Brian Michael Bendis's Blog, page 2
November 27, 2023
FREE FOR ALL! MASTERCLASS: LIVE FROM BCC! MERRY MARCHIN' MUTANT MAKERS
Welcome back to our FINAL special Masterclass recorded LIVE FROM BALTIMORE COMIC-CON, exclusively on JINXWORLD.
This class features a recording of the MERRY MARCHIN’ MUTANT MAKERS panel. Check out BCC’s official panel description:
Marvel’s merry mutants have risen and fallen, been hunted and celebrated, and captivated audiences for over 60 years.
Remember that all classes (and CREATION. chapters) are available now in the archive. Take a look!
Plus, the original graphic novel FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL is happening! Here, only on Substack!
For those who missed our previous class, you can find the archived version in this post:
For this very special finale of our LIVE FROM BALTIMORE COMIC-CON series of classes, this installment is available— in full— to ALL subscribers! Enjoy.
[Note: as these were recorded on the road, we are only featuring audio for this class.]
COMING UP NEXT ON MASTERCLASS: Our return to LIVE CLASSES!
Remember: GO WRITE SOMETHING!
Ever grateful,
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS and The JINXWORLD Team
November 13, 2023
MASTERCLASS: LIVE FROM BCC! GETTING INTO CHARACTER
Check out that line up!
Welcome back to another special Masterclass recorded LIVE FROM BALTIMORE COMIC-CON, exclusively on JINXWORLD.
This class features a recording of the GETTING INTO CHARACTER panel. Check out BCC’s official panel description:
Comic creators will talk about the craft of working on existing characters. How do they approach the task while maintaining the appeal of the character and keeping it fresh? Guests: Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Ron Marz, Tom King, David Pepose, Torunn Grønbekk, and Brian Michael Bendis. Hosted by Bob Harrison.
Remember that all classes (and CREATION. chapters) are available now in the archive. Take a look!
Plus, the original graphic novel FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL is happening! Here, only on Substack!
Here’s a preview of this week’s class for our friends at the JINX (free) LEVEL:
For those who missed our previous class, you can find the archived version in this post:
POWERS LEVEL subscribers can find the full archival audio recording of the panel below!
[Note: as these were recorded on the road, we will only be featuring audio for this class.]
November 6, 2023
TODAY: LAST CHANCE TO PRE-ORDER MASTERPIECE #1!
In case you’ve missed the news, BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS and ALEX MALEEV, the creative team behind SCARLET and several Marvel masterpieces (Daredevil, Moon Knight), are teaming up with DARK HORSE COMICS once more to bring readers an all-new crime saga starting THIS DECEMBER called…
MASTERPIECE…And today is the final day to pre-order your copy!
MASTERPIECE
#1 (0F 6) - COVER A by: ALEX MALEEVNeed to know more? Check out the description below, as well as variant covers from TULA LOTAY and PEACH MOMOKO:
Emma, aka “Masterpiece,” 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, Zero Preston, 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. Her parents were the authors of the greatest casino robbery of all time, the greatest museum heist of all time,AND they took Preston for a cool billion... before they disappeared never to be seen or heard from again.
Zero Preston has been looking for payback for years since then and now he finds Emma... who clearly does not have his money. Instead, Zero threatens Masterpiece into pulling a grand, impossible job against his corporate enemy and, in order to pull off one of the greatest heists of all time, Masterpiece fashions a crew of her peers and her parents’ old associates.
Masterpiece is perfect for fans of Miles Morales, Legion of Superheroes , and Akira .
Masterpiece #1 (of 6), breaks into comic shops on December 13, 2023. It is now available to pre-order for $3.99 at your local comic shop.
MASTERPIECE
#1 (OF 6) - COVER B by: TULA LOTAY
MASTERPIECE
#1 (of 6) - COVER C by: PEACH MOMOKO (1:10 Incentive)As if all that wasn’t tantalizing enough, we’re now thrilled to present an extended preview of MASTERPIECE #1:
Brian also recently appeared on the WORD BALLOON podcast to talk in-depth on all things MASTERPIECE, and you can give it a watch/listen below!
Finally, the comics world (and beyond!) has been buzzing in response to the upcoming series, and we’ve included some of our favorite reactions below!
But first, a word from Brian…
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: Fresh testimonials celebrating our new Dark Horse crime comic extravaganza MASTERPIECE co-created by the amazing Alex Maleev! Pre-order one of these gorgeous covers for yourself today from any great comic store anywhere. That’s how it works. You order it, we will print it! I can’t wait for you to see what Alex and Ian have made here. Thank you for supporting creator-owned comics! Thank you to all my lovely peers for their generous thoughts and time. And thank you.
