February 14, 2018- CURSE WORDS #11, DARTH VADER #11, POE DAMERON #24

I have three books out this week, all of which I'm very excited about! CURSE WORDS #11 is a big deal, the start of the next story arc, but there's also a new DARTH VADER issue on the shelves and a new POE DAMERON. Some thoughts on each below, and we'll start with CURSE WORDS...

It's CURSE WORDS #11! The cover on the left is by the series artist and co-creator Ryan Browne, showing the delightful Margaret (currently, but not always, a platypus) in dire straits. The one on the right is the stunning variant by our friend Tula Lotay, showing Ruby Stitch doing what she loves most - PARTYING. Click through the image to find purchase links for both.

This issue begins the third arc on the series, "The Hole Damned World," which is designed to provide some backstory on the crazy hellworld from which Ruby, Margaret and the other main character of the Curse Words triumvirate - Wizord the wizard - all hail. This arc has a throughline I like a lot, with a number of characters on parallel searches, and the ending should be a hammerblow on about ten different levels. I'm truly, truly happy with where all of this is going.

If you're already reading Curse Words, THANK YOU - you're a hero. If you're not, well, this is a great time to start. The first two trades are out everywhere, and then you can just pick this one up today and you'll be all caught up. Hope you do! There's (hopefully) some really cool news coming about Curse Words - you'll want to be the person who can tell everyone you were reading this book way back when.

DARTH VADER #11! The start of a two-part arc entitled "The Rule of Five." You may not know this, but there's a famous rule in Sith mythology called "The Rule of Two," which states that there can only be two full Sith at a time, an apprentice and a master. So... five? What the hell does that mean? I know, and you will too - if you read this and Vader #12 when it hits in about a month.

What we have here is Vader going off with a new Inquisitor (evil dark-Force-using Jedi hunter) named Ninth Sister to investigate a possible Jedi sighting out at a sort of Star Wars roadhouse in the middle of nowhere. When he gets there, it becomes pretty clear that he's the target - someone put out a bounty on him. 

That's all well and good, lots of great Vader moments, but this issue also hides the secret origin of another character I really like, who first appeared in the Lando miniseries I did with Alex Maleev in 2015. If you haven't read that, give it a shot! People seem to like it.

POE DAMERON #24! We're rapidly approaching the finish line on the "Legend Found" arc in Poe, which revolves around the team's search for missing Force explorer Lor San Tekka. This book is set just before The Force Awakens, so the idea is that it's setting up the situation by which Poe knows to head to Jakku to meet Lor at the start of the movie to get the map to Luke Skywalker.

It's been a fun ride getting to this point, and one of my favorite parts has been the creation of a character named Agent Terex. He was originally a Stormtrooper in the Empire, then became a crime lord when the Empire fell, but joined right up with the First Order once they appeared, because he thought they'd bring back the glory days of the Empire. It... hasn't worked out that way for him, and Terex's gradual disillusionment and character shifts as he realized that the First Order would never love him like the Empire did have been a joy to write. I love a lot about this book, but Terex, from Issue 1, has always been one of my favorite bits.

So, this issue, Poe #24, is my tribute to this evil SOB. He's not a good guy, but he's a good bad guy, and it's been tough to watch some of the things he's gone through. Here, though... well, an alternate title for this issue could be "Terex Gets His Groove Back," and I wouldn't have it any other way.

That's this week! Next week, more big books - Daredevil #599 ("MAYOR FISK" part 5 of 6), Astonishing X-Men #8, and the collection of issues 1-6 of Astonishing X-Men, the "Life of X" story. Not to mention, of course... we tick ever closer to the release of my novel THE ORACLE YEAR on April 3. I'll be doing a number of signings and appearances over the spring and summer for it, so make sure you click over to the calendar page, and of course, hit up www.oracleyear.com for more information about the book, pre-ordering, the pre-order bonus (I'll predict your future!) and more. Goodreads.com and HarperCollins are actually running a giveaway this month for galleys of the novel - 15 copies will be sent out, and it's free to enter. You can do that here!