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Welcome to the August edition of the AHOY newsletter! If you're anything like us, you've been making all sorts of changes in quarantine to keep things exciting—whether that be going for the chic pandemic buzz cut that's so hot right now, making elaborate 5 pm cocktails that require five types of liquor and a small botanical garden, or even going out to collect the mail with no shoes on just to feel something... (Okay, just me on that one?) This month, we're keeping it fresh by doing something a little different here: we'll of course continue to give you more (we aren't heathens!), but instead of giving you more breadth, we'll be giving you more depth with a deep dive into one of our upcoming projects: PENULTIMAN, the long-awaited series about the superhero who's the next-to-last step in human evolution. Peek inside for incredible PENULTIMAN process art, exclusive script pages, inspirational recommendations from the creators, mysterious announcements, and (you guessed it!) even more. And remember, Issue #0 is still available for free on Comixology. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the sourdough starter in my kitchen, which appears to have grown sentient and is now heckling a jar of badly pickled vegetables. Never a dull moment in 2020! |
PENULTIMAN is brought to life on the page by artist extraordinaire Alan Robinson. But it takes some good old fashioned elbow grease to get all the way from concept to perfection. We're pulling back the curtain on the artistic process to show you the evolution of a single page. The excerpt below, provided courtesy of Alan Robinson, is from PENULTIMAN #2, so feel free to speculate wildly about what could possibly be happening here! Remember, a magician never reveals his secrets—so thank your lucky stars we're just comic book creators. |
PENULTIMAN #1
(W) Tom Peyer
(A) Alan Robinson
(C) A: Alan Robinson
B: Jamal Igle Back from the future—again! Penultiman, The Next-To-Last-Stage In Human Evolution, is the greatest, best-looking, and most admired super-hero in the world! So how can he stop hating himself? His android understudy, Antepenultiman, thinks he knows the answer! Created by Tom Peyer (THE WRONG EARTH) and Alan Robinson (PLANET OF THE NERDS). Featuring a variant cover by Jamal Igle (THE WRONG EARTH, Black). Resolicited from the Plague Times – all previous orders have been cancelled. All AHOY books feature additional prose stores and art. October 7, 2020
ORIGINALLY SOLICITED FOR: May 6, 2020
$3.99 |
BLEEDING COOL was the one to drop the news that the long-awaited series finally had a new publication date (and that's October 7, for those of you marking their calendars). To make up for the interminable wait, they previewed an extra-long excerpt from the first issue, reprinted below for your viewing pleasure. And if you're on the lookout for even more PENULTIMAN content, you'll enjoy this interview SMASH PAGES did with writer Tom Peyer way, way back in the olden days—March 10, 2020, to be precise. Within Peyer talks nostalgia comics, the universality of PENULTIMAN's fatal flaw, and AHOY's approach to future growth, so give it a read at SMASH PAGES. Ah, we were so young then... |
Welcome to AHOY Café, where diners can always expect more! On today's tasting menu, the chef's special is a "deconstructed preview," wherein an original script page and the accompanying unlettered art is presented side by side as a kind of commentary on the traditional preview page that mom used to make. All ingredients are locally sourced from page 10, Issue #1 of PENULTIMAN. Bon appetit! |
We interrupt this regularly scheduled PENULTIMAN broadcast for a special bulletin. (Penultiman, if this brief digression exacerbates your inferiority complex, we're so sorry...) Earlier this month, some beloved members of the AHOY team made an appearance at the all-virtual Mainframe Comic Con. Stuart Moore, Jamal Igle, Soo Lee, Mark Russell, and Richard Pace sat down with John Siuntres of WORD BALLOON to talk all things AHOY, including what's next for ASH & THORN, BILLIONAIRE ISLAND, CAPTAIN GINGER and SECOND COMING. If you missed the live chat, you can find the recording here. Back to you, Penultiman! |
This tweet from PENULTIMAN artist Alan Robinson is a “big mood,” as the kids say—especially these days. Give Robinson a follow for more regular sightings of PENULTIMAN process art in the wild. |
