Hello!
The day has finally arrived. We're biting the bullet and joining the cool kids by turning our mailing list into a bi-weekly newsletter.
Whether we met you personally at a Convention/Pride, you backed one of our Kickstarters, or you joined this list via Social Media, let us say THANK YOU for supporting us! Newsletters are one of the most important ways that creators stay connected with their fans, and we’re so glad to have you as part of ours.
Let us start by reintroducing ourselves. We’re Kat Calamia and Phil Falco - collectively known as Lifeline Comics.
If you’re on this list, you likely are familiar with one or more of our comic series: “Bi Visibility”, “Slice of Life”, “HAUNTING”, “The Dancer”, “Like Father, Like Daughter”, and “Hairology”. We’ll be sharing updates on these series via this mailing list, so stay tuned!
And we’ll also give you a peek behind the curtain at our creative process, talk about the media that we love (and don’t love), and make exclusive announcements about upcoming projects!
We have tons of surprises planned for 2023 and beyond, and we couldn’t be more excited to share them with all of you!
Without further ado, let’s get into it all!
Poll - We want to hear from You!
This is newsletter is all about connecting with you guys. So we wanted to make a poll asking: "What Do You Want to See In Our Mailing List?"
https://strawpoll.com/polls/xVg7jjLqGnr
And please message us at [email protected] and [email protected] if you'd like to expand on what you'd like to see. We really want to take in your feedback!
And with your permission we may even feature some of those emails on a future newsletter.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We’ll open each email with announcements about ourselves and our projects!
Gail Simone joins Hairology!
In case you missed it, Hairology - A Celebration of Hair is live on Kickstarter!
.jpg)
This 56-page comic anthology features twelve stories all about hair, with topics including: Trans and Queer Identity Through Hair, Natural Hair, Balding, Body Hair, Dye, Cancer, Locs and SO MANY MORE!
And if that’s not exciting enough, the legendary Gail Simone (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) has volunteered to write the foreword for the book!
Normally, you have to seek out someone to write a foreword. But Gail loved the project so much that she volunteered herself! And we couldn’t be happier to have her on board!
You can check out the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicuno/hairology-a-celebration-of-all-hair-types?ref=38xrk2
Announcing our next Kickstarters!
Phil and I have our Kickstarter schedule planned out until January 2024. We have these dates saved on a notepad on my mac. It's so gratifying that we'll now be able to share news about upcoming Kickstarters EVEN EARLIER for newsletter readers.
The secret is out. We have TWO Kickstarters launching on March 20th!
Phil will be continuing his HAUNTING saga with a new jumping on point, "HAUNTING: On The Run", with Mauricio Mora (Damsel from D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S!) joining the creative team as the new interior artist of the book.
Bram's done a pretty good job at avoiding the consequences of his strange ability to raise the dead up until this point. But his reckoning has finally arrived in the form of Hope, a skilled and ruthless ghost hunter who has made it her mission to end Bram's unintentional reign of terror. Permanently.
As for Kat, she'll be launching the long awaited return of her superhero drama series: Like Father, Like Daughter. This is the 21-page grand finale of Like Father, Like Daughter with Eileen Widjaja on interiors (who you may recognize her work from Bi Visibility #1's action short: "The Bi Card").
A father with superpowers, leaves his wife and daughter to become “Invulnerable” - the world’s only superhero. Ten years later his daughter discovers that she has inherited the very superpowers that made her father leave their family. And Invulnerable isn't the only person keeping secrets! Casey's mom has been a villain this whole entire time as a lifelong KGB agent. But is being a villain or hero as black-and-white as we paint them out to be?
And don't worry, Casey and friends will be continuing their adventures after this issue. But the book is going to look very different following the ramifications of this finale. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT!
Pre-launch pages for both projects will be available following the conclusion of Hairology.
EXCLUSIVE Acrylic Pin for Hairology Backers
This week, we announced a Kickstarter Exclusive Bonus Item that we’re offering to backers of Hairology: the “Hair Monster” Acrylic Pin!
We'll be including this 1.5" Acrylic Pin FOR FREE with your rewards if your pledge amount is $35 or more before shipping!
