Hey guys, it's Scott.
It is Friday, April 14th and I am making this recording as I'm walking through my neighborhood down to the beach just to move my body across the earth out in the air, in the sunshine, and actually feel things outside of the Phantom Zone of a Zoom room. But it's been an incredible two weeks in the room. We actually broke all of season one of Wytches. So we’re really head-spinning, really excited and proud of the work that was done there. The show is twisted and imaginative and dark and heartfelt and I'm really proud of it. We start breaking episodes probably next week, we might take a little more time on the season, but I really can't say enough good things about the work going on in this room and the people involved. So please, like, follow all of them support all of their projects. They're amazing.
But a couple quick housekeeping things. Thank you for all the kind words on Clear #2! It's out this week from Dark Horse. You haven't picked it up, it's a sci-fi/noir creator-owned book by me and brother Francis Manapul. I’m really proud of it. It imagines a future where everybody connects to the internet neurologically and then skins the world however they want. And it's a murder mystery in this future where the detective always keeps his setting on ‘clear’ and sees the world as it is.
Also Nocterra #13 came out this week. Thank you guys again for all the sweet things you said about it and for picking it up and keeping it going so strong at this point, we really appreciate it. If you're not reading that one, it's a creator-owned by me and Tony Daniel over at Image. It's our big ongoing, and it imagines a darkness covers the earth tomorrow and essentially turns every living creature into a monster called a ‘shade.’ The only way to avoid it is to stay lit, stay in some kind of artificial light, whatever you can manage, anything you can find to avoid becoming one of these horrible things. And it follows a group of truckers that's trying to save the world and bring back the sun. FOC for Issue #14 is this Monday (4/17), so make sure you don’t forget to pre-order your copy before the clock runs out!
I mean, life is good. The other big news that we had this week that I've been kind of dying to talk about is DSTLRY. The announcement of new publishing company by Chip Mosher and David Steinberger, formerly of Comixology.
The whole concept with it is that it's really creator friendly. I mean, the idea is to have a company, a publishing house that's creator-first and also owned by or shared ownership with creators themselves. So for me, it's sort of the natural progression of everything that I've been doing—working solely on licensed stuff in DC, starting to do my own stuff in the 2010s with Wytches and stuff outside of Warner Brothers ownership, then breaking away later in 2020 and being able to start my own imprint from my own work, I own those books with my co creators over Comixology and Dark Horse and Image, and then now actually be a part of a publishing house that has a kind of collective ownership with incredible creators that I love from people that I've worked with. These are people I consider family like James Tynion IV and Jock and Tula Lotay and many others to new people that I really admire and I'm just getting to know like Ram V and Stephanie Phillips.
So for me, being a part of something where creators actually have a share in the company was an incredible idea. Page rates are good, you have the rights to your own projects, you participate in all of that, and it's about making beautiful, really high end prestige books, And it’s also trying some new things in digital collectability also. No NFTs, no crypto stuff, but trying to create a marketplace where there are opportunities for creators to make things in their own ways that feel exciting and new. So I think everyone will find their own comfort level with it, do their own thing, but again, I can't tell you how many exciting ideas have been like, already popping up about projects people are planning on doing within DSTLRY. So it's really something I'm deeply, deeply honored to be a part of, excited to be a part of. And I hope you'll give it a shot! We have some amazing books lined up that we'll be announcing soon. All of us, meaning I have a couple but I also know what James is planning, what Jock is planning, and I can't wait for you guys to see. I think we're gonna roll out some really incredible stuff.
And the thing I wanted to talk about was priorities. Like at this point in my career, people asked me a lot like, “are you going to leave to do TV?” “Are you going to go back to DC?” “Are you gonna go to Marvel?” And there's kind of two driving forces that I kind of try and follow. One is creative freedom, creative excitement. So it's always about being the most exciting writer to yourself. Trying to go to the place is going to challenge you creatively and give you an opportunity to do books that really push you. Work with people that you feel are going to bring you to the next level, whether they're people that you trust because you've worked with them before to brand new people like Hayden Sherman over Wildfire (who I'm going to do more projects over there as well with them)…
…or new people like Valeria Favoccia over at Comixology on By a Thread, which is going incredibly well, coming out later this summer.
