on the front and back matter—all the designed pages before and after the sequential art—and I’ve edited Martina’s lettering for the latest issue, so it’s polished and nearly ready for the printer. Catch up on the series here.
The Astounding Allstar
This summer, I’ve also had the honor of editing a new series, The Astounding Allstar, and it’s headed to Kickstarter in less than two weeks.
The Astounding Allstar is about a hotheaded teen coming into his abilities as the world’s first superhero, and the series is reminiscent of golden age comics. It’s created by Payton Mullins, Julian Shaw (X-Men, Spider-Boy), Steve Canon (By The Horns) and Breyden Boyd (Shape Comics). I love this series so far—it’s a fantastic capes book that’s full of heart and pulse-pounding action. Hope you check it out!
Things I’m Digging
I finished Dune by Frank Herbert and enjoyed it so very much. It actually helped me get through a difficult bout of anxiety, and I’m so grateful for it. Side note: Did you know that there’s a park dedicated to Frank Herbert in his birthplace of Tacoma, Washington? It’s called Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park and it’s incredible.
I recently started listening to Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow as I’m going to Disneyland later this year, and poring over The Science of Crowdfunding by John Ward, because I love learning more about my industry and hearing from experienced perspectives.
On my bedside table, I’m still enjoying I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall, a wilderness drama about a disabled girl alone in the Alaskan woods with her trusty dog, and it is riveting. It reminds me of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
From my local comic shop, I’ve recently pre-ordered Spectrum and Dark Empty Void, both from Mad Cave Comics, and I’m super stoked about them. Spectrum is by Rick Quinn (The Negatives) and Dave Chisholm (Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound), and they are some of my favorite creators out there. Here’s the solicitation:
Melody Parker is losing her mind. She’s living on the streets of Seattle during the WTO protests of 1999. She is seeing things. Androids. Aliens. Pigs in high fashion. And a creature named Echo—one of the Sustained: elemental beings with the power to alter reality through music. She invites Melody to join her as she brings about the end of the world. As Melody tries to escape this strange woman, suppressed memories from across vast spans of time flood into her awareness, bringing her very identity into question.
“To prepare, get your 10 favorite albums, sit in the dark, and play them all at the same time as loudly as possible,” said Chisholm.
Dark Empty Void by Zack Kaplan (Beyond Real), Chris Shehan (The Autumnal) Francesco Segala (House of Slaughter) and letterer Justin Birch (House of Slaughter) is about a stable, microscopic black hole that spews out a maelstrom, strange creatures and a mysterious teenage girl. The scientists who opened the black hole must close it before it consumes earth. It’s a cosmic horror story that looks rad. Definitely place your pre-orders for these comics, they will not disappoint.
Merry Musings
I experienced some burnout recently, which isn’t super merry but it is real and something I think we all experience at some point in our lives. In fact, I was chatting with Sarah, the editor of Faster Than Light, and she mentioned how it feels like the season of burnout right now, and I have to agree with her. So we both are reminding ourselves to slow down.
What does that mean though? For me, I've slowed my walking pace around the house. I feel like the conscious act of slowing the body reminds the mind to also slow down—they are connected after all. I’ve also been taking walks in my neighborhood and drinking calming tea (Yogi Honey Lavender Stress Relief). What does slowing down mean for you?
I’ll close out today’s update with a soothing photo from a summer hike that I did this summer near Mount Rainier.
Thanks for reading!
Mercy buckets,
Brittany