Guest Digest: Team Abuzz

Welcome to the Stone Soup Digest! This is where I share what I'm up to and some of my favorite things from around the internet. Subscribe to Stone Soup to get this in your inbox every week.

Hey friends! I am thrilled to bring you another guest host this week. But before I hand over the reins, I want to drop a few resources for those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. ICE and DHS are planning some large-scale raids this weekend, which means kidnappings, violence, and intimidation. Fortunately, we’re better equipped than ever before, and there’s a lot you can do right now to help protect yourselves and your neighbors.

Here's a stellar mobilization webinar that ran this week. It's incredibly grounding, practical & tactical, and will give you the guidance and resources to do what you can, where you can. 

One specific call to action is for folks to get involved with Adopt A Corner / Foot Patrol work. Here's the section of the webinar that speaks to that work. You can also check out this Coyote Media write-up of Adopt A Corner work if you want a quick overview of what's involved before you dive in.

Finally, add these Rapid Response Hotline numbers into your phone.

Use the following to report ICE and DHS when you see them in the wild.

A refrain you’ll hear repeated by the organizers in that webinar is–it’s time to meet this moment with power, not panic. We have bigger numbers, better strategies, and god knows we’re smarter than these bozos. 

Love you, Bay Area. I’ll see you out there.

And now, I’d like to hand this week’s Digest over to Amy Chase and Stelladia! Amy is a comics and prose writer from Southern California who specializes in tales of the fantastic, horrifying, and supernatural. She has officially written for beloved properties like Dungeons & Dragons, My Little Pony, Archie Horror, and Ghostbusters, and has worked with independent publishers like Avery Hill, Iron Circus, and Cloudscape Comics. Outside of writing, Amy is an avid tabletop gamer, a frog mom, and a roller derby player who skates under the name Tuffy the Vampire Skater. (Best known for Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe of Horrors, My Little Pony: Kenbucky Roller Derby, Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft)

Stelladia is a comic artist and colorist from Spain with a background in storyboard animation and fantasy illustration. Some of their titles include Potions Inc. (Mad Cave) and Abuzz (Maverick) as artist, and colorist work for publishers like Vault Comics, Disney Hyperion, ComiXology, Titan and Webtoon. They also design their own artisanal merch.  When they’re not doing comics, they’re currently busy studying a philosophy degree or diving into any of their hundreds of hobbies. 

Take it away, Team Abuzz!

-gailey

Greetings, Stone Soup society! Stelladia and I are really excited to have an opportunity to share a little bit of what we’re buzzing about recently with you. We had never met before pairing for our graphic novel, but immediately found common ground in our humor, fandom, and love of music and media as we collaborated. These stories we’ve selected for the newsletter speak to the current pop cultural landscape, but also have deep roots in what we loved when we were teens, about the same age as the characters in Abuzz (maybe only with a little less social media, mercifully).

Amy: Dessa Releases New Single “Camelot”

As a word nerd myself, I’ve always been in awe of songwriters, especially those who are adept at wordplay. Lyrics and rhythm are tools completely out of my writer wheelhouse, which is why I’m constantly left impressed by Dessa and her incisive, ear-wormy songs. (She once wrote a track without any verbs!) Camelot hits a perfect stride between dystopian literature and diss track on the current state of our nation, the allure of doomscrolling, and the fact that, as much as I want them to, little treats and creature comforts aren’t going to deliver us from evil. The official lyrics video has a few visual Easter eggs in it too–are we double-plus good yet?

Stelladia: Public Domain Review

Lately, I've been diving into the subject of cultural heritage and the critical part of reclaiming public culture in current times of extreme commercialization of art (and everything in general) and the rise of AI. There’s something powerful and valuable in the interplay of cultural production throughout history, from the dialogue established between works to the part it plays in building our identities and its influence over subsequent art creation. For this reason, I want to highlight the labor of wonderful platforms of public domain material and share my favorite: The Public Domain Review. PDR not only compiles works that have entered the public domain, but also shares curious fragments of history that often escape the canon of general knowledge. It's an online and public cabinet of curiosities, very stimulating for storytellers and curious minds in general. Hope you enjoy it!

Amy: Raccoon City Punks Fan Comic

It’s Halloween season, and October is going by way too fast. That’s why I like to slow it down with some zombies. Dave Scheidt and Sean Mac’s Resident Evil parody comic Raccoon City Punks looks like an amazing (and dare I say adorable?) tribute to the classic PlayStation horror that haunts my gaming nightmares. I never played the OG RE games on their original consoles, but I have fond memories of hunching over a friend’s PlayStation while mine was a family-friendlier Nintendo household. RCP is Riso printed, coil-binded, and totally punk. I love scrappy stuff like this. Plus, if Fangoria says it’s good, it’s gotta be bloody good.

Stelladia: Become a Talamasca Agent

If you are into supernatural fiction, Talamasca has a new website for onboarding agents. If you’re familiar with Anne Rice’s books, you’ll probably know about Talamasca already. If not, I encourage you to watch Interview with the Vampire’s recent adaptation, because it is FANGTASTIC. The show is part of the Immortals Universe, and Talamasca is the soon-to-be-released show about the paranormal investigation agency. I was obsessed with the books back when I was a teen and it’s been so cool to see this website. It reminds me of all the promotional stuff ABC made for Lost a few years ago. Give us more!

Amy: The Lost Boys on Broadway… plus Slash?!

As I write this update, I am frosting cupcakes to make them look like worms in a takeout box. I’m revving up my Halloween movie staples with a group viewing of The Lost Boys. The upcoming Broadway adaptation recently announced its cast and dropped a song from the show. And, look, I’m a firm believer that not every dang movie needs a musical adaptation. But I’d be lying if I said Beetlejuice isn’t one of my favorite musicals, and I’m dying to see Death Becomes Her. I hope The Lost Boys on stage captures that same classic bite the film had. I think this song’s pretty fun!

Currently Reading: Marian Heretic by Tini Howard and Joe Jaro

Blessed be the heretics under the guidance of comic book rockstars Tini Howard and Joe Jaro. This has been one of my most anticipated books since I saw the first whispers of Joe’s art teases. I’ve been dying for him to do more supernatural stories since Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, and Tini knows how to hit the witchy, religious, goth vibes–talk about wicked and divine! The first issue hit stands earlier this month but I’d bet my soul (if that’s still up for the taking) this is going to be many folks’ new favorite creator-owned series. I’m already obsessed (and I’ll take that to confession)!

-Amy

Sister Marian is a witch hunter, a Mother Superior and a heretic—guided by a Goddess the Church refuses to acknowledge. When the Holy Father Church brands her order blasphemers, Marian strikes a dark bargain to become their personal enforcer. As she delivers murderous judgment night after night in the city of Vespers, she can feel her soul fracture…but what can she do with the lives of her sisters at stake?

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Comic Shop Locator

Abuzz by Amy Chase, Stelladia, Ellie Wright, Taylor Esposito, and Lauren Hitzhusen

Sparks and stingers will fly in this modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing!

Shakespeare’s beloved romcom Much Ado About Nothing gets a modern update with an LGBTQ cast and the same classic miscommunications! Feuding senior students Ben and Beatriz drag half of Messina High into their never-ending arguments, making things difficult as budding sweethearts Hero and Claudio are asked to pick sides in the battle. All the while, the bad kids, led by outcast DJ, are plotting to capitalize on the chaos and rule the school for themselves. With college letters and prom night on the horizon, will these students find their happy ending or feel the sting of total rejection?

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

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In the meantime, remember: Do what you can. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up.

-gailey