10. a cheese and crackers girl

overwhelmed by opportunity, I fall back on the basics once more

“Vivienne Westwood, The Sex Pistols, Seven Stars, coffee with milk and strawberry cake. And Ren flowers. Nana's favorite things never change. It was so cool for someone like me who keeps on changing their mind.”― Ai Yazawa, Nana, Vol. 2

I love change. It’s one of the few things I can decisively say I’ve loved for my entire life. (Loud music, black t-shirts. Cheese and crackers.) But change, in general, excites me. The first warm or cool breeze of a new season, the change in scenery that comes with travel, trying new things. Change is exciting, and I’m constantly changing things up in my life in new ways.

But even I can find the New Year overwhelming - as is often the way, when something you love to do for fun because something you do under pressure. Suddenly, my favorite game of trying new things, challenging myself in new ways, becomes something we’re expected to do out loud, with accountability.

Of course, you don’t have to. None of us do - for plenty of folks, January 1st isn’t when the real New Year starts anyway, and it’s all just another day the sun hopefully rises. But I love the energy it brings, the idea that we’re all rising from a long winter’s nap to rededicate ourselves to the kind of people we want to be. Some of my favorite resolutions are the kinds that are really low stakes - learn to catch a grape in your mouth, or read more, or whatever.

Last year I wanted to write down all of the books I read. It seemed incredibly easy to do in a year where I was inside a lot, and it proved incredibly fulfilling. I read something like 30 books in total (and an enormous amount of single comic issues) - not the most impressive number of all time, but looking back on it redoubled my desire to become accountable, better at something this year.

Y’all, looking down at that list felt good. All of the different pens and pencils, I could remember the glow or frustration that came with finishing something and adding it to my list. I remembered the books better. I remembered everything better, it seemed, and 2021 became a year where I wrote a lot of things down. In writing something down, you create an artifact of it. It feels like a use of resources - I’m honoring my reading by dedicating this piece of paper to it. Or something. It feels nice, is the point.

And there’s no better motivator for doing something than remembering how good the results of positive change feel, even when the work is hard. There’s an old chestnut I first read written down by Brian K. Vaughn - “Nothing feels worse than writing, nothing feels better than having written.” And it’s true about a lot of things. Changing yourself sometimes feels profoundly uncool, since it requires admitting you had things that you wanted to change, but hadn’t yet. And that sometimes begs the question - why didn’t you do it sooner?

All of this to say - I want to post here more. So I will, yeah? It requires a bit of changing - I am always thinking of things to write, but sharing them can be scary. Yeah, even for me, it’s scary.

But I hope you’ll stick around. Happy New Year.

(That’s me.)

Since I quit Facebook and Twitter, I get a lot of people really eager to seek me out and ask me questions about their favorite characters I’m working on. Not press, of course, but just fans who want to chat. They want to know what’s coming up, and can I put their favorite character in, and will I be doing things the way they’d like? A few words on that:

1. If you’re not press, I can’t and won’t answer that stuff for you.

I’m required to do a certain amount of press for my job. And I hate spoiling my own work. So everything I’m willing to say about a book before it’s out is in the press. And after it’s out…well.

I gotta be comfortable here. First and foremost, right? I want to be able to write here and tell you all what’s on my mind. And I can’t do that if I feel like the audience I’m talking to just wants to know if Gambit and Geraldine the Pop Tart Queen are gonna kiss soon, or why didn’t they kiss in the last issue, or whatever. I can’t feel like I’m at a donut counter taking requests, I gotta work, you know? So that brings me to part 2 -

2. If your comment makes me uncomfortable, I’m going to delete it.

Obviously, you guys are welcome to ask questions and interact about comic books here! That’s what this place is for. But if a comment crosses a line for what makes me comfortable here, and it feels like a demand about a character I don’t own, or an attempt at a story idea, it might get deleted. I’m not going to be mad, especially if it’s the first time. You’re welcome to stay so long as you’re not rude, and I don’t need any apologies. And ultimately, I can’t control what you do and if you want to ignore me, that’s your choice. But this is just a civil request for respect, and I’d be thrilled if folks would honor it. It would give me a lot of hope for the future.

Okay thanks let’s talk more fun stuff now!

Nothing! We’re still in that post-Excalibur-pre-Catwoman lull, but if you hadn’t heard yet, DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: BLOODSTONE comes out January 12th!

Hell yeah Nakayama cover

Ig Guera and I do a 30 pager full of gothic family drama and monster mashing. Even if you’re not on the DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE train, this is a blast of a one-shot that’s a must-read if you’re a fan of the Bloodstone fan. You know I love ‘em. Even Cullen. Gotta set that boy right.

Next post later this week, we’ll finally get into talking the END OF EXCALIBUR and the KNIGHTS OF X!

• Are you subscribed to James Tynion IV’s TinyOnion newsletter? James is a great writer who is clearly having a great time and kicking ass while doing it, and I find nothing more inspiring than that.

• I started reading Tokyo Tarereba Girls at my pal Chip’s suggestion and I’m obsessed. Also, my local izakaya are about to get 200% more of my business than they already do - Akiko Higashimura draws a beer and a plate of snacks like nobody’s business. Makes me peckish.

• I’ve read both of Aja Raden’s books recently, Stoned and The Truth about Lying and found them both really great, fun, fascinating reads. I love a no-nonsense lady historian.

• Lastly, Spencer Ackerman is really, really incredibly smart. He writes about incredibly smart geopolitical stuff that has shaped the world for your entire life, whether you know it or not. Go subscribe and broaden ya mind.

Stay weird. Talk soon. Love yourself.

1.03.22 4:44PM
-TH