The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘But Who Elected Them’ Edition

Well, how’s your week been? Yep, exactly. Anyway, settle back, it’s time for the Sunday Spotlight…

Well, the election didn’t exactly pan out the way a lot of us thought, did it? Which means, if you’re anything like me, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster week… here’s a particularly relevant bit of Alan Moore and David Lloyd‘s V For Vendetta...

.

Joe Sacco’s War On Gaza webcomic getting a necessary print release from Fantagraphics… 17 December…

As the ongoing conflict/war in Gaza between Israel and Palestine draws in the rest of the world and brings us way too close to a bigger war in the Middle East, cartoonist Joe Sacco felt obligated to comment in some way. After all, he had history covering events there in the best-selling Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza. So, he launched into The War on Gaza, originally serialised on The Comics Journal’s website here.

Well, now Fantagraphics have announced the collection will get its ling-awaited release on 17 December, talking about it this way…

‘A timely satirical broadside on Israel’s genocidal campaign against Gaza by the most acclaimed comics journalist working today.
Joe Sacco is well known as an unflinching chronicler of the injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people (Palestine, 1993; Footnotes in Gaza, 2010). He continues this mission with War on Gaza, a series of graphic commentaries on Israel’s rampage that began more than a year ago and continues relentlessly today.

‘Published in installments on The Comics Journal’s website, War on Gaza is a series of comics and single-panel illustrations that lay bare the naked immorality of the “war” itself and its dire and tragic consequences. Employing his trademark combination of honesty, compassion, and dark humor, Sacco’s War on Gaza is an uncompromising critique of Israel’s genocide and the complicity of President Joe Biden and the United States.’

.

Patrick McDonnell – Breaking The Chain & The Super Hero’s Journey – the exhibitions – Arts Council Of Princeton – 16 November – 7 December…

Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutts, has two forthcoming exhibitions at the Arts Council of Princeton, New Jersey, both running from 16 November.

The first celebrates his animal welfare focus found running throughout Mutts – Breaking The Chain. The exhibition features one-of-a-kind prints from the new book Breaking The Chain: The Guard Dog Story, a beautiful series of strips bringing about the release of Guard Dog from his chains and into his forever home with his young champion, Doozy. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to our local animal shelter, SAVE, to support homeless animals and real-life guard dogs in need.

The second exhibition, The Superhero’s Journey, features a set of new paintings from McDonnell, a continuation of his work with Marvel and Abrahams Books on the graphic novel of the same name. There will be an artist talk and signing for this one on 20 November at 3pm.

.

Brooklyn’s Desert Island Comics’ Gabe Fowler talks past, present, and future at the Comics Journal – a sort-of good news story about comics retail…

As I always say, comics retail is vital to the comics industry and the medium. But that doesn’t mean all comic stores have to be the same. Hell no. Some of the best stores are ones that occupy their own place in the medium, stocking a diverse and wonderfully broad mix of comics to attract new, different customers. Brooklyn’s Desert Island Comics and owner/manager Gabe Fowler is one of those.

Except, for a while, it looked like Desert Island Comics was going to have to close. The landlord was saying they were taking a predatory offer from a liquor store and Desert Island had three months to leave or make a counter-offer. Well, thanks to a combination of a crowdfunder organised by friends of the shop (of which there are many) and Fowler managing to find other premises, they’re no longer shutting, just moving.

Fowler’s interviewed over at the Comics Journal, both before and after the good news – and it is great news, we all need to keep those unique comic stores, celebrate them and love them – but most of all, buy from them. Because although this shop’s saved and staying open, albeit in a different location, Fowler’s words show you how tight things really are for this comic shop and most comic shops, including, most likely, your own personal favourite…

‘The store breaks even. And the other stuff that I do for money helps me live my life. So the store is a joy that pays for itself. I mean, I’m making a little money off the store, but it honestly mostly goes to the landlord and for replenishing inventory. I need my store. I’m obsessed with it. I need to kick ass. I need to have all the good stuff. So I’m constantly spending all of my money on inventory. It’s fine. I want the store. It’s a service. The store is fun for me, and it serves the public and it’s a resource that gives people access to this elusive material. That’s what I want.’

.

