Life does that to you sometimes. But alas, I’m here to update you on my life and upcoming work.

So what have I been doing… mostly buying vintage mass market paperbacks, the only thing I truly collect. Also bought a few new hardcovers. Also replaying DS III for the fifth time as seen above. (Nothing beats the Claymore) (I know many other weapons do, I’m speaking figuratively)

In addition to pulp fiction and fine literary trash, I also picked up and can highly recommend these two comics:

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SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2026

I made my annual voyage down to San Diego to make the rounds, do a signing, and then escape back home as fast as possible. This year that took 3 hours.

The highlight was obviously doing a signing for my Witcher story: Blood Stone, now completed. The trade will available October 27th for everyone who missed the single issues.

I signed with Doug Wagner for a little CD Projekt Red themed hour and met a lot of new video game fans who had never read a comic but were intrigued as they either loved Witcher or Cyberpunk or both. That’s SDCC for you.

I also got to catch up with Geoff Darrow who I haven’t seen in over a decade and that’s always a treat. Otherwise the show was sweaty and uneventful.

UPCOMING BOOKS

Birdking Vol 4 drops October 6th — Kali (New trade paperback edition) drops Sept 1st

The new edition of Kali features a new art gallery of pin ups as well as a long form interrogation with Robert and I conducted by Brandon Graham for the Machine.

Both books are available for pre order from your local comic shop or preferred online retailer. As always, pre orders help creators tremendously so if you do plan to pick up either or both, place those orders now.

Can you believe the end of Birdking is finally here! After six years of work, it’s all coming to a close, very very soon.

My short story collection: Stimulus is now available on my webstore and comes with 2 very cool special prints, limited to 50.

As always, watch out for giant balls of skeletons in your life:

Next time I’ll have more information about the deluxe hardcover library edition coming out next year.

Until then…

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A blood soaked briefcase full of cash. A mind reader hellbent on crime. An errant soldier turned hitman. Earthly homunculus. Crystal women. Men made of stars. Deviant frog people. Sorceress succubi. Advanced space-force fighter pilots. Avenging vampires. Sentient sentimental AI constructs. Alien voyeurs. The demigod spawn of heart-broken angels. Cyber enhanced mercenary thieves. Death races. Unfulfilled ancient prophecies. Lost valor. Stolen principles. And the supernatural plant known as “SeaFarer” that ties them all together.

STIMULUS is available now for pre order from your local comic book shop or online shipping retailer like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

HAVE YOU READ STIMULUS? WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE STORY?

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WITCHER: BLOOD STONE #4

Today sees the finale of my Witcher miniseries Blood Stone. After months of terror and build up, the conclusion is upon us.

Will Geralt save the town? Probably not. Will he defeat the monster? Maybe. Will Geralt ride off into the sunset happy and complete. Definitely not. (If for no other reason than I dispatched of Geralt’s beloved horse Roach in issue 3 (spoiler alert!)).

During my research, I came across a little known detail about Geralt and his horse Roach. There was a single throw away line in one of the original novels where Geralt says he names all his horses Roach. It occurred to me that Roach was not a single horse but whatever horse Geralt was riding at the time. I asked if that meant I could kill the specific Roach he’s riding in my story and they said no one had ever done that before and then they said okay, kill the horse. As much as I hated doing it, killing Roach may be my everlasting mark, or scar, I leave upon the Witcher.

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I am contemplating doing a signing at SDCC in July. I will announce that once it’s confirmed.

That’s it, for now.

Until then…

This is the penultimate issue to my story and ramps the stakes up about as high as they can go without bringing down the entire Witcher world, which was another conversation we had and one I ultimately conceded on seeing as I had no real right to radically change anything in the Witcher-verse, or at least that’s not what they hired me to do.

With all that being said, abstractly so, I hope everyone picks up the issue and reacts in horror at what happens…

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NEW PODCAST INTERVIEWS for STIMULUS

I’ve had the privilege of guest starring on a few podcasts recently to discuss my new graphic novel STIMULUS, out April 28th from Dark Horse as well as Witcher and Birdking. Check them out. I think I say at least one regrettable crazy thing per interview.

STIMULUS

We are two weeks out from the release of STIMULUS. You can still pre order the book from your local comic book shop or online shipping retailer like Amazon or Barnes and Noble which is massively appreciated and does more to support me than you realize.

Or if you can’t wait until April 28th, I have advanced copies for sale on my website and they come with a special limited edition print.

