We’re on Covid Day 12 and - My God - what a couple of weeks. The kids are off school and we’ve both been flat out with symptoms, barely able to phone Deliveroo. We’ve always been one of those smug couples who tsk tsk’d at parents who let their kids play too many computer games, but Covid has changed everything. The iPad has become the third parent in the house and the one with the most seniority. The kids have literally played Roblox 24 hrs a day while we doze in front of a complete rewatch of The Sopranos.
But listen. A big week and a lot to talk about. There’s something weird going on with distribution at the moment and a lot of stores didn’t get last week’s comics until this week, this week’s comics coming next week like Marty McFly has dropped the almanac again and the timeline is a complete disaster. Thus, Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem #5 just hitting some stores today on the launch day for The Magic Order #1.
How do I tell you how much this comic means to me? I’ve been doing this job since I was a teenager and I’ve never written something I feel so good about as The Magic Order series. There’s not one page or one word I’d change and that NEVER happens. When you flip through old books you always see stuff you wish you’d tightened or scenes you wish you’d flipped around. But Volume 1 of The Magic Order, with sensational art by Olivier Coipel, is as perfect as anything I’ve ever done. So the sequel had to top it and I think we’ve done it. The first volume was about the family disappointment Cordelia Moonstone getting the big chair and leading this team of wizards who secretly look after the world at night. The sequel is about the creatures pushing back from the darkness. feeling she’s weak and eager to return the world back to the bad old days. It’s a good one and I think you’re going to love it.
I was thinking about a couple of old comic panels as I stepped out of the shower this morning and I think about them pretty much every day. They’re from an old issue of Justice League of America written by Len Wein, art by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano, but I didn’t read the American version in colour. I read the black and white 1980s reprints here in the UK when I was ten or eleven in a newsstand magazine called The Superheroes Monthly. Why do I always think about this story? It’s a shot of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) stepping out of the shower, slipping on a bar of soap and smashing his head on the floor. He's answering a Justice League distress signal and ends up being knocked out for the most stupid of reasons and every single day - even as a grown man - as I step out of the shower, these panels flash into my head and I’m a tiny bit more careful as I reach for the towel. I remember the scene so well I could draw it perfectly even now. We think of comics as a throwaway medium, but isn’t this the dream? To create work that resonates with your audience like this. Little moments that stay with them forever and flash into their minds at the most stupid of times. I’ve got a million of these images that stay with me personally and I love the idea that these books we work pretty hard on connect with people in the same weird ways.
Len Wein probably never thought much about those two panels after he wrote them, but here’s me thinking about them years after even his own death. That’s immortality, I guess. The ultimate compliment for a writer.
Here’s the panel so you can see it for yourself and maybe be a little more careful tomorrow as you step out of the shower and try to find your flashing JLA communicator.
You’ll also find issue one, completely free, of The Magic Order Volume One. I’ve got the best artists in the world drawing these planned five volumes and just secured the artist for volume four the other week. This series means a lot to me and it’s going to be one Hell of a live-action show when you see it on Netflix too. We’ve all been beavering away on this for some time.
Now if you’ll excuse me we're watching The Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos next. My third viewing of this epic series, the best TV show of all time, and it’s somehow as fresh as it ever was. Immortality. Just like I said.
