Hi friends,

Happy Friday (just barely)! Are you ready for THE HALLOWEEKEND?

A bit of a reveal here - but I’ve never been a big costume/Halloween person. I was a bit of a Halloween grinch as a kid, if I'm being honest. But now, as a dad myself, I’m finding more fun in it. Will that compel me to share pictures of me in costume here? Probably not. But it’s about the journey, right?

Anyway, some REALLY BIG news to share!

I’m writing a Question story for DC Comics!

Check out the cover by the amazing Reilly Brown!

If you know me at all, you know I worship at the altar of Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan’s The Question run. It’s, for my money, the blueprint of how to tackle established characters in a lasting, meaningful way. (Also, see Animal Man by Morrison, Sandman Mystery Theater by Wagner, Seagle, and Davis, or Starman by Robinson and Harris, to name a few off the top of my head.)

I also feel a great kinship with Renee Montoya, the current question - a character I’ve loved and followed since she first appeared on the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon, and later, via the work of my heroes, Greg Rucka and Brubaker, in Gotham Central - and later, in the Greg-written sequences that lead Renee to be the Question in DC’s weekly 52 series. tl;dr? THIS IS AWESOME AND I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S HAPPENING.

But the details!

Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn #1 features my Question story - which I’ll be able to talk about more soon - alongside stories by friends and superstars like Greg Pak, Alex Paknadel, Dennis Culver, Clayton Henry, and lots more. To say it’s been an honor to write a Renee/Question story is a huge understatement. Please let your retailer know you want a copy - it hits in January! Big, big, big thanks to my editors Paul Kaminski and Brittany Holzherr for this amazing opportunity.

In other news, the third issues of my two ComiXology Originals series hit this week - The Black Ghost #3 (preview) and Blood Oath #3 (preview)!Things are ramping up on both fronts, and I hope you're enjoying both series! Our very own BG artist/co-creator George Kambadais is also drawing the Gargoyles comic book relaunch!

And I also got THIS beautiful thing in the mail - a print edition of the second Black Ghost collection, from Dark Horse Comics! Black Ghost Season Two: Shame the Devil hits early next year from DH wherever books are sold! 

Also, also, also - we sent out a quick update on The Dusk this week. The long and short of it? We’re SO CLOSE to being done. The next step is designing the book and getting it printed. But, for now, here are a few pages you haven’t seen before by series artist David Hahn. We also hope to have some news on the future of The Dusk in the coming months, too! In the meantime, enjoy some emo, rainy walks and high-octane courtroom drama!

On The Awakened front, we unveiled co-creator/artist Dean Kotz and colorist Jason Wordie’s lovely cover to The Awakened #1. This thing is ICONIC.

Bet you’re wondering why we’d have a cover to a digital book? Well, stay tuned on that front, dear reader. Also, subscribe! This way you get new pages every time we debut them - as opposed to waiting two weeks for them to become free!

If that’s not enough for you, Sandy Jarrell and I have been plugging away at our archival series, The Lost Adventures of The Legendary Lynx, slated to debut right here on Zestworld in a few months. We’ll finally be able to present readers with stories from the long out-of-print The Legendary Lynx comic book series, first released by tiny publisher Triumph Comics in the mid-70s. So many people have forgotten the seminal work of artist Doug Detmer and the underrated writing of folks like Harvey Stern and Carmen Valdez, Sandy and I felt it was our solemn duty to bring these stories back into circulation. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did revisiting them. And hey, meet Apparition! Who could this mysterious, ethereal figure be? Is she friend or foe? Stay tuned.

 

I'll be doing a bunch of great events in the coming months, starting with the Midwest Mystery Conference in Chicago next weekend! I'm so excited to be on two panels with some old and new friends. If you're in the area, please register and swing by for a fun, all-day, single-track-programming event that's loaded with great speakers. Check out the details:

The following weekend, I'll be back in my beloved hometown of Miami for Miami Book Fair, one of my favorite events of the year - literary or otherwise. It's going to be an intense experience. I haven't been home since the pandemic started, and I'll get to see some friends and family while enjoying MBF in all its glory. I hope you'll visit if you're around! Here's The Miami Herald's annual overview of what's to come at the Fair, written by the wonderful Connie Ogle.

And right after that, back in New York City at Barnes & Noble Union Square, I'll be sharing the stage with my good friend and author, Zoraida Cordova, to talk about her new Star Wars: High Republic novel, Star Wars: Convergence. Zoraida is the absolute best, and I love interviewing writers I admire - especially when we can just geek out about Star Wars. RSVP!

A few quick things before I go:

Did you share your #comicsdna yet?

I was on a great Latinx-focused panel over at POPCULTX's YouTube channel - check it out!

I was totally surprised and flattered by this generous and kind Book Riot profile of me and my work!

One thing I wanted to talk about is somewhat tied to the recent El*n Musk takeover of Twitter. With that site teetering on the edge of chaos, it made me think about what I enjoy about being on there. I've been on Twitter for a long time, and my relationship to the site has changed. As toxicity and anger increased, my engagement changed. It became less of a town square and more of a place to update people and send information out. But I made a conscious choice a few years ago to do what I could to keep it positive - to focus on the good stuff, if I could.

For me, it's about engaging with  friends and readers, and spreading the word about books and creators I love. So, with that in mind, and because I'm not sure how much longer Twitter will be a viable platform (not a prediction, just a worry), I'm gonna try and do some suggesting right here each week. I'll try to plug one comic and one novel that's grabbed my attention recently.

On the comic book side, I was totally blown away by the first issue of Image Comics' All Against All, by Alex Paknadel and artist Caspar Wijngaard, two absolute pros at the top of their game. Please let your retailer know you want a copy of this. You remember that's how comic shops work, right? Three weeks before a comic book hits, there's something called "FOC" - Final Order Cutoff. That's a store's last chance to change their orders on a specific title. After that, they're stuck with what they order - even if the book becomes a smash hit. So, it's doubly important to go big on new titles that don't have franchise connections if you want those series to last beyond a handful of issues. Alex is a dear friend and one of the best writers out there now, and pairing him with Caspar feels like such a no-brainer. Please check it out!

This week marked the publication of my friend Wanda M. Morris's second novel, Anywhere You Run. Wanda's not only one of the most generous and friendly folks in our biz, but she's a huge talent - hell, her first novel just got optioned! She's a big deal! Her new book is the definition of a page-turner: the kind of novel that you'll stay up late to finish. If you like fast-paced thrillers written with verve, this book is for you.

And hey, if you enjoy this newsletter, I think you'll also get a kick out of a few comic book/writing/entertainment newsletters that I consume regularly! Here's a quick list:

Chip Zdarsky - He paid me $20 for this. I've done my job.

Tini Howard - Tini's a fantastic writer and friend. More importantly, her newsletter has a personal, genuine tone that makes it feel like you're talking to an old pal. Read this, buy her books, rinse, repeat.

Ed Brubaker - Ed's always got cool stuff going on, whether it's with his own crime comics or his Hollywood career.

Matthew Rosenberg - Matt's a good pal, sometimes collaborator, and super-talented. He's launched a newsletter with some really talented pals to make cool comics. What else is there in life?

Forever Wars/Spencer Ackerman - Spencer's a genius when it comes to reporting on national security. On top of that, he's one of the coolest people I know - and he's writing some comics!

Lupita Reads - A fantastic newsletter that regularly recommends and spotlights books by Latinx/Latine authors. I always end up buying the books Lupita suggests!

Also, Lyz Lenz is national treasure.

That's it for now, folks. Have an amazing weekend. Let me know how you're doing. See you soon.

Bye,

Alex