FREE PLANET: debut issue available now

Advance reviews, bibliography links, and hiding your light under a bushel

This week:

• The Shape of Comics to Come is finally here

• Los Angeles signings TONIGHT and this weekend

• On creating the work you want to see

• More glowing Free Planet reviews

• Brand-new video interviews

• Links to my bibliography posts

But first…

Free Planet #1: SOLD OUT!

First and foremost: Don’t panic. If you call ahead, you can likely still pick up copies of Free Planet #1 at your local comic shop or oven move fast and pre-order the first six from my friends at Collector’s Paradise. But at the distributor level, Free Planet #1 is completely sold out with a second printing on the way. Even if you miss out on the now sold out first printing, you’ll still be able to get a copy of Free Planet #1 with the poster image below as a cover!

Selling out of a brand-new, creator-owned comic before it has even gone on sale is absolutely massive and I couldn’t be more pleased. Of course, the downside is that some people who want the book might have a harder time getting their hands on it. This is why it’s so important to not only pre-order with your local comic shop but set up a subscription list; that way, you can be sure not to miss a single issue of your new favorite ongoing series.

Hiding your light under a bushel

I’ve worked in comics – in one capacity or another – for my entire adult career; in the words of my Uncle Howard, I’m a “comic book man.” However, a few years back, despite a body of work of which I remain extraordinarily proud, I came to a realization: I hadn’t been doing the type of work I wanted to see.

This was the origin of what would become Free Planet. A complete rethinking of my methodology. The Approach. The Shape of Comics to Come.

I love comics. The only thing I love more than talking about them? Writing them. When I write comics, it’s a joy, an absolute pleasure. An opportunity to tell a story, to collaborate with incredible talents, to create, together, a visual experience that would have been impossible alone. So, I kept it fun; I took the clearest, most direct path to making an outstanding, enveloping art object.

And it worked. The one thing everyone agrees about is this: My books always look incredible. I work with the best artists, full stop. I set out to – above all else – write stories that were relentlessly visual and played to my cocreators’ strengths. Together, we did our best version of the de rigueur vision of comics; it was fun and it was easy.

But it wasn’t sufficient. My work was and continues to be loved intensely by a loyal, dedicated and engaged audience (i.e., YOU) but I felt stymied. For a host of reasons known and unknown, I wasn’t getting the opportunities I wanted. Fully aware that many of those reasons were outside my control, I decided to focus on the one that was completely up to me: The quality of my work.

In a ruthless assessment, I discovered something utterly devastating in its implications: The work I love most is dense, idiosyncratic, challenging, ambiguous, complex, rewarding of careful reading, rumination and revisiting. But my work, as much as I continue to be incredibly proud of it, simply wasn’t measuring up to that exceptionally high bar.

Because I loved comics so much. Because I prioritized visual excitement above all else. Because I wanted to make so many, because I made them so quickly. I made books that were funny and fun, beautiful and deliberately crafted. I made it part my public persona, the “gorgeous, gonzo, genre comics.” The huckster, the bro, the guy who loves wrestling and fight anime and big muscles. I leaned in. I got entirely too comfortable and people were all too willing to write my work off as silly, slight, ephemeral.

I knew I could do better. More importantly, I decided I would do better. I started from a fundamental idea and end goal: Comics that function as not just art object but literature as well. Research, planning, development, an entirely new approach to writing comics. True Comics. Comics designed to be held, pored over, returned to, capable of saying things, of expressing ideas, in ways that could only be possible, in this, the finest artistic medium known to man.

Free Planet is a big swing for the entire team and big swings are never guaranteed. There’s nothing else like Free Planet, which is what made it a risky proposition. But – based on already selling out of a print run that absolutely trounced my previous record, astounding early critical acclaim, and unflagging encouragement from so many of you – Free Planet is also exactly what people are looking for.