Masterpiece #1 (of 6) hits stands on DECEMBER 13th, 2023! Today is the LAST DAY you can PRE-ORDER the book from your LOCAL COMIC SHOP!
Stay tuned to this space for more details and sneak peeks at the series as we get closer to the release. If you aren’t SUBSCRIBED to this newsletter, now seems like the perfect time to join us!
Until then—
Endless thanks,
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, ALEX MALEEV, IAN HERRING, JOSH REED, and THE JINXWORLD TEAM
November 1, 2023
JINXWORLD ON SUBSTACK: YEAR TWO - WHAT'S NEXT?
Hi, everybody.
Griffin and Ethan, who do an amazing job helping run the Substacks for myself and Matt Rosenberg and so many others, and who are also the authors of the brand new, hit Image series Kill Your Darlings, have informed me that it is now officially YEAR TWO of our JINXWORLD ON SUBSTACK subscription experiment! So, with that, we have some announcements to make.
THANK YOU FOR ONE YEAR OF JINXWORLD ON SUBSTACK!For those who don’t know, Substack came to a bunch of comics creators and offered us a space in which we could create whatever we wanted to. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was gonna feel about the space but, we very quickly established a very lovely, winning, warm community of creators and readers.
I was immediately reminded of the energy and tone of my earliest message board from many years ago. We’ve been able to recapture that very chill, friendly, and supportive tone on the Jinxworld Discord. With some areas of social media being a garbage fire right now, this has been a gift! It will be sticking around! I love it! And I love everyone hanging on it.
If you are taking the Masterclasses and not partaking in the Discord community... oh baby! You are missing out. Go find fun and inspiration with your peers.
So, with a year under our belt, the boys and I have decided to... MAKE MORE!!!
We will continue producing NEW material! For you! For right here! For the subscription service part of Jinxworld.
But, we’re going to take some lessons from the first year and apply them here ASAP…
SO LONG, PHENOMENA LEVEL.First of all, we’re going to say goodbye to the top tier Phenomena Level.
I love you all for subscribing at that level and I LOVED showering you all with gifts because of it. I REALLY did. But that was a subscription level Substack wanted us to do. I’m personally FAR more comfy with the lower level subscriptions. So just the Monthly and Annual levels are going to stay, and everyone at those tiers will continue to receive the same perks they did in the first year.
If you were at the Phenomena Level and want to stick around for Year Two, just sign up at the Annual tier. You get everything you got before in terms of access to materials.
[*Important Note*: If you were charged for another subscription at the Phenomena Level and have not received a refund yet, please reach out to us ASAP at JinxworldOnSubstack (at) gmail.com!]
CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVEWe’ll slow it down a tad. A lot of you are still playing catch up on the MASTERCLASS. We slowed down on posting them because we kept hearing we were, in our enthusiasm, overloading some of you with dozens of hours of content.
EVERYTHING CONTINUES IN YEAR TWO!Yes, we’re going to continue putting out the rest of our new graphic novel, FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL! Yes, we’re going to be doing more MASTERCLASSES, both recorded and live! And yes, we will be releasing new chapters of CREATION.! Paid subscribers will still get everything first. News. Giveaways. Treats. Candy. This seems like the perfect time to remind all you free subs to…
We’ve also added a couple of new features, which we will be talking about soon. But, for right now, we want to let you know that we LOVE what you’ve helped build with us and we’re going to continue doing so for as long as we can.
I love having a way to just email all of you and say hi and thank you for letting me have another year of creating stuff with my friends for you.
It’s great to be able to just reach out through the craziness of the world and say hi and tell you what’s happening. I try to think what I would want to hear from my favorite creators. I’d like updates. I’d like surprises. I’d like recommendations. So you’re going to keep getting a lot of that.
Anyway, this space is awesome and it’s because of YOU. So, let’s keep going.
UP NEXT ON JINXWORLD: New news on our new comic MASTERPIECE!
PLUS, some really exciting updates about what is going on with all things Jinxworld over in Hollywood.
(Well, if you are on the Discord, you already know. Wink!)
Talk to you soon, you magnificent so and sos.
-BENDIS!
October 20, 2023
FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL! CHAPTER 11!
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 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.
October 10, 2023
JINXWORLD x ASHCAN PRESS: BENDIS on IDEAS DON'T BLEED - PART 2!
Hi again.
