Hi there {name},
Welcome to October, it's so early in the month and already, WOW. Does anyone remember my mention of a podcast appearance? Well, it happened and is was great fun. I'll tell you about that in a moment, but first let me catch you up on what you'll find within this missive –

• Go Doggo - Halloween Special 👹
• Appearing on Graymalkin Lane
• Cool Stuff Dept. That Big Announcement (please read)
• Further Reading

Graymalkin Lane Postcast

This podcast is devoted to the deepest dives into Marvel's X-Men comics and related lore. I was first a guest in February to discuss Marvel's subterranean species The Lava Men; occasional antagonists to Thor, The Avengers and The X-Men. Having deep roots both in Marvel Comics and New York's own cultural underground, I felt I could speak with some form authority (Ha!). Recording the episode was a delight and you can now find it here – Graymalkin Lane: August 8

I recently, returned to the show where I met cosplay model Justin Kosmachuk - Over the course of the episode he gradually transformed into the character we were discussing; delightful & amazing. Our host, Chad Anderson had us over to discuss the obscure Marvel bad-guy Warhawk.

Mitchell Tanner was a career soldier during the Vietnam war. He was badly injured but transformed into the deadly super-soldier for hire known as Warhawk.

After our first episode together Chad and I got to talking. "What other characters could we talk about" we wondered. My extensive background within the martial arts community had me wanting to cover characters of that sort. Maybe The Silver Samurai, The Hand (Marvel's cult of often undead Ninja, famous for tussles with Daredevil) or some of Marvel's other martial characters like Shang Chi or Iron Fist. Iron Fist had hidden potential as legendary comic writer Chris Claremont was writing both titles at the same time. It was Iron Fist who first fought the iconic Wolverine foe Sabertooth.

We settled on Warhawk who also first faced Iron Fist before moving on to tangle with the X-Men. He just never reached Saberetooth & Wolverine's height of notoriety. Maybe a lost opportunity considering the character's potential parallels with Captain America, The Punisher as well as Wolverine.

Update: Asani Entertainment's Kickstarter campaign ended on October 3rd at 112% of its goal. Congratulations to all involved. 
BUT
That was prologue to an even more epic collaboration. BOX of TAPES- an original Double-LP (yes vinyl) Rock Opera written and produced by my friend & collaborator Ezra. The Eargoggle. Some of you may recognize that name from my last gig doing album art. We're teaming up again; not-only so I can illustrate the cover to this Rock Opera, but to be one of an international team of two artists adapting the graphic novel! 

Full disclosure: this project has been quietly in development for a number of years. Even before Ezra & I collaborated on The Eargoggle album and its accompanying comic anthology we were discussing BOX of TAPES. In fact that project, from a couple of years ago, was a proving ground for adapting original music into comics form. It was a less ambitious version of the synthesis we're attempting with BOX of TAPES. I plan to go into great detail about how working on this project leveled-up my skills and opened up new artistic styles, but first – please do me a favor. Click that green button.

This is the Important part: then mouse down and Click that REMIND ME button I've highlighted in read. If you do nothing else, clicking that button goes a long way towards getting this project noticed by others. I'll spare you a whole essay on the why and how of it and simply thank you, now, for taking the time to Click that REMIND ME button, as a personal favor to me.

Thanks.

You'll hear from me again with an update and some special stuff about BOX OF TAPES, but until then write me back. Let me know if you clicked REMIND ME, and I'll send you a preview of a special little S C A R Y project I've got in the works for Halloween.

Until then...
–PLUGO