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From the Desk of Ed Brubaker

The last part of the year slipped away too fast. Between work and getting my friend's kid's cold (thanks baby Leo) I barely even noticed December... But before the holidays have come and gone, I wanted to send out a new preview of CRIMINAL #1, which comes out in just a few weeks now.

I'm really excited to be back to doing a monthly comic again, and to be doing more CRIMINAL, especially since the great response we got for MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES. And as you'll see below, Sean and Jake have really been knocking the art out of the park, if that metaphor makes any sense. Our first issue is double-size, so I decided to just show you the first ten pages, which is about a quarter of the issue. This is one of my personal favorite things we've ever done, partly because it has a few layers of story wrapped around each other, a small part of which you can see here...

PREVIEW OF CRIMINAL #1

And that's just the beginning. Issue 1 is a single issue story, and issues 2 and 3 are a two-parter called BAD WEEKEND. Actually, what the hell, let's show you their covers:

And what the hell, let's tease a panel from issue 2, it's art city tonight, I guess.

OTHER STUFF

When I sent out the last one of these, we were just about to put out our first original hardback.

I was actually very nervous about how the book would do, so it was a big relief that it was a huge hit and as of this writing I think is almost sold through a printing that was meant to last a few years. Not what we were expecting. And at the shops I went to on my book tour I met a lot of our readers, and found out that a lot of them only started checking out our books in the last few years, which was another pleasant surprise. The book got some good press, too, which was very nice.

Here's an interview I did with Evan Narcisse for GQ (bonus: a terrible picture of me): https://www.gq.com/story/ed-brubaker-my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies

Borys Kit talked to me for the Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/my-heroes-have-been-junkies-ed-brubaker-interview-1150762

Chauncey DeVega did a piece for Salon and also put it on their podcast: https://www.salon.com/2018/10/21/comics-writer-ed-brubaker-on-how-his-art-form-conquered-the-entertainment-industry/

And Alex Segura interviewed me for a piece at Crimereads: https://crimereads.com/tales-of-junkies-fade-outs-super-heroes-and-criminals/

All right, I'm lazing my way through old movies and cartoon specials (RANKIN/BASS FOREVER) right now, so let's wrap this up with some letters and photos from readers I met on the tour. First up is Jed Lackritz:

Dear Mr. Brubaker,

Attached are some unposed photos of my niece, Elyane Lackritz-Peltier, who is very much drawn to your books. I send my sister all of your new work once it is collected in trades, so her house is full of great comics and her daughter loves to page through them. Most of these pictures are from when Elyane was so small that she would have to lift one leg in the air to counterbalance the book she was holding.

Thanks for all the great writing! Your work has given me a lot of pleasure—it's also encouraged me to branch out into reading more monthly comics as for many years I was mostly just reading graphic novels and irregularly produced art comics from the Fantagraphics/D+Q/Picturebox scene and CRIMINAL got me exploring Image and many of its creators. My life is richer with Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, and Warren Ellis in it!

Thanks,
Jed

This is great, Jed, I learned to read from reading comics too. Just ones with less swearing and murder.

***

Hi Ed,

It was a real pleasure meeting you earlier tonight at the Collector's Paradise event. And congrats on the new book! I can't wait to dive in.

Attached, you can find the KOBK image I showed you, featuring me and shot/edited by my wife (Benedict West Photography.) I'd be thrilled to see it show up in a newsletter or the back of an issue at some point!

Thank you for all the great stories, I always look forward to them and your work has inspired me in my writing too. Please keep them coming, All the best,

Chris

Thanks for this, Chris. I hope the movie version (if it ever happens) looks this good.

***

Okay, that's it for this time. Go watch a yule log or whatever you do to celebrate your holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and have a Happy New Year. We'll see you on the stands in a few weeks with the return of CRIMINAL.