Brian Michael Bendis's Blog

Book club! Tuesday night! 100 bullets!

Book club! Tuesday night! 100 bullets! If you are a member of the Jinxworld discord or the @wordballoon.bsky.social Patreon community you have received an invite to our latest. i look forward to hearing your thoughts about this. 7 PM West Coast time. 10 PM East Coast time. Those who bought POWERS 25 1 discovered a FREE invite to the jinxworld discord which is safe harbor for comic fans/ creators and filled with so many free comics, classes, assignments and the just released full script to powers 25 1 for your enjoyment. FREE!! Your best damn comics buy!

jinxworld.com

The return of the #jinxworld @wordballoon book club meet and pod!

This Wednesday! it’s the return of the #jinxworld @wordballoon book club meet and pod. IF you are a member of either jinxworld discord OR the word balloon patreon (or both) you get a direct invite to participate in the live conversation with us (and SO much more). we will be talking volume one of the (spoilers) excellent SAGA by fellow bald clevelander @briankvaughan and Fiona Staples. we will get into all of it PLUS I can almost guarantee we will be talking #superman as I try to unpack the events in #cleveland this weekend. last time @tomking_tk surprised us and dropped by to talk Criminal. Who knows what might happen this Wednesday 10est/ 7pst. #comics jinxworld.com for more info… https://www.patreon.com/wordballoon

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GOODBYE, SUBSTACK!

Jinxworld will no longer call Substack our digital home.

Subscribers who have been following along over on our Jinxworld Discord server know this has been coming for a few months now, and today we are finally able to pull back the curtain on the ALL-NEW…

JINXWORLD.COM!

First, THANK YOU to the thousands of you who have joined us here in this space. We are so grateful for the incredible community we’ve been able to build here the past couple years, and have been thrilled to share exciting projects like Masterclass, Creation., and Fortune & Glory: The Musical. And that is exactly why we want to CONTINUE building this community and sharing those exciting projects in a new space that is entirely our own.

Now, here’s everything you need to know about the switch…

WHAT WILL THE EXPERIENCE ON THE NEW SITE BE LIKE?

We’ve taken extra time to ensure the transition from Substack to our new website is as seamless as possible. Everything we’ve been doing here on Substack, we will be doing over on the new website… and more!

We’ll still be sharing newsletters and the POWERS LEVEL subscription— with all the perks that come along with that— will still be available. In fact, every MASTERCLASS, every installment of CREATION., and every chapter of FORTUNE & GLORY: THE MUSICAL will be ready for you to enjoy on launch!

DO I NEED TO START A NEW SUBSCRIPTION ON THE NEW SITE?

Yes and no. Everyone subscribed to this newsletter has been added to our new mailing list, so you will automatically start receiving the e-mail updates and newsletters from the new site.

However, if you would like to join POWERS LEVEL at the new site, you will have to start a new subscription specifically for Powers Level. To start, just head to the ‘ENTER: POWERS LEVEL’ tab in the site’s navigation bar.

The POWERS LEVEL subscription will still be just $5/mo or $50/yr.

WAIT, AM I LOSING MONEY ON MY SUBSTACK SUBSCRIPTION?

NO, of course not! We paused all billing from Substack earlier last month and will be issuing refunds to all remaining paid subscribers next week. If you do not receive a notification/see your refund in your account within 10-14 business days, please contact us at JinxworldOnSubstack@gmail.com.

Those who paid for a monthly subscription will receive a full refund for the most recent month they paid for. Those who paid for a yearly subscription will receive a prorated refund for the amount equal to that of the remaining duration of your subscription.

OKAY, GOOD TO KNOW. SOUNDS LIKE IT’LL BE A FUN TIME!

Indeed.

Without further ado, we invite you to join us over at the all-new digital hub for all things JINXWORLD.

JOIN US!

See you there,

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS and THE JINXWORLD TEAM

OUT THIS WEEK: MASTERPIECE #2! YAY!

MASTERPIECE #2 is hitting shelves THIS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10th! from Jinxworld/ Dark Horse comics!

Thank you for supporting the first issue. Thank you for reaching out to us on what’s left of social media to tell us that you liked it and that you're all in. We are so happy with the response. Putting a new stuff is so scary. So thank you for being there with us. Pre order away!

But before we get to our preview of this next issue, see how critics raved last month’s premiere:

"An Astonishing Heist Story! The art is breathtaking. Bendis has outdone himself yet again, and we cannot wait to see where Emma’s journey takes us in the future issues." -Capes & Tights

"Masterpiece #1 is absolutely another entertaining hit from Bendis and Maleev and not to be missed." -Graphic Policy

"You’ll be hard-pressed to put it down."-Multiversity Comics

“The team of Bendis and Maleev strike another huge score with their latest mystery crime tale." -Nerd Initiative Review

And now, check out a special preview of our new issue…

Also check out this stunning variant from the amazing Patrick J Reynolds, the co-creator of Blood Stained Teeth. A book I love. https://www.instagram.com/patricjreyn...

