Here I was thinking this would be a quick one, and as per usual, what I thought was a light slate of questions turned into over 5,000 words of answers. Whoops! But it’s all good, because I had a wonderful time answering everyone’s excellent Mailbag questions for this May/June edition.

We’ll be back with the next one soon enough, so if you have a question you’d like to ask, add it to the comments or email me at david@SKTCHD.com and I’ll get it in the mix. But for now, let’s get to this glorious monster of subscriber and patron questions!

Which conventions do you most want to attend that you haven’t yet? – Hayden Dunlap

The big three are HeroesCon, TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival), and Thought Bubble. The former’s in Charlotte, the middle is shockingly in Toronto, and the latter is in the United Kingdom, and each is a pick for pretty much the same reasons: They’re widely considered to be three of the best, if not the best, pure comic conventions when it comes to western comics. They aren’t focused on celebrities but the art of comics, with guest lists that astound. I’d love to make them happen, because I’ve heard nothing but good things about each.

Beyond that, it’s a mix of international events and unique ones aimed at much more narrow audiences. Lake Como Comic Art Festival is up there, even if I couldn’t afford any of it. I’d love to go to Angoulême International Comics Festival when it actually happens again. Lucca Comics & Games seems positively insane and I have to try it. Lastly, I’d love to hit up Comiket in Japan, which seems unique. But truth be told, I’m not a huge con guy. I’ll do my best to make those happen someday. The good news is I’m expanding my convention horizons with a couple cool opportunities later this year, which I’ll share when I can. But will I end up at all of these events? Probably not. It can just be difficult for me to prioritize conventions over regular vacations because it turns out I love regular vacations, and traveling outside of Alaska can be a lot!

I just finished reading the first trade of Escape by Rick Remender and I have to say, it might be one of my favorite comics of the year. It got me thinking, why wasn’t he nominated for a Eisner and come to think of it, I don’t think he’s been nominated for a while. Now imagine my surprise to see he has never won one at all!! He might just be my favorite writer in comics, and he currently has three amazing books and plenty of recent (and not so recent) bangers so why don’t you think he gets recognized by the Eisners? – Mack Godwin

The simple answer is there’s a lot of competition! Yes, Rick Remender is very good at what he does, but so are all the other nominees. It’s on the Eisner Award judges to do the best they can to decide who or what the best nominees are for each category, and with this year as an example, who would they cut from the Best Writer category to fit Remender in? Scott Snyder? Stephanie Williams? James Tynion IV? Kelly Thompson? Deniz Camp? Mariko Tamaki? There are no easy cuts there, which is how you end up with those six being the right fit. And in terms of winners, just browsing the history of the Best Writer category underlines why he hasn’t won: not many people have, and all were understandable selections.

I’m sure there are other complicating factors in there too, but the long and the short of it is, all these categories are very competitive. Here’s a good example of that. Stuart Immonen, someone I believe is one of the best and most influential artists of my lifetime, either has never been nominated for an Eisner Award in the Best Penciler/Inker or Penciler/Inker Team category or, at the very least, was not nominated between 2000 and 2016, which are the years I spot checked. Which is wild! He’s widely considered to be an all-time great, and yet…nada! But when I looked through the nominees from that period, it’s difficult to say who should be removed from any of the lists. There wasn’t a bad name in the bunch.

Every category is tough, but those big ones are the most difficult, I’d wager. There’s just so much competition and talent in the mix. I suspect Remender doesn’t mind not earning a nomination this year or winning it, though. He’s doing just fine, and his whole vibe suggests he doesn’t define success by how many awards he wins.

Keeping as spoiler-free or not, why do you love 20th Century Boys, and what are some points that made you go ‘Oh S***’ and cemented it as all time favorite for you? – Jack Mayo

Asking me why I love 20th Century Boys is like asking me why I love breathing: It’s just a thing that I can’t imagine not doing! It took basically no time at all for me to fall in love with this series, as the way Naoki Urasawa brings the story to life makes it pretty impossible to not connect with. I’d say the biggest hook are the characters. There’s a reason the one thing I’ve really done on SKTCHD about 20th Century Boys is a power rankings of the cast. Kanna and Kenji are just absolutely elite in particular, and ultimately, 20th Century Boys isn’t defined by its end result (which is a nod to a future question in this very Mailbag if there ever was one), but going on the journey with these characters. Here’s the truth: The discovery of who the “Friend” is, as in the antagonist of the whole series, really didn’t hit for me. It was alright. But that didn’t matter at all, because I just loved following these characters on their journey.

And sure, the buildup to that mystery was huge and the evolution of the world because the Friend’s presence is a massive part of the story. But it’s not about that. The characters just rule. Also, Naoki Urasawa is a god and his cartooning is unreal and I love everything about his storytelling.

That’s probably why I don’t really have any “Oh shit” moments for you. That wasn’t really how I thought of the story. It’s just about the experience of reading the book, and the journey of these characters and their lives. Off the top of my head, I can’t point to one moment that sealed the deal for me. It was just the constant repetition of greatness that made this book one of my all-time favorites.

Like you, I think a lot of us have been bummed out at The House of Ideas struggles as of late. But to put things on a positive note, are their books that you would love to see have a creative renaissance? Besides Stilt-Man and Squirrel Girl? Personally, I think there’s a lot of potential with Deathlok in today’s AI/tech anxious world. Also, given all the…let’s say complications in our current political climate, a U.S. Agent book would probably hit pretty hard. But what are some titles that you think could rip when Marvel returns to its stride? – Stephen Tramontana

Those are good picks! But excluding your picks and my obvious selections, I’m going to go with a real curveball: The Order. For those that don’t know, which is probably most of you, this was a ten-issue series from writer Matt Fraction and artist Barry Kitson that was way ahead of its time. It was during The Initiative phase of Marvel, where every state had its own superhero or superhero team depending on the state (for example: Alaska had Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat, as commemorated in the excellent Patsy Walker: Hellcat series from Kathryn Immonen and David Lafuente), and The Order was California’s squad of juiced up celebrities designed to serve, protect, and promote the general initiative. It was great!

I’d bring it back both as a superhero team but also a look at influencer culture and how that would permeate throughout and define the way such an altruistic “job” would work. Like the original series, it’d need a voice that gives it a mix of big picture thinking and small character moments, all while still feeling like a superhero book but not X-Statix, which is close to what I’m talking about. That was the secret of The Order. Fraction killed it, but Kitson grounded it. It needs to be fun, biting, and clever, but also a real superhero story.

So, with that in mind, I’m going way outside the box with the team here. Dave Baker is writing it, although he’d have to play it a bit straighter than usual, and the artist would be Nabeel Rooshan. The former is famous for notably bananas comics like Mary Tyler Moorehawk and the latter did the ShortBox Comics Fair 2025 release Lil’ Burgers, and they’re both the type of creative voices that could give this series the juice it needs to be fully unique while still feeling like a true superhero comic. Rooshan’s particularly adept at walking that line, as he brings a blur of manga and superhero influences to his art. This would be fun!