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That’s it for now. Until then…

I started the Stimulus project back in 2014. I was fresh out of a writing partnership that had lasted almost six years and was eager to explore my idiosyncrasies and personal whims without the commercial considerations of being a professional screenwriter. I wrote Kali in this period as well. Kali was actually the first thing I wrote all by myself. Then came the short stories that would become Stimulus.

The Stimulus stories themselves were specifically inspired by my psychonaut adventures taking hallucinogens and psychedelics. I was young and dumb and very much unhappy with myself and the world and hoped that if I just did enough magical drugs, a secret door would open to me, allowing me an escape from my life.

I never found that door but I did find a lot of other stuff. Then, as my drug days waned and I started to get my shit together, I abandoned the Stimulus project and moved onto things like Raiders with Crom. But then come 2020 and the pandemic and I found myself trapped at home again, unhappy with the world, again. I didn’t want to write drugs stories anymore, but I did want to explore and experiment with what I was feeling while being forced to isolate and disconnect from the natural world (which the drugs had helped me connect with).

Like many of us, I found myself doom scrolling social media. But luckily the hundreds of artists I follow were drawing and producing beautiful artwork and it reminded me what making comics is all about. The collaboration. That’s where the spark of life and energy is born from.

Creating stories and worlds with an artist is one of life’s greatest pleasures, at least for me. So I started reaching out to artists and employing them to do new short stories. And this was the golden fishing line that let me crawl out of a hole of depression and melancholy. It was my way of (re)connecting with a shattered and fractured world.

And while we were surrounded by death and destruction, and still are, I found that creating something was the best antidote to despair and sadness.

It took ten years to pull these stories together and come April 28th, you’ll finally be able to read them in print.

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(If you can’t wait, I have a few early copies for sale on my webstore if you want to be the first kid on your block with a copy of Stimulus)

A HUGE SPECIAL THANK YOU

To the 12 contributing artists, thank you thank you thank you. I owe you my sanity and praise. I am so happy and proud of every story:

Robert Sammelin • Stefano Realdini • Filya Bratukhin • Lorenzo Nuti • Arianna Farricella • Henrik Sahlstrom • Dan Morison • Amilcar Pinna • Dilraj Mann • Gavin Dias • Tomm Coker • Debbie Tsoi

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STIMULUS is available now for pre order from your local comic book shop or online shipping retailer like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Until then…

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(Yes, I. know I’m late)

Things go from bad to worse and I promise you we’re just getting started.

I sat down and read it in its completed printed form for the first time last night and it read great!

I couldn’t be happier with the art and color and lettering. That had been a major concern of mine when taking on the gig, that’d I’d have no say in the visuals. I wrote my scripts, turned them in, and then hoped for the best. But damn am I thrilled with the final product. Going to make an even better trade paperback as all four issues flow directly into each other.

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And the cliff hanger lands even better than I had planned. Can’t wait to twist the knife in issue 3. Wahaha!

Find it at your local comic book shop

And in other news… Birdking Vol 4 is fully designed, completed and turned in. We are done.

Crom and I have a few things planned for the collected editions out in 2027 and 2028 but that wraps the main story of Birdking. 500 pages exactly. 5.5 years.

Can’t wait for you all to read it. It’s been a journey.

Until then…

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I was curious how it would feel to play with someone else’s toys. Historically I’ve been pretty hesitant about working on licensed material for two reasons. One, most of it is garbage, I mean, doesn’t speak to me. And two, I’m uncomfortable entering someone else’s home and assuming any of my ideas trump the original creators. For example, I love Conan. I love Conan like he’s my dear uncle. I’ve read all the Howard stories. But I’ve never picked up any of the dozens of other Conan novels or comics written by people other than Howard. The same goes for Lovecraft. I love Lovecraft. But I’ve pretty much hated every thing else written about the Lovecraft mythos outside of Lovecraft. (Except for the Gou Tanabe manga adaptations, those are great). And don’t even get me started on Dune. Never has there been a finer original canon that was unceremoniously pillaged for profit. And by his own son of all people… The list goes on.

( yes, I’m aware this is a “me” problem)

(and I must also admit that I am as big a fan of the Conan The Barbarian movie as you get. That one film has never been surpassed and I don’t believe will be. None of the sequels or remakes are even watchable but the John Milius film is the truly rare adult fantasy epic.)

