It's a milestone week here in Dope Land. I woke up to two bits of exciting news on Tuesday. First, our audience grew to 18,000 subscribers on YouTube! I've set a goal in my head to reach 20k by November. But the truth is, the number only matters to me as much as I'm bringing joy to the person on the other end of it. That any singular person chooses to spend time listening to what I have to say about an artist's words and pictures will always be mind blowing to me. That makes the next...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Yesterday, I posted a video updating the general public about what I've been up to lately. If you read this briefing regularly, you already know. I'm busy being a family man, yada yada yada. But I also hinted a bit at some things to come on the channel. I've been searching for ways to include more book reviews in my heavily compressed schedule, and I think I've found just the trick in YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Look, Ma! I'm in 16x9 format! While I've been hesitant to join the...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Long time no newsletter, huh? It's been one of those months. Field trips. Recitals. Graduations. I haven't had a weekend without a calendar event since Easter Sunday. The last time we talked, I told you I was going back to my day job the following Monday. It makes sense that I haven't had the time to type out an update since. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's called SUMMER VACATION! Nothing says "I had a day off" like St. Louis ribs cooked for 5 hours. Yes, it's a random...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
My favorite retail holiday is just a few short days away, and I'm excited about it! Since you're a die-hard who subscribes to the e-mail list, I'll spare you the full story for an 18 millionth time. But Free Comic Book Day is what got me into comics 6 years ago, and it's probably the best chance we have all year to add new fans to our numbers. Besides being a fun, family friendly way to spend your Saturday morning; Free Comic Book Day also gives established readers their first glimpse at...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Not long ago, I wrote about a series of "Dope Comics With Something to Say." As a general rule, I love it when comic creators find a way to put real world perspectives in the pages of funny books. After all, learning through literature has been a thing since we were sitting in a circle hearing Mother Goose rhymes. But a few recent reads have had me flip-flopping on my position a bit, and now I'm scratching my head trying to articulate myself. I already told you how I felt about Tom King's...
2 months ago • 2 min read
These days, I'm not spending as much time in front of the camera. But the consolation prize is I get to spend more time talking comics in other forums, like our Discord community. Last week, someone asked everyone for their Top 3 comics on the pull list at the moment. After thinking about it for a while, I came to a shocking conclusion. Comics have been in a great place for the past 18 months or so. We've got the Energon Universe at Skybound, the Ultimate Universe at Marvel, and the Absolute...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Spring Cleaning isn't fun. It's especially not fun when you just moved, and you're not really cleaning. Instead, I'm finally unpacking the last 15% of boxes in the house. Stuff we didn't need at all right away, that I now have to find a good place in the house for. Thankfully, we finally bought a minivan, so the inevitable trips to Goodwill and the local trash dump will be that much easier. I've got less than 4 weeks until I have to return to my day job, and I'm determined to have a catalog...
3 months ago • 4 min read
This weekend was pretty productive for me. Besides typing this newsletter days early, I also organized all the Marvel comics I've been piling up since the move and redeemed the digital codes I'd left sitting. I started to read the X-Manhunt event, but opted to pick up Bitter Root: The Next Movement #1 instead. How good was it? Let's just say I spent an extra $4 for a digital copy, just to show you this spread: Sanford Greene just doesn't play fair. This issue didn't disappoint at all. It...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Yesterday, I learned I was a recipient of the 2025 Comics Criticism Mini Grant. Each year, Tiffany Babb, her family and a small group of donors accept applications for those doing work in comics criticism in print, audio or video. Each awardee (determined by the number of donations) receives $250 to further the work they do in comics. When I saw the Google Form reposted on my feed via Greg Pak, I figured I’d take a shot in the dark. I never thought I’d win, but at least I would expose my work...
3 months ago • 2 min read