Congress of the Monsters #2 cover reveal!
Spoiler: It’s monsters
It’s been a while since my last Congress of the Monsters update, but the good news is that I’m getting very close! The text and illustrations are laid out in InDesign, I’ve completed all the illuminated section headers - all that’s left after this is to figure out what I want to do with the title page, give it one last rigorous proof, and then we’re off to the races (which are being held at a printing press for some reason).
With that in mind, I’m excited to share the full-color design for the cover!
Okay, it’s not actually 100% done yet - I’ll be tweaking it forever - but I needed to give myself some motivation to push through to a shareable place. You have to imagine the seam in the middle, of course - this is both the front and the back. If you’re familiar with Congress of the Monsters #1, you’ll detect a pattern:
When I came up with the original cover approach, my idea was always to cascade it through multiple issues, with multiple central monsters. A character central to the story will be on the front, while the other primary characters will populate the back. I think it’s a fun concept for variations, which will hopefully give them a “collect the whole set!” vibe.
Just in case it’s interesting, here’s the black and white version with full bleed:
We’re getting closer, folks!
In the meantime, here’s my weekly look at what I’ve been reading and watching.
The only books I started this week was Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton - a very engaging novel set in New Zealand about an uneasy alliance between environmental activism and staggering riches.
And the only book I finished was The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson. Last week when I mentioned starting this I said it was wonderful, and I can confirm that it remains that way to the end. Not that this is any kind of plot-driven book - it’s a series of vignettes about a young girl and her elderly grandmother as they while away a season on their family’s holiday island in the Gulf of Finland. It’s warm and funny and often prickly, but also quietly death-haunted - kind of like summer itself, I guess. If you’re interested, consider picking it up on the first day of summer 2024 and reading a story or two every week to last you through the summer. It’ll be hard to do, because the writing is so enjoyable, but part of me wishes I tried it that way…
Hope and I watched two movies last week. First, on her birthday last Friday we went to MoMA and saw Irma Vep, a piece of French meta-cinema from 1996. The next night we watched the 1984 cult punk comedy Repo Man on DVD, which I hadn’t seen since college. I enjoyed them both, but it wasn’t until I woke up on Sunday morning that I realized that they had many weird and evocative parallels. I was actually all set to write about that this week before I learned about Paul Reubens’ death, so maybe I’ll work on that post for next Wednesday instead.
Have a great weekend!