Isolation: Day 165

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine have a new record out this fall on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, and if We Created Putin is any indication, Tea Party Revenge Porn will be the musical reaction of the trump years I have been waiting for.

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NCBD: It is a very good thing I went in and picked up the three weeks worth of books in my Pull last week, because this week's NCBD has the biggest haul in a while. Let's start with the return of one of my all-time favorite books:

It's been a minute since Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses #41, but I do not begrudge David Lapham the time off. On the contrary, this is one of the hardest working men in comics, so I'm one hundred percent behind the occasional hiatuses he takes. That said, it's good to have Beth, Orson, and the crew back! 

New Locke and Key, you say? Yes, I only just read the entire original series at the end of last year/beginning of this one, but I'm definitely in on this two-issue series, especially because it leads to a Locke and Key/Sandman crossover later this year. Can't wait for that!

I'm still a bit on the fence with That Texas Blood, however, I plan on going back and re-reading issue one before plowing into two and now three. 

Bliss number one made a pretty big splash with me, and I'm anxious as hell to see how the story continues.

The Plot returns with issue six this week. I love this return to the Ancestral Horror genre, so much so that I penned the first installment of my new "A Most Horrible Library" column on TheHorrorVision.com. Read it HERE, and watch for future installments to go back to a video format similar to my 2017 Evolution of the Arm series. I don't really have the time to write a regular column at the moment, but with a Video Column, I get to work with K again - she shoots and helps design the look of the show - so that'll alleviate me putting another project solely on myself.

 The best thing about picking up all your books after they've been out for a few weeks is that, such as is the case with TMNT, I literally just read last month's issue a few days ago, so the story is still fresh in my mind. This series has been a consistent succession of awesome evolutionary moments for a lot of the characters in the TMNT universe that might have gone stagnant in a lesser series. Case in point, last month we got this:

I don't know if that makes anyone else out there as happy it does me, but I'm excited as hell to see more of "Leatherkrang!"

See what I mean? That's A LOT of books for one Wednesday! Feels good.

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Playlist:

Thou - Heathen

A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head

Santogold - Eponymous

Drab Majesty - The Demonstration

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Card:

This one keeps coming up of late, and as I surmised on 8/20 when the Princess of Disks came up last, a signpost on the logic/emotion tug of war it's been reentering the Shadow Play world. Big breakthrough two days ago, not much since. But I've been a bit lost in my head, and reluctant to dig into the dirt and really start laying the foundation in prose. Time to pony up.

2019: July 31st El Gigante now on Shudder!!!

Super psyched for Luchagore Productions' short film El Gigante to hit Shudder! This one needs to be seen by more people. If you dig it, check out Luchagore's website, youtube channel, as well as Culture Shock, their entry into the Blumhouse/Hulu anthology series Into the Dark. And if you have Shudder, El Gigante is live now, so brace yourself.

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NCBD this week sees the release of the final issue of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang's mind-bending, hellofagoodtime Paper Girls. I can't wait to see how this one resolves...

And if you haven't already heard, we're apparently getting a pretty big surprise in the fourth part of TMNT: City at War. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's kind of a big thing for long-time fans of the four:

NCBD has been light for me of late, as like Paper Girls, quite a few series I've read for years have ended (some rather unexpectedly), and I've eliminated others that had, for whatever reason, grown stale for me. It's weird, not having a bunch of books to look forward to every month, but I'm trying like hell to resist adding new ones after that existential crisis a month or so back. In most cases, comic chastity has become easy. In others, however, restraint takes work. Case in point; two weeks ago in his weekly newsletter, Warren Ellis announced that he and Bryan Hitch are doing a year-long, monthly Batman series, Batman's Grave.

I know, right?

Batman's Grave #1 drops October 9th, and it will be oh so difficult not to buy it monthly. I may end up doing just that, except, Ellis reads much better as a trade. Not to say the issues are bad, however if trying to read his Wildstorm monthly and eventually switching to trade (one left that's out November 9th) reminded me just how awesome Ellis reads in collected volumes. Night and day. Plus, no fucking ads. I will try to keep this in mind come October 9th, "Wait for trade Wait for trade Wait for trade..." my mantra...

Here's the only real image DC has released so far, aside from what look like some unfinished B&W stuff floating around out there on the comic news sites.

Playlist from 7/30:

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Soundgarden - Superunknown
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
The Jesus Lizard - Lash EP
Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land
Cibo Mato - Stereotype A
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox

Card of the day:

This looks like good news to me. After a five or six day streak last week working on Ciazarn, building momentum that seemed to really help me crack into the tone of the story, I had to take Sunday off to attend a benefit for a friend. That break in the inertia that had begun to bring things on the project together was a set-back. This is how it is, especially when writing in the early stages of something not yet fully developed. Monday was another wash, and then yesterday I started over. And of course, that first day back on is anything but productive; it's really just breaking fresh ground to begin building momentum again. So seeing the "Breakthrough" card, well, it makes me feel good about what's coming.