Loyal readers, let me give you a piece of advice: if you must have a day-job, try not to have one that involves constant three-hour drives to rural Ohio hospitals. Even more importantly, if you must do work that involves long drives and overnight trips to rural Ohio, definitely don’t leave your overnight bag containing your clean clothes, meds, and computer at home. It makes for a miserable day at work, and, worst of all, without a computer you can’t write your weekly new column!
Not that this has ever happened to me and is definitely NOT the reason Incredible Indie Tuesday had a skip week or anything. Just a friendly piece of advice from your definitely not forgetful columnist!
Anyway, onwards to news! Did you hear that Snowpiercer is getting a TV adaptation? Interestingly enough, the article makes it clear that screenwriter Josh Friedman intends to adapt the 2013 film, which was itself an adaptation of the original French comics by Jean-Marc Rochette and Jacques Lob. Yet there’s no mention of the comics at all in the announcement! Hollywood, you’re so weird. To his credit, Friedman did The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which is by all accounts an awesome re-imagining of the Terminator mythos, so it seems like he’s a good fit for making a Snowpiercer series. Even if the original comics creators aren’t getting proper credit from Hollywood, this is good timing for the new Snowpiercer comic hitting in the spring.
It feels like Valiant announced the second Doctor Mirage miniseries ages ago but it’s finally hitting shelves next month. Maybe it’s because this is the only Valiant book I read, but, seriously, I think the publisher’s had about five cross-over events in the time The Death Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives has been in the works. Judging by writer Jen Van Meter’s intriguing interview and the preview pages of Roberto De La Torre’s art, it’ll be worth the wait. Ghost husbands! Who doesn’t want to read a book about a cool lady dealing with being a small business owner and having a ghost husband?
Speaking of cool-looking books I’m on tenterhooks about, how great is it that Sophie Campbell’s Wet Moon is being re-released? I first discovered Campbell’s art in Glory and she has received tons of well-deserved accolades for her work on the new Jem book this year. These new editions of Wet Moon are the perfect opportunity for new Campbell fans, myself included, to discover her older work. Plus, the Kickstarter for a color copy of her webcomic Shadoweyes is still going!
I’m thrilled to see Youth in Decline’s announcement of its 2016 line-up of zines from notable alternative comic creators. Plus they’ll be doing another yearly subscription model! As someone who doesn’t get to many conventions and thus misses out a lot on the small-press/minicomic scene, Youth in Decline’s zine subscription option is a godsend. Getting lovely little works from people like Jillian Tamaki and Michael DeForge in my mailbox is the height of delight. I’ll make sure to highlight this once the 2016 subscription options open up later this month.
Last up, the world of digital comics just got a little more interesting with Archie Comics’s recent announcement of a separate Archie Comics app, which will include an unlimited digital subscription model as well as individual issue purchases. I’ll be interested to see if Archie Comics finds success with its all-access subscription model, since, as far as I know, Marvel’s the only other publisher that has an unlimited subscription model. But then, Marvel Unlimited app is six-months behind on new releases to entice people into still picking up books monthly. It’s not clear if Archie Comic’s subscription model will have that same limitation, which might seriously cut into the potential audience considering their big Archie relaunch is the main draw.