And if you missed it, we hosted a very special FREE MASTERPIECE MASTERCLASS featuring co-creator and artist of the new crime epic, the one and only, ALEX MALEEV! The 2-hour discussion is available FOR FREE to ALL SUBSCRIBERS. Check out the archived recordings in the post below:

Be sure to let your LOCAL COMIC SHOP or online retailer know you want MASTERPIECE added to your pull list ASAP so you don’t miss a single issue of this all-new series!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned to this space and our DISCORD for some big updates regarding the future of the newsletter very soon.

Until then—

Thanks for reading,

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, ALEX MALEEV, IAN HERRING, JOSH REED, DANIEL CHABON, and The JINXWORLD Team

JINXWORLD BOOKS

Phenomena - Signed Edition

Share JINXWORLD on SUBSTACK.

FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL! CHAPTER 12!

Hello! Welcome! We’re pleased to present you with another ALL-NEW chapter of…

AN INTRO TO FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL FROM BENDIS…

Fortune and Glory was a graphic novel I did years ago, pre-Marvel, about my first adventures in Hollywood as a young independent comic book creator. It was one of the books that got me where I am. I always wanted to do a sequel. Many of you have asked for one over the years. I loved doing an autobiographical comic book. I always thought I would do another one, or a bunch of them, but Spider-Man kept getting in the way. :-)

But really, I never thought I would have stories crazier than the ones I told in the original Fortune and Glory. Everything happening to me in comics was fun and fun to talk about, but was it autobiography-worthy? Then I got called to be the writer of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a now notorious, infamous Broadway musical that you can Google about right now. The story I'm about to tell you happened years before the show’s debut. Only my closest pals knew any of this happened at the time. I’ve only hinted at parts of this in past interviews. Now, it gives me a GREAT excuse to go down memory lane and share my favorite moments of coming up in comics with you.

A lot of the stories in this GN mean everything to me. They are the most defining moments in my life. A lot of them happened before the Internet, so there's not a lot of archive about this time in our lives and in comics. I know a lot of people reading these newsletters are creators and writers themselves. I hope my journey, and my pain, brings you some personal solace. If anyone reading this had anything to do with Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, I hope reading this brings you some peace knowing that someone somewhere was trying to stop it from happening years prior.

This part of our newsletter will come out weekly for the first couple of weeks, and then we're going to shift to biweekly to make room for Creation. and the Masterclass which we have been doing all year. If you've just hopped on to check out Fortune and Glory, I am very excited to tell you that by subscribing, you are also getting access to all our Jinxworld material, including our Masterclass, which is now eight classes deep— 16+ hours of some of the best conversation I've ever put on record. You also have access to multiple chapters of Creation, our ongoing multimedia look at the messy art of creating things from scratch. Feel free to look around Jinxworld on Substack. We are very, very happy with this space and we love sharing it with you.

If you haven’t read the previous chapters, you can find all of them in our ARCHIVE, or the most recent one below:

Installments of the all-new graphic novel Fortune and Glory: The Musical are released in multiple formats! Find the next chapter in both .cbz and .pdf formats further down.

For those that prefer to read their Substack exclusive books right here in the newsletter, we’re happy to provide the pages below! However, we highly encourage downloading the files for the best reading experience.

Read more

MASTERPIECE! THANK YOU! BIIIIG SALE! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Hey, everybody.

It's Brian stepping in real quick just to say thank you for the amazing response to MASTERPIECE #1 last week. We got so many nice reviews that Dark Horse could put a blog together about it.

I can't thank you enough. Putting out new stuff in the world is so scary but you supporting is AMAZING!

Masterpiece #1. On sale now.

THE ENTIRE JINXWORLD LIBRARY IS ON SALE DIGITALLY!

Speaking of “sale”… just in time for the holidays, we've put together a DIGITAL SALE ON THE ENTIRE JINXWORLD LIBRARY! So if you have anybody in your house — or you — that loves our work but hasn't had a chance to dive into the creator owned titles, here is a big chance.  Give it a shot. Give it a chance. It's an amazing sale. This library is some of the most beautiful books I've ever worked on. Enjoy them. 

There will be some big Jinxworld announcements in the coming year, so having these books in your library will feel extra toasty. Promise!

JINXWORLD DIGITAL SALE

And if you want to be the first to hear about those aforementioned announcements, why don’t you subscribe to this newsletter and follow us over on Bluesky if you haven’t already:

Subscribe now

BENDIS on Bluesky

DARK HORSE COMICS on Bluesky

THE MASTERPIECE MASTERCLASS

Just a friendly reminder, especially for those who have now READ Masterpiece #1, we hosted a very special edition of our Masterclass featuring special guest ALEX MALEEV, co-creator and artist behind our latest series.

