We’re back with a brand new edition of Comics Disassembled, and with a big, weird week of news to address, let’s dig into my latest list of ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, including a new next release for one of my favorites.

Zoe Thorogood, Remixing

Back in January, I wrote about cartoonist Zoe Thorogood’s next graphic novel, Head Trauma. It sounded amazing. It still sounds amazing. But now, it’s not her next graphic novel. The cartoonist has put that book on pause to prioritize It Took My Brother, a graphic novel that she says “follows a young boy named Rat on a mission to commune with his dead brother to find the monster that killed him, so he can get revenge. There’s also a giant chicken.” Which…sounds amazing as well!

It’s easy to understand why Thorogood moved this one forward, as she’s finding her way through the loss of her brother James — with the cartoonist saying on Instagram that this new book is influenced by shared loves they had, including Fallout, Attack on Titan, and Half-Life — and this seems like a good way to navigate what she’s feeling while making what looks like an exceptional book. Seriously, click on the link to the Instagram post announcing it. Her pages for It Took My Brother look remarkable. While there’s no ETA on it, it’s pretty clear she’s well down that path given how many finished pages there are, and that’s with Head Trauma already being fairly deep in development as well.

All I can say about this one is I cannot wait to read it. Thorogood’s already one of the best cartoonists around, and any work of hers is highly anticipated. Something deeply personal yet inventive like this might be even more so, which is really saying something.

Jeff Lemire, To the Bone

In a rare change of pace, cartoonist Jeff Lemire turned to his email newsletter to announce comics he won’t be working on. It was in a Q&A in a recent edition, and one of the questions was about The Bone Orchard Mythos, the Image Comics anthology series he and artist Andrea Sorrentino have been chipping away at in recent years. Lemire said, “The sales were not what we hoped for, and there are other, more personal reasons, theses books won’t continue.” What those personal reasons are, it’s hard to say, but the point is, it won’t be going on, with Lemire lamenting the decision to go with a disconnected anthology in varying formats rather than a monthly series as a costly one.

That’s not all. Lemire also revealed that the already announced sequel to his Image series Royal City is not going to happen after all, saying that “the story has just fallen apart on me.” Evidently it became so bad that it no longer was fun for him but an anchor around his neck, and he has simply elected to focus on the projects that are bringing him joy in the moment rather than trying to grind his way through it.

Honestly, props to Lemire for making these choices. The worst thing he probably could do would be to try and make Bone Orchard working when it isn’t already and to push through on Royal City in hopes he can unlock it. He’s a high volume guy, and I suspect he knows better than anyone when something isn’t working. And these weren’t. We’re used to him delivering tons and tons of comics, but sometimes the best comic a creator can choose to make is a new one when the old one isn’t working. It’s a prudent decision, even if some readers are probably disappointed by the news.