Steeple is back for 2023, with a new story, HELL ON WHEELS, and a site redesign. I’m still trying to work out some bugs – comments don’t seem to stay logged in, and if you follow the steeple.church RSS feed (rather than the historic Scary Go Round one, which I do by hand), comics aren’t appearing in the feed. I’m looking into these issues and will repair them at my usual glacial pace.
Max Sarin (GIANT DAYS, HARLEY QUINN + IVY etc – art), Sammy Borras (colours) and I (words) have reunited for a 22-page Steeple summer special which will be available (via my Gumroad and for my $3-and-up Patreon subscribers) on Monday. This one won’t be running on the web. It’s digital-only because posting low-cost things has become very complicated and expensive. All I can tell you right now is that it is a “romance comic” and that you will enjoy it. The cover is below.
Steeple will be on hiatus for a while (though some activity is planned for later in the year) so I’ve set the archive up to run from the first page rather than spoiling the last, for the benefit of new readers. Steeple volume 3 will emerge in August from Dark Horse (cover below) and I hope to do something new around then.
In the meantime, new comics are appearing during the week at badmachinery.com. In February and March: Giant Days x Batman. In April and May, a Charlotte Grote: Solver Spring Special.
COVER BY MAX SARIN
Here’s my top 40 list for this year. I found a lot to enjoy, and barely scratched the surface of all the interesting jazz records that came through our house. I hope to dig into them in January.
I’ve made a 40-song playlist with a track from each of these records on Spotify.
My complete list of charts from 1987-2021 is available here.
1 SOBERISH – Liz Phair
2 WILDS – Andy Shauf
3 COURSE IN FABLE – Ryley Walker
4 I KNOW I’M FUNNY HAHA – Faye Webster
5 FIR WAVE – Hannah Peel
6 LAST TIME I SAW GRACE – New Bums
7 PETER STAMPFEL’S 20TH CENTURY – Peter Stampfel
8 UNCOMMON WEATHER – The Reds, Pinks & Purples
9 THE CROWDED MIND – Dazy
10 WINK – Chai
11 THE FUTURE BITES – Steven Wilson
12 ALWAYS SOMETHING – UV-TV
13 LILY WE NEED TO TALK NOW – Lily Konigsberg
14 FLAT WHITE MOON – Field Music
15 WISH YOU WERE HERE TOUR REVISITED – 2nd Grade
16 DREAMERS ARE WAITING – Crowded House
17 DEBONAIR – Horsey
18 VERTIGO DAYS – The Notwist
19 CAPE COD COTTAGE – Brendan Eder Ensemble
20 AN OVERVIEW ON PHENOMENAL NATURE – Cassandra Jenkins
21 QUEENS OF THE SUMMER HOTEL – Aimee Mann
22 HERITAGE – Hilma Nikolaisen
23 POHORYLLE – Margo Cilker
24 SLING – Clairo
25 BLACK METAL 2 – Dean Blunt
26 OTHER YOU – Steve Gunn
27 WINDSWEPT ADAN – Ichiko Aoba
28 SPENCER CULLUM’S COIN COLLECTION – Spencer Cullum
29 OH GOOD IT’S – al Riggs
30 NEW LONG LEG – Dry Cleaning
31 TIME NO CHANGES – Chad Taylor & Chris Schlarb
32 WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU – The Avalanches
33 FIBATTY – Glenn Richards
34 TO SEE THE NEXT PART OF THE DREAM – Parannoul
35 DESTINY WAIVING – Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters
36 VOYAGE OUT – Floatie
37 FOR FREE – David Crosby
38 PALBERTA5000 – Palberta
39 ENDLESS ARCADE – Teenage Fanclub
40 THREESOME VOL 2 EP – The Lickerish Quartet
I’ve made a new Christmas comic, it’s free-to-air on Patreon until new year and I believe it to be 100% good – in every way. Take a trip to Des’ Holiday Lodge and meet a host of very special guests!