Fleen Senior French Correspondent Pierre Lebeaupin alerted me on happenings in French webcomics at the start of last week, but also asked me to hold the story as it was known that more details were coming down the pike. The tail end of the story arrived at the end of the week, so let’s turn it over to him and get caught up on Continental goings-on.

• After 500 pages of an harrowing story inspired from her own experience, Laurel has recently concluded Comme Convenu (non-spoilery ending). Congratulations to Laurel for bringing this story to its conclusion!

  Now it is clear this is leaving a sizable hole in the daily trawl of many readers. And while we’re expecting to hear what she’ll be working on next, it turns out she’s been expecting, period.

  Everyone, please welcome Valerian, who [on 1 June] joined his big sisters Cerise and Hermione. And congratulations again to Laurel, as well as to Adrien Duermael.

• Thomas Pesquet has been regaling us with photos from the ISS for the last six months, but [2 June] he is set to land back on Earth. But fear not! For Marion “Professeur Moustache” Montaigne is busy narrating his odyssey in comic form in a new book to be published in November. Yes, Commander Hadfield, you too have given us fantastic photos from space, but have you had a 200-page comic made about you? I don’t think so!¹

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¹ Ok, ok, he’s told us his story in illustrated form. Good enough. Sorry Commander, please don’t hurt me.

Gary again, with two thoughts:

1. Commander Hadfield has never hurt anybody; he’s a friend to all. Nevertheless, I will be most intrigued to read Pr Moustache’s GN, for a litany of fairly obvious reasons.
2. A footnote! Oh, FSFCPL, you are making a hack webcomics pseudoeditor very happy.

Okay, third thought: welcome, Valerian. I hope that we can make the world less stupid and cruel by the time you notice what it’s like. Your mother and father will love you unconditionally, but give them the occasional full night of sleep, and they spoil you rotten.

Also, grow up safely and quickly so that you can see what looks to be a completely bonkers Luc Besson movie named after you². It’s either going to be completely kickass or incredibly stupid, but either way it’ll probably make The Fifth Element look like a model of understated restraint and I can’t wait.

Edit to add: Octopus Pie just ended. Too soon to get my thoughts wrapped around that fact. Tomorrow, promise.

Spam of the day:

Bionic Steel Hose

Is this some kind of robo-Real Doll thing? Because, ew.

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² Seriously, have you seen the trailer? Bonkers.

Dunno about you, but for me this first weekend of June is gonna be all-EMS, all the time. It’s time to get smarter and practice the skills you hope you never need, which is a time-consuming process. If you have anything to announce between now and Monday, maybe drop me an email or I’ll probably miss it. What kind of anything? Oh, you know, new comics, appearances, that sort of thing.

• New comic! Maybe nobody has had a hand in more different webcomics — and certainly more updates, given that mezzacotta has an update in its archive for damn near every day from the Big Bang until today¹ — than David Morgan-Mar (PhD, LEGO®©™^etc), and since he wrapped up Planet of Hats a few months back, he’s obviously ready to start another².

  Thus, a note at the bottom of Irregular Webcomic t’other day about the next project:

  Eavesdropper is a new, original webcomic story.

  It is a collaboration between Darths & Droids authors Andrew Shellshear and David Morgan-Mar. Andrew is writing the story and David is drawing the artwork.

  The comic will launch on Wednesday 14 June, 2017, and update weekly every Wednesday.

  That’s all we know so far. And since Morgan-Mar himself is about to embark on a couple weeks overseas travel with limited email access, that’s all we’re going to know until just before Eavesdropper, uh, drops. Morgan-Mar’s art chops have come a long way since he decided to learn how to draw, and given his tendency towards paronomasia (look it up), there’s a better than even chance that the title refers to clumsiness around actual roofing features.

• Those in Ann Arbor, Michigan have a treat in store at the Downtown Library: an exhibit of Ben Hatke’s original artwork launched yesterday and runs through 31 August, in conjunction with his upcoming appearance at Ann Arbor Comics Art Fest (formerly the Kids Read Comics Festival). A²CAF³ runs Saturday and Sunday, 17 and 18 June, at the Downtown Library, and is free and open to the public.

