November/December 2023: A pig gets isekai'd and a vampire awakens from hiatus

Also, the award goes to...

The year 2024 is already flying by, so let’s go back in time to the tail end of 2023! This includes a couple of year-end awards, the return of a long-awaited webcomic, and a big announcement for a new light novel and manga series I’ve been editing.

I also want to give a huge thank you to Jeremy Bowersock for naming my series, Road Trip to Hell, one of his picks for the Top Ten Indie Horror of 2023. You can check out what place it came in by watching his video!

What I’m Editing

J-Novel

Announced at AnimeNYC 2023, J-Novel is translating the light novel and manga series for Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig into English. Written by Takuma Sakai, this isekai (a popular genre where the protagonist is reincarnated or transported to another world) is about an otaku who passes out after eating a raw pig liver and wakes up in a fantasy world. Now trapped in the body of a pig, he teams up with the telepathic maiden, Jess, to hopefully survive this dark fantasy world!

I’m lucky enough to be the ongoing editor for the light novel series (starting with the second volume) and the manga, working side-by-side with translator Zihan Gao. I love it when comedy mixes with surprisingly dark themes, which I think this series goes hog wild with. It’s also really cool to have the option to watch the anime adaptation alongside it!

Tapas

• Thirst (Creator Asami): The third season of Thirst, one of Tapas Media’s BL (Boys’ Love) webcomics, returned with a bang! Featuring a romance between half-vampire/star actor Ethan Blackwell and his co-star Tristan Monroe, plenty of sparks have flown between the two in the past. But this season, the two must face ever-mounting threats to their relationship and their very lives, from a dangerous organization to familiar faces from their past. New episodes are released every Tuesday.

Scout Comics

• M.O.M. Breaks the Internet #2 (Writer Jay Sandlin, artist Patrick Mulholland, colorist Adriano Augusto, and letterer Cynna Ael): This political thriller continues the story of Barbie Reed, who was recently laid off from her tech job. She’s working with her fellow moms to become M.O.M., a masked super-hacker seeking to change society by disabling key Internet services. But while the moms are in danger of being caught, the danger hits a bit closer to home for Barbie’s daughter, Penny, who is struggling from an assault. This mini-series delves into many important, relevant, and scarily relatable topics.

• Sartorial Geek #4 (Main Editors/Creators Jordan Ellis and Liz Crowder Serota, Various Contributors): Your favorite geeky magazine celebrating comics and fashion, Sartorial Geek, is back! This issue spotlights cartoonist, editor, and professor Steenz, who gives a detailed interview about their work in the industry and shares advice for aspiring creators. Other articles discuss an iconic comic book character’s fashion and webcomics that made it to the big screen.

Independent Projects

• Turner Family of Terrors (Writer/Letterer Robert Krisch, Artist Aleksandar Bozic Ske, Co-Editor Christopher Angel): Get ready for a supernatural family reunion! The Turner Family of Terrors mini-series, which recently ended with its fourth issue, now has an online store. So, if you missed the comic when it was available on Kickstarter, here’s your chance to get it! Often described as The Simpsons meets Hellboy, this supernatural comedy includes a foul-mouthed family who must save the world from an apocalypse (or make things worse).

• Digitopia (Writer Farhan Qureshi, Artist Sebastián Píriz, Colorist/Letterer Simon Robins): A pre-apocalyptic action-packed comic book series that was recently collected for the first time in graphic novel format, Digitopia is described as Matrix meets Running Man. While the Kickstarter is now over, be sure to follow the creator for more updates in the future. Though I was only the editor of the final issue, it was nice to be a part of this world for the brief time that I got to experience it. I’m also currently editing Farhan’s other series, Battle Panda.

Who I’m Interviewing

Kickstart the Week(end) with Everyday Fears: A Slice-of-life Horror Comic Anthology

• Everyday Fears (Writer Matt McGrath and Various Artists): The slice-of-life horror Everyday Fears was the latest comic featured on “Kickstart the Week.” I interviewed creator Matt McGrath, who wrote all six stories in this 40-page anthology. These stories, which try and put the “normal” into “paranormal,” take a fun approach to horror, including having an awkward teenager summon a demon to hang out with and two teens making a movie while a mysterious cryptid stalks them.

A Heartfelt Thanks for Your Patience (and Here’s to 2024!)

Seeing the work I’ve accomplished is always satisfying, and I hope you’ve all been enjoying it too! I know it often takes me quite some time to get together these newsletters, and I appreciate the returning readers for sticking with me. I don’t know when I’ll get to the 2023 year-in-review newsletter, but I hope you’ll enjoy the wait as I continue to edit and write plenty of projects in the meantime. Your support is always appreciated, and I hope you’ve been enjoying a happy, healthy, and productive new year so far.

Thank you all, and stay tuned for more in 2024!