The 2-hour archival recording of our chat is available now, FREE TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS:

TOMORROW… More FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL!

THEN… our holiday list to end all holiday lists.

As always, thanks for subscribing.

-BENDIS

JINXWORLD BOOKS

Phenomena - Signed Edition

Share JINXWORLD on SUBSTACK.

FREE FOR ALL! MASTERCLASS - SESSION #19: with SPECIAL GUEST, ALEX MALEEV! [ARCHIVE]

Hello once again, everyone!

We’re back with a very special Masterclass, with a very special guest! Co-creator of Jinxworld’s own SCARLET and the artist behind landmark runs on characters like Daredevil, ALEX MALEEV joined us to chat about his long standing partnership with BENDIS and their all-new crime saga, MASTERPIECE.

MASTERPIECE #1 - COVER A by: ALEX MALEEV

MASTERPIECE #1 is hitting shelves everywhere TOMORROW, DECEMBER 13th, from DARK HORSE COMICS! To celebrate, we are offering the full TWO HOUR archival recording of last week’s special Masterclass discussion between Bendis and Maleev (and hosted by Taki Soma) to ALL subscribers!

ENJOY!

[*NOTE*: Some classes do have visual aids. We suggest watching the video version where possible for the best experience.]

VIDEO:AUDIO:DON’T FORGET TO PICK UP YOUR COPY OF MASTERPIECE #1!

If all this is piquing your interest to check out this new epic from Bendis and Maleev, you can pick up a copy of MASTERPIECE #1 starting TOMORROW (12/13) from your LOCAL COMIC BOOK SHOP or from the fine folks at THINGS FROM ANOTHER PLANET!

MASTERPIECE #1 - COVER B by: TULA LOTAY

We’ll announce a date for our next class, SESSION #20, very soon. Stay tuned to this space and the Masterclass channel on our DISCORD for further discussion and potential updates.

NEXT on JINXWORLD: FORTUNE & GLORY: THE MUSICAL! PEAKS BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF MASTERPIECE! AND MORE!

Remember: GO MAKE SOMETHING!

Ever grateful,

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, TAKI SOMA, ALEX MALLEV, and The JINXWORLD Team

TONIGHT: MASTERCLASS - SESSION #19: with SPECIAL GUEST, ALEX MALEEV!

Hello again, friends!

MASTERCLASS DAY has returned!

JINXWORLD’S NINETEENTH MASTERCLASS session is taking place TONIGHT (12/05) at our usual time of 6:00pm PST/9:00pm EST, via Zoom!

We are so thrilled to be hosting a very special guest during tonight’s session, co-creator and artist behind JINXWORLD titles like SCARLET and the upcoming MASTERPIECE: ALEX MALEEV!

Maleev is making a very rare public appearance to discuss his processes. Bring your questions. Taki will be joining us. Griffin and Ethan will be there. The last couple of podcasts Alex and I have done together have been a great deal of fun. I'm excited to share this with you!

If you need a refresher on how to join the class, you can find that info (as well as the CLASS LINK) further down.

And if you missed last class, you can check out the archived video and audio versions here:

JOINING THE VIRTUAL CLASS

The class is reserved for members of the POWERS subscription level, but it isn’t too late to get on the roster! Just choose the subscription level that’s right for you to gain access to the Masterclass, as well as so much more, like our multi-media series CREATION. and the ongoing original graphic novel experience Fortune and Glory: The Musical!

For our friends already subscribed, here’s what you will need to get into the class:

Read more

MASTERPIECE PREVIEW! plus: MASTERCLASS RETURNS tomorrow with SPECIAL GUEST, ALEX MALEEV!

MASTERCLASS IS BACK IN SESSION!

Yes! The live JINXWORLD MASTERCLASS returns TOMORROW NIGHT (12/5) with a very special class, featuring MASTERPIECE artist and co-creator ALEX MALEEV!

For those who have missed the chatter about MASTERPIECE, this all-new crime saga from the team behind Daredevil and SCARLET begins in MASTERPIECE #1, which hits stands NEXT WEDNESDAY (12/13) from DARK HORSE COMICS. Check out the official synopsis for the series below if you haven’t already:

Emma is a brilliant and driven 16-year-old. She has paid for school with her next level inventions and is well-known for her funny and honest webcomics. Then, one day, one of the most famous billionaires on the planet confronts her with the truth about her world. Emma discovers she is the only daughter of two of the greatest, most charismatic master criminals of all time. The suavest, most liked criminals ever. The criminal's criminal. The ones that wrote the rulebook. There are movies about them starring the biggest movie stars. Her parents were the authors of the greatest casino robbery of all time, the greatest museum heist of all time, AND they took the world's most famous billionaire for a cool billion... before they disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Ghosts.  