I had played the Witcher 3 but was otherwise a Witcher novice. And I was quite nervous to step up and throw out my iteration of Geralt. But someone was going to get the gig and of all the licenses, the Witcher is one of the few properties that aligns with my sensibilities. So I read the books, the comics, played the game again. Immersed myself in the lore and really tried to get a hold on Geralt.

In the end, I got to tell my own original story set within the Witcher world. It’s canon so I couldn’t break anything but I did convince CD Projekt to let me do two things that have never been done before in any of the Witcher stories stretching back to the original novel in 1990. I won’t spoil those here but I’m proud of both.

I’m now very excited to hear what people think, especially Witcher fans. Pick up a copy and strap in, its a long downward spiral to the end…

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KALI NEWS

Near Mint Condition on Youtube has broken the news about the new TPB edition of Kali coming later this year. Pre-orders will be up soon.

STIMULUS - Pre Order Now

Final Order Cutoff (FOC) on Stimulus just passed but you can still pre-order the book. Either from me at my online store or from your local comic book shop or shipping overlords like Amazon, Barnes&Noble, etc.

Every pre-order helps me immensely and is appreciated.

2025 MOVIE AMENDMENT - MARTY SUPREME

Right after I posted my end of year 2025 top films I went and saw Marty Supreme. It’s been almost a month and I’m still thinking about it, but suffice it to say , Marty is #1 for 2025.

Performances, production design, costumes, music, photography, casting! This fucking movie hits on all cylinders. I know a lot of people can’t stand Marty and think because they didn’t like him that that makes the movie bad, but that’s all besides the point, as far as filmmaking goes, this was the best movie of the year and while it won’t, I wish it’d sweep the oscars.

Back to Work

Crom and I are 1 week out from completing Volume 4.

Almost 6 years of work about to come to a close…

Until then…

Lots coming from me in this new year—

I’m going to have 4 different releases starting with The Witcher: Blood Stone out January 28th.

After that, my story collection Stimulus will be out April 28th. (Pre Order now)

After that we will see the new TPB edition of Kali released September 1st.

And finally the 155 page fourth and final volume of the Birdking saga out October 6th.

2025 in Review

I missed a lot this year. With my ever growing discontent with the cinema business, I’ve for the first time, found myself falling off. I tried to catch as many movies as I could in theaters, and there were quite a few horror releases that I found effective. Overall it was one of the weakest years in memory but ironically with a plethora of solid well executed movies that just didn’t do anything for me personally. Three films did hit me though. I saw each twice and with all three the second viewing cleared up a lot of questions as well as confirmed my suspicions that these were 3 very well directed Pollock-esque paint splatters.

Top 3 Films:

Eddington

One Battle After Another

Weapons

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Honorable Mentions

Zero

Bring Her Back

Together

Warfare

28 Years Later

KPOP Demon Hunters

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All the Books I read (including graphic novels):

Shadowline by Glen Cook

Starfishers by Glen Cook

Star’s End by Glen Cook

Night People by Barry Gifford

Working God’s Mischief by Glen Cook

Public Domain Vol 2 by Chip Zdarsky

Crave by Maria Llovet

The Legacy of Mad Max by Ian Nathan

Bowling with Corpses by Mike Mignola

Arkardi and the Lost Titan by Caza

Crampton by Thomas Ligotti

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Rise and Kill First: the Secret History of the Mossad by Ronen Bergman

The Friedkin Connection by William Friedkin

The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook

Swords Against Death: Fhafad and Grey Mousar Book Two by Fritz Lieber

Face Meat by Tarō Bonten

Chaos by Tom O’Neal

Yan by Chang Sheug

Free Planet by Aubrey Sitterson

Colour Out of Space by HP Lovecraft and Gou Tanabe

Innocent Rouge by Shin’ichi Sakamoto

Port of Shadows by Glen Cook

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling

On the Run with Mad Bombers, Outlaw Lovers & Movie Stars by Daniel Voll

Search And Destroy by Atsushi Kaneko

Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara

Shadow Out of Time by HP Lovecraft and Gou Tanabe

While not a single American comic grabbed me this year, I did find a lot of great manga. I fear I myself am becoming a manga reader. And once you go manga…

Innocent and Innocent Rouge

Seek and Destroy

Yan

Fist of the North Star

Gou Tanabe’s HP Lovercraft adaptations

UPDATES

Crom and I are burning midnight oil to finish BK Vol 4. It’s been a 5 year journey to tell this story and we are a handful of pages away from having a 500 page dark fantasy epic under our belts. I can’t wait for reader’s tears when they finally see what happeneds in the end!

