January 2023 - It's 2023!
2023
The years really are starting to look pretty sci-fi, aren't they? 2022 was an incredibly intense year for me in many ways. I feel like I found another gear, to use a phrase I've always kind of liked. In 2022, I:
actually, no. If you're reading this, you probably know a lot of what I'm been up to, and I don't find myself in a particularly victory lappy mood at the moment. Things were very, very good in 2022. I had a lot of new creative opportunities, many of which were pinch-me level. I spent a lot of time with family and friends, traveled a lot, focused on my physical and mental health, saw and played tons of music, went to museums and movies and shows, and learned a lot about myself and my own philosophies about where I am and where I want to go.
I created or co-created some of the best stories I've ever told this year. May it continue.
With that in mind, let me get into some of the stuff I've got coming up in 2023. Once I finish talking about the things you already know about, I'll drop some oblique hints for stuff that hasn't been announced yet... of which there is quite a bit.
THE ENDLESS VESSEL
Let's begin with what I think will be my biggest project in 2023 (at least for me) - my fourth novel, THE ENDLESS VESSEL. This is a deeply personal story that keys into my own feelings about being a father, the power of love, what happens when we die, the point of existence... you know, light themes. It is also (thank god), a totally kickass adventure story about a ship filled with geniuses that has been sailing non-stop for two and a half centuries, and a lost (but awesome) woman named Lily who finds an impossible invention, and a really cool monster, and it has an amazing sea battle and one of the best ideas I've ever had... it's a big book. The Midnight Library meets Cloud Atlas? Kind of... but also very much its own thing. It's out June 6, 2023, and you can pre-order the hardcover with its beautiful wraparound dustjacket now at the links below.
I did some very fun things in connection with my prior original books (THE ORACLE YEAR and ANYONE) for people who pre-ordered early, and I can tell you that I have a plan for THE ENDLESS VESSEL that dwarfs anything I've done along those lines in terms of scope and complexity (on my end - on yours it'll be pretty chill.) You'll get all the details in next month's update, but don't let that stop you from ordering the book now. There's sort of two levels to the plan, and I would never leave folks out who decide to support me early. Whenever, however you decide to acquire THE ENDLESS VESSEL, you'll be happy.
7,999,999,998 DOWN, 2 MORE TO GO
Eight Billion Genies has just TWO more issues left! The oversized issue 7 will be out in a few weeks, and issue 8 will drop sometime in March. For those of you who've been waiting for a collected edition, we have plans for a very fancy DELUXE hardcover collecting all 8 issues, coming in July. You can pre-order that here, or order it through your local comic shop. We got some amazingly positive news about the other stuff happening in the Genies-verse (yes, I'm talking about the movie), and while there's still a long road, it's gratifying to know that it's moving. Who knows? Not me... but I'm hopeful.
Ryan Browne and I did a signing in Detroit a few weeks back at a wonderful store out in Plymouth called State of Comics. Seriously, it's huge, the people are great, and they took excellent care of us. (Which is important, because Ryan and I (mostly Ryan) are some HIGH MAINTENANCE SOBs.) We also stopped in to Vault of Midnight (another awesome shop) but the clerks were busy talking about horror movies and we didn't want to bother them by introducing ourselves. (I hope you did go see Skinamarink, Mr. Clerk at Vault of Midnight, and I hope it wasn't too scary for you.)
Instead, we found a mural celebrating Detroit-based pop culture police officers and took this picture in front of it.
In case you missed it, Image recently announced that ALL SIX ISSUES OF 8BG will be going back for another round of reprints! This gave Ryan an excuse to make some of the best covers he has ever drawn! They're even interconnecting covers (if you don't put them that close to each other and kind of squint and tilt your head). These will be on shelves next Wednesday, February 1, just in time for you to grab them all and read them a few weeks before Issue 7 lands.
You can also get them from me direct from my webstore - I'm selling all six in a bundle. Click here or on the image below to get your bundle! Bundle bundle bundle bundle buneld bun
Another thing happening in genies-land is that some wonderful comic shops are doing their own variants of the final issue of the series, Issue 8. I'm making my own copies of those variants available to you via my webstore. These will be pre-orders, sent to you around the time the issue releases in March. These are some rare variants, so grab them while you can! Just like the bundle, you can get it signed or unsigned. Click the image below to check out the store listing. Or not! They're just paper with pretty colors and some words here and there!
2023: I PREDICT GOOD THINGS
As promised, I wanted to talk about some of the things happening in the next twelve months. There's a lot, I'll be busy, and I quite honestly don't know how I'll do all of this:
As previously mentioned, my next novel, THE ENDLESS VESSEL hits June 6, plus that pre-order-related thing that will take up a lot of my spring
EIGHT BILLION GENIES #7 and #8 with the MAGICAL Ryan Browne, and then the hardcover in July
Marvel's Star Wars mainline comics. Issue 31 will be out 2/15. There's a beat in this I think I am going to hear about. I've written through 35 and I'm just about to do 36. I just saw the last page of Steven Cumming's amazing art for Hidden Empire #5, so that's pretty much done. There's another big Star Wars thing coming down the pipe for me in the comics, which I've already started. It's strange and cool and you'll hear about it... soon?
Hell to Pay, book one of THE SHROUDED COLLEGE with Will Sliney and Rachelle Rosenberg, will continue its run through issue 6, making room for the second Shrouded College story, which I'll be announcing soon. It's planned to land in Q4 of this year, once again from our friends at Image Comics.
Star Wars: The High Republic. You already know about and seem to really like The Blade, my four-issue series about Jedi saber-slinger Porter Engle and his sister Barash. That will wrap up in a few months, but I also have Yoda and the Younglings - a children's book that I wrote with my daughter Rosemary which will be out on October 10th, a story in the upcoming High Republic YA anthology that will be out in September, and two other big THR things - one that I'll start working on this spring and the other later this year.
Undiscovered Country, the long-running sci-fi comic I do with Scott Snyder and Giuseppe Camuncoli, will see its fourth arc conclude this year, with two more to come. Our hope is to get it all finished this year, but if not, it'll be in the first part of 2024. It will be amazing to see that one come to a conclusion. We've known the ending the whole time - it'll be wild.
There's a Marvel superhero thing I've been working on for almost four years. Will you see it this year? I don't know - but it's moving, more than it has in a while. Fingers crossed. I think it's very good.
I am still working on the goddamned Curse Words Concept Album, which feels at this point like a curse I have laid upon myself. My standards for anything creative I do are really, really high, and while I love what I'm making here, it's also outside my normal workflow so it's always tough to spend the time on it that it needs. Progress is steady, just VERY slow. My hope is to just block out a month and get into the studio to really complete it. As always, if you ordered this at any point and want a refund, that is easily arranged. Just email souleassistant@gmail.com and it shall be done.
A fair number of cons! I'll be at C2E2, Star Wars Celebration, the Washington State Summer Con and almost certainly NYCC, plus maybe more that I haven't booked yet. I'd like to do more international shows, so if you've got one, reach out!
My ten-year anniversary at Marvel is coming up in June. (Thunderbolts 12 came out way back in June 2013.) It's very hard to stay in comics, so a decade seems pretty notable, especially to be operating at this level for so long. I'll probably do something to celebrate, though I don't know what, exactly.
There are other things I haven't announced, simply cannot discuss on pain of death or haven't even thought of yet! You'll hear about them when and if you do. Mostly, I look forward to another year of intense creation and celebration and doing the best I can. Here's hoping you get the same!
All best,
Charles
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