Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. Hope you survive the experience.
- To View: Gerry Duggan’s Krakoa-era creator photos
It’s a pretty good time to be an X-Men fan. Not only is there the mega-popular X-Men ’97 animated series on Disney+ and a new Deadpool & Wolverine movie coming this summer, but there’s also a lot going on with Marvel’s merry mutants in the comics. As the Krakoa era ends in spectacular fashion, the From the Ashes era gets set to begin, and I’m not sure you could have the excitement of one without the game-changing nature of the other.
Gerry Duggan has been part of the Krakoa journey since the beginning, writing both Marauders and X-Men, as well as Iron Man, which seemed to find its way into the line at the end. In addition to being a writer, Duggan is also a photographer, and even crowdfunded a book of his photos a couple years back. In his Substack newsletter this week, he shared a collection of photos of his fellow creators he’s taken during the Krakoa journey, at retreats and other meet-ups, spanning several years and a pandemic. Outside of stalking them at bars during conventions, it’s rare that you get to see creators interacting like this … in meeting rooms and, yes, at bars.
“I first heard Jonathan’s story in 2018 and I loved it from the jump,” Duggan said in his newsletter. “I got to be the first fan of House/Powers. It will always be one of my favorite comics. I wrote a document called ‘X-Men: Buccaneers’ on the plane ride home. It’s a terrible title, but it contained the foundation of what would later become Marauders. It is a lesson in making sure you’re writing when the sparks are flying. Spark is light, and light is worth chasing whatever your discipline.”
You can see more photos of the Krakoa crew over on Duggan’s Substack.
2. To Buy: Jinkies by Elise Schuenke
With Max’s somewhat notorious Velma back for a second season, it seems like a good time to mention Jinkies, a pay-what-you-want fan comic created by Elise Schuenke. I have only seen the first episode of the show myself, but I remember when it came out, it seemed to be universally hated by everyone — a rare thing these days, to find something that can unite people in such a way. Schuenke’s zine does not have anything to do with the show, and in fact I believe it was created many years before it ever aired, but here’s a post from the author on what you can expect:
Drop a few bucks down for the creator as you download it, and if you like what you see, you can find more comics by Schuenke here.
3. To See: Happy Mermay!
It’s May, which also means its Mermay, the month where artists draw mermaids and post them on social media. Like the image above, by Trungles.
Kind of like Inktober, Mermay was born within the creative community, and now has some pretty big sponsors, a list of prompts and a contest with judges that includes actress Tia Carrere. She once voiced a mermaid in a cartoon! Anyway, you can find plenty of mermaid drawings on social media this month, by just dropping the hashtag #mermay into the search. To get you started, here’s the hashtag on Twitter and the one for Tumblr. Note that we’re talking about mermaids here, who may have different clothing standards than other swimmers, so some images may be NSFW.