What a fucking year it’s been…

While 2025 was an extremely difficult year both personally and cosmically, I’m already feeling the good juju going for 2026. (At least that’s what I’m telling myself)

Onward and upward in 2026

Until then…

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Making this quick as I am under water. Not literally, but figuratively.

The Witcher: Blood Stone is now available for pre order from your local comic shop. Either go in, or use their online system if they have one or simply call them and tell them to pre order and subscribe you to the series. It’ll be four issues total. If you don’t, you will probably miss it as Witcher is not a book every store carries.

• FIND YOUR LOCAL SHOP HERE: https://findyourcomic.store

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BIRDKING is on sale this holiday season from my webstore.

Get Volumes 1-3 for 15% off in preparation for next year’s final volume.

Perfect for your friends an family who have not read Birdking yet.

https://www.danielfreedman.tv/store/birdking-vol-1-vol2-vol3-holiday-special-15-off

If you needed 3 more reasons to pre order the Witcher here are a few preview inks to show you why:

I promise you unhinged sex and violence as soon as Geralt reaches town…

That’s it for now…

Actually, no, I’ll share one more thing,

Brandon Graham’s Kali pin up which will be included in the new edition coming 2026

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For fans of Kali, this is where you’ll find Robert Sammelin and my’s next piece, a 22 page one shot called Race Masters about cryogenically frozen super soldiers reanimated in a far future to race to death in converted fighter jets. It’s a spectacle to be it mildly.

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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

DANIEL FREEDMAN’S ORIGINAL STORIES COLLECTED IN “STIMULUS”

Dark Horse presents a collection of 12 sci-fi stories from “Birdking” creator for fans of hard action, high adventure and humungous thrills.

MILWAUKIE, Ore., (October 21, 2025)—Creator of the original graphic novels Birdking, Kali, and Raiders and the upcoming Witcher: Bloodstone, Daniel Freedman partners with Dark Horse Books to present Stimulus, a collection of science fiction stories featuring a roster of esteemed international artists for an exploration of loyalty, dominion, and worth across 12 interconnected stories.

This collection of stories features artists Robert Sammelin (Kali), Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders), Filya Bratukhin (Nature’s Labyrinth), Amilcar Pinna (Galactic), Dilraj Mann (Dalstron Monsterzz), Lorenzo Nuti (Dragonero/Conan), Arianna Farricella (College Apocalypse), Gavin Dias (PENTHOUSE Comics), Debbie Tsoi (Split Fiction), Stefano Realdini (Captain Gaia), Dan Morison (HELL-BENT), and Henrik Sahlström (Mirror’s Edge: Exordium). The book’s cover art is provided by Sammelin.

In Stimulus:

A blood-soaked briefcase full of cash. A mind reader hellbent on crime. An errant soldier turned hitman. Earthly homunculus. Crystal women. Men made of stars. Deviant frog people. Sorceress succubi. Advanced space-force fighter pilots. Avenging vampires. Sentient sentimental AI constructs. Alien voyeurs. The demigod spawn of heart-broken angels. Cyber enhanced mercenary thieves. Death races. Unfulfilled ancient prophecies. Lost valor. Stolen principles. And the supernatural plant known as “Seafarer” that ties them all together.

“Stimulus is a collection of pure passion and experimentation that I’ve been amassing for almost a decade, mostly as cause to collaborate with some of the finest illustrators in the world. I’m thrilled for readers to finally get their hands on it.” - Daniel Freedman

Explore the interconnected cosmos of Stimulus when the 184-page (6.625x10.1875”) paperback volume arrives in bookstores and comic shops on April 28 and 29, 2026 for $22.99. Pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore or comic shop. Visit Comic Shop Locator or Bookshop.org for more details and stores near you.

Be sure to follow DarkHorseComics on social media and check our website, www.darkhorse.com for more news, announcements, and updates.

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I also have the book up for pre-order on my website if you’d like to pre order a signed copy with goodies that will ship the day of release.

