055 We're Back!
NO/ONE, Rogue Sun and Dead Lucky shop drops! Plus, Inferno Girl Red and Radiant Black updates
And we’re back! It’s been a minute! About a month’s worth of minutes.
We’re just starting to come out of a big bottle neck as we get our books back to shelves this week. We’ve had a few delays come up over the last couple months— my apologies, a number of these issues have taken us a bit longer to put together than normal. In particular, Radiant Black #26— this one has been a beast. Of course, I mean that in the best possible way— it’s 52 pages of story across the A cover and B cover.
Eduardo and Marcelo have both finished their issues and we’re wrapping colors and letters now. However, with the distributor change from Diamond to Lunar, Radiant Black #26 will now be in stores October 11. I know that’s going to be a minute— and again, I really do apologize about the delay here. But I promise, I’m not coming empty handed. How about I show you some of the craziness we’ve been putting together?
For those who missed the news, The Catalyst War (issues 25-30) is an event told across timelines. What this means practically is that for the next six months, the A cover and the B cover for every issue of Radiant Black will each have a unique story. The A cover follows Marshall as Radiant Black and the B cover follows Nathan as Radiant Black. And at the end of Catalyst War, you’ll learn who won the vote and who will be Radiant Black permanently. You can read more about it all in last month’s newsletter, here.
Now, while each storyline is unique and integral to the story, the timeline split only just occurred in the latter stages of issue 25. Meaning, for the first portion of issue 26… there are going to be some eerily similar moments across both books.
Here’s a look at the first meeting with Premier. Our A version is by Eduardo Ferigato and Raul Angulo—
And here’s a similar but different moment under our B cover by Marcelo Costa and Rod Fernandes—
Wild, right?
Oh, and then there’s the next page—
And before you ask, no, the entire issue is not designed as page to page echoes. In fact, what Eduardo and Marcelo have done is even bolder, as the timelines diverge more fully.
Radiant Black 26 A and B, both out on October 11. FOC will be coming up in the next few weeks— make sure you tell your store to order your copies. We’re really going ambitious with this event. Even if we’re a little behind :)
Okay, let’s get to this week’s releases!
NO/ONE #5
Our most NO/ONE-centric issue to date, featuring some big turns in the Aaron Kern Accountability killing murders— now he’s saying he didn’t do it.
And of course, the story continues in WHO IS NO/ONE, which you can listen to for free right now (after you read issue 5, of course). This episode is a really significant one, as events from issue 5 spill over directly on-air between Julia and Teddy.
As the note up top informs listeners, this episode contains some unrehearsed conversation. Listener discretion is advised… (but not really— it’s pretty clean ;)
The Dead Lucky
Issue #8
Two issues into our new arc and this book continues to get stronger and stronger. Pyre— his identity and his mission statement— are making things incredibly challenging for Bibi in a variety of ways. It’s the sign of a compelling villain and I’m excited for readers to learn more about him.
Inferno Girl Red Book 2 Kickstarter
Just a quick reminder that we’ve officially announced Inferno Girl Red Book 2! In fact, we’re just a few days away from launching the campaign. We’ve got some fun reward tiers— including a limited number of volume 1 HCs available for those who missed the first campaign— so if you haven’t signed up yet to be notified when the campaign launches, you can do that right here.
As for the book itself? Oh, it’s looking wonderful. Here’s a little peek—
Bad Blood
Speaking of Kickstarters, I also want to talk briefly about a new Kickstarter that looks absolutely deadly, called Bad Blood. Here’s a bit about the project—
“Acclaimed designer Kelly McMahon (Imperium) has created a deck of 54 playing cards that is a stylish illustrated tribute to the 1920s, with stunning art deco-inspired card designs. And that’s just the beginning, because the cards are also a murder mystery card game, featuring a story by Mat Groom, a comic book writer who has penned the comic book adventures of the POWER RANGERS and ULTRAMAN and co-created the Image Comics sensation INFERNO GIRL RED. Each character card brings to life a different faction of the one-time solve murder mystery that can be played alongside any traditional card game.”
