July 2024 Part 2 - THE BIG FINALE!

I’ll get into other stuff in a minute (what a month, huh?) but I wanted to start by inviting you to check out my latest big creative project - a full-length record album, composed, performed and produced by me and some amazing collaborators, called the CURSE WORDS CONCEPT ALBUM. It’s inspired by the Image Comics series from me and Ryan Browne (Eight Billion Genies, God Hates Astronauts) and sounds like a big, badass rock opera - thinkTommyorHedwig and the Angry Inch,influenced by everything fromThe Hold SteadytoAC/DCtoFountains of WaynetoTaylor Swift. It’s got glamrock, power ballads, hooky choruses, pop, big guitar solos, you name it. It is BIG MATERIAL.

I’ve been running a Kickstarter to support the project for the past few weeks, and it’s in its last 48 hours now. We’re over 300% funded, which is incredible considering folks don’t really know me as a musician. I’m offering the record in digital and beautiful vinyl LP versions, including limited colored editions. You can also get an all-new Curse Words story, your own custom theme melody composed by me, original art from Ryan Browne and much more.

I’ve gotten questions from folks that amount to “why did you do this? Don’t you have enough to do?” The answer is yes - this was a ton of work, a TON - but honestly, I think the mission of being a creative person is putting things into the world that make you happy… and this wild, weird album is absolutely that.

You can check it out by clicking the image below orthis link. I’ve posted some full songs from the album at the Kickstarter, and another below. The record will go to press on August 15 and will ship (along with all other rewards) around late October/early November. If you decide to give it a spin, thank you so much!

Mr. Magic Man (Track 1 of the record, the big intro!)

The Nine (Track 4, a wild ride about nine evil wizards!)

A Hole New World (Track 10, the big finale!)

THE RECORD
SOUNDS GREAT! SO…
WHAT ELSE YOU GOT?

Oh, lots of stuff. Personally, this is a month (and summer!) of massive changes for me. A move, my daughter heading off to college, wild happenings on the creative front - any one of which would be a lot on its own, but they’re landing all at once *and* there’s the topsy-turvy nature of the world at large.

I had a birthday a few weeks ago, and all I asked for was just to chill out for a day or so. In the immortal words of Boss Nass: “peace!”

More specifically:

—TRIALS OF THE JEDI has a full draft. I am extremely pleased with it, although it needs the typical trimming and tweaking any first draft does. It’s extremely challenging to try to offer up endings for so many characters and plot lines. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to do it all by myself, as the other finale projects from Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Daniel Jose Older and Justina Ireland do their share of the lifting too. That said, TRIALS provides endings for well over a dozen characters plus a bunch of plot. I’m not sure I’m going to talk about it too much more between now and release, because this is the phase where the magic happens; the tight little edits and last-minute adjustments. I don’t want to mess with that alchemy. I posted a photo of my printout of this draft (I always do a markup in hard copy) on social media and it got a lot of attention - I know you folks are excited for this book, and I am too. In the immortal words of Boss Nass, “we are all the Republic.”

—I’m working on my return to superheroes - my first work in that space since, I believe, Return of Wolverine in 2018-2019 There’s another project I’ve been working on for about four years that’s also in the superhero world, but this new thing is different. The first thing is sort of a one-off (though AWESOME and special) while this is an actual run on a character. It’s a new one for me, and complicated. I’m about to buy my dedicated notebook for it, though, which means it’s real. It’s interesting to get back into that headspace. For a while, after writing superheroes for almost a decade, they stopped seeming “real” to me. I was reluctant to get back into it at all unless I felt I had something to say. With this new thing (and the other long-in-the-works) project, I’m pretty sure I do. You’ll see both in what seems like early 2025.

—I also have another ongoing that will launch in early 2025, which is another project revolving around characters I don’t own but I’m excited for. I’m working on the first script for that one today.

—I’ve also got the start of the new thing from Ryan Browne and me (which we originally though we’d bring out this fall but have shifted gears on, which is actually kind of a blessing since we’ve both been swamped with other work.) You’ll hear much more about that in the next update or two. Keep your eyes on NYCC.

—The third Shrouded College story, THE COLD WITCH, has two issues drawn. It’s super cool - the threads of the larger story Will Sliney and I are telling is knitting together, and I’m very excited for people to be able to see it exist as a bigger tale as opposed to a series of shorter stories (although it’s that too.) It’s set largely in a place called Urkutsk, Siberia, notorious for being the coldest inhabited urban(ish) location on the planet. Researching that place has been fascinating. VERY intense place to live. THE COLD WITCH #1 should land in early 2025.

—If you’re an UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY fan, I hope you enjoyed the wrap-up to the fifth arc, Issue #30, which landed last week. I co-write that book with my longtime friend Scott Snyder, and he and I are both… well, it can be tough for our schedules to line up. We have one more arc on that book before we’re done, and we intend to start writing it in October. That means we’ll be back with Issue #31 in, you guessed it, early 2025.

—Sooner than that, though, is STAR WARS #50, the big wrap-up of my five years on that title. I’ve proofed the whole issue. It’s a fifty-page epic, basically a mini graphic novel, and I think you’ll love it. It’s got Luke Skywalker! Ben Solo! High Republic stuff! Prequel stuff! Sequel stuff! Original Trilogy stuff! It’s really got it all - my love letter to Star Wars.

—I also have another love letter to Star Wars comics I’ll be writing next week. 

If you’ve been keeping count, that means in the first half of 2025, I have:

—new superhero thing #1
—new superhero thing #2
—another new non-superhero comic
—the new book from Ryan Browne and me
—the next Shrouded College story
—the Undiscovered Country final arc
—TRIALS OF THE JEDI
—Assorted additional bits and bobs.

Depending on how things go, there could be some other things happening that would make you feel like I’m burying the lede, but since they aren’t locked-in yet, I’m just going to say that I’m hopeful and leave it there.

PUTTING IT ALL OUT THERE

San Diego Comicon looked fun, eh? I wasn’t (too) sad to miss it, but I’m glad so many of my friends had a great time out there. It feels like things are beginning to ramp up again after the pandemic and the strikes and all of it, which can only be a good thing. I haven’t been doing much in the way of appearances this summer, but that will shift in August - I have three.

AUGUST 1 - I will be at the very cool Bibliotheque in NYC’s beautiful Soho neighborhood to help my good friend Marc Guggenheim bring his latest novel to the world, IN ANY LIFETIME. I'll be "In Conversation" with him, and my understanding is that there will be wine. Would love to see you out. Tickets are available here.

AUGUST 16-18 - I’ll be attending the awesome Terrificon convention in Connecticut. I’ve done this one before and it’s always a great time, not least because it’s located at a casino resort, which means plenty of fun post-show socializing - and there’s a Frank Pepe pizza joint right there in the place. Can’t beat that.

AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 2 - DragonCon in Atlanta! I’ve never done this show but have always wanted to. It sounds like a gigantic celebration of pop culture in the same vein as San Diego Comicon, but where that’s corporate-focused, this is more homegrown and homespun. I have friends going who go every year and have told me (a) they’ll take me around and (b) I need to cosplay, which I generally don’t do… but there’s a first time for everything. (Also, holy hell this is a FIVE-DAY show. Pray for Mojo.)

That feels like a good amount of news for one update. Thank you for reading! In the immortal words of Boss Nass: “As always, replies are open for questions and comments.”

--CHARLES