  Hatke will be featured at a reception on Friday the 16th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and again at a Q&A on the 17th at 4:00pm. On the off chance that the firebreathing creator of Zita the Spacegirl, Nobody Likes A Goblin, Mighty Jack, Little Robot, Julia’s House For Lost Creatures (and much more) doesn’t catch your fancy, A²CAF will also feature appearances by Zach Giallongo, Kean Soo, Katie Shanahan, Lee Cherolis, Raina Telgemeier, and many more. Did I mention that it’s free? It’s free.

Spam of the day:

PORN SURVEY Hi, my name is Jessica. Im the Head of the User Experience Department for this site. Please answer these 4 short questions to help us make this site better –

The only question I’ll answer is what my favorite PornHub search term typo is: lebsiam, because it’s actually two typos in one. Which, come to think of it, is probably a porn genre for spelling nerds.

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¹ Okay, technically as far back as 1 January 9999999999999 BCE, which is about 73% of the way to the Big Bang. Close enough.

² He’s the embodiment of the notion that it’s not hard to come up with ideas, it’s hard to find the time to act on them.

³ That’s A-sqaured, not a footnote.

Thursdays, man. Thursdays.

But I would feel absolutely terrible if I didn’t at least point you to some very good news for Molly Ostertag; we’ve mentioned the recent Kickstart for the second volume of Strong Female Protagonist and also the release of Shattered Warrior, two projects on which she ably handles art duties.

But Ostertag doesn’t get to tell a story visually as well as she does — even when written by another — unless she’s a hell of a strong story composer herself. Getting to write as well as illustrate a full graphic novel was just a matter of time, with Scholastic doing the honors in publishing the upcoming The Witch Boy (on, appropriately enough, Halloween Day). I haven’t seen an advanced copy or anything, but I’m pretty damn confident that it’s going to be great.

I’m not alone. Seems the development team at Fox Animation has similar opinions:

Fox Animation has preemptively picked up the feature film rights to The Witch Boy, an upcoming graphic novel by Molly Knox Ostertag.

[The] Witch Boy centers on 13-year-old Aster, whose family raises all their girls to be witches and boys to be shapeshifters. Anyone who dares cross those lines is exiled. The boy hasn’t shifted, and he’s fascinated by witchery. When a mysterious danger threatens the other boys, Aster knows he can help … but as a witch. With the help of a non-conforming friend, Aster will have to find the courage to save his family while also be true to himself.

I’m not sure what I’m more delighted by — that the gender metaphor will resonate in a bunch of 8 to 12 year olds, that the rights were obtained this early, or that it’s Ostertag’s solo debut. I’ve said it about other creators and it applies here as well: as good as Ostertag is in her mid-20s, I can’t wait to see how damn good she’ll be in her mid-30s. There are going to be some gods-damned amazing comics dropping every friggin’ week by the time Scott McCloud’s target year for a female majority in comics — creators and readers — arrives¹.

We’ll include the obligatory disclaimer that rights/options/etc don’t mean that anything will happen quickly (or at all)², but you know what? Fox had to write Ostertag a check. Her name recognition just went up, meaning that her next publishing contract negotiation just tilted a bit more in her favor. She wins, we get to read The Witch Boy no matter what, and it’s a sunny day out. I’m declaring victory and going out to walk my dog.

Spam of the day:

Club Access LocalMILFsMHP Ad-Partner

On the one hand, Nnnnnope. On the other hand, I’m kind of curious what MHP stands for.

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¹ 2024, according to McCloud. I’m on record that he was wildly pessimistic in thinking it would take that long, and pessimism is not a characteristic I normally ascribe to him.

² Given the current state of book challenges and censorship attempts, I can see a story about witchcraft and a boy wanting to engage in Girl Things will rile up the fundamentalist outrage machine. Bring it.