After so much work, so much thought, planning and deliberate care, Free Planet #1 is finally in stores. The entire creative team put the work in, creating something rich, challenging and unusual. That something so unique even exists is a humongous win; that the response is so enthusiastic is overwhelming. Thank you for your support, patience and faith.

I can’t wait to hear what you think about the Shape of Comics to Come.

Signings, signings, signings

If you live in Los Angeles, I’d love to see you tonight, Wednesday, May 7 from 5 to 7pm at Collector’s Paradise NoHo, where Jed Dougherty and I will be joined by Chris Moreno for a signing extravaganza. Not only will the first 20 people in line get a FREE Free Planet poster, but you can take advantage of a slew of deals:

• FREE Free Planet poster for the first 20 people in line

• FREE Free Planet #1 with the purchase of The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling

• FREE Chris Moreno sketch with the purchase of The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling and Stoned Master #1

• FREE Jed Dougherty sketch with the purchase of a Free Planet Signature Series and the Savage Hearts graphic novel

Jed and I will be back at Collector’s Paradise NoHo on Saturday, May 10 from 11am to 1pm, as part of the shop’s month-long Free Comic Book May celebration.

Or, come see Jed and I later on Saturday, May 10 at the Universal City Walk Things From Another World from 2 to 4pm.

Live somewhere else but have a burning desire to get signed copies of Free Planet? Tell your local comic shops and conventions that you’d love to see Jed and me there!

Exploring Free Planet'‘s bibliography

For the past few months, I’ve been giving readers of this newsletter a peek at my extensive research; digging into my bibliography and its influence on the Shape of Comics to Come. Here’s a list of what I’ve covered so far:

• Hugh Thomas’ The Spanish Civil War

• David Graeber & David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything

• C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins

• Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China

• Leon Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution

New interviews

I always have fun doing interviews. An opportunity for me to hold court about my work? What’s not to like? But this interview with Bearded Comic Bro was particularly rewarding due to how deep in the weeds we got on Free Planet. We cover how I fell in love with comics and my winding path through the industry before delving into all the very specific work and research that went into forging the Shape of Comics to Come.

Next up, a special treat for long-time Aubrey fans. I’ve known Justin Robert Young for a distressingly long period of time, going all the way back when we were both part of the expanded wrestling podcast universe. These days, Justin hosts the incredible Politics Politics Politics podcast and was kind enough to welcome me on to discuss Free Planet. This is a less comics-focused interview, in which we cover, among other things, why revolutionaries don’t make good leaders and my half-baked theories on what makes voting a consumer act.

More Free Planet reviews

I’ve always made my comics to be read but the Shape of Comics to Come goes further, with work expressly designed to be studied, ruminated over, discussed and revisited. That’s why I’m so overjoyed by how deeply people are engaging with Free Planet. Above, Matthew Sardo & Anthony Composto embark upon a 20-minute discussion of Free Planet, including a detailed panel-by-panel breakdown of the first five pages.

Then, the Next Issue Podcast puts Free Planet into the context of my larger ouevre, along with an examination of the book’s gorgeous, awe-inspiring spreads. Both reviews are spoiler free, so you can watch safely even if you haven’t made it to the comic shop yet!

The Work of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Fact

Exceedingly kind words from Oliver

This past week, Oliver Bateman – with whom I trained for my podcast gauntlet with a must-listen installment of his own show – said some overwhelmingly thoughtful and generous things about my work. In his latest newsletter, “The Work of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Fact,” he places me, my work, and approach alongside that of absolute giants of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. But even outside of putting me over, this essay, like everything Oliver writes, is well worth your attention, exploring the common pitfalls into which so much contemporary speculative fiction falls.

NEXT WEEK: Having been running exceptionally hard lately, I’m looking for an easy newsletter week, consisting primarily of links to reviews and interviews. But of course, if you have questions, I’d love to answer them; drop me an email.

Please note: No questions about Lutherian history will be answered in this newsletter; they must be sent to Dr. Aldous Foyroushi.

Aubrey