Long John

Spring is a time of awakening and rebirth, a time to become who you were meant to be and shed who you once were. Even thought spring doesn’t officially start until the middle of the month, it’s the entire month of March that begins ringing the bell for the new season.

In celebration of that, chapter 4 of Long John––”Dead Words”––steps out of the dark and into the light…and then into the dark again because, let’s be honest, “Dead Words” is a dark chapter. You may be surprised, though, at the ways it actually does meet those descriptions of spring in many ways.

Starting Monday, March 2nd, you’ll bet getting two pages of “Dead Words” every week (Mondays and Wednesdays) for fourteen weeks.

One thing I’m excited about is looking at new ways to share the comic with readers, especially those using mobile platforms to read. Not everybody wants to go to the website to read the comic, so I’ll be updating each page on the official Facebook page, D. Bethel’s Instagram, in addition to other publishing ideas (which still need further research).

What To Do Until Then

• Read Chapters 1-3 again!

This would be a great time to go through the archives again! Get caught up on the story so you can have all the context you need to jump right into chapter 4. So, how can you get caught up?

1. Read through the archives on the website.
2. Buy the books for a mere $20 on the store. Get a free Long John sketch with your purchase!

• Get others hyped for Long John.

Do you have a favorite image, page, or scene from the comic so far? Share them! Get the word out by flexing your social media muscle to get your friends and family to finally check out the comic. I’ll be uploading the pages from the first three chapters to the Facebook page soon, so feel free to share from there. Also, feel free to copy and paste this little banner to your various platforms:

If you do share, please tag me (Twitter: @DBethel, Instagram: @dbethelcomics) in your post so I can share what you share. It’s like the digital circle of life!

• Review Long John!

Do you have your own website, blog, YouTube channel, and/or podcast? I would love to hear what you think about the story so far! If you do, let me know so I can spread the word, too (even if you criticize! That’s part of what keeps art healthy and growing!).

Or, feel free to get ahold of me (through DMs on social media or e-mailing the site at longjohncomic(at)gmail(dot)com; I’d love to talk about Long John, making comics, comics in general, storytelling, or any variety of other topics!

• What about the book?

The goal right now is to have it ready by May for Free Comic Book Day 2020 with, perhaps, a soft launch at the new and improved Crocker-Con in April (depending on how the book comes together). I’m going all out on this book by trying to pack it full of stuff so that it’ll really be full of value (and exclusive content!).

Stay tuned for updates on the book––and for posts as we lead up to the launch on March 2nd––and a bunch of other stuff planned for down the road.