“Bad Blood invites you to fill the well-polished shoes of journalist Joseph Field and uncover the mystery behind Dee’s murder. His journal is the key to solving this crime, read through his findings and decipher the clues across the deck of cards and you might just ind yourself unravelling the threads of a diabolical conspiracy. Or grab a drink and try your hand at a game of poker as the body count grows, it’s your call…
More than just a deck of 54 playing cards, Bad Blood is a stylish illustrated tribute to the 1920s. Each character card brings to life a different faction of the one-time solve murder mystery written by Mat Groom, that can be played alongside any traditional card game.“
I’ve seen this one up close— Black Market Narrative may even be involved in a yet-to-be-announced tier, hint hint— and it’s truly delightful. A 1920’s deco murder mystery with gorgeous cards to boot.
You can sign up for Bad Blood right here.
Now Available on the Black Market
Massive-Verse Posters
Fresh from SDCC, we’ve brought back some copies of the SDCC Massive-Verse 2023 poster and have made them available in our shop! We also have some limited quantities of our 2022 SDCC and C2E2 posters available as well.
Graded Comics
We’re also starting something a little new for us— we’ve been working to get certain Radiant Black issues graded to make available in really limited quantities on the store front. We have our first batch back from CGC and we’ve put them all up now. These are all graded, signature series, signed by me.
Going forward, we’ll be adding things here and there— we’ll give you a heads up through the newsletter when things go live. So, if you’re not subscribed— now’s the time!
Giveaway
The Massive-Verse Card Game Promo Pack
And speaking of reasons to subscribe, I’ve got one more fun thing for you this week. As previously announced at SDCC, we’ve partnered with Solis Game Studio to make The Massive-Verse Card Fighting Game. This will be a Kickstarter later this fall (which you can sign up for here) but San Diego attendees got a first hand look at the game thanks to our SDCC exclusive two-pack, featuring Radiant Black and Rogue Sun.
Well today, we’re going to give three lucky subscribers their own pack.
We’ve selected three Black Market News subscribers at random who we’d love to send the SDCC exclusive two-pack to. These three are:
Neal Heatherly
Ben Goldberg
Matthew Upshaw
Congrats, all! Drop us a line and Ryan will get a set shipped your way!
We’ll be doing this a few more times over the coming weeks— make sure you’re subscribed!
Convention Bound
After a solid four weeks without a convention, I’ll be heading back out on the road next weekend for the first of three more shows to close out the year.
First up is Galaxy Con Austin from September 1-3.
I’ll be at the show all three days with a fresh stock of Massive-Verse trades and copies of our special Supermassive 2022 reprint for VIP guests and panel attendees. Plus, we should have a pretty fun panel in store! If you’re in Austin, come help us spread the Massive-Verse word!
After that, it’s on to Beer City Comic Con in Asheville, NC on September 29 - October 1. I’ll be learning how to train like Batman. You can too!
And then finally, October 12-15 in NYC — New York Comic Con.
This is really exciting show, for a host of reasons. First up, a number of our Massive-Verse team will be in attendance, including Michael Busuttil, Ryan Parrott, Melissa Flores, Erica D’Urso, Geraldo Borges, Brian Buccellato, myself, and possibly even Mat Groom. So far, a Massive-Verse panel seems like it won’t be happening (we’re waitlisted) but we’ve been discussing the idea of putting together a meet-up one night.
So, a few things about this year’s NYCC—
A. We’ve got some pretty exciting announcements lined up for this one.
B. For the first time ever, we’ll be doing a Black Market Narrative booth on the main show floor!
With regards to the booth— in addition to trade paperbacks and comics, we’re putting together some plans right now for some very fun NYCC exclusives.
If you’ve ever thought about attending NYCC and you’re into The Massive-Verse and Black Market Narrative, then this might be the perfect year to try to take a little trip :)
Okay, that’s going to do it for me today! See you next week!
Kyle
Los Angeles
I am so pumped these posters are available! Plan to purchase very soon!
Sooooo excited for the card game (and everything else, obviously)! I'm a huge card game fan, so I really can't wait to see just how it plays!