FREE
PREVIEW
A TOURIST’S GUIDE TO IDW’S NEW CREATOR-OWNED CURATION OPERATION KID LOBOTOMY � ASSASSINISTAS � PUNKS NOT DEAD � BCQ � AND MUCH MORE!
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS Follow a dysfunctional family of hoteliers in the throes of modern survival. And, if you qualify, get a free prefrontal from Peter Milligan & Tess Fowler’s KID LOBOTOMY! page 4 Mom comes out of bounty hunting retirement to pay for her son’s college tuition, then brings him and his boyfriend along for murder-based work-study in Tini Howard & Gilbert Hernandez’s ASSASSINISTAS! page 10 Is punk dead in 2017? Do millennials care about anarchy in the UK, or anywhere else? It takes a long-dead punk to answer those questions in David Barnett & Martin Simmonds’ PUNKS NOT DEAD! page 12 Don’t forget our weekly Friday happy hour updates at 4 PST
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A discerning comic book selection of art & alchemy, opulence & madness.
BLACK CROWN HQ Shelly Bond, editor Chris Ryall, drinks Guinness Aditya Bidikar, letterer Arlene Lo, proofreader Kahlil Schweitzer, marketing maestro Steven Scott, publicity Philip Bond, logo design, general dogsbody Ted Adams, publisher BLACK CROWN is a fully functioning curation operation based in Los Angeles by way of IDW Publishing. For international rights, contact licensing@idwpublishing.com
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BLACK CROWN PREVIEW, JULY 2017. FIRST PRINTING. KID LOBOTOMY © and ™ 2017 Peter Milligan and Tess Fowler. PUNKS NOT DEAD © and ™ 2017 David Barnett and Martin Simmonds. ASSASSINISTAS © and ™ 2017 Tini Howard and Gilbert Hernandez. Black Crown and Idea and Design Works, LLC. Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Know Your Rights! © 2017 Idea and Design Works, LLC. All Rights Reserved. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 2765 Truxtun Road, San Diego, CA 92106. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in USA. Black Crown and IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.
BLACK CROWN: THE RULING CLA SS
Note: Loyal purve yors of pop fictio n, my reg ularly sch eduled column ha s been pushed aside for “breaking ne ws ” in the comic book arena. An e-mail with top secret cu ration infor matio n has come to our attention. Read at your own risk. — Eve Stranger, Socia l Correspondent, Th e Convivial Times
th rough snow an d circumstance on a boundless qu est for that new 12" import or sig ne d hardcover; the haven that welco med freaks and inbetweeners with lots of eclectic reading mater ial, co ol garb and no franchises!
Soda, The Nationa l Dr y Cleaners, Little Bear Sewi ng Machine, Vacuum & Rayg un Repair, and Canonball Comics . We have a pu nk, rockabilly, new wave and glam clothing store called Electric Trash, Cauld ron Coffee, and Win nie’s Hot W he els Roller Rink. We have a Post Of fice of Love’s Letter’s Lost. We could really use a barbershop that of fers tat toos and piercings and an oxygen bar, but I’m definitely open to other ideas. Ultimately, we’re making comics with swagger and soundt racks that are warped and we ird with a bit of black humor to he lp us su rvive the way we live now. I can’t wait to op en shop and roll out the black & wh ite checkerboard carpet. But for now, let’s keep this top secret impr int strategy just between us! Best,
Dear Favorite Free lancer, I hope in the near/ now/far futu re I can count you in for IDW’s BLACK CROW N. The impr imatu r is two-fold: First an d foremost, it’s a line of comic bo oks and graphic novels for readers who take on double dares wi thout flinching. Second: The Blac k Crow n Pub On r way to an is a public house important curation that anchors a excahe vation, Bond mysterious street fu ll of storef ronts denies the leak. neither confirms nor that correlate to ea ch comic book M ichael Allred can’t series. W hile creato commit to rs maintain a a project right now, separate, singular but I gave vision within hi m first dibs on the their comics, the record shop. y also have the (Natch!) He’s calli opportu nit y to ow ng it The Atomic n a chun k of real Tu rntable. And I wa estate for their char nt to give you acters to interact carte blanche on an as much (or as lit tle other proper ty. ) as they want to So what’ll it be in this shared lands ? We have an cape. Imagine ex Shelly Bond clusive nightclub NYC’s St. Mark’s called The BL Place in the ’90s ACK CROW N HQ Violet Opaque, a or the high street ’70s ret ro diner/ you traveled to Los Angeles candy shop called Butterscotch and blackcrown.pub
Grab your Cockroach! IT’S
Big Daddy is a rich HOTELIER who appoints his youngest descendant, KID, to manage “The Suites,” a PECULIAR hotel located behind the Black Crown Pub. KID’s good looks and INSOLENCE can’t hide a ROUGH childhood of STRANGE therapies and brain OPERATIONS that have awakened inner DEMONS and psychodramas. This of course makes him eminently qualified to perform lobotomies. A failed ROCKSTAR / successful madman gets one last chance to prove his worth – and regain his SANITY – by turning the hotel that was once his childhood sanctuary into a lucrative business, DESPITE a host of obstacles including his own SISTER, who would love nothing more than to see him fail miserably. Coming OCTOBER 18. Ongoing from BLACK CROWN.
Free internet! If you qualify, Free Lobotomies! Act Now!
Come As You Are! Leave As SomEone else! With props to KAFKA, King Lear and Young Frankenstein, KID LOBOTOMY is co-created/written by Peter MILLIGAN (Brittania, Shade the Changing Man) and illustrated by Tess FOWLER (Rat Queens).
Clavicles, champagne and hot tacos feature in the febrile minds of KID LOBOTOMY co-creator/writer Peter Milligan and co-creator/artist Tess Fowler. Who’s your favorite character in the series and why? PM: Ottla. She’s beautiful but changeable and has a peculiar link to Franz Kafka. TF: Ottla. Let’s face it. She’s the heart of the hotel. What’s a misconception about you? PM: That I live a fabulously luxurious life reading romantic poetry and arguing about existentialism with difficult French women. I stopped all that two weeks ago. TF: That I’m cruel. Any vocal woman gets painted with the same brush. What’s on your bucket list that would shock even your close friends? PM: I don’t believe in bucket lists. And I certainly don’t believe in best friends. TF: Learning to shoot a gun. What year in your life would you like to do over? PM: The year I didn’t kiss Brigit Spooner by the cold meat counter. TF: None of them. The worst of my mistakes helped build my strengths. Finish the following sentences: I wanted to be ______ PM: Brigit Spooner’s wild lover. TF: a mother. I didn’t succeed at _____ PM: See above. TF: learning to swim. I suck at _____ PM: See above. TF: walking into dark rooms to turn on the light when it’s not next to the door. What do you find beautiful? PM: Sunrise on the Amalfi coast. Or sundown in the Australian outback. TF: Kindness, clavicles, hands, beards, baby knuckle dimples, old people wrinkles, cat toe beans, L.A. dirty side alleys, vintage lanterns, hot tacos, Scotland... What do you find beautiful about Tess? PM: Everything.
Best career advice you were given? PM: I wasn’t aware that I had a career. I’ve just been making it up as I go along. Seriously. TF: “Get the stars out of your eyes, girl. You’re fresh meat.” Best career advice you were given about Tess? PM: There’s this girl in LA you should work with… Worst career advice you were given about Tess? PM: There’s this girl in LA you should work with… Your top tip for a budding young writer or artist? PM: Ask yourself: What’s this about? And why the hell am I doing it? TF: Speak loudly and carry a big stick. You and a bottle of $$$ champagne are joined by two famous writers or artists ( living or dead ) for a picnic. Who’s in attendance and what does she/he bring? PM: Ah. James Joyce would have to be there. And as I’m writing KID LOBOTOMY I’d have to have Franz Kafka. I could practice my rubbish German, and Joyce and I would get to neck all of the champagne. Kafka would bring his first draft of Metamorphosis. And Joyce would bring the fictional character Molly Bloom (we need a bit of female company). Problem is, Molly might get stuck into the booze too. Yes I said yes I will Yes. TF: First we toss that champagne and snag a bottle of Laphroaig. I’d want to invite Michelangelo but there’s the language barrier thing. So probably Frida Kahlo. She’d bring the tequila and the enchilada. I’d also invite Frank Frazetta. Since I never got to meet him in real life and I still have so many questions. I like to think he’d bring the meat and potatoes. I could be wrong. But that’s what I picture. Also he’d probably be annoyed with me for dragging him because who the fuck am I but I imagine he’d see Frida and she’d get him to stay. What would you order off the room service menu at The Suites, Kid Lobotomy’s family-run hotel? PM: If I had any sense at all, nothing. TF: Bottle of Scotch and a grilled cheese sammich. Hold the cockroaches, please.
What do you find beautiful about Mr. M.? TF: His attraction to the absurd and ugly. What do you find repulsive about Tess? PM: Everything. Cover FRANK Q B by UITELY
KID LOBOTOMY is the debut title from BLACK CROWN. Coming OCTOBER 18.