Longtime readers know that every AHOY comic comes with a bounty of back matter, and PENULTIMAN is no exception. We've got the exclusive reveal of what to expect in those back pages once PENULTIMAN hits the stands in October, plus a glimpse at the accompanying art of one of the stories, courtesy of Elliott Mattice. "How to Field Strip a George Foreman Grill" by Kek-w, art by Rob Steen
"Recommended for All Ages" by Chris Lundy, art by Joe Orsak
"Strange Medicine" by Philip Ellis, art by Elliott Mattice Sounds enticing, mysterious, and possibly even practical! Funnily enough, that's what it says on my eHarmony profile... |
For this month's edition of AHOY Recommends, we checked in with writer Tom Peyer and artist Alan Robinson (of PENULTIMAN! Have you heard of it?) to see if we could learn a little more about the media they consumed while dreaming up the next-to-last stage in human evolution. From Peyer: "I love Armando Iannucci's TV comedies, The Thick of It and Veep. They're all about the Grand-Canyon-size gap between the actual behaviors of important people and the image they deliberately present to us and that we usually accept. I tried to bring some of that sense to PENULTIMAN; you might love the glamorous superhero from a distance, but he might not be so great up close." From Robinson: "On each page of PENULTIMAN I had sort of a routine. While I was thumbnailing, sketching or drawing I was mostly listening to music, from the Beatles through AC/DC. But when inking, I could surely hear (and watch a few seconds from time to time) of my favorite series: Seinfeld, Curb your Enthusiasm and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Anything that helps me keep it weird." Amen! Here's to all the art and stories that help us keep it weird. |
September is a busy month as several Wave 4 series end with a big splash. Check out the solicits below. CAPTAIN GINGER Season Two #6 - DIGITAL ONLY
(W) Stuart Moore
(A) June Brigman, Roy Richardson
(C) June Brigman, Roy Richardson The grand finale! As the Lumen make their final assault on Dogworld, Captain Ginger faces an impossible choice! Can the cats and dogs make peace against a common enemy, or will they fight like…well, you know? Also featuring bonus prose stories and illustrations. September 2, 2020
ORIGINALLY SOLICITED FOR: August 12, 2020
$3.99 ASH & THORN #5
(W) Mariah McCourt
(A) Soo Lee
Cover: Jill Thompson Season finale! Things are looking bleak for Lottie, the old woman chosen as champion against the dark forces… and for the rest of the world, too. But when the going gets tough, the tough get baking. Never underestimate the power of the perfect pie to save the planet! Plus a selection of extra prose stories and illustrations. September 9, 2020
ORIGINALLY SOLICITED FOR: August 19, 2020
$3.99 BILLIONAIRE ISLAND #6
(W) Mark Russell
(A) Steve Pugh
Cover: Steve Pugh The new series by Mark Russell (SECOND COMING) and Steve Pugh (The Flintstones) wraps up with a bang! After a devastating series of events on Billionaire Island, Shelly, Trent, and the others are determined to let the world know the truth. But for Business Dog? It’s time for dinner. Plus a selection of AHOY short stories and illustrations. September 16, 2020
ORIGINALLY SOLICITED FOR: August 26, 2020
$3.99 EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR: Volume Two (tpb)
(W) Mark Russell, Paul Cornell, Alisa Kwitney, various
(A) Peter Snejbjerg, Linda Medley, Rick Geary, Hunt Emerson, various
(C) Richard Williams AHOY Comics’ snarky anthology-slash-desecration of Edgar Allan Poe returns for a second volume, featuring more of the popular “Monster Serials” by Mark Russell (SECOND COMING) and Peter Snejbjerg (The Books of Magic), as well as Dean Motter and Alex Ogle’s ultimate Poe mashup, “The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher.” Plus more than a dozen additional comics stories, a generous selection of short “Poe and the Black Cat” strips by Hunt Emerson, and horrific bonus prose stories and poetry, too. “A must-buy book for fans of Edgar Allan Poe or a good laugh.” – SciFi Pulse September 23, 2020 - bookstore October 6, 2020
184 pp
$19.99 US |
So concludes the latest edition of AHOY's newsletter. How did we do? Was it great or really great? Please send adulations, congratulations, felicitations, and general praise to hanna.bahedry@superfanpromotions.com so we can see how we did. (And if you have any suggestions, you can send those too, sandwiched delicately between two thick slices of compliments.) |
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