The Black Ghost #4 out now + lots more

Happy New Year! This newsletter will continue giving you the Great Content you deserve - including preview imagery, review copies, links to stories I dig, and - time permitting - interviews with other talented folks!

The Black Ghost #4 is out NOW

The penultimate issue of the first season of The Black Ghost, our acclaimed superhero noir, is out! What, you're just now pulling yourself out from under the weighted blanket your mom sent you? Still feasting on leftovers? No worries - #4 hit the day after Christmas from ComiXology Originals (buy it here!), so I understand if you missed it. You can catch a preview at Screen Rant, or click on the images below.

If you're a blogger/reviewer: you can snag a review copy of the issue here. Hope you enjoy it!

A few small things:

We're trying something (hopefully) fun for the big season finale, hitting 1/15 - we're launching a letter column! If you have comments, questions, or thoughts you'd like to share, please shoot us a note at my contact page (or, reply to this newsletter). Please include your full name, city, and type OK TO PRINT atop your email. We're insanely excited about this for some reason, so please ensure our joy.

Also! Did you know that my amazing Black Ghost co-creator Monica Gallagher is not only a fantastic writer, but a killer artist? She did this lovely cover to the final issue, and I'm so excited to share it here:

Scroll below to check out some of the preview pages for The Black Ghost #4 - which you're free to share on your sites/blogs. You can pick up the issue via Comixology - where you can also subscribe to the series.

Miami Midnight and other highlights

As I peck away at my Next Novel Thing (which is always a fraught process), it's heartening to see the finale of my Pete Fernandez Mystery series continue to collect kind words. Here's a quick recap of what's been going on:

Beloved book site Writer's Bone included Miami Midnight in its Best Books of 2019 list, as did The Real Book Spy. Both are great sites and worth your time! CrimeReads also listed the book as a notable selection in their best of 2019 roundup.

Did I mention that Archie Meets the B-52s is a real thing and I am writing it? Along with co-writer Matthew Rosenberg (The Archies) and artist Dan Parent (everything)! Hits in February. Details are here. Dan and I also spoke to Westfield Comics about the one-shot, too.

I talk about some of my favorite books of 2019 at LitReactor and Shotgun Honey.

Last, but certainly not least, the aforementioned Black Ghost got a helluva plug at The Hollywood Reporter - where our series was spotlighted by their "Comics Watch" feature as a property deserving of a movie or TV adaptation. But I'll let the headline speak for itself, yeah? "Could Black Ghost Fill the Void Left by Netflix's Jessica Jones?" I think so, but I'm biased.

Stories I Liked That You Will Also Like

(I usually try to fill this slot with an interview or essay from a creator I admire, but let's chalk this up to the holidays, etc. Please enjoy these stories you may have missed!)



You're watching Dare Me, right? Based on the fantastic noir by Megan Abbott? Yes or no, read this superb Marie Claire profile of the humble and insanely talented writer. And if you're not watching the show, please allow a small blog called The New York Times to sway you.

I loved this essay on the evolution of the femme fatale in film noir by Halley Sutton.

Dave Itzkoff profiles Martin Scorsese.

I found this piece by Radha Vatsal on international crime fiction to be really thought-provoking.

RIP, Syd Mead.

All hail the queen of Longreads, Laura Lippman.

Pal, former DC compatriot, and The Black Ghost editor Greg Lockard wrote a really stellar essay about his travels to Berlin and the inspiration behind his fantastic graphic novel (with art by Tim Fish), Liebestrasse.

What I'm reading/enjoying:

Books -
Holding Smoke by Steph Post
Days of Rage by Bryan Burrough
Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire by Will Hermes
Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson by Peter Ames Carlin
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Comics (new/current) -
Black Hammer: Age of Doom, Hawkeye: Freefall, Batman, Stray Bullets, Star Trek: Year Five, Star Wars, Moonshine, The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage, X-Men, Lois Lane, Criminal, The Batman's Grave, X-Force, Money Shot, Daredevil, Liebestrasse, Afterlift, Forgotten Home.

Comics (rereading) -
Batman Black and White, Batman by Azzarello and Risso, Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway v3, Rocketeer, Torpedo

TV (haha, as if there's time!) -
Mindhunter, Fleabag