This item will be exclusive to this Kickstarter, so don't miss out! You can learn more about the offer (and check out the project) here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicuno/hairology-a-celebration-of-all-hair-types/posts/3734168
What Have We Been Up To?
After announcements, we’ll run through the things we’ve been up to. This includes events we’ve attended, media we’ve consumed, and just anything fun that we might want to share!
Fort Lauderdale Pride
This weekend Phil, Kat, and Phil's fiancé (Julius) took a visit to Fort Lauderdale's Pride and had a blast. Here are some pictures from the event:
During our stay we were able to visit our friend Rocco. Phil has known Rocco since elementary school (growing up a few blocks away from each other) and they're best friends to this day! The gang had a blast catching up. We went to the beach, ate some hibachi, and took part in one of our favorite activities: going to the casino 😂.
Media Consumed
We love going to the movies! Phil's family and Kat belong to the AMC stubs, and we all try to see a new film in theaters once a week. So you're going to be seeing a lot of love for recent releases. Speaking of...
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - A Comic Accurate Cassie Lang
Kat: Let's talk about Ant Man. (No Spoilers)
Cassie Lang is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters, and I'm happy to report that the movie does a good job at portraying her go-to attitude and huge heart. Her relationship with her father is the core to what makes both characters fantastic and they're relationship is what shines the brightest in this film.
As for the rest of the movie...Quantumania isn't bad. It just isn't too memboral. Jonathan Majors plays a menancing Kang that will sure wreak havoc for the future, but there aren't really any jaw dropping moments or characer beats to make this movie stand apart from the pack. They spend a lot of time building a world that just isn't interesting. Time that could have been spent for more character work for the other half of the film's namesake...The Wasp.
Verdict: Watch it if you already love Scott Lang, but don't go in with high expectations for a mind blowing MCU installment. -Kat
Phil: Scott, Cassie, and Kang were all very engaging to watch. But every other character in this movie weaves in-and-out of the plot so casually that I practically had whiplash.
Janet was set up as a big player in the first thirty minutes, but then practically disappears from the movie entirely and never really gets a big moment to shine. Hank literally stumbles through the entire film without doing anything of consequence aside for quip. And Hope is maybe the least engaging and defined character in the MCU. Literally the only thing she has going for her is that she looks SO COOL. But it baffles me that three movies in, they've still done so little to make her an actual character.
The setting also did little to excite me. As the movie's name suggests, we spend practically the entire runtime in the Quantum Realm. There are some solid moments and interesting characters/set-pieces, but I very quickly found myself missing the more grounded setting of the previous Ant-Man films.
Verdict: If you're just looking for a good showing from Scott, Cassie, and Kang, then you're in for a treat. If you're looking for a solid and consist family dynamic between our leads and/or for anything of major consequence to the MCU...maybe look elsewhere.
The Flash Trailer - Stealing the Marvel Formula?
Kat: Phil, Julius, and I were sitting around the couch winding down from our day in Florida when we realized it was Sunday - the Superbowl was on, which really meant The Flash trailer had premiered...and buffalo wings (I love my buffalo wings).
I've been a superhero fan all my life. Since 8th grade, I've been a Wednesday Warrior picking up DC AND Marvel comic books. I have love for both companies, but I haven't been a huge fan of DC's recent movie releases. My favorite films from their line up are Shazam! and Wonder Woman with little else peaking my full interest (sorry Aquaman and The Suicide Squad...I love you Peacemaker.)
Following their appearances in Justice League (and even The Flash TV Show), I never had any interest in Ezra Miller as Barry Allen (this feeling grew even stronger with all the controvery surrounding the actor.) The trailer didn't change my mind on Miller...especially when we had 8 seasons of the same character for free on TV, but the multiverse aspect does have me intrigued. There is a bit of a Marvel formula and nostalgia that may work to this film's benefit.
WAS THAT CHRISTIAN BALE'S BAT BIKE!?!?!
Verdict: Am I excited for Flash?....no. Am I more interested in the film now? ...yes. -Kat
Phil: Batman Returns is still my favorite Batman movie (don't @ me), so seeing Michael Keaton back in the suit did a lot for my excitement for this trailer. In fact, I'd say that everything in this trailer really hyped me up...except for the Flash in the middle of it.
