Sept '24 Newsletter: Going Back in Time

Teasers of my new series, new Nano Jams art and more!

Howdy folks, and welcome to the September edition of my monthly newsletter.

This is an exciting one, as I’m revealing the first finished art from one of my new comic series. It’s quite different to anything I’ve written before, so I’m hyped for you to see what we’ve been working on.

Before we dive in: As always, if you would like to see even more of my comic and video game history book work (and lots of fun retro gaming stuff) you can follow me on the socials at:

• Twitter: davescook

• Insta: davecookcomics

• BlueSky: davecook.bsky.social

And if you’re new around here…

Let’s jam!

1) New York Comic Con + My new series

I’ll be at New York Comic Con October 17th-20th to network, meet with editors and pitch my new comic projects around. I’m not exhibiting, but I may be doing a special signing on someone else’s table - stay tuned for an update on this!

If you’re going to the show and you’d like to catch up, please do get in touch through the comments or in my social DMs - I’d love to chat in person.

One of the series I’m pitching is Killtopia: Phantoms, which is the sequel to the fist Killtopia story arc. I teased some new artwork from the sequel in this post here - it’s wild!

But today I’m hyped to share some panel teasers from an all-new series I haven’t announced. While we’re not ready to share the title or the rest of the team involved, our artist gave me their blessing to share these images with you today.

It’s a revenge story set in Okinawa in the 1600s, and it takes our cast through the realms of the living and the dead, as they encounter powerful deities, brutal warlords and much more.

“They called her the Pale Woman. She just stood there by the rainforest’s tree line, staring, as if she was studying us.”

“Even with all my years of training, my knowledge of spirits and the afterlife … Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw in that forest.”

“Her face seemed so expressive, like she had just experienced pain for the first time. She almost seemed human.”

Stay tuned for more soon!

2. New Nano Jams artwork

Production of our anthology project Killtopia: Nano Jams is almost complete. We’ve got a few stories left to complete before we get the flatplan finalised, and then work in our final graphic design elements - like our credits page, forward, inside and back covers, and more.

You can see our full list of over 50 contributor and get more details on the project over on the Killtopia site and you can preorder your copy for launch on my store here.

Today, I’d like to share some panels from a few new stories you won’t have seen yet, including some by new contributors we’ve recently added to the book.

Enjoy!

Get Mek’d by Sky Hawkins.

Coparazzi by Cassie Parkes and Sebastian Piriz

To the Death by David Lumsden and Jaime Huxtable

Meat Cute by Lucy Sullivan, Liana Kangas and JP Jordan

Stay tuned for even more new samples in next month’s newsletter!

3. Run ‘n’ Gun blasts off!

At the end of July, my second video game history book launched via publisher Bitmap Books. It’s called Run ‘n’ Gun: A History of On-Foot Shooters and you can check out the full game list and some page samples over on their official site.

I had a blast writing this one, so it’s great to see it getting some big reviews in the gaming press. In short: it’s a 450-page journey through the run ‘n’ gun genre that starts in 1979 and explores over 300 games in the genre, right up to 2023.

It includes such classics as Contra, Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, Ikari Warriors, Shock Troopers, Sunset Riders and many more. It even focuses on some modern and hybrid titles, like Hotline Miami, The Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne, Blazing Chrome and Huntdown.

So if you’re into retro games and you’re looking for new titles to try, this book is for you!

4. Final thoughts

First up: Just a shout out to my Scottish pals, as I’ll be a guest at this month’s ACME Comic Con in Glasgow (Sept 28th / 29th) - so be sure to stop by for copies of all my comics and Run ‘n’ Gun too!

Lastly: I’d like to issue a big thanks to everyone who subscribes to my newsletter for sticking with me through what has been a year of two halves. The Kickstarter for Killtopia: Nano Jams was a close call but we got there in the end thanks to your generosity and support. It really meant a lot to me at the time, and even more now that the book is almost done and I can almost see the end result.

I hadn’t written much for the first six months of this year, in an attempt to avoid burning out, and to do a kind of soft reset on my work. I took a big step back, had a long think about what I wanted to get out of making comics moving forward, and I think the three new series I’m working on now are way more impactful for it.

I can’t wait to share more or them with you all - it really couldn’t happen without your ongoing support.

Thanks so much, see you again in next month’s newsletter :)

- Dave