Last week, we shared a very special edition of IDEAS DON’T BLEED, the podcast hosted and produced by MATTHEW ROSENBERG over on ASHCAN PRESS. The show finds Rosenberg talking craft and getting personal with comics industry superstars. Episode 55 of the show featured a special crossover with BENDIS and JINXWORLD! And now, the conversation continues in Episode 56…
Find PART ONE of Brian and Matt’s discussion in our post from last week:
And pay a visit to to Rosenberg’s Substack to check out PART TWO of the discussion. While you’re over there, SUBSCRIBE! You won’t want to miss what APCC has in the works.
Ashcan Press Comics Corporation Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!Listen now (74 mins) | WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED! This week, we’re joined once again by Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man / Powers) as we discuss his comics origins, the cultural impact of Miles Morales, his work through Jinxworld and Dark Horse including the upcoming… Listen nowa day ago · 3 likes · 3 comments · Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, and Matthew RosenbergOr find the episode on your preferred podcast app:
And thus concludes the first crossover between JINXWORLD and ASHCAN PRESS COMICS CORPS. Will there be more? We sure hope so! But we’re curious… who else would you like to see us crossover with? Sound off in the comments below!
And be sure to stay tuned, because we just might pull it off…
So many thanks,
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & THE JINXWORLD TEAM
October 3, 2023
JINXWORLD x ASHCAN PRESS: BENDIS on IDEAS DON'T BLEED!
Hi.
We’re always looking for ways to bring other creators into our endeavors here on Substack. Few things are more valuable than getting to hear different perspectives about our medium, our craft, and our industry. We have had the privilege of welcoming a few familiar faces onto our own MASTERCLASS, such as DAVID F. WALKER, DAVID MACK, MICHAEL GAYDOS, and MATT FRACTION to name just a few.
Our dear friend MATTHEW ROSENBERG also understands the importance of speaking with your peers.
Not only is he one of the masterminds behind ASHCAN PRESS COMICS CORP. — who have brought you excellent projects such as 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank and What’s the Furthest Place From Here? — but he is also the producer and host (along with our own GRIFFIN SHERIDAN and ETHAN S. PARKER) of a great podcast focused solely on picking the minds of some of the comic industries biggest and brightest voices. And this week, BENDIS (finally) joins the ever growing guest list of IDEAS DON’T BLEED.
Head on over to Matt’s Substack to check out PART ONE of our discussion. And while you’re over there, SUBSCRIBE! You won’t want to miss what Rosenberg and company are cooking up for you all.
Ashcan Press Comics Corporation IDEAS DON'T BLEED episode fifty-five | Brian Michael Bendis, part oneListen now (53 mins) | WELCOME BACK TO IDEAS DON’T BLEED! This week, we’re joined by Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man / Powers) as we discuss his comics origins, the cultural impact of Miles Morales, his work through Jinxworld and Dark Horse including the upcoming… Listen nowa day ago · 9 likes · Ethan S. Parker, Matthew Rosenberg, and Griffin SheridanOr find the episode on your preferred podcast app:
Be sure to check back NEXT WEEK for PART TWO! Until then…
So many thanks,
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & THE JINXWORLD TEAM
September 29, 2023
MASTERCLASS: LIVE FROM BCC! WRITING TIPS FOR COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS (ft. PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON & AMY CHU)
We have a big treat for you today!
Exclusive to Jinxworld, a special Masterclass recorded LIVE FROM BALTIMORE COMIC-CON!
This class features a recording of the WRITING TIPS FOR COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS panel. Check out BCC’s official panel description:
Comics are written very differently from other media. Learn the ins and outs of this unique storytelling medium and how to make your stories come to life!
Trevor Mueller hosts a Q&A session with comic writers – including Brian Michael Bendis, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, and Amy Chu among others – to talk about their process for writing comics, finding creator partners/collaborators, pacing, writing for long vs. short form stories, etc.
[Note: as these were recorded on the road, we will only be featuring audio for these next few classes.]
Remember that all classes (and CREATION. chapters) are available now in the archive. Take a look!
Plus, the original graphic novel FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL has BEGUN! Here, only on Substack!
Here’s a preview of this week’s class for our friends at the JINX (free) LEVEL:
For those who missed our previous class, you can find the archived version in this post:
POWERS and PHENOMENON LEVEL subscribers can find the full archival audio recording of the panel below!
September 26, 2023
ICYMI: MASTERPIECE! CONS! FORTUNE & GLORY! MORE!
Hi, friends.