Even parking Ezra Miller's controversies aside (not an easy thing to do), their performance as Barry Allen has never really worked for me. And this trailer certainly did not do anything to change my mind about that. And echoing Kat's sentiments, it doesn't help that we saw so much of the same story from Barry in The Flash TV series so recently.
I'm thankful that the second half of the trailer was as exciting as it was, because that first half rehashing things we'd already seen very recently for Barry Allen did it no favors.
Verdict: Hoping Michael Keaton has a decent amount of screentime and that this movie has more surprises than just what they reveal in the trailer (Michelle Pfieffer's Catwoman cameo, anyone?) -Phil
Velma - Am I Velma?
Phil: Fun fact, I am a HUGE Scooby Doo fan. It's genuinely one of my favorite franchises and one of my favorite ensembles. And like every Scooby Doo fan who watched Velma, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that this show hates...well, everything. Including its source material.
Where the often-compared Harley Quinn is petulant and irreverant in a way that (a.) shows love for its source material, (b.) never is to the detriment of the characters and story, and (c.) is actually funny, Velma is usually none of the above.
As for positives, the animation is gorgeous. I'm glad that's something that most viewers can agree on.
The writing on the show is sometimes decent, funny, and clever. And I would even go as far as to say that the mystery of the first season wraps up in a satisfying way. But other times, the writing is...
Inexplicably, my boyfriend loves the show. Watching through his eyes is something else because when the show does land a joke and actually manage to be funny, he laughs with the show. When the show (more commonly) fails to land a joke or does something stupid/baffling, he laughs at the show. Basically, he's always having a good time.
He also said that Velma is me, which is making me re-evaluate everything about myself.
Verdict: Is Velma as bad as everyone says? I mean, yes. Does it have redeeming qualities? Yes. But is it fun to watch? Sometimes. -Phil
Comic Recommendations
One of our favorite things about comics is putting a spotlight on all the wonderful stories that are out there. So every entry we'll highlight a direct market independent book, a Big 2 Book, and a Kickstarter that we're enjoying.
Harrower - A Slasher Franchise For Comics
BOOM! has been on a roll with their horror books. First Something is Killing the Children, then Grimm, and now Harrower!
It's no secret that I love slashers (Phil and I BOTH have a passion for the genre). So, of course, I was excited to read Justin Jordan and Brahm Revel newest series. The mini-series truly feels like a new film franchise come to life! The first issue does a good job at setting up their lore, while planting seeds for readers to start caring for these characters.
Punisher - The Best Marvel Comic Book on Stands!
I never thought I would say that my favorite current Marvel comic book is Punisher. I've never found a Punisher series I liked until this one. I don't just like Jason Aaron, Paul Azaceta, and Jesus Saiz's Punisher...I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Punisher is not just your run of the mill superhero book. It's a comic about gun violence. It's a comic about PTSD. It's a comic about family. I've been especially drawn to Frank's wife, Maria. Up to this point, she has never been a true character in the comics. Just a "woman in a refrigerator" created to ignite the Punisher's anguish, but in this series she becomes a fully fleshed out character with angst to match Frank's own emotional arc.
Glarien - Grounded Fantasy
Charlie Stickney is truly the king of Kickstarter! He's put up some wonderful campaigns with the likes of White Ash and Glarien, and he's now looking to expand his world with a book of shorts. I'm usually not a huge fan of fantasy books, but Charlie delivers such a grounded feel to his stories that even if fantasy isn't your go to genre you will still find something to enjoy.
In Closing…
Thanks so much for reading this far!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this new format for our mailing list! And definitely consider voting in our poll to tell us what you want to see in future newsletter!
And feel free to message [email protected] and [email protected] with feedback or questions about our properties for a chance to be featured in our next newsletter's "Lifeline Comics' Inbox".Sign "okay to print" if you'd like to be featured.
Until next time!
Current Kickstarter: Hairology - A Celebration of Hair
Next Convention: C2E2
Next Kickstarters: HAUNTING #5 & Like Father, Like Daughter #8
Phil’s Socials: Twitter | Instagram
Kat’s Socials: Twitter | YouTube
Read “Slice of Life” on Zestworld:
