The Cavletter returns, including an exclusive art reveal of GODFATHER OF HELL #1!

Hello there!

I hope you're doing well. As promised, the Cavletter is back after a summer break!

I've always been a sucker for this time of year. I love autumn, with the nights drawing in and the air becoming crisper (or in the case of the UK over the last couple of weeks, damper! So much damper!) It's the perfect time for stories (and biscuits. The biscuits are very important!)

And it's also spooky season. Well, officially, at least. Any season can be spooky if you make it, and I do! But Autumn is special as it contains Halloween, and this year I have a creepy cornucopia of Halloween stories to share with you, including two new horror comics, but more on those later.

Here's what we have lined up for today's newsletter:

• EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK AT GODFATHER OF HELL #1
• NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS
• THIS SUMMER'S ADVENTURES IN STORYTELLING
• TOOLS OF THE TRADE: THE WREN PEN REVIEWED

Let's dive in!

AN EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK AT GODFATHER OF HELL #1!

I talked about Godfather of Hell when my new mini-series from Vault was announced just before SDCC (as well as revealing the amazing movie homage variants) but now we are only a month from the launch. In fact, the FOC (Final Order Cut off) is fast approaching, but before we discuss why the FOC matters, I thought I'd share an exclusive look at some of the art for you, my lovely subscribers!

Godfather of Hell tells the story of Dario, a mob enforcer who crosses his crime boss and ends up a) at the wrong end of a gun and b) with a first-class ticket to hell. However, once in the fiery pit, Dario soon discovers that hell is just another racket. More than that, it's a job opportunity for any brutal debt collector willing to work for the prince of darkness.

Here's the moment when Dario leaves this mortal coil and finds himself... down there...

Aren't the pages gorgeous? Art is by my Godfather of Hell co-creator Pius Bak with colours by Raúl Angulo. We told Raúl we wanted hell to be sickeningly neon, and boy did he deliver!

(And yes, I did censor a couple of places on page 15 up there as they may not be exactly safe for work and I don't know where you're reading this!)

If you want to find out what happens next, then you should talk to your friendly neighbourhood comic book store to ensure issue one is on your pull list when issue one hits on October 16th.

In fact, you need to make sure you get your orders in by this upcoming Monday, 16th September as it is the issue's FOC. You can ask for the main cover or any of the variants!

A FO-what now?

There is a lot of jargon in comics. As I said above, FOC stands for 'Final Order Cutoff'. Think of it as a last call for a comic book issue. It's the deadline for comic book stores to tell the publisher how many copies they want to buy. Based on those orders, the publisher then decides how many copies of the issue to print.

So, the more pre-orders are made, the more copies are printed. Likewise, if people don't pre-order, fewer copies will be printed. In extreme cases, decisions on whether to cancel a book are even made at this point, if it looks like there's not much interest! Now, that's what I call a scary story!

So pre-orders are massively important and I really appreciate you putting your order in before (or even on) Monday 16th September!

And tell your friends about Godfather of Hell too! Share this post! Shout about it on socials! Anything you can do to help is great!

I'll be sharing more exclusive behind-the-scene treats from Godfather of Hell in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS TOO!

And of course, Godfather of Hell isn't my only scary book debuting this Halloween. October 2nd sees the publication of issue one of Night of the Slashers, my The Purge meets Freddy Kreuger love letter to slasher movies co-created with artist Paul Fry.

The FOC has passed for Night of the Slashers issue one, but Magma Comix tell me that the numbers were excellent so hopefully your store has already pre-ordered it! Why not ask them and find out?

THIS SUMMER'S ADVENTURES IN STORYTELLING

It seems a while since I've written one of these round-ups, so long that I can't really remember everything I've done. There have been a lot of comics, including work on the fourth and final run of Star Wars: The High Republic at Marvel as announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

Marika Cresta's art for the series is stunning. So much action. So much emotion. I can't wait for you to see it when the series returns in February.

(And yes, as I posted on Threads last week, I also made myself cry writing the latest issue that I submitted!)

There's been travelling (both to San Diego for Comic Con and London for a holiday break where we saw the ABBA Voyage show which was both wonderful and deeply odd) and a lot of editing.

Meanwhile, recent releases have included:

Star Wars The Acolyte: Kelnacca - A Marvel one-shot featuring the Wookiee Jedi from the Disney+ show.

Folk Horror - A new short story collection from Flametree Press featuring my new short story, The Grim, which I'll be talking about more in the newsletter in the weeks to come. Click here for some images and a little video of this gorgeous edition. Shiny cover ahoy!

Judge Dredd Megazine #471 - Featuring The Haunting of Borley Block, a spooky story set in Judge Dredd's Mega-City One, co-created with artist Luke Horsman (whose concept art for the characters I'll be sharing next week so make sure you're subscribed to see that!)

The next few months will involve more High Republic, more children's book writing, a spec movie script, planning for a couple of big projects for 2025 and more travel, this time to the city that never sleeps for New York Comic-Con.

So, until my next round-up, here's my tally of this year's writing so far:

TOOLS OF THE TRADE: THE WREN POCKET PEN

Time for something new! I'm going to start highlighting the various tools and gadgets I use in my work from time to time and what better way to start than the latest pen I've recently added to my collection – the Wren from Tom's Studio.

This small but mighty gem is a refillable writing pen that aims to help you cut down on the amount of rollerball or gel pens you burn through (which, in my case, is a lot!)

The customisation begins when you buy your pen. The Tom's Studio website includes options for both body and lid.

I chose sage for the body and midnight blue for the lid which pops off to form the body of the pen while writing. And yes, I got mine engraved because I'm fancy, so sue me!

To fill the Wren, you unscrew the tip of the pen to reveal a reservoir. Simply dip the end of the reservoir into a pot of fountain pen ink. Count to five and you'll watch the ink creep up the reservoir until the nib magically turns the colour of the ink.

I've been writing with it on and off for about five days now and the experience has been great. The ink flows smoothly on the page and the Wren itself is remarkably comfortable to hold, a surprising achievement for such a small pen, especially when you are blessed with big flapping banana-hands like mine. I've totally fallen in love with it and can see myself grabbing a few more reservoirs to easily swap between inks. (Tom's Studio even sells little bottles to store your reservoirs and nibs, because of course they do!)

Is it value for money? Well, starting at £35, the Wren not the cheapest but, if you're used to buying fountain pens, neither is it wildly extravagant. (And I needn't have gone for the extra engraving, but as I said... fancy!) Of course, in the long run, using the Wren might mean I don't buy so many disposable pens, and I'll be making good use of my existing ink collection. Tip replacements come in at £2.95 for three and you can pick up spare ink reservoirs for £1.95.

Oh, and the pen also arrived with a free popcorn tea bag which was delicious on a wet September afternoon. Thanks Tom!

Keep an eye out for more reviews of pens, gadgets and even software I use to do my job (and let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like me to talk about. You can leave a comment below or just reply to this mail.)

I probably won't review my most ridiculous purchase of the summer - the Goat Horn Coffee Cup, but you never know!

That's all folks!

That wraps things up for this week. Keep an eye on your inbox for when Perfect Sunday returns, a special guest offering their recommendations for a great day! Who's the guest? You'll have to check your email on Sunday morning to find out! ;-)

In the meantime, don't forget you can ask me questions to answer in my newsletter, either by a) posting a question in the comments, b) replying to this mail or c) using the Ask Me Anything form on my website!

Until next time, look after yourself and each other,

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