Introducing The Ginormous Kokjü & A New Publishing Initiative

The Title "King Dong" Wouldn't Clear :(

Publishing Comics Digitally On Substack

I’m going to be collaborating on comics and delivering them directly to you on Substack. Subscribers will come away with DRM digital comics, and a lot of other goodies both digital and physical.

What Does That Mean For Me & You?

I’m currently freelance for the first time in nearly a decade. It’s been a privilege to write X-Men for Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, and Joshua Cassara on X-Men. I’m also making Iron Man comics with the wonderfully talented Juan Frigeri. Most unlikely, on November 15th I have my first Batman comic in almost a decade with Matteo Scalera and Dave Stewart, and more on that next week. It’s a cold hard looking at Victor Fries, and I think it turned out wonderfully.

I’ve always made time for creator-owned comics and I’ve been working pretty diligently on some secret projects that are now ready to bring into the world. The pandemic changed so many things, some projects slowed down, others had more velocity. What’s changed for me is far less travel to comic cons and editorial retreats. I’ve reinvested that clock in more creator-owned collaborations.

I’ve tentatively decided to keep my current social media, but I’ll be using it as a megaphone for this Substack. If you want to interact with me, this is the most dependable destination to find me. You can read more about my thinking about that decision here.

The Comics

Let’s talk about the really fun stuff: the comics. Scott Koblish was one of the most important collaborators in our long Deadpool run. The only reason I’ve written or co-written the most Deadpool comics is because I fell in love with all my collaborators. I have yet to exhaust the different gears Scott has as a comics creator. Many of your favorite gags came not just from his pen, but from his mind, too. He always made Brian Posehn and I look good, and he and I have been working on our take on a giant monster story for a little while now. The great philosopher Roger Ebert once wrote “You can’t talk a man out of a laugh, or an erection” and we’re going to serve both in our comic tentatively titled King Dong The Ginormous Kokjü. We’re going to take the piss (and maybe more) out of giant monsters the way we did with superheroes in Deadpool. Hi-Fi Colors and Joe Sabino will bring the world’s finest colors and letters to the proceedings and we can’t wait to stomp your shit into oblivion. It’s our funniest, saddest and most fucked-up comic, and that’s not hyperbole for those familiar with our catalog. We’ve set the highest and the lowest bars possible. 

It’s as “Hard R” as we’ve gone. Tonally, we’re like if “The Aristocrats” was a comic book miniseries. The comic is fully completed. Here are the first drop, free for all:

It get so much better and worse from here on out. We hope you laugh as much as these gentlemen did at a review copy of the full series:

“I thought I was done hiding comics under my mattress. I was wrong.” — Zeb Wells, Amazing Spider-Man

“That was very enjoyable and horrible” - David Mandel, Curb & VEEP

After Kokjü wraps, we’ll be going in a very different direction on a new comic with my Analog partner, the wonderful and talented David O’Sullivan. With more comics and artist to follow.

These comics are creator owned, not creator “participation”. We can’t thank you enough for helping us bring these comics into the world, and here is how we’d like to thank you.

The Experience

We’re going to be hanging out a bunch, and my pals are going to be stopping by. We’ll have some private zooms, and some other fun ways to celebrate comic books.

7/Month

The Comics, and the process and any zooms or similar fun hangs. The ability to comment is only for paid subscribers at any level.

70/Year

A hand-drawn thank you postcard which doubles as a coupon for five free signed signatures you intend to have witness and slabbed, all our DRM-free comics, the process, and live experiences. To be clear, you don’t redeem the postcard - it’s yours to keep, and show it to me for your free signatures. These officially licensed postcards have been sketched and will be mailed directly to you, and will have a sketch and signature on them and will easily be worth either $70, $250, or even more dollars. I exerted a maximum of effort, and a grade school level of artistic talent. All of the postcards will be signed by me, a bunch are also signed by Koblish, and a for some lucky random folks — you’ll receive a head sketch from Scott Koblish instead of from me.

250/Year to be one of Duggan’s DIE HARDS

The Comics, process, and live experiences, the thank you post cards that are also good for the signatures and you’ll receive five exclusive variants from my Image Comics works in 2022-2023. They will likely be debut issues, but some may not. These variants will only be offered to this tier. They may be “naked” (logo-less) covers of variants for the direct market, or whole cloth original covers that will not be sold anywhere else. They will likely all ship at the same time fulfilled by a retailer partner later in 2023.

The first one has already printed, on beautiful chrome stock. It’s unlikely they’ll all be on chrome, but I’m glad I did it at least once. The first of the five variants is for our Halloween comic starring Scotch McTiernan. Take a look:

Next year I’m going to launch my first Image ongoing in quite a long time. The comic is historical fiction, action/adventure and a romance.

One of the other covers that DIE HARDS will receive is a naked (sans logos) variant of this cover for the direct market with art by the amazing talented Rian Gonzalez. Making the comics look wonderful is my designer Elliott Gray. He’s a senior UI Designer at Bungie, a game studio I love, and have had the privilege to write for in the past. He’s an incredible talent, and you can follow Elliott’s exploits here.  

Much more to come.

We’re having so much working on these comics, and that fun is translating to my partners and it’s going to translate to the final product. Thanks for the support. As social media really burns down, I think having a clubhouse online is maybe more important than ever? The plan is to make this a permanent home online, and I suspect many of you will have your own creative pursuits, so I think our zoom meetings will probably skew in that direction, we can talk process and collaboration.

See you here again soon, I hope. 

Thanks again for all the support. 

All the best, 

Gerry, Scott, David & Friends