What's Happening - January 2025
New year, same me.
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, giving you updates on the things I’ve been lettering, reading and writing this month.
What am I lettering?
January has been a pretty quiet month for me so far. I've been doing some design work putting together the first hardcover collection of comics I lettered, which is both cool and exciting, but I can't say much more about it yet. And outside of that, things have been pretty slow going.
So instead of talking about all the amazing projects I'm lettering, I want to give shout out to one of my favorite lettering resources. Most folks who are involved in making comics know that there are two main resources for lettering fonts. Blambot is my personal favorite, but I also have and use a number of awesome fonts from Comicraft. If you're looking to get started on comic lettering, these are the two resources that are going to get recommended to you 99% of the time. Understandably, as the fonts from both these sites are great.
But I want to take the time shout out one of my favorite resources for comic fonts outside of these two, which are the fonts from Sara Linsley If you've read any of the books I've lettered in the past year or two, you've definitely seen me use some of her fonts. If you're a letterer working on book with manga inspired art, her fonts (especially the sound effects fonts Cryptid, Spicy Noodles and Bestagon) are definitely worth checking out. All of these fonts are free, though if you have the money you should throw her some money for them as they're all great.
Also, quick plug for Synap #2, which should be in comic shops tomorrow this week! My second direct market comic. What a good time to be getting a foot into this industry, definitely nothing apocalyptic happening in the direct market this month.
Some prelaunch comics:
Some fun lettering:
What am I reading?
Kaya
I read most of the first three volumes of Kaya on an airplane heading back to visit some of my in-laws in Wisconsin. I got off the plane and was deeply disappointed to find out that none of the following issues have been collected yet. Kaya, which is created by Wes Craig with colors by Jason Wordie and letters by Tom Napolitano.
The first three volumes are, by far, some of the best fantasy comics I've read in years. Craig's art and layouts are gorgeous and action packed. The story is relatively simple, but in the way that some great fantasy stories can be. There's enough depth for you to sink your teeth into, but not so much that it gets in the way of the truly fantastic action. The character design is also fantastic. Strange mutants, weird robots. It's got it all. Cannot more highly recommend this book. An absolute blast.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a novel by Anthony Doerr. This is a book that is hard to sum up quickly. It's the closet thing to literary fiction I've read in a long time, but not in a bad way. The prose is beautiful but also easily digestible. It's the kind of book that you sit down to read a chapter only to look up, realizing you've read a fourth of the book and hours have passed. The book takes place across a number of different times and settings, all of which are connect by a made up ancient Greek novel. It's a book about stories and climate collapse and human connection. A really beautiful book, and I'd definitely recommend it.
What am I writing?
I've started working on the script for Hero of Legend #5, just as Niccolò is beginning work on Chapter 4. I say this every time, but I think Chapter 4 is the best chapter of Hero of Legend so far.
But before then, we have our Kickstarter for Chapter 3 launching next month. Another reminder to please sign up to be notified for the Kickstarter if you haven't yet. I'd love to get over 100 prelaunch followers before we launch next month!
I'm still waiting on the finalized versions of both of our variant covers for this issue, but I'll give you a little sneak peak at our Cover C from Tango:
It's going to be gorgeous, can't wait to show off the final version.
I'm going to be doing something a little special for those of you who are subscribed to my newsletter or backed the previous campaigns. If you back our Kickstarter for Chapter 3 at a physical level and add a comment with your favorite fantasy comic book, you'll have a free, Hero of Legend bookmark added to your order.
Next time you hear from me, it'll be an email telling you that our Kickstarter for Chapter 3 is live, with a little reminder about this promotion. As always, appreciate all your support! Niccolò and I wouldn't be able to make Hero of Legend without all of you.
Anything else?
Nope. Good luck out there, it's an absolute shit show. Bye!