BLACK CROWN QUARTERLY: a compendium of all things comics, culture & cool BLACK CROWN QUARTERLY #1 � Coming OCTOBER 25
Everything you always wanted once a season is packed within these 48 pages, including a two-sided pull-out poster and a wraparound cover! Delight in regular continuing features like legit publications with literary pedigrees! It all begins with the 10-page regular lead feature, TALES FROM THE BLACK CROWN PUB starring Stacey the barmaid, by award-winner ROB DAVIS ( The Motherless Oven ). Recurring short features include CANONBALL COMICS, an exquisite corpse that will not stay dead kicked off by JAMIE COE (Artschooled), and SWELL MAPS by respectably divine music journalist/novelist CATHI UNSWORTH.
Plus: Space CUDets rejoice: Live from a retirement village for wannabe 4-hit wonders we have cowriters/bandmates WILL POTTER and CARL PUTTNAM and occasional artist PHILIP BOND. Plus: Special previews, creator interviews and behindthe-panel-borders secrets from KID LOBOTOMY, ASSASSINISTAS, PUNKS NOT DEAD and much, much more!
A certifiable blend of arresting art and literary smarts at the cross street of comics and chaos.
� Includes a pull-out poster with one side Frank Quitely’s KID LOBOTOMY #1 Cover, one side a street map � Wraparound cover by Rob Davis
MODERN FAMILY HIGHLY TRAINED “ASSASSINISTAS is what happens
when Dominic Price takes a semester off with his boyfriend, his mom, and $40,000 worth of black market bounty-hunting equipment.”
—Tini Howard, co-creator/writer
STUDENT LOANS ARE MURDER!
Dominic Price learns the hard way when he’s KICKED OUT of college for the semester due to “insufficient funds.” His mother, OCTAVIA, has long ago hung up her HITWOMAN’s rifle in exchange for a semilucrative kidnapping insurance SCAM. When the child of one of her former Assassinistas actually goes MISSING, Octavia comes out of retirement and recruits a reluctant Dominic and his boyfriend, Taylor, as the next generation of ASSASSINISTAS.
RETRO SASS TO KICK YOUR ASS!
Co-creator/writer TINI HOWARD (The Skeptics) collector of cat toys, and co-creator/artist GILBERT HERNANDEZ (Love And Rockets) collector of straws, dish on desire, troubled sleep and strange plants.
ASSASSINISTAS Finish the following sentences: I wanted to be_____ TH: A fighter pilot. I got too tall, though, and didn’t want to kill anyone! GH: Joan Crawford.
I suck at_____ TH: Being normal, thank god. I’m loud and strange and so, so grateful that I failed at complacency and normalcy. GH: Straws. Trouble and desire____ TH: Sleep is so seductive to me, but when I do it too much I panic and hate myself. GH: Trouble and desire and pizza. I collect____ TH: Nightwing figurines, strange plants for my garden, interesting garments that I never wear, cat toys on behalf of the cat. GH: Food into my body. Famous quote that explains your raisons d’être? TH: “When the muse comes to your bedside, don’t tell her you’ll fuck her later.” — Allen Ginsberg GH: “We’re rich, fellas! I’ll share it with all of ya!” — King Kong, 1933 What’s your favorite comic book of all time? TH: I think I have to say The Sandman. I know it’s everyone’s answer, but there’s a reason for that. GH: Little Archie #20. It inspired me to be the cartoonist I am now.
“ASSASSINISTAS will rock your rocks off!” —Gilbert Hernandez, co-creator/artist A 6-issue BLACK CROWN miniseries Coming in DECEMBER.
“So what’s this PUNKS NOT DEAD all about then? SEX(PISTOLS), DRUNKS & ROCK ‘n’ ROLL! PUNKS NOT DEAD’s got the lot, backwashed into a can of super-strength lager.” — Martin Simmonds, co-creator/artist
L
onely and BULLIED, Feargal “Fergie” Ferguson never knew his dad. But when his mother is TAKEN from him, Fergie must seek out his father or face an UNCERTAIN future.
M
atters are complicated because Fergie sees dead people; specifically, the ghost of a dead punk who’s been TRAPPED at Heathrow Airport for 40 years, who finds he’s now BOUND to Fergie for reasons unknown but possibly to find REDEMPTION and earn his eternal rest.
T
he pair sets off looking for Fergie’s father, unaware that the BEADY eye of MI5’s quirky Department for Extra-Usual Affairs is taking an interest in them. DfEUA is bringing all its resources to bear on this STRANGE new situation — which currently amounts to a bureau chief, the IRASCIBLE Dorothy Culpepper, and her NEW charge, Asif Baig.
“It’s got ghosts and teenagers and a kick-ass pensioner who you really don’t want to get on the wrong side of. If John Constantine’s mum went on a bender with The Wicked + Divine’s Pantheon and Scott Pilgrim’s younger brother, they still wouldn’t have as good a time as this.”
—David Barnett, co-creator/writer
COMING IN JANUARY ONGOING from BLACK CROWN
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c k c ro w n . p u b
M FOR MATURE