Been a minute since I’ve been particularly intentional with the newsletter. It’s been a slow start to the year in terms of writing, generally. We’ll make it through. I find I manage to write a bit more during baseball season, when the games are on and I don’t have to pay too much attention to anything else. At least, in theory, when the Phillies aren’t making me mad. So if this April keeps up the trend of the first four games this is going to be a disaster for my productivity.
This week, though, writing was done! Perhaps the most writing anyone has ever done about sprite comics? Before my son was born, I mentioned I was working on making my way through the Mega Man sprite comic BOB AND GEORGE, and even previewed some thoughts…Well. I finally finished the full endeavor, and wrote about this seminal piece of internet history. Today (April 1st) is the 24th anniversary of its first strip.
Read it on the full site. I am excited to share it. The strip was a big part of my adolescence.
Random Comic Panel of the Week
Over on Patreon, I’ve got a new review for the delightful new BOOM! Studios Book, I Heart Skull-Crusher. You can read a preview of the full thing here.
Patreon Review Preview: I HEART SKULL-CRUSHER
After reading her work on The New Champion of Shazam, I knew that Josie Campbell was a writer to keep an eye on. I was sold on checking out her new BOOM series with artist and cocreator Alessio Zonno, I Heart Skull-Crusher , based purely on her name and the dynamic, primary color cover. This first issue is a frenetic, poppy adventure through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Here and in Shazam, Campbell's characters are effortlessly charming. Trini is determined and quirky, an orphaned nobody in the wastelands of what was once America. Campbell's script turns underdog conventions on their head, taking a familiar setup of the unassuming dreamer and making her a frantic, unbalanced obsessive who speaks to the skulls of her deceased parents. Campbell pulls back just enough on the quirkiness, allowing Trini to recognize the strangeness and gives us an emotionally vulnerable glimpse into the person beneath the bubbly determination.
The story of I Heart Skull-Crusher focuses on Trini's quest to become a professional Screaming Pain-Ball player and join her idol Skull Crusher's team. A new tournament offers the opportunity to make her dream come true, and she sets out on a journey to recruit a team of whatever bruisers and crooks she can find.
Read the full review on Patreon
That’s it for this week.
I am looking into options for leaving Substack for this newsletter. It was a fun experiment but handling multiple dashboards and libraries for writing is a pain in the butt and Substack’s a bit of a dumpster fire in terms of…Its existence. I think WordPress might have tools for consolidating everything I’m trying to do here, on Patreon, and the main website. Hopefully you’ll stick around and/or not notice any difference.