Casting Call

You Read These With Your Eyes (May 3^rd, 2023)

A quick feature about selling stories, featuring the week’s newest reads.

This week, we’re talking about the magic of “casting” a comic, with a pair of new releases from DC.

ONGOING | Shazam #1 (DC Comics)

by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, & Troy Peteri, w/ editorial support by Rebecca Bohana & Paul Kaminski

There are some books that feel like magic from the moment of their announcement. This Shazam series definitely had that glow when DC first announced Mark Waid and Dan Mora for the book. Individually, they had been doing outstanding work - Waid for decades, and Mora, and absolute rising modern star. Together, they have been producing the World’s Finest¹ title for DC - a throwback series set in the past with a decidedly modern take on silver age style stories.

World’s Finest is a constant delight. The pair play with the inherent strengths and weaknesses that come with books living in “past continuity” quite well. While they are somewhat restrained in their ability to have their characters change the flow of the DC universe, they use this as an opportunity to make definitive statements of purpose. Dick Grayson might not be able to evolve if his future is somewhat already “ordained”, but stories about what makes him a unique and iconic character can push past this limitation. The stories become less about what is going to happen, and more about who these people are and how they related to one another. The result is one of the best Batman and Superman titles on the stands today, which is saying quite a lot given the current crop of books.²

Now, I have to assume that someone at DC looked at the creative success of that series, and offered the same team the opportunity to shepherd their Shazam relaunch. Whoever was part of making that decision, was incredibly smart.

THE PITCH | All of the things that make World’s Finest work make the team perfect for Shazam. The book is incredibly fun and character focused. This is not a book where you can pallet swap a different character in, it is a story that requires, specifically, Billy Batson and Shazam to be at the heart of the events. The story itself is fun, and loud, and very personal. It lays down the groundwork of who Shazam and Billy are, and the story that unfolds ties in directly with their personality and their goals.

It also stands a chance of being a cornerstone book in the Dawn of DC line, where the goal seems to be presenting and focusing on our heroes being aspiration figures, not just in their strength, but in their kindness, empathy and resolve. It is a beautiful book, from art, to story, to heart, and I am so excited to put this into the hands of folks looking for a bit of light.

MINI-SERIES | Peacemaker Tries Hard #1 (DC Black Label)

by Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh, Jordie Bellaire & Becca Carey w/ editorial support by Matthew Levine & Chris Conroy

Elsewhere, the folks over at DC’s Black Label line have put together an outstanding team for this wild Peacemaker series.

Kyle Starks has built a career out of making brilliant and absurd action comics. Often feeling ripped straight from the 80s, these stories are infused with heart and intention, taking what might be a simple homage to an art-form, and building it up better. At the top of my head is the protagonist of his book Sexcastle, a character who was “born bad” and tells people they made the mistake of “bringing a you to a me-fight”. While he’s murdering his way through some bad hombres, we’re shown where his heart and mind lies - in gardening and floristry. A simple man, with simple wants, pulled away because he’s just too good at murder.

Putting this man in charge of a Peacemaker book is just a solid idea, given the character’s profile in other media. Pairing that man with the likes of Steve Pugh, whose brilliant satire work on books like The Flintstones and Billionaire Island to tell an action movie story with heart? That’s just perfection.

THE PITCH | Peacemaker is a garbage human. Just the worst. You could ask his friends, and they’d all tell you that. Or they would, if he had any.

His bundle of trauma and idealism makes him unloveable, and he’s having a tough time with that. And then, he meets a dog.

This is a book about a man finding love, and a man losing love, and the terrible things he’ll do to get it back. It is also a book by Kyle Starks, so we know this dog will remain safe. Probably.

It is absolutely hilarious and pitch perfect, and I recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed a modicum of the Peacemaker TV show.

---

So last week, I went to see the doctor. Some tests showed some distress to my liver, and he wanted to do a bit of troubleshooting. In this case, it meant cutting out any alcohol and junk food for three whole weeks before running another test.

While this has sucked, it has caused me to realize something that I’m going to have to confront: I’ve been using alcohol as a crutch to push through writing blocks.

I’m the type of person who is overly critical of their own work. At every step of the process, I’m criticizing myself - picking things apart and berating my various choices. As I’m typing this right now, I am forcing myself to continue on and ignore just how clunky this section is shaping up to be so that I can just get the words down, and hopefully go to bed. I need to get better at just… letting my words be my words.

Because the alternative seems to be what I’ve been doing - using alcohol to smooth out the edges, allowing me to drop the words on the page and walk away. Unaddressed, the end point of something like that isn’t good. Or at least it is a place that I don’t want to visit.

I want to be better. I’m going to try to be better.

It has been a week, and I have two more. My goal is to get my brain into working shape over this time and prove to myself that I don’t need the crutch. After the two weeks, I don’t see myself staying completely sober, but I’m going to be making a point of keeping clear when I’m writing. Make drinking while writing an exception and not the norm.

Anyway. That’s where I’m at right now. I hope you all are doing well.

Talk with you soon.

-B.

1. The full title of the book is Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, but I’m definitely too lazy to type that out over and over again, and you get the idea.

2. The World’s Finest series has been doing so well that it is getting a Teen Titans spin off. That is outstanding for a book that doesn’t take place in current continuity.