A special "books out on my birthday" edition of the Weekly Releases writeup. This was a big day - I was actually out in Salt Lake City with Ryan Browne doing a signing at Black Cat Comics to celebrate the release of Curse Words Vol. 3. A really great time - we saw many things, had some laughs, drank great whiskey way high up in the mountains and talked about a weird version of a Curse Words comic we may or may not ever do (but it would be unprecedented and I think we should!)

Let's start with the comic that hit that day, Poe Dameron #29! Art by Angel Unzueta, colors from Arif Prianto, letters by Joe Caramagna, and Phil Noto made the cover.

This issue marks the beginning of the end for the series. As has been announced, the Poe Dameron comic will end with Issue #31, out in September. Am I bummed? Sure - but on the other hand, this book had a spectacular run, got to tell stories I never thought we'd get to tell, and truly earned its audience. It was originally set to end much earlier and got multiple extensions because of readership reaction. We're stopping mostly because the stories we can tell in this particular era are coming to a natural conclusion, and honestly, that's okay. It's nice to write endings, and in comics you don't always get to.

Poe #29 continues our little excursion past the events of The Last Jedi, specifically looking at what Black Squadron (folks like Snap Wexley and Jess Pava) were up to during Episode VIII. It's sort of a grim story, and part of an overall effort to think about what it would really be like if a power announced itself to the galaxy by vaporizing the planetary system that housed the seat of government. Most systems would probably roll over immediately, no matter what Leia Organa might want them to do.

Next, we have Volume 3 of Curse Words, collecting "The Hole Damned World." Written by me, with art from Ryan Browne, colors from Addison Duke and Ryan, letters by Chris Crank! and a bunch of spectacular variant covers. Trade cover here is by Ryan:

When you're writing a long-form series (and CW is that, planned to go for 30+ issues) there's a point when you've laid down the majority of your cards, set up your characters and their relationships, and you can let things start to sing. I've done long runs a number of times now (Swamp Thing, Daredevil, Star Wars, Red Lanterns, Inhumans and more) and it tends to start happening after you've got around ten issues done. "The Hole Damned World" is where Curse Words really starts to let loose, especially the ending. By the time you get to the end of Issue 15, you should be rarin' to go, just dying for Issue 16. That hits in September, by the way, after the Summer Swimsuit Special (with guest art from Joe Quinones) that lands in August. If you haven't checked out Curse Words yet, do! I think it's one of my best things. You can get all three volumes at your local comic shop or right here.

The other big book (literally) to hit on July 18 was the first of three deluxe hardcover editions of another long-running series of mine, Letter 44. This collects the first two volumes of the series, issues 1-6 and 8-13, and it's massive! Oversized with extras, a sweet new cover from series artist Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque (which will interlock with the covers for V2 and V3 to make one huge image), it's beautiful. Series don't always, or even often, warrant an investment like this from a publisher, and I'm hugely appreciative of the fact that Oni Press decided to put these out. Despite beginning its run in 2013, this book is pretty timely, I think, looking at the responsibilities of a President through a sci-fi lens. Got some interesting news about this series recently, too... we'll see what happens. If you'd like to check it out, you can get it here (and there are links to the individual trades over in the Store, too.)

Thanks, and see you next week!

July 18, 2018- CURSE WORDS VOL. 3, LETTER 44 VOL. 1 DELUXE EDITION, POE DAMERON #29