It has been a BUSY couple weeks over here at JINXWORLD, and we wanted to collect all the most exciting developments in one convenient post for you all. Starting with…
MASTERPIECE ANNOUNCED!Coming this DECEMBER from our friends at DARK HORSE COMICS, MASTERPIECE reunites Bendis and artist ALEX MALEEV, along with IAN HERRING and JOSHUA REED, for an all-new crime saga!
MASTERPIECE
#1 - COVER A by: ALEX MALEEV
Emma, aka “Masterpiece,” 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, Zero Preston, 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. Her parents were the authors of the greatest casino robbery of all time, the greatest museum heist of all time,AND they took Preston for a cool billion... before they disappeared never to be seen or heard from again.
Zero Preston has been looking for payback for years since then and now he finds Emma... who clearly does not have his money. Instead, Zero threatens Masterpiece into pulling a grand, impossible job against his corporate enemy and, in order to pull off one of the greatest heists of all time, Masterpiece fashions a crew of her peers and her parents’ old associates.
ISSUE #1 hits stands DECEMBER 13th! PRE-ORDER NOW at your LOCAL COMIC SHOP.
CONVENTIONS!
Brian had the absolute pleasure of meeting so many great fans at both BALTIMORE and ROSE CITY COMIC-CON over the past couple weeks.
Every single interaction was just above and beyond. I love you all. Thank you so much for coming out.
And while Brian was at these conventions, he has appeared on NUMEROUS panels, which leads us to our next subject…
MASTERCLASS: LIVE FROM THE ROAD!Convention appearances (and the start of semester at PSU) make it somewhat difficult for us to host our virtual MASTERCLASS in the typical fashion. However, Brian has made sure to record each of the panels he has been a part of at these past two conventions, which we plan to share with all of you POWERS and PHENOMENA LEVEL subscribers, in place of our Zoom sessions for the next few weeks.
We released the first of which this past Sunday — a 45-minute Q&A just like the ones we would indulge in during a Masterclass. Check it out here:
And we have something extra special planned for next week…
So, the next class is actually going to be a team-up podcast between this newsletter and Ashcan Press, Matt Rosenberg‘s Substack domain. Griffin and Ethan run both of our Substacks and put us together, and we had an awesome conversation. I loved it so much. That class is coming soon.
The Rosenberg crossover and other special pre-recorded MASTERCLASSES are going to be flying into your inboxes fast and furious, and we hope you enjoy them.
THE SHOW GOES ON IN FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL !We released our TENTH installment of FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL last week!
For those just joining us, this project is the long-awaited sequel to Brian’s original 1999 bio-graphic novel about working around Hollywood. This time, we follow Bendis during his very brief run as the writer of the Spider-Man Broadway musical. Yes… that Spider-Man Broadway musical.
In this latest chapter, Bendis gets to the bottom of what exactly “Turn Off the Dark” even means!… MAYBE. Find it here:
THE BENDIS TAPES CONTINUE!We recently got an all-new edition of Brian’s ongoing series of guest appearances on WORD BALLON with JOHN SIUNTRES: THE BENDIS TAPES.
The 2.5 hour long conversation can be found in full on YouTube or in parts on your favorite podcast apps. Check all those out below.
[PART 1 ON APPLE PODCASTS] [PART 2 ON APPLE PODCASTS]
[PART 1 ON SPOTIFY] [PART 2 ON SPOTIFY]
So we did all that and, believe it or not, we have even more coming your way very soon. Up first: MORE MASTERCLASS!
Stay tuned!
-BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & The JINXWORLD Team
September 24, 2023
MASTERCLASS LIVE FROM BALTIMORE COMIC-CON!
Just because we’re taking a brief break from meeting “in-person,” doesn’t mean the MASTERCLASS has to stop! In fact, we have a bunch of special Masterclasses planned for the next few weeks, recored live from Baltimore Comic-Con, starting with this one!
While some of our upcoming ‘Live from BCC’ editions will have topics and special guests, we’re kicking things off with an extended Q&A with Bendis, just like the ones we’d host during a class.
[And as a brief side note: as these were recorded on the road, we will only be featuring audio for these next few classes.]
Remember that all classes (and CREATION. chapters) are available now in the archive. Take a look!
Plus, the original graphic novel FORTUNE AND GLORY: THE MUSICAL has BEGUN! Here, only on Substack!
Here’s a preview of this week’s class for our friends at the JINX (free) LEVEL:
For those who missed our previous class, you can find the archived version in this post:
POWERS and PHENOMENON LEVEL subscribers can find the full archival audio recording of the panel below!
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