What's Happening - September 2026
It's my birthday! Buy a comic book.
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, giving you updates on the things I’ve been lettering, reading and writing this month.
Before we get into it, SCUM #1 continues to be on Kickstarter! As a thank you for reading through my ramblings each month on this newsletter (and for backing some of my previous Kickstarter campaigns) here is a secret reward link where you can get a copy of the standard edition cover for our discounted, Early Bird rate for the rest of the campaign.
Okay! Onto the rest of the newsletter.
What am I writing?
Like I said above, SCUM #1 is still live on Kickstarter! And going strong! Or at least, as strong as any Kickstarter that hasn't fully funded can be. If you haven't backed yet, please do! The earlier we get fully funded, the more I can convince the Kickstarter algorithm that people actually like me and the comics I make. You do like me, right? Oh, and the comics too?
Anyway, SCUM is a project I'm really proud of. I really hope you'll take the time to check out and pick up a copy.
What am I Convention-ing
Through the power of visiting family, I've managed to justify the expense of flying to New York and going to one day of New York Comic Con. So if your at NYCC, I will be too! On Thursday, wandering around the show floor. If you see me, say hi! I'll be the one who is clearly over stimulated and feeling deeply awkward, and if you're nice to me I might give you a copy of the SCUM ashcan I have printed.
Comics on Kickstarter
Live on Kickstarter
SCUM #1
Listen. It's SCUM. It's on Kickstarter. Back it!
Dragon Guardian Elodea #1-3
Dragon Guardian Elodea is an epic fantasy series set in the world of Wild Wisps. Wild Wisps and it's spin offs are some of my favorite books to letter. They're great, epic fantasy comics that I think would really appeal to anyone who liked Hero of Legend. Here's the pitch:
Dragon Guardian Elodea is an epic fantasy series set in the world of Wild Wisps, a world humans share with incredible creatures known as Wisps. Wisps are magical monsters with elemental powers that can be either commonplace or god-like.
Julius the Werehound #1
Julius the Werehound is a book I started lettering 5 years ago, and I'm so excited that it's finally out in the world! I'm a little behind on doing this newsletter, so the campaign for this book is technically over, but luckily it is still open for late pledges. Here's the pitch:
Julius: The Werehound is a mature fantasy adventure comic series created by writer Joseph Jasionowski and artist Elton Thomasi. The brand new series follows a warrior named Julius from Ancient Rome who is cursed by Satan and merged with the beastly form of a HellHound. While in hiding, Julius meets Tomoe (a samurai) and Jack (a weapons dealer), two new allies who have each been harmed by Satan. Now aligned, the trio embark on a quest for vengeance, trying to do the impossible: kill the Devil.
In Prelaunch
What am I reading?
Lord of the Rings
Like many of the novels I've read in the past few years, I started reading this because the folks over at Shelved by Genre, a podcast about genre literature, were covering it on their show. They're doing an entire year of discussion about Tolkien, though I decided to tap out of reading along when they got into the Silmarillion. This wasn't my first time reading Lord of the Rings. My first time reading them was when I was around 7 or so and the movies were coming out. My dad read them to me before I would go to bed, and they were a surefire way to put at least one of us (not always me) to sleep.
Revisiting it now, The Lord of the Rings is a really interesting trilogy of books, in that it is both the origin point for fantasy fiction as we know it, but also does not remotely resemble what modern fantasy fiction is. Compared to a Brandon Sanderson novel, Lord of the Rings almost feels like outsider art. The books moved through different modes and styles in such a way that each of the 6 books that The Lord of the Rings is split up into feel distinctive, but none of them feel like a modern fantasy novel.
By the time I was done with them, I ended up feeling like the books were more interesting than they were actual books I enjoyed reading. I think Tolkien's prose can be a bit plodding, and some of the sections of Sam and Frodo walking are interminable. Coming out of this reading and listening to the Shelved by Genre podcasts about the books, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Appendices from the book in particular and the way they retcon what happened in the novels almost immediately after you finish reading them.
The point that stuck with me the most is the idea that, after the end of Return of the King, things aren't just solved. After defeating Sauron, Aragorn still spends the rest of his life fighting wars and trying to keep the peace around Gondor.
I posted about this on Bluesky, but I've left this reading with an idea burning a hole in my brain of writing something that takes place in a post-Return of the King Mordor. My pitch from the tweet above:
An orcish city during the reconstruction of Mordor after the fall of Sauron. Revanchists orcs trying to bring back the dark lord. Revolutionary orcs that will never bow to a king again. The "good" men of Gondor as an occupying force, trying to keep the peace.
I don't really have the space to actually get this project off the ground (I've barely got time to keep up with the scripts I should be writing as it is) but this is one of those ideas that I just can't shake. Despite my better judgement, I've already started outlining.
That's it?
Yep! Except for a final reminder to back SCUM #1 on Kickstarter.