babbling_bookends

Posted by Kelly Thompson

https://1979semifinalist.substack.com/p/equal-opportunity-objectification

Hello!

Sorry about the week off there — I was away for a few days (still somehow working through it) and I’m under some super tough deadlines — but because I know we could also use a bit of mindless distraction, for paid subscribers this week I’m going to run one of our X-MEN WAR! Games — starting tomorrow! If you’re curious what this is — you can check out previous “wars” and what inspired it in detail in this post:

But the quick and dirty is that it’s simply the card game war, but played with Classic Jim Lee X-Men cards (which is something my brothers and I did when we were kids). And I’ve (slightly sloppily — I can’t spend all day in photoshop, guys!) added a few fun new cards to the mix to make things interesting (see below):

Anyway, you have to be a paid subscriber to play (because only paid subscribers can vote) but it’s pretty fun if you need a break from the real world and a chance to disagree with people over pointless things like who would beat who in some dumb fight in a friendly comments section. :D

Quick Store Update before we get into the fun stuff: everything but two recent orders have been shipped, and the shop has been updated with new books — including ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #7 (out tomorrow), Dan Mora’s ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #1 5th Printing (foil and regular), AND some IT’S JEFF #1 and IT’S JEFF: THE JEFFVERSE #1 reprints I picked up.

The new webstore code for subscribers is below, but paid subscribers should scroll to to the end of the post past the paywall for a better discount code:

Just enter SPRUNG at checkout for 10% off any order. One code per order please!

Announcements… and also some fun random stuff.

So… if you happen to be nearby Impulse Creations (Tulsa, OK!) you should definitely check out this Hayden Sherman Signing Event this weekend. ALSO, Impulse was incredibly cool and sent me a bunch of my books — mostly ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN and BOP — so that I could sign them. So there will be a bunch of my signed books available too.

My pal Ed Brisson is making his return to crime comics with a cool new looking book called WILD ANIMALS from Mad Cave and you can read more about the announcement at this link! Cover #1 by Kuhn below!

I’ve actually been reading a ton of comics lately for various work research reasons, but something I read for the pure fun of it last week are the “silent missions” G.I. Joe Comics that editor Alex Antone cooked up with an incredible roster of talent. As everyone knows the best issue of G.I. Joe comics of all time is the Snake Eyes silent issue (G.I. Joe #21 “Silent Interlude”). And this is a brilliant homage to that — with some of coolest creators in comics. As someone that really likes to see comics play with form, I really enjoyed this.

I’m obviously partial to the JINX and SPIRIT editions because I got to write Jinx in SCARLETT (and also DANI ART… SWOON!) and my bff Leonardo Romero did a really cool jobs with SPIRIT. But I also thought Wes Craig’s DUKE was a standout.

Oh, and Jorge Fornes did cool connecting variants for the one-shots:

I like it when some comics just get to be fun, man. Speaking of fun, Marvel’s bringing the SWIMSUIT SPECIAL back, and so long as you have equal opportunity objectification of superhero bodies in the sun, I am ALL FOR IT.

In fact, I made a really great suggestion to Marvel about a hilarious Jeff-centric homage they could do… and they never emailed me back… so DO NOT expect to see that amazing pinup included. THEIR LOSS.

There’s already like four covers for this thing, here are two of my favs by Taurin Clarke and Adam Hughes:

I also got an advance look last week at issue #1 of EXQUISITE CORPSES the new comic from James Tynion IV, Michael Walsh, Jordie Bellaire, and Becca Carey. I think on the face of it — like most everything James/Michael/Jordie do — it’s just a really cool and interesting book.

But I also think, in really rough markets (like this one), it’s super hard to get people engaged in creator-owned work in the same kind of ways that they’re willing to engage with superhero characters/comics. And some of the tricks here dial into people’s natural tribalism in a smart way — things like seeding brackets for “teams,” cool iconography, badass weapons, unique costumes, and iconic mythical ideas. Using all of those in your world building at the same time gives you multiple ways to draw in different kinds of readers — and that’s before you even consider the actual store and genre elements), these guys are horror experts. As a bonus the idea is high-concept and engaging in a way that lends itself to larger world building and adaptions.

The story itself reminds me of a twist on things like BATTLE ROYALE, HUNGER GAMES, and THE PURGE. But I also thought of Rucka and Lark’s LAZARUS with its ruling families and “champions.” And assassin game stories like POLAR (BLACK KAISER) and even CROWDED. I think EXQUISITE CORPSES has a tougher road (for me personally) than some of those other non-assassin concepts because this is an aggressive horror book and in a way it’s asking you to root for (and in a way bind your “tribe” to) horrific serial killers and the disgusting one-percenter families that have bought them. But it’s still quite clever, even if it turns the stomach. YMMV. And I suspect a lot of that is the point. How far away is something like EXQUISITE CORPSES or HUNGER GAMES from the “bread and circuses” that really do currently entertain the masses anyway? I think maybe it’s not as many steps away from us as I’d like to believe.

