Weekender: The Wild Frontier, The Oyster Tour, and Something New from Lucy Knisley

The week’s over! And with it we reach the final days of September --- which you've all done a dazzling job with, by all accounts. But while you’ve been off working and living and doing all those things that humans do, what have you missed in the world of comics? With Weekender, ComicsAlliance is here to give you a heads-up on some of the stories that you might have overlooked, and to showcase some great writing on comics for you to enjoy over buttery crumpets this weekend.

CONVENTIONS

Last weekend saw Small Press Expo take place in Bethesda, and it seems everybody who showed up had a good time. Especially notable was the sweep of the Ignatz Awards by women, which we reported on earlier this week. Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald's coverage of the show for Publishers Weekly also focused on the significant levels of female energy classing up the joint, while Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter offered his own account, delivered in a series of clatteringly entertaining bulletpoints.

SPX was also the launch point for a tour by cartoonist Ben Towle for his book Oyster War, a piratey adventure yarn. You can see the poster above, and dates and venues for the tour at his website.

Heidi MacDonald also caught that Bill Sienkiewicz has created a poster for the Locust Moon Festival taking place in Philadelphia this Halloween. No really --- it's actually being held the day of Halloween.

Chris Claremont will be there too, so hopefully there'll be a plethora of demon bears knocking about.

INDUSTRY NEWS

The Diamond Retailer Summit is currently underway in Baltimore, where huge swathes of people in ominous robes stand on a rarefied dais to explain the secrets of the pre-order system. One of the more interesting notes delivered by the chorus of cloaked retailers is news that Valiant's big crossover event storyline The Book of Death has shifted over 200,000 copies. That means Valiant is doing great business through comic stores, and that's good news for a publisher following the Marvel/DC model in a fashion that is reportedly... nice to work with.

Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading has unveiled the cover for Relish: My Life In the Kitchen creator Lucy Knisley's next graphic novel, Something New, which looks just like this:

The book is due in Spring 2016 from First Second. If you want more Knisley, you can read a post on her cover process over on her blog.

Another new pick-up that will be strutting your way in the future is Scarlet Traces from the thrillpowerhouse creative team of Ian Edginton and D'Israeli. Long out of print, these were originally published as webcomics with animation and all kinds of other tricks knitted into the narrative of the series. Happily we live in a world where all the good stuff eventually gets back into print, and Rebellion has announced plans to publish the first three volumes and head straight into a continuation of the series from the original creative team.

WEEKEND READS

Lisa Hanawalt has turned interviewer recently, and her most recent interviewee was Kate Beaton herself. You've... already clicked on the link, haven't you? I may as well close out this paragraph by nonchalantly whistling. On to the next item!

Is it bad form to say you should take a look at this piece from our own Ziah Grace looking at the incredible, vivid work of comics colorist Rico Renzi? Because hey, print out a giant sash that says "King of Bad Form" and garland me with it if so --- it's a great read.

A new piece by David Brothers is always worth your attention, and here he talks about a bad piece of reporting that we might all draw some lessons from, even if the lesson is just to be even an eighth as classy as David Brothers.

NEW AND UPCOMING RELEASES

Matt Taylor published the start of a cut-short comic he's been working on called The Wild Frontier. Although the comic isn't complete, it's still a remarkable piece, and well worth a look. There's a hint that we may get to see this recreated as a webcomic at some point in future, which is really just tremendously exciting and I'm jumping in my chair just at the thought of it.

Jake Wyatt's Necropolis, eh? It's reached the stage now where each new page is relentlessly gripping, with brilliantly realized writing and wonderful sequencing. This is some of the strongest comics work around right now, and it's playing out online where everyone can read it.

PODCASTS

Let's start here by sharing a new podcast from Bookriot, Get Booked. I'm sure I don't know what the title is alluding to; this is all super squeaky clean and lovely. The most recent episode features superior blogger Ardo Omer running down a few comics recommendations. If you're a smart person --- which I assume you are because we all know my audience is entirely made up of rare intellects --- you'll know to pay attention to anything Omer says.

But you're a voracious podcast fan, aren't you? You need a double-helping of delicious podcast excellence this week. So how about the most recent Inkstuds, which is a comics critics roundtable curated by Robin McConnell. Joe McCulloch, Zainab Akhtar and Tom Spurgeon make up the critics for an interesting hour of conversation. Come for the discourse, stay for the violent storm that breaks out halfway through and causes chaos.

AND FINALLY

Keegan Michael-Key, one half of the best comedy double-act this decade, recently spoke on Pete Holmes' podcast You Made It Weird about a surprising secret in his family tree. According to conversations he's recently had, he shares a father with none other than comics icon Dwayne McDuffie.

Talent runs through that family like no other. Have a great weekend!