...and *SNAP* suddenly, half of 2023 is over 🤯

A quick lil' update about our studio happenings down on Queen Street West.

We swear another BLIP just happened🫰🏻 — what a (fun) blur this year has been!

July welcomes our first month in a while where we aren’t visiting any comics conventions (although Fan Expo Canada will be here in no time on August 24-27!), which means we have a moment to breathe and get down to brass tacks.

That all said, it’s been a sweet ride the past several months meeting people at various shows around North America! Our last stint saw us in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the beloved Heroes Con this past month — a very comic and creator-centric show ❤️

We had a great time introducing RAID, and what we do, to new people while reconnecting with old friends! We’ll definitely be returning to Heroes in the future!

Heroes Shenanigans (Eric's sweet Batman hoodie was snagged to combat the convention’s showroom AC!)

Now let’s get down to those brass tacks…

RAID: CREATOR VISIONS Trading Cards!

We’re happy to announce that our RAID: Creator Visions trading cards are at the printer! This project was WAY more work than originally anticipated, but we’re happy to say it’ll be worth the wait. The set is a gorgeous array of work from a variety of creators. Here’s a peek at the mockup Ramón created while designing the hobby box to better understand how it would look in real life.

If you missed the Kickstarter campaign you can pre-order card packs, or hobby boxes, at RAIDpress.com now.

RAID 5: BARADA!

We continue to work on BARADA, the 5th volume in our RAID anthology series, with its international cast of creators — whom we’ll begin sharing work in the next newsletter! We’ve decided to delay the book by a few months to maintain the quality of work in the series — rather than rush completion. These are, after all, creator-driven stories, and we want all involved to be proud of the work they’ll be sharing.

In the meantime, we are thrilled to announce our EPIC cover artist for this newest collection. He’s no stranger to our RAID family… and we are over the moon to have him grace volume 5 with his art! We’re proud to have Shawn Crystal (Deadpool, The X-Men, Batman, Scarlet Witch - and his very own Inkpulp Instruction) embellish Barada with his glorious art! If you’re unfamiliar with Shawn’s work (first, shame on you), please do a deep dive at your leisure — you can find him on Instagram and Tik Tok!

Batman by Shawn Crystal

FUN FACT / Curious about why we chose the title “Barada” for our 5th volume? It’s part of a famous phrase from the 1951 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still that has been paid homage to in the Evil Dead and Star Wars films alongside many more. The Robot Hall of Fame even describes the phrase as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction." Still wondering what our 6th volume will be called? 😝

While we’re taking a break from our own Kickstarter campaigns this summer, we thought we’d spotlight two crowdfunding campaigns from our extended family!

STARDUST THE SUPER WIZARD spearheaded by writer and Stardust enthusiast Van Jensen, ending July 6, 2023 (YOU HAVE 2 DAYS LEFT OMG)! The book includes the debut short story from Ian Hanks, the grandson of Stardust creator, Fletcher Hanks. You definitely want to check this out to learn more about the weirdest character from the Golden Age of comics!

GODSLAVE follows Edith's journey into modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and other priests, she works for a god to help return him to his true form. This is the second volume in the graphic novel series created by Meaghan Carter and is live until July 21, 2023!

While we work diligently away in 2023, we also have a lot of projects in development for 2024 at RAID Press. We thought we’d take a moment to spotlight a couple... 💡

BLACKMOUTH: THE WITCHES MARK

By Kyle J. Smith and Katie Sawatatsky

Blackmouth: The Witch's Mark Art Process

Kyle and Katie are giving an insider look at their upcoming graphic novel through the BlackmouthComic Instagram. It’s a dark and twisted tale — give it a follow, and see the world grow and develop — and gain a few sleepless nights due to the horrors embellished.

Speaking of sleepless nights, next up, we have…

AARDEHN: BLOOD RIDERS

By S.M. Carter and Eric Vedder

Aardehn: Blood Riders Art Process

Sheldon (hot on the heels of his novel To Steal The Sun) and Eric are mashing up prose and comics in what they’ve dubbed a cinematic novel — where art and comics intermingle with prose. Their first book in this cyberpunk world of Aardehn is titled Blood Riders — because in the megacity of Torin, blood is the currency. And freedom… comes from speed.

Curious? Stay updated through their mailing list!

THE ALTERNATES — A Minor Threat’s Spin-off Book

Fellow RAIDer Scott Hepburn has created the cover art to The Alternates, the first spin-off to his highly successful Minor Threats series (co-created with Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum) from Darkhorse comics! With this comes a new tale of costumed underdogs — featuring a support group for superheroes, struggling to reclaim their mediocre lives after tasting their true potential. The first issue hits the shelves this September!

Cover art by Scott Hepburn.

If you missed the Minor Threats, the collected TPB is available this month from Dark Horse Comics — contact your local comic shop and snag yours ASAP!

DID YOU KNOW?

We threw in a little impromptu contest last newsletter — the winner of which was Alex, who was the first to post the answer in the comments section naming the heroic tune of Holding Out for a Hero that we were riffing off of in our newsletter subtitle! The prize - a signed copy of Danesh Mohiuddin’s TIMELESS CHARACTERS poster!

If you’ve read this far — we teased it above, but let us know the title of volume 6 of our RAID anthology series in the comments below, and we’ll send you a copy of the Kickstarter signed-edition by all the creators involved of volume 5, along with some fun swag!

Before we go, we wanted to wish our friends south of the 49th Parallel a Happy Independence Day with the lovely piece by Jack Kirby — may you all have a wonderful and glorious day with friends and family!

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THANKS FOR READING!

RAID TABLE TALK is brought to you by an amazing team effort from the RAID crew. We do our best to keep you informed on what all the awesome individuals at RAID, along with our studio as whole, are doing.

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