Until then…

Finally I can talk about The Witcher, the project I’ve been working on all year. I’m writing the next miniseries and it is called BLOODSTONE. It’s an original story of mine set in the Witcher universe, not an adaptation of books or short stories. It follows Geralt down some dark holes and I’m very excited for people to read it. It’s my first true licensed work and I’m curious to see how Witcher fans respond to it as well as my own readers reaction to me playing with someone else’s toys. Plus I was just flattered they reached out to me and Witcher is one of the few properties that aligns with my sensibilities so it seemed a good fit. The first of four issues will be out Jan 28th, 2026. More info below:

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PRESS RELEASE

In collaboration with CD PROJEKT RED, the story of Geralt of Rivia continues with the Dark Horse Comics four-issue miniseries The Witcher: Blood Stone. Written by Daniel Freedman (Birdking, Kali) with art by Pius Bak (Slightly Exaggerated, Godfather of Hell), colors by Roman Titov (Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams, What’s the Furthest Place from Here?), and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Kill All Immortals, The Witcher: The Bear and the Butterfly), the series includes main cover art from Bak, and issue #1 features variant covers from Gigi Cavenago (The Magic Order, Dylan Dog), concept artist and illustrator Axel Sauerwald, and illustrator and graphic designer Patrycja Podkoscielny. The stories based on the hit games by CD PROJEKT RED continue to explore the world of The Witcher for fans and newcomers alike.

In The Witcher: Blood Stone:

Ancient dwarven mines have attracted treasure hunters, and local legend has it that a horned beast is killing them. With no signs of an attack, Geralt surveys the land, but the mountains are deadly, and the mines even deadlier. And in the labyrinth of the dwarven caves, what remains is best left untouched.

"I am thrilled to leave my mark on the legendary long-running fantasy The Witcher,” said Freedman. “Geralt and I share a lot of the same sensibilities and getting to weave a blood soaked tale about the true monster of man is always an opportunity I relish."

“Daniel Freedman has written one of the best dark fantasy comic books ever, Birdking,” said Marcin Zwierzchowski, Editor/Writer, Franchise Creative at CD PROJEKT RED “So inviting him to tell his own story in the world of The Witcher felt like a perfect match. Together with Pius Bak and Roman Titov they formed a dream team that crafted a wonderful story about greed and wounds that do not heal.

Explore the deepest secrets in The Witcher: Blood Stone #1 (of 4) when it arrives in comic shops on January 28, 2026, for $4.99. Visit Comic Shop Locator for more details and stores near you.

Be sure to follow DarkHorseComics on social media and check our website, www.darkhorse.com for more news, announcements, and updates.

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LOS ANGELES COMIC CON

For those attending Los Angeles Comic Con September 26-28, I will be tabling all three days in Artist Alley at Table K08.

I will have fresh copies of Birdking Volumes 1-3 plus some full runs of Undying Love and Burn the Orphanage single issues I recently dug out. Kali is sadly out of print and completely sold out until the new edition next year.

I’ll also have some new merch so come say hi and grab some free loot.

Until then…

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We interviewed each other about our more recent works, but the audio files were thou…

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Yikes. It’s been over two months since my last dispatch. One of which I spent overseas exploring the ancient ruins of many currently occupied cities in Spain and Portugal. Visited my old vampire hunting partner Tomm Coker who took me to many many churches. Porto was my favorite city, reminding me of a giant version of the Bridge-Town in Raiders. Saville, home of flamenco, was another highlight and a call to action for me, at this late stage in life, to take up a new form of dance. A one day layover in Paris allowed me to venture out and sample the Birdking presence in stores and even meet a few fans. All in all, a great trip. But now I’m home. And back to work.

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BIRDKING PREVIEW

I’m experimenting with how to grow our readership. One idea was to put an ad in Chip Zdarsky’s free monthly newsletter ZCN that goes out to all American comic shops. That ad is below and features a link to read the first two chapters of Birdking for free. Please feel free to share the ad on your socials. You’ll be doing Crom and I a great favor as we try to build up the Birdking army before the final volume is released next year.

Another idea was to send copies to comic book tubers and hope we can catch the eye of people who’ve never heard of us. Shout out to Wednesday Pull and Tiffany Leigh for repping Birdking so well.

If you have any other favorite book tubers or comic influencers you think would like Birdking, please leave a comment so I can reach out to them.

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In other BIRDKING news, Crom shared with me that there’s been a cavalcade of video reviews, mostly in French, praising the book. Its all very humbling and pride inducing, have a look if you want:

Crom and I are very much knee deep in Vol 4 and it’s turning out spectacularly. I think it’ll be the best volume of series. Cannot wait for you to real the finale of our five year endeavor.