So it's a creative endeavor, it’s trying to find places that you'll look at playing it safe, you don't feel like you're playing it stale. You're not just doing the same thing over and over again. And it's always scary. But I'd say like, it's one of the first two rules of the class that I always teach. I always say in class that the first rule is write the comic that you'd like to find and pick up today that would make you happier than any other one to discover. And the second one is always trying to be the most exciting writer yourself. So it's part of that second rule. The other thing is trying to be a part of projects that you think have good effect on comics. Being a part of Comixology, the reason that we signed up there was really because A) you can have some creative ownership over the books with my co-creators, so we'd have control over them, but B) because we really believed in the idea that digital comics and print comics are synergistic and that right now they're held apart in a way that forces them into a competitive space. And I deeply believe that someone needs to crack that code.
While I am incredibly saddened to see that Amazon has reduced Comixology a lot and all that stuff, I'm glad that we were sort of at the tail-end of the books that we're doing there. So I almost feel badly that I'm so lucky, having kind of come in at a time when they were really robust and put up a bunch of projects and was able to basically complete all of them before things restructured. But at the same time, it's really hard because I believe in the whole idea that digital subscriptions and browsability will lead to more print purchases from people. I do it that way, my kids do it that way. We browse everything digitally, whether it's music, streaming shows. But the collectability, going to get a physical thing that you own, for me it comes from the browsability first. And it doesn't mean that you can't have print monthly comics at all, I believe in those hugely, I just think that there should be a better healthier ecosystem, where there's more access to more comics digitally, there's more original comics digitally, and then print becomes a space where you go to get the things that you love and you trust and all that. So that's why we were part of that.
Doing Dark Spaces over at IDW, I wanted to try creatively something that would be wholly non-supernatural stories, stories that were really dramatic and about character, people that are placed under pressure almost like in plays. But also, I believe in having a place like Dark Spaces, which also allows for the publication of books by new and up-and-coming creators under that umbrella, like Good Deeds coming out from my friend Che Grayson, who I think is incredible.
That is a good thing. It's a nice thing to do in comics. And so DSTLRY is similar for me, it's something that I believe in. I believe in the idea that creators having some part-ownership of a company, having creative freedom within that company, partnering with people that are going to allow them a lot of elasticity on their own books, a lot of elasticity on the kind of merchandise they want to sell, have an incentive and success-driven model where if a book is doing well, you share in the profits. All of that, that's good. It's a good space to create and comics. And Chip and David have been wonderful to me, first coming into Comixology and now here, so I believe in them as people and I believe in my fellow creators.
So again, I really hope you'll check it out. I'm incredibly thrilled and thankful to be a part of this thing with so many people I really love and trust and am inspired by. So I hope you'll follow it and go to the site and sign up for the email list. It'll be a while before I have anything coming out there. We'll have big announcements and all that soon. So you understand too, I am fully committed to finishing everything that I have on my plate first. So I've said that to everybody and it's very important to me never to break those kinds of promises. I feel like I've tried to go through my career being as transparent and honest as possible with those things. So here, there's no way that I would start a new book for a company without making sure all the books that I'm working on or closing down or in good shape and ahead, so don't worry about anything you're reading by me that you like. There's a bit of a delay on Book of Evil and a couple of the other things simply because of the writers room and it's taking a little bit more time and energy than I expected. But they're moving along and I promise we'll get them out and get them done soon.
Again, I can't thank you enough for this period of my life. Honestly, you guys are the best fans. I told you going to Chicago and seeing people show up the way they did and bring create our own books. The thing is I do get asked a lot “Are you going to go back to DC?” “Are you going to go to Marvel?” And the truth is, I absolutely would love to. I love DC and I love so much of Marvel as well. But I try and follow those two things I was telling you about, I want to go back when it's creatively really exciting, like there's a spot. I have ideas about when that could be, and what that shape could look like. But it has to be creatively, right. And also, I want to do it when I feel like it's something that I can contribute, where I can contribute something good for comics, do something that would bring people into stores in a way that would make it worth it on a different level as well. So everything's always on the table.
But for right now, being in this spot, getting to work on a show with Jock, have our work and expand it with people I love, making these books that I'm so fond of and I believe are some of the best things I've ever done, having ownership of those books with my friends, and having those books in development and so many different places. Right now we have six or seven books in development at different places like that. It's just living a dream that I owe to you guys. So thank you, again, for everything always. DSTLRY is just one more incredible chapter. And I promise the one thing I can tell you is like, I will never take it for granted. I will try my best to make the best stuff that I can for you as the only way I can say thank you. The only way I can say thank you is to give it 110% and make sure that everything I'm putting out feels like the best thing that I've done, or as good as the best stuff that I've done. So thank you guys again and we'll talk next week!
S
Newsletter #133: Stopping by the DSTLRY