Due to a last-minute and extremely heavy workload last week, the newsletter is hitting inboxes a week later than expected. But it was worth the wait — I promise! Let’s dig in…
I want to talk about momentum for a minute.
When working toward any goal — whether it’s losing weight, learning a language, or building a comics career — it’s hard to see/feel a sense of progress in real-time. You put in the reps, but day-to-day it’s hard to see the improvement, even though it is there.
In the early days of my career — back when I was writing and Kickstarting GRIEF — any sense of momentum seemed non-existent. In spite of that, I did write and complete my first book and I did bring it to Kickstarter and get it funded (and then some). Both of those are achievements unto themselves and both those show/prove at least a small measure of momentum.
Five years later, I can feel and see — in real-time — momentum in my career.
I can see new subs to this newsletter ticking up daily. I can feel more and more eyes on each book and the excitement those folks are bringing. I understand how each book leads to the next and the doors they can open and will open.
Honestly, when I started typing this out, I wasn’t sure where I was going with it. Sometimes, writing these newsletters helps me figure things out.
There’s not really a roadmap for a comics career.
I have written before about how I still work a day job and make my comics on the side. I essentially have two full-time jobs. But the goal is to one day leave the traditional workforce and make comics as my only job.
As recently as a year ago, that seemed possible, but incredible far away still.
And while I’m not planning to leave my day job any time soon, it’s been feeling like that day is coming faster and faster. I don’t know if that means it’ll be this year or next year or even in the next five years, but the sense of momentum I’ve been feeling lately tells me it’s close. That I’ve been making a lot of the right moves and that the reps are really starting to pay off.
Again, I’m not sure exactly what I was getting at — it’s more that I wanted to clear my head and gather my thoughts.
Final Two Weeks to Preorder
As of yesterday, we’re in the FINAL two weeks of the preorder window for Power Rangers Unlimited: Edge of Darkness and the Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job collected edition. If you want to guarantee that you’ll able to get one or both of these titles, preorder now, or forever hold your peace.
And if you want a little more insight into Edge of Darkness — or just want to listen to a fun conversation with me about the book — you can check out the interview I did with Ranger Liz over on YouTube!
The collected edition for Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job will release at the end of June (the same day as Edge of Darkness) — and if I’m being honest, this is the best series I’ve written in my career so far. So, if you missed it in single issues, now you’ve got another chance to check out the story!
You know the drill: Get your preorders in, pick up your books, and keep supporting our LCS’s! Both of these books have a Final Order Cutoff of 6/7/21 and will release side-by-side on 6/30/21!
The Suburban Job Complete Sets
Later this week, I will be releasing limited quantities of complete Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job sets. There will be two options:
Issues #1-4 (Cover A) + the Templesmith 1:10 incentive
Issues #1-4 1:5 connecting covers set by Kincaid
So, if you missed out at retail, here's another shot to get the series in one go. I am still waiting for these books to arrive to me, but they should be here by the end of the week — so I’m planning to put these into my web store (www.frankgogol.com/store) on Friday.
These will be first come, first served and I'm still working out pricing, but it will be reasonable and they will be available unsigned or signed (at no additional cost).
If you missed out, mark your calendars for Friday at 12 PST / 3 EST. And I will definitely be adding some rare DEK2 variants to the web store alongside these sets!
Power Rangers Unlimited
So here’s a fun peek behind the curtain: I’m still writing parts of this book.
That’s not uncommon, though. The final version of the book will head to print a couple of days after Final Order Cutoff — so in about two weeks. Up until then, any and all changes or tweaks are fair game.
The reason for the 11th-hour tweaks is that the editor — Dafna Pleban — and I found a way to level up the story with a little reworking. It’s definitely an ambitious late-in-the-game rework, but it took what I thought was a really excellent character story and made it this even better, more meaningful experience.
I cannot stress enough just how proud I am of this book — of Simone’s art, of Igor’s colors, of Ed’s lettering. Who knows if I’ll ever get to play in the Power Rangers universe again. But if I never do, I’m so grateful that when I did get to, this was the book that came from it.
There are less than two weeks left to preorder your copy — and if you’re a Power Rangers fan, this is going to be a key issue — so be sure to get those orders in!
UNBORN
Production on the second issue of UNBORN is about to wrap up, making the series — more or less — halfway-finished. And with a July solicit for a September release, we’re well ahead of schedule right now.
Even though we’re still a while away, I wanted to share/reveal a set of covers that will be available. Behold that glory that is Simone Ragazzoni:
You may recognize Simone’s name from the Edge of Darkness credits.
Simone did such a killer job on our Power Ranges book that I was dying to work with him again. And this cover set that he did highlights the cast of UNBORN in a really cool way.
This is a sexy set of covers and I can’t want to see them in print.
These were initially going to be ratioed incentives, but when I saw the full set, I wanted to make sure that people would be able to collect them all without it being a chore. So, these will be B covers for issues #1-4 that will release alongside Maan House’s excellent A covers.
No Heroine 2
Of the projects I’m currently working on, this series is the least far along and is still pretty early in production, so there’s not too much to share. That said, Shawn’s coloring the first batch pages, so maybe next newsletter we’ll have a sneak peek at Kayla’s new look…
The Many Deaths of Laila Star #2 by Ram V and Filipe Andrade
The second issue of this series released this past week and — overall — this series has been a treat. The art is beautiful and vibrant and the writing is suburb. The second issue, in particular, is a masterclass in graceful setups and meaningful payoffs. This is a must-read series.
That’s gonna do it for this week! Be sure to get those preorders in for Power Rangers Unlimited: Edge of Darkness and the Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job collected edition at your LCS! And if you don’t have a local comic shop, you can preorder them online here and here.
To be continued…
With vaccination rates increasing across the U.S., I’m hopeful that the second half of 2021 will see me traveling for conventions and signings again. More details on those potential appearances in the weeks and months to come, but in the meantime, here’s what’s on the calendar:
Comic Book Food Chain Episode #013 - 5/25/21 (10:30 EST / 7:30 PST)
Comic Book Food Chain Episode #014 - 6/1/21 (10:30 EST / 7:30 PST)
FOC for Power Rangers Unlimited: Edge of Darkness - 6/7/21
FOC for Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job TPB - 6/30/21
Power Rangers Unlimited: Edge of Darkness Release - 6/30/21
Dead End Kids: The Suburban Job TPB Release - 6/30/21
Los Angeles Power Rangers Singings - TBA
I’m Frank Gogol and I write comics. I’m the writer of the Ringo Award-nominated collection GRIEF and the indie hit series DEAD END KIDS, DEAD END KIDS: THE SUBURBAN JOB, NO HEROINE, and POWER RANGERS.
For more regular doses of Frank Gogol comic book goodness, you can check me out on Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook.
I usually *try* to reserve this space for something important or poignant, but all I’ve got to say this week is LET’S GO BRUINS, who closed their first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals as I was writing this up.
Caption Boxes 5/25/21 - Countdowns and Cover Reveals
Great update man. It feels like Spring has brought some rejuvenation into my life. It feels like the momentum is shifting in the right direction. Maybe it is a collective sense of relief, but it feels like a lot of my friends and the community on a whole are doing really well right now. Excited for all of your success dude! 🙌🍻🔥
I'm curious about Unborn. Is it a Tokusatsu comic book story ? By the way, i'm a member of Heroshock, the first French site on the cutting edge of Tokusatsu news. I would like to know if it is possible to do an interview with you. Yours faithfully. JD