James Tynion IV talks to The Hollywood Reporter about Something Is Killing The Children…

James Tynion IV’s Something Is Killing The Children and The House Of Slaughter are something of a phenomenon in comics, following a path trodden by the likes of Saga and The Walking Dead. Now, The Hollywood Reporter talk to Tynion about the series reaching five years… and the reveal that, although there’s an ending planned, it won’t be for quite a while yet…

‘I have an outline that takes me past issue 100, and we are currently on issue 41 right now. We’re five years in, so there’s at least another five years of this and probably more. Boom Studios was recently acquired by Random House Worlds, and I was talking to one of the heads over there and I said, “I want to get to issue 100.” And he said in response, “What about 200?” We have a big story that we’re setting out to tell and yeah, we’re just getting started.’

 

.

Charles Burns interviewed at The Guardian – Final Cut…

The Guardian’s Sam Wolfson interviews Charles Burns about his new book, Final Cut, writer’s block and how he broke it.

‘I know there’s folks that are thinking about what’s going to sell. If I was smart, I would do Black Hole 2, Black Hole 3. That is what people buy. That is what people want. For me, that would be a dead end. The minute I’m done with a book, it’s in a distant space.’

Final Cut has taken a long time – a decade – and Burns’ talks of how he broke out of the writer’s block that had been hanging over him…

‘I had three false starts. Each time I got into a project I started thinking, “This is shit, I hate doing this.” I reached a point where I thought, “I don’t know if I can do comics any more.”‘

‘Suddenly it opened up, I just started thinking, “What if this beautiful girl came in and realised what a magnificent human being I was?” I liked the idea of revealing myself through my artwork. I had this awkward, stumbling personality, but I was able to express something on paper. Someone’s going to see that and understand, “Oh, there’s this depth.” Then you go off and discover things.”

The quick seven-page comic about a party Burns’ attended in 1974 (he thinks) is the thing that broke the block, and makes it as the opening scenes of Final Cut…

.

New graphic memoir from George Takei – ‘It Rhymes With Takei’ – out from Top Shelf in June 2025…

The award-winning team behind They Called Us Enemy return in June 2025 for the story of George Takei‘s journey from closeted actor to international gay icon, with a look into the heart of the beloved star and charting the changes in the world he has witnessed in one lifetime.

Before 2005, October 27 to be specific, George Takei was known worldwide as an actor, author, and activist. But there was one facet of his life he kept hidden. It Rhymes With Takei is the story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything.

Takei reunites with the team behind They Called Us Enemy; Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger, joined by colorist José Villarrubia, for a personal memoir of ‘earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.’

This one, like They Called Us Enemy will no doubt be a bestseller, a personal memoir of ‘life on both sides of the closet’, where Takei ‘presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far America has come…and how precious that progress is.’

.

Breaks signing at Gosh – 7 December…

One last Gosh event for the year… the great Emma Vieceli is in store on Saturday 7 December from 1-2pm to celebrate the release of the release of the third volume of Breaks from Orbit Books.

It’s a great series that’s been running now as a webcomic since 2015… perfectly described as ‘a love story, but a little broken,’ and an ‘enemies-to-lovers queer webcomic sensation’.

Co-written by Malin Ryden and Vieceli, art and everything else by Vieceli, it was something that I’ve read from the start, with the first couple of pages setting the scene and making sure this is something to love. It’s a great LGBTQ+ story, perfect for fans of Alice Osman’s Heartstopper, but with a real darkness running through it that elevates it into someplace very different.

Head to the signing, buy the books. They’re absolutely worth your time.

Here’s a little of what they’re all about…

‘Everyone wears a mask. What we see of people on the surface is so rarely what’s ticking underneath. And, in Cortland Hunt’s case, what he’s hiding might just be more than Ian Tanner is prepared for. Breaks is the story of two young adults coming to terms with who they were, who they are, and who they’ll become.’

‘School is over, adult life beckons, and new beginnings lie before Ian and Cortland as their relationship deepens. But when Ian’s father is released from prison, questions of trust and deceit threaten to tear them apart. The boys will walk a dark path together as the shadows of the past try to claim the present. The answers to all their questions will be revealed in this final volume, and some may prove dangerous beyond their wildest imaginings…’

Emma will be in the shop on Saturday 7th December, from 1pm. If you can’t make it, you can pre-order a signed copy of Breaks Volume 3 from Gosh’s website for mail-order or collection.