Going Out Of Print

The recent social media groundswell (ground bump?) regarding The Eltingville Club pilot and comic led to both it and the Dork collection selling out from Dark Horse Comics. Also, the second Beasts of Burden volume, Neighborhood Watch , is now out of print from the publisher. 

Copies are obviously floating around, people have been kind enough to report int hat Atomic Empire has Eltingville in stock. Strange Adventures in Halifax chimed in on Instagram that they have copies of several of the books, at least they had them yesterday. More comic shops and book sellers would have copies, online sources and eBay are also places to check if you were thinking of snapping up a copy of any of these but didn't get around to it. But the evil Amazon site is out of stock on them all, and DHC is also now out of stock.

It's weird to see them "done with" from the publisher. Dork and Eltingville didn't cover their costs, but I'm really happy they finally moved the last copies and that the hardcover collections exist. I'm very happy with them, even if I'm not happy with all the work in them -- mostly the early work, I'm glad people liked it enough back in the day to launch Milk & Cheese, Dork and The Eltingville Club, but for me there's a lot of cringing when I look at that stuff. In the art, writing and attitude, among other things. let's just say there are a number of choices I wouldn't make now, I'm more careful about how I thread the line between satire and meanness, jokes and just being lazy and/or unwittingly offensive. I don't mind being offensive to certain people, parties and institutions, I just want to hone the blade more carefully and use it more wisely and effectively. Especially when it involves punching down. There's still ways to make jokes that "go there", I think you just have to question your choices, depictions and intent before making them. I had a scattergun approach for many years, figuring things out, running rampant and doing search and destroy missions with Milk & Cheese, Dork and Eltingville. IT makes writing harder, sure, but I think it's necessary to not be lazy in your work.  Maybe the subject would make for a good, chunky Patreon post someday when the writs brace comes off. 

Speaking of which, I went to my neurologist last week and came out with two referrals (hand specialist/surgeon for the carpal tunnel, physical therapy for the pinched nerve in my neck) and three prescriptions. Pain, anti-inflammation, muscle relaxant, etc. With my anti-anxiety meds I'm pill-happy now. Or pill-sad, either works. Anyway, still too early to see how it goes. But I have to get back to work, I have a cover due and the years-late commissions and those beasts of Burden scripts won't get written by Winky the Pirate Girl. Don't I wish, though. The next issue is all-cats, so maybe she'll give me some pointers. Or bite marks on my arm. I assume the latter.

There may be new editions of the OOP material sooner or later, I would think DHC would want the Beasts material to keep breathing. I don't know about the humor material, unfortunately both books lost money. But paperbacks might be a choice if DHC is up for it. If there's any news on republishing/repackaging or whatever, I'll certainly let folks now. All I know at this point is that DHC will not go back to print on these in the existing oversized, hardcover format. It feels weird to see them go out of print -- I'm glad that they finally got shifted, albeit slowly. But I love the HC format and these editions. The Beasts of Burden and Milk & Cheese paperbacks are swell, but they're no the HCs. I never had nice editions of my work like them before. Still, the main thing is to have the material available. And in a way, they still are, all of my work from DHC is available digitally from DHC and wherever else that might happen. 

Anyway, it's been a weird, wild comic book week for me and Eltingville. As it ebbs, I have to get back to work. I'm roughing out a cover for DHC, and just got another one assigned. So I'll have some new art to post about, with process and screw-ups included when I'm able to talk about them. In the meantime, more later soon