It’s Pride Month! To celebrate, Vault Comics is partnering up with Gatecrashers for a Pride Charity Auction on June 29th. The auction will feature unique items from creators like Tom King, Steve Orlando, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and more. Additionally, the auction will feature a Harley Quinn poster signed by voice actors Kaley Cuoco and Lake Bell, a signed book from Patton Oswalt, and much more. All proceeds will support the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, which provides an inclusive and safe space for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the greater Philadelphia area. Following the success of their Hero Initiative fundraiser in honor of George Peréz, we can expect similar results with this auction. Pre-bidding opens on June 24th, so be sure to follow Vault on their Whatnot page.
The auction is the culmination of Vault’s Pride celebrations. They are also giving away a different LGBTQIA+ themed title, by LGBTQIA+ creators each week on their digital store for free as part of their UNBANNED initiative.
“PRIDE is as much of a protest as it is a celebration, an opportunity to shout and laugh and chant together. To assert that we will never be silenced, we refuse to be erased, we reject your bans, we’re not going anywhere, and our stories don’t just matter for a month, they matter forever and always, backward through history and forward into the future. Queer stories shape the world. We’ll never stop telling them.”
Titles included in this weekly promotion include Heathen, Submerged, Test, She Said Destroy, Queen of Bad Dreams, and Hollow Heart.
This month, Vault also shook up its offices with some big changes. David Dissanayake stepped into the role of Vice President of Sales & Marketing, stepping up from his previous role as Director of Sales & Marketing. Der-shing Helmer also had a big Vault announcement to make this month as she steps into the role of Managing Editor.
Can't believe I get to say something as cool as this: I'm thrilled to announce that I am the brand new Managing Editor of @thevaultcomics!!! 😭
Vault publishes my favorite kinds of comics made by ridiculously skilled and talented people… I can't wait to be a part of it! 💥💥💥 pic.twitter.com/Ni4DOnEyFk
— Der-shing 德馨 Helmer 💬🌵🥚🌸 (@shingworks) June 13, 2022
Vault’s books are often scoring high on various lists. This month, here’s Cultured Vultures including Resonant on their list of top 10 comics to read for Father’s Day.
Firsts and Faves
Vault has been pretty busy with initiatives this month, so we can forgive them for being a bit light on books. That just means more time for you to catch up on titles! Here are a couple of the books out since my last pubwatch that caught my attention.
Quests Aside #2
You know, I think I would appreciate learning more about the ins and outs of running a pub like Quests Aside, which is what we get for a few pages at the start of this issue. Barrow has to deal with patrons who come to do their business but don’t put a cent towards his, staff requesting time off, and a cook with lofty demands like maintaining a well-stocked pantry, as well as the personal problems of his staff. But as the issue — and Barrow’s issues — progress, we learn just why he decided to hang up his life of adventuring to do what seems to be mundane. Through humorous and heartwarming moments, juxtaposing bar fights against confessionals, we get a deeper look into Barrow’s life and easily come to understand his decision to face off against a king and former friend who wants to shut down Quests Aside.
Mindset #1
Everything, from parents, to politics, to education, influences our minds, and now, more and more, we have social media telling us what to do to the point where we really have to ask ourselves if there truly is any choice left to us. And then look to the internet to give us that answer… The irony is that Mindset, the app at the heart of this neuroscientific mystery, is meant to free us from all of that. Diving into the Matrix from the inside, writer Zack Kaplan skillfully takes us into the world of Ben, who definitely probably murdered his partner even though it wasn’t his fault. Slipping in and out of the story of his past and his non-confession, Kaplan paints us a picture of Ben’s Silicon Valley life and the lifestyle he’s skirted the edges of until he hits on the secret that will make his and his friend’s app succeed: mind control.
Artist John J. Pearson’s work calls to mind one of my faves, David Mack, particularly in the use of unusual patterns and the soft blending of brush and pencil strokes. But Pearson’s work is more firmly grounded in realism, with deft use of light in various forms — from stars to ceiling lights to computer screens — to shape a scene or a mood.
And then there’s Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s unique word balloons tying everything together as Ben introduces us to his life. His thoughts stray through his life in a stream, sometimes offering quiet lower case asides, with delicate strings attaching words to speakers, which, along with the flowing nature of Pearson’s art, adds to the ephemeral sensation of the story. We’re all so connected, yet so disconnected…
And poor Ben just wanted to save us from all of that…