Anyway. It’s all quite clever and my hat’s off to creators that can creatively excite the market this way and draw focus in a crowded field. If I sound a bit jealous, I am. lol

There’s a good interview here with Kieron Gillen and James about the book as well if you’re interested. Anyway, first issue releases May 14th — I think we’ve missed FOC, but tell your shop you want it:

I think this article is behind a paywall if you’re not a Vulture subscriber — but this piece is purportedly about how filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s new WB deal for Sinners will “Destroy the Studio System” OMG. But it’s really mostly about studio heads (anonymously, go figure) saying that filmmaker Ryan Coogler owning his own work (25 years after releasing!) signals some doomsday for the “Studio System”… and I guess I am forced to say… good? If the only way a studio can survive is by not giving creators control/ownership of their work OR their cut of that money… maybe it’s not a system that SHOULD survive?

Also, I find the highlighted bit of this quote particularly damning…

Giving this quote to an outlet… I honestly don’t know how anyone in their right mind thinks anyone (other than fellow studio heads?) reads that quote and feels… sympathetic? Yeah. You’re right, those deals are worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars a year globally… and you do everything in your power to make sure the creators see as little of it as possible. I’m not sure this is the argument to win over the people, my dude.

ANYWAY.

Here’s some good (and concise) thoughts on some great recent comic books from James Fulton at Inside Pulse.

An interview I did last week with Ray and Nasser at Countdown City Geeks:

I pretty much thought I was done with non-ANDOR (and okay, non-Grogu) STAR WARS… but Ryan Gosling in STARFIGHTER? Yup, just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in! I mean, he IS the most charming man alive:

And of course, if you watched that clip in full, you’ll be dying to see THIS one:

Lol. Incredible. The world has such wonderful weird possibilities inside it. Sigh.

THIS WEEK! ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #7! And AIPT has the stunning preview in case you haven’t seen it yet. I love this issue! Here are our gorgeous covers — main cover by Hayden Sherman and Jordie Bellaire, as ever:

Some gorgeous variants by Jessica Fong (this is my first chance to get a Jessica Fong cover! In love!), Declan Shalvey, and Dustin Nguyen — who also has two more pages of L’il Diana in this issue:

And NEXT week we have from BIRDS OF PREY #21 from Annie Wu. Man do I love a cover where you realize you’ve been looking at it wrong all along, focusing on the reflection of Cass and Sin rather than their actual figures is so freaking cool:

I also want to draw attention to a new series of variant covers Rian Gonzales is doing on her BOP variants — as I know some of you will want to collect them all. This first one is Black Canary and #22 has Barda, #23 has Barbara Gordon (and I assume #24 and #25 will be Cass and Sin). Very freaking cute.

And the remaining variants are a cool Cliff Chiang AAPI Heritage Month Connecting cover; a Nimit Malavia Black Canary and Cass Cain variant, and a Lee Garbett Canary & Oracle incentive offering.

I have been completely unable to keep up with the truly insane volume of Absolute WW Fan Art — which is a wonderful thing to be able to say, but has made me terrible at sharing it all — but here are a few I saw this week that were particularly great:

Yohan:

Clicking on these images should take you to the source, I’ve tried to find non-twitter sources when possible. *shrug* Please move to Bluesky. I really don’t want to link to that nazi hellhole. I know it’s hard and fucking annoying but you can rebuild somewhere better, I promise! <3

Raul Lara:

Vivienne:

This one popped up just today and is such a cool peek at what an animated Absolute Diana could be IMO - by Mel Milton:

Obviously THIS is not Absolute Wonder Woman, but this Milton Rogue IS one of the cutest, sassiest, & most personality accurate Rogue drawings I’ve ever seen (and there is A LOT of competition out there):

And this is NOT fan art, but some cool “official art” from Mirka Andolpho — for a FOMO BOOKS edition of ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #1 (I think?) — I think it’s for a foreign market, but still in English?

Rather than just talking about my own releases (though we’ll start with those obvs, I am nothing if not self-involved) I thought I might highlight some of my favorite covers from last week’s JULY DC Solicits — itching for the simplicity of my “drunk cover solicits days” I suppose. Haha.

First up, JULY solicits for ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #10 — main cover, as always, by Hayden Sherman and Jordie Bellaire:

Seems like the maze is gonna be super fun for Diana, right?! lol

And awesome variant covers from Lee Inhyuk, Mahmud Asrar, and Kris Anka. I love these three so much:

And for BIRDS OF PREY #23, well, let’s just start off with my favorite cover Annie Wu has done for us yet — this incredible Black Canary cover:

And the variants — super fun continuation of the “paper doll” series I mentioned above by Rian Gonzales and began with BOP #21 for Black Canary, Nimit Malavia offering up a cool Barda and Sin variant that echoes his Black Canary and Cass variant for #21 and a Serg Acuna Cass/Barda variant.

AND from the Marvel Solicits today — My Boy Jeff’s first ever ISSUE NUMBER TWO. Out in July!

This is the main cover by Gurihiru:

And this is the variant cover by series artist Tokitokoro:

Under the paywall are some of my other favorite covers from DC’s solicits this past week, and also all your sneak peeks for new issues of ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN, BIRDS OF PREY, and JEFF… plus a new discount code for the webstore and cats of course…AND, we’re gonna play X-MEN WAR THIS WEEK! That’s right, the long overdue return of the X-MEN: WAR! Huzzah!…

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https://1979semifinalist.substack.com/p/equal-opportunity-objectification