Some Big Changes
Radiant Black #42, Teen Titans and more knee surgeries!
Hey everyone!
Kyle here, coming to you from my desk on a gloomy-but-relaxing Friday morning where I’ve got some good music going (Glass Animals) and some of the most gorgeous new Radiant Black and Teen Titans art that I could ever hope for hitting my inbox. Shout out to Marcelo Costa and Daniele Di Nicuolo!
I haven’t spoken too in-depth about what we’re doing on Teen Titans just yet, as we’re still a few months away from when the book will really ramp up with solicits and on-sale dates, but the pages that Daniele has been crafting feature some of the most stunning superhero art that I’ve ever been lucky enough to be a part of. I think fans, new and old, are going to really vibe with this.
Here’s a little tease from one of my favorite pages.
This past week has been almost entirely consumed by outreach on Radiant Black #42, which I’ll get to in a second.
Outside of that, I’ve been putting some real work into taking better care of myself. Looks like I’ve got another knee surgery coming up, possibly more than one, and I’m trying to head into it in the best shape I can. I’m about a month into some bigger lifestyle changes and, honestly, feeling really good for the first time in a long time.
I’ve dropped some weight, I’m moving better (crippling knee pain non-withstanding) and the stress levels have been dropping. Which, you know, is definitely preferable to the alternative.
The big changes aren’t just limited to me. On the book front, we’ve got a really big issue of Radiant Black that’s about to hit its Final Order Cutoff and to say that it is going to usher in another huge change for the book… well, I’ll just say it— it’s going to usher in a another huge change for the book :)
After we put the finishing touches on it earlier this week, we also started to get the issue out to retailers so they can see what exactly they’re in store for before ordering. The reaction has been awesome — which helps mitigate some more of that stress ;) — but what’s been even more awesome is the reaction that we’ve gotten from a few fans who we also shared the issue with.
This past Monday, we brought a few folks up on stream and showed them the ending of #42, live, to get their unfiltered reactions. Huge thank you to Bash, Matt, Owen, Bill, Ryan, and TJ for being game and for trusting us not to put them in a weird spot.
Watch their reactions and you’ll get a pretty good sense of what we’re working with here.
FINAL ORDER CUTOFF
Radiant Black #42 - May 11
On sale - June 3
Okay. I’m going to choose my words very carefully here.
Radiant Black #42 is the start of maybe the biggest story we’ve ever told in this book. As we race toward issue #50 (!!), the ending of #42 kicks off something that Joe, Marcelo, Michael and I have been building toward for a long time, and I genuinely cannot wait for everyone to read it.
I’m not going to spoil any of it here. The reveal at the end of this issue only works if it lands cold, and I want to protect that for every single one of you. But I will tell you this — if you’ve been with us since the beginning, if you’ve stuck around through everything we’ve put these characters through… this is the one.
For newer readers — quick note on FOC, or Final Order Cutoff. It’s the deadline for retailers to lock in their orders with the printer, and pre-ordering before FOC is the single most material way you can support these books. It directly affects the print run and signals demand to retailers. Monday is the deadline for #42. If you’ve been on the fence, or if you’ve been meaning to add Radiant Black to your pull list, this is the issue to do it on.
Talk to your local shop! Get it on your pull list! Tell a friend!
And then, once the issue hits stands on June 3, hit our Discord and tell us what you think!
PREVIEW:
MASSIVE-VERSE LIVE
This past Monday’s episode was all about bringing fans up to show them #42 and get their reactions. It’s a fun one! If you missed the stream, you catch it right here along with an audio-only edition as well.
Since this Monday is such an important day for Radiant Black #42, we’re going to spend the night digging into some fun segments around big reveals in comics. And we may or may not be joined by some special guests!
→ [Monday, May 11. 6PM PST on YouTube]
BLACK MARKET PRESENTS…
On Tuesday, we released a new edition from our Black Market Presents… initiative — Tree App, by Zach Chapman, Dean Kotz and Chris O’Halloran. If you missed it in your inbox, you can catch it here.
COMMUNITY & CONVENTIONS
Comic Con Revolution
May 16-17
Ontario, CA
Galaxy Con Nashville
May 22-24
Nashville, TN
Okay, that’s going to do it for me today!
See you Monday night on Massive-Verse Live!
Kyle
Los Angeles, CA
Omg as a consultant, I have been dying seeing the absolutely huge female and gay fandom Jason Todd has -despite horrible out of character writing by writers such as Jeff Lemire who clearly never read his origin, let alone the classist issues - considering every time I travel to Japan, Korea, Taiwan etc I see the “cup sleeve parties” they host where these women throw like parties to get together to celebrate Jason Todd, the amount of merch and fan art etc and I have been shaking my head at how DC is missing such a fantastic cash cow for whatever unknown reason. Both as a fan and as a merchandiser, I think this direction for Jason Todd is fantastic. The excitement Dan Mora got for the Jason as Robin glimpse in Justice League Unlimited is going to pale in comparison. I do hope you consider having Jason also have moments with his family, I feel like the dynamic and chaos him and Steph would have would be great and I’d love to see him talking to his big brother Dick for advice - or even Bruce? It’s about time this character got some care and wasn’t reduced to one facet. It was the whole nerd in a bad boy body that made him unique while Tim Drake was the opposite. That being said, very excited for the latest issue of Radiant Black!
Thanks so much for bringing me on! It was a ton of fun and I think the fans are really going to be excited by what the ending for issue 42 will mean for Radiant Black going forward. I eagerly anticipate both the future issues of RB and the impending release of Teen Titans. That little bit of art by Daniele is so damn good and I can't wait to see the full thing soon.