Being an adult is weird. The older I get, the more I just feel like a bigger kid. I mean sure, I'm paying bills and making big decisions. But I'm also reading comic books, and I still look to the left and right before sneaking a chocolate chip cookie out of the pantry. Perhaps the biggest gap between my perceived and actual maturity levels comes in parenting. Today, I'm headed to a parent teacher conference. There will almost certainly be a moment where the teacher will tell me something very serious about my child, and I'll have to try REALLY hard not to just laugh at the stupidity of the moment. Do you find these types of moments in adulting to be as especially hard as I do? The other times adulting is hard are when I'm forced to let go of a comic in order to bolster my finances. It doesn't happen often, but I almost always regret it. Here's a list of my Top 5 biggest selling regrets. On The Podcast This week, I got to help shine a spotlight on the upcoming Resurgence of the Valiant Universe comic event. I interviewed Fred Van Lente and AJ Ampadu, two writers who have been instrumental in the most recent run of Valiant books that started in late 2023. Longtime Valiant fans will be happy to hear how much these new comics honor the history that has come before, and still use the continuity from the 2012 relaunch. More Reviews On The Way The last few months have felt like a big shift in the perceived legitimacy of Comics Are Dope. I'm working on articulating my thoughts better for next week's newsletter. But to put it simply, publishers seem to be picking up the proverbial phone when I call! Because of this, I have quite a few books I'll be reviewing in the upcoming weeks. A graphic adaptation of the James Lowen classic Lies My Teacher Told Me, Patrick Horvath's breakout Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, the amazing Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze OGN and a few upcoming Marvel trades as usual. I'm sort of struggling to determine the best avenue for these. Some will warrant standalone videos. Others could be given a loose theme and combined into list videos. Some I might only talk about in a blog post or social media spotlight. If you have a review format preference, please drop me a line and give some guidance. I'm all ears. Eyes. Whatever. I don't have a clever thought to end this e-mail with, so I guess I'll just sign off. Read Something Dope Today, BJ KICKS |
Celebrating everything Dope about comics. Curated by BJ KICKS.
Fun fact: I started typing this email nearly 2 weeks ago, back when I was still pretending I wasn’t dog tired and didn’t need a break after the whirlwind that was New York Comic Con. I crashed into a sleep coma the Tuesday after NYCC and left this message sitting in the drafts. In the week since, I’ve had a major auto repair, a surprise flat tire on my way to vote the next day, and had to put down my mom's family dog. And that was all AFTER the splitting headache that knocked me out last...
New York Comic Con 2024 has finally gone from thing I'm super nervous about to trip I'm SUPER excited for. And as I type this, I’m actually sitting at the gate, waiting to board my flight. I spent most of yesterday frantically packing my bags, then most of this morning putting the final touches on some videos that will premiere on the channel while I’m gone. Speaking of, here’s an early look at today’s video: Check out my NYCC Schedule, plus a look at what I’m bringing with me! I don’t fully...
New York Comic Con is a week away, and let's just say I don't feel prepared at all. I'm just wrapping my mind about the scope of it all, and doing my best to not give into feelings of overwhelm. On Friday, I'll be attending several private events, a few panels, and conducting at least 2 interviews on the convention floor. I'm doing my best to reserve Saturday to just explore Artist Alley and meetup with past guests like Morgan Hampton, Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Trevor Fernandes-Lienkiewicz....