Zero Preston is the greedy billionaire her parents brilliantly ripped off before they disappeared. He has been looking for payback for years. He finds Emma . . . who clearly does not have his money. Zero threatens Masterpiece into pulling a grand, impossible job against his corporate enemy. This "Master of the Universe" will have his satisfaction.

Masterpiece fashions a crew of her peers and her parents' old associates to pull off one of the greatest heists of all time.

Among the cast of characters comes the return of the legendary criminal The Paragon.  A Robin Hood for our times. This exquisitely well-dressed, long con master criminal returns to his calling when faced with the truth behind the sinister corporate forces of Zero.

And to get you all even more excited for this book and the rare public appearance by Maleev on tomorrow’s class, we have some fun MASTERPIECE related goodies to share with you all…

MASTERPIECE #1 COVER GALLERY! MASTERPIECE #1 - COVER A by: ALEX MALEEV MASTERPIECE #1 - COVER B by: TULA LOTAY MASTERPIECE #1 - COVER C by: PEACH MOMOKO (1:10)MASTERPIECE #1 EXTENDED PREVIEW! BENDIS AND MALEEV CHAT MASTERPIECE ON COMIC BOOK COUPLES COUNSELING!

Plus, before Brian and Alex chat craft in this week’s Masterclass, check out their excellent conversation about working together on MASTERPIECE with our friends over at COMIC BOOK COUPLES COUNSELING:

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY OF MASTERPIECE #1!

If all this is piquing your interest to check out this new epic from Bendis and Maleev, order a copy of MASTERPIECE #1 today from your LOCAL COMIC BOOK SHOP or from the fine folks at THINGS FROM ANOTHER PLANET!

JOIN US TOMORROW FOR OUR NINETEENTH MASTERCLASS SESSION!

ALEX MALEEV is joining us for our big return to “live” classes! Bring your questions! Taki will be joining us! Griffin and Ethan will be there! We’re excited to share this with you!

Class will take place at our usual time and place. TOMORROW, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5th, at 6:00pm PST/9:00pm EST via ZOOM.

Expect the class link in our post tomorrow afternoon.

NEED TO CATCH UP?

You can find the syllabus and video/audio recordings of all previous classes (and some extra goodies) in our MASTERCLASS ARCHIVE.

WANT TO JOIN THE MASTERCLASS?

The MASTERCLASS is reserved for members of the POWERS subscription level. For just $5/mo (or $50/yr!) you’ll get access to our masterclass, co-taught by BENDIS and TAKI SOMA, covering the art of crafting comics and graphic novels.

(Plus, you’ll be able to access our multi-media series CREATION. and the brand-new graphic novel experience, FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL.)

You can hit the SUBSCRIBE button below and start enjoying exclusive materials immediately.

Subscribe now

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night!

Many thanks,

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, TAKI SOMA, and The JINXWORLD Team

JINXWORLD BOOKS

Phenomena - Signed Edition

Share JINXWORLD on SUBSTACK.

NEXT TUESDAY (12/05): LIVE MASTERCLASSES RETURN with SPECIAL GUEST, ALEX MALEEV!

CLASS IS BACK IN SESSION!

JOIN US TUESDAY FOR OUR NINETEENTH MASTERCLASS SESSION!

Yes! The live JINXWORLD MASTERCLASS is BACK with a very special class, featuring MASTERPIECE artist and co-creator ALEX MALEEV!

Maleev is making a very rare public appearance to discuss his processes. Bring your questions. Taki will be joining us. Griffin and Ethan will be there. The last couple of podcast Alex and I have done together have been a great deal of fun. I'm excited to share this with you!

Class will take place at our usual time and place. NEXT TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5th, at 6:00pm PST/9:00pm EST via ZOOM.

Expect the class link in our post Tuesday afternoon!

NEED TO CATCH UP?

You can find the syllabus and video/audio recordings of all previous classes in our MASTERCLASS ARCHIVE.

WANT TO JOIN THE MASTERCLASS?

The MASTERCLASS is reserved for members of the POWERS subscription level. For just $5/mo (or $50/yr!) you’ll get access to our masterclass, co-taught by BENDIS and TAKI SOMA, covering the art of crafting comics and graphic novels.

(Plus, you’ll be able to access our multi-media series CREATION. and the brand-new graphic novel experience, FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL.)

You can hit the SUBSCRIBE button below and start enjoying exclusive materials immediately.

Subscribe now

We look forward to seeing everyone next week!

Many thanks,

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, TAKI SOMA, and The JINXWORLD Team

JINXWORLD BOOKS

Phenomena - Signed Edition

Share JINXWORLD on SUBSTACK.