September 2024 - TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY!
It’s Friday the 13th, which for me, to paraphrase the immortal Raul Julia in his Oscar-winning performance as M. Bison in Street Fighter (1994)… might as well be just another Tuesday.
Friday is Tuesday is Saturday is Monday is Sunday is—etc.
But all of this focused work is building up to 2025, which is looking like it will be the biggest year of my career. I’ll give you a quick rundown on what’s coming up a little further into this month’s installment, but let me drop some other news first.
BEER!
For those of you who haven’t ever been to a bar with me, I am a sophisticate. My preferred tipple is rye, usually in the form of a Manhattan or a Manhattan-like cocktail (old-fashioneds, boulevardiers and the like.) But I’m going to make an exception this month, because Ryan Browne and I made EIGHT BILLION GENIES – THE BEER!
Actually, I had nothing to do with it, although Ryan did design the label. The beer was created by our friends at Chicago’s famous Half Acre Beer Co, and will be available everywhere they sell stuff (which isn’t everywhere but does encompass a broad swath of the country) on September 18. It’s an 8% double IPA, which my beer-swilling reprobate pals assure me will be quite a powerful and tasty concoction.
I would love to be able to put this on the webstore and get it out to those who might be interested, but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal and I’ve tangled with enough G-men in my time as it is.
Ryan and I badly wanted to arrange a shindig at New York Comicon to debut this stuff (which would also have included a live performance of the CURSE WORDS CONCEPT ALBUM,) but we couldn’t get it together in time. NYCC is next month – aka imminent. That said, C2E2 next April feels like it could work really well too – but that is the weekend before Star Wars Celebration Japan, so… that would be an intense few weeks. But so what? If I have to burn myself down to a cinder in service of doing awesome stuff… SO BE IT.
NEW STUFF ON THE STORE!
I’ve added a few items to the Soule Store for those looking for new things for your ever-growing collection of “things Charles made” (click here or on any image below to head on over):
--the collected edition of the second Shrouded College story, THE BLOODY DOZEN (aka “space vampires prison break”) with gorgeous art from Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque, colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, inks by Crank! and covers by Will Sliney. The first trade’s up there too, for HELL TO PAY, so this is a good chance for you to get caught up on the Shrouded College world before the third story, THE COLD WITCH, drops in 2025. Shrouded College books are designed to be read in any order, so choose whichever grabs you.
--all three editions of the CURSE WORDS CONCEPT ALBUM! This is the full-length rock opera I composed, performed and recorded based on the comic series from Ryan Browne and me. The red and blue ones are limited-edition fancy colored vinyls, which is why they’re priced higher, but all of them have all ten tracks, about 48 minutes of kickass evil wizard pop-rock. (These are the editions from the Kickstarter, although without all the bells and whistles and extras folks who backed that project could get.)
LATER, STAR WARS, WOULDN'T WANNA BE YA!
None of the above is true, although this week did see the release of the final issue in my lengthy run on the flagship STAR WARS title for Marvel Comics, which I believe is the longest run by a single writer on the title (certainly since the 2014 relaunch.) I did issues 1-50, plus twenty issues of tie-ins as well as some other business here and there (Free Comic Book Day stories, etc.)
Issue #50 is on shelves now, a special fifty-plus page extravaganza with astonishing art from Madibek Musabekov, colors by Rachelle Rosenberg and letters by Clayton Cowles. It’s designed as a short graphic novel tale that can be read independently of the rest of the run but also works as a thematic sum-up to the things I tried to do.
I reached out to some Star Wars luminaries to get their reactions to the issue, and wanted to feature two here:
“There are times when external pressures become so extreme that some might consider maintaining one’s moral center to be a luxury. Charles Soule’s astonishing Star Wars #50 makes the point that at such times, morality becomes more necessary than ever; we must live as we want all others to live. A tour-de-force.” – Chewbacca (translated from Shryiiwook)
“Right fuckin’ on, brah! This is the good shit.” – Artoo Detoo (translated from binary)
Issue 50 is in stores now – I do hope you’ll check it out, or any of my run. I’m extremely proud of all of it. And to those who seemed surprised, even non-plussed, even, dare I say upset at the number of wild and amazing things that happened to Luke, Leia, Lando and the gang between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi… I’m sorry you got so many awesome stories. I’ll do better next time.
THE NEXT BOOK FROM RYAN BROWNE AND ME...
…was announced on our spotlight panel at DragonCon. We wanted to make it special for the people who were there – we even gave away beautiful signed prints to folks (it was a pretty packed house, too!) Immediately talking about it on socials and such would have spoiled some of the magic. That said, I can tell you that the book will launch from Image Comics in January, and we will absolutely be doing a big push for it at New York Comicon. Watch this space for updates there. We are extremely proud of this book and what it does and how it works as a thematic follow-up to EIGHT BILLION GENIES. We think you’ll love it.
Also at DragonCon – I did a wide-ranging interview with Alex Damon of the huge Star Wars Explained YouTube channel, which includes a lot of chat about TRIALS OF THE JEDI and that you can see here. (Look closely, by the way… there may be a hint in there about things I mentioned in the preceding paragraph!)
DragonCon was a bonkers convention. I loved it, but it sure did wear me out. Constant eye-candy in the form of elaborate and clever cosplay everywhere, many parties and shindigs, parades, super-awesome fans… I loved it and recommend it, but brace yourself. Some images that absolutely don't do it justice:
Terrificon in Connecticut was excellent too, by the way – among other really cool things, I got to hang out with Ron Garney to reflect on our Daredevil run together and the way it’s being embraced these days. I sure have signed a bunch of our Daredevil #11s in the last few months! How about that!
NEXT UP...
I was going to end this note with a quick rundown of all the wild things I have coming out in the first half of 2025, but then I looked back at my last update and realized I already sort of did it back then. So, just look at that. It's a LOT, and it could arguably double if some of the other things I have in the works come together. You should get more news about at least some of it at NYCC.
2023 and 2024 have felt like a few years of repositioning, of building up an archive of material… and now I feel like I’m one of those actors who shoots four movies over four years but they all somehow seem to get released in the same six-month period. Hope you guys don’t get sick of me.
Until next time, I remain…
--Charles Soule
P.S. Replies are open for comments and questions, as always!