Desolation Jones Biohazard

Hello from out here on the Thames Delta. How have you been? I’m taking a break from smashing my brains out on a pitch document / hanging hat racks / shredding what seems like a hundred years of mail to bring you the good news.

OPERATIONS

DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHAZARD EDITION

Out in November, collecting the six issues of DESOLATION JONES by myself and JH Williams III with Jose Villarrubia and Todd Klein in a new presentation: THE BIOHAZARD EDITION.

THE BIOHAZARD EDITION is a beautiful hardback release including an extensive gallery showcasing select, raw artwork never before seen.

Jim Williams and I created DESOLATION JONES back in 2006, and completed a six-part story over the course of a year. It did receive a standard trade paperback collection from DC, which I usually have a copy of close by, just to remind me that I got to work with JH Williams III (and Jose Villarrubia, whom I met once, and was the nicest guy).

This new collection is really JH Williams III’s baby. He wanted a nice art edition of this book, to sit with the fine editions of his SANDMAN work and the gorgeous ECHOLANDS. Our friends and partners at DC released the work back to us (for which we thank them), our friends and partners at Image Comics agreed to team with us on a new edition (thank you), and Jim went through the book, making adjustments, retouches and small fixes. Creating the permanent edition he always wanted to see. I was just along for the ride on this one, and never happier to be so.

I always had a fondness for this book, and am just delighted that it will be back in the world in fancy new clothes.

My single visual contribution to this book:

Many many years ago, I read an interview with the artist John Bolton about his work adapting Hammer horror films for comics. In fact, this looks like it here. Bolton did the majority of that work in rich ink wash, but, for scenes of sudden violence, he dropped back to bare black and white:

This stuck in my head. For years. When I sat down to script, I knew how lush the book was going to look, between Jim and Jose, and this half-remembered bit from an old magazine suddenly came back to me — so I called out the scenes of action violence as black and white, all the colour dropped out.

They did, of course, make it look better than I could have imagined. But I was still pleased that I finally got to try that little trick.

Anyway. Release date is apparently Nov 27 in most places.. Tell your bookshop or comic shop if you want a copy, please.

Here’s the full press release with much art.

ORBITAL

RADAR

DEVIL COMET

I’m about to pick up MOBY DICK again, and discovered there’s a nice free ebook edition at Standard Ebooks. Where you can also find Polidori’s THE VAMPIRE and Maturin’s MELMOTH THE WANDERER, both of which set the ground for Stoker’s DRACULA.

Once again, comparing TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (UK) (US) with HERO (UK) (US) for their uses of highly artificial colour:

They’re both pretty cheap in the UK right now, TEARS might be more of a struggle to find in the US but it’s worth it.

DEVIL COMET THOUGH

Nee work by old acquaintance Rosanna Dean.

OTHER

UP WE GO

I don’t know why this little piece of music makes everything better, but it does. For me, it’s up there with Feelgood By Numbers as a mood changer.

Sometimes I just play this loud too:

I mean, there’s no judgement on the things that just lift us up a bit in the middle of the day, right?

GOT MORE TIME?

LTD

• Ketjak

• NUCLEAR WAR: A SCENARIO, Annie Jacobsen

• THE DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (1973)

This letter has been zapped to you via Beehiiv.

Well, that was a long week. Feels like it’s been a long month. By the time you open this, I will probably be deeply involved in trying to construct a new raised vegetable bed in the garden. Probably destroying my ancient body in the process. But I’ve been in front of screens all week, working in the same document, and I very much need a couple of days of working with dirt and old tools. Get out of my head and catch up on some podcasts and maybe even grow something.

When I started reclaiming the garden, my daughter laughed and said, “Ah! You’ve reached the age where it’s either God or gardening.” Little shit.

Try something that works for you (because we’re all different), this week? Look after yourself. Own oxygen mask on first, please. See you next week.

W