Until then…

NEW RELEASE ANNOUCMENT

What’s incoming? My new book: STIMULUS

A blood soaked briefcase full of cash. A mind reader hellbent on crime.
An errant soldier turned hitman. Earthly homunculus. Crystal women. Men made of stars. Deviant frog people. Sorceress succubi. Advanced space-force fighter pilots.
Avenging vampires. Sentient sentimental AI constructs. Alien voyeurs.
The demigod spawn of heart-broken angels. Cyber enhanced mercenary thieves.
Death races. Unfulfilled ancient prophecies. Lost valor. Stolen principles.
And the supernatural plant known as “SeaFarer” that ties them all together.

Stimulus is a collection of original stories written by me collaborating with an esteemed roster of international artists:

Robert Sammelin. Tomm Coker. Filya Bratukhin. Amilcar Pinna. Dilraj Mann. Lorenzo Nuti. Arianna Farricella. Gavin Dias. Debbie Tsoi. Stefano Realdini. Dan Morison. Henrik Sahlström

I’ll have more details about Stimulus and its release date soon…

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Its a weird day when you’re book sells out. While I feel bad for anyone who can’t find a copy, having your work sell out feels like a tremendous success albeit a bittersweet one. For me, having my work out in the world for people to find has always been paramount. It’s why I write stories - for others to read. So to know that your book is no longer available in stores or online (except used obvs) feels kinda sad. Especially a book as big as Kali. Robert and I spent seven years toiling away on this thing. We love nothing more than hearing peoples experiences with it. And now it’s gone, like dust in the wind.

I’m actually sad to say that Kali is now out of print. We successfully sold out two printings of the hardcover. If you see a copy out in the wild, jump on it because there are no new copies coming. At least not of the oversized library hardcover edition.

The good news is there is a standard sized softcover edition in the works that will be out in 2026. So she will be back, just in a smaller softer size. More on that later.

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Lastly, Birdking Vol 3 is out en Francais April 2nd from Humanoïdes in another gorgeous hardcover expanded album format with gold emboss.

Crom and I continue to hack and slash our way through Vol 4. It’s looking phenomenal, maybe the best of the series. Cannot wait for everyone to read the conclusion. It’s gonna be emotional…

LOOT PACKS are now available on my webstore. If you want a big pile of stickers, postcards, mini prints, pins, bookmarks and bonus merch not seen above, you can now order them from me directly when before you could only get them by meeting me in person as a signing or convention.

Still have a few big announcements coming in the next few months. Stay tuned. You’ll be first to hear. Until then…

Until those are ready I’d thought I’d share some of favorite NPC encounters from Cyberpunk 2077, which I have found myself immersed in recently. I waited an extra two years from release for CDPR to iron out all the problems with the game upon initial release and I am happy I did. The game is now in great shape and is maybe the best looking game I’ve ever played. Running around Night City with full 3D atmospheric headphone sound is quite stimulating. The game truly has exquisite sound design. Layer and layers of it. Hats off to CDPR.

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MOTLEY CREW

A little peek at what’s coming up—

Until then…

I was interviewed by the guys over at the COMICS AND CHRONIC podcast. I met them last year at LA comic con when they came by the table and had me sign a rolling tray. Which was a first. Great guys, had a fun chat back in December, mostly about Birdking, which is now linked below:

PODCAST: https://www.comicsandchronic.com/ep-266-daniel-freedman-birdking-and-chronic/

YOUTUBE:

POLL: What do you want to see more of in 2025 from the newsletter?

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A peek of what’s in the works…

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Onward and upward??

Until then…

Year in Review

Big year for me personally. I turned 40. I found my place in the world. Not that it’s anywhere per se, but more my place within. Who I am, if you will. It’s strange for forty years of life to feel like preamble but it does. All those years of youth and exploration, visiting fads and scenes, chasing other peoples ideas of joy and success, trying out various masks, ultimately realizing not of them fit and no one knows anything about anything. Despite the living hellscape called humanity, I am grateful. Grateful to be awake. To be myself. To be alive. To still be, here.

New Beginnings in 2025

Lots to come in the new year. My short story collection is wrapping up and I should have news on its release soon. I’m knee deep in my first licensed work, having a blast delivering a bit of horror and ultra violence to a franchise that actually aligns with my brand of sentimentality. And Birdking will be completed this year as well. A 5 year journey started at the beginning of the pandemic. Just when I thought we’d have no time left, Crom and I decided to quest together again and bring a 500 page dark fantasy epic into this world. Cannot wait to deliver on all the promises made. Also in the works is Robert Sammelin’s and I’s follow up to Kali, a little story about the last good man in a world gone bad called the Knight in Shining Armor…

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My Top Films of 2024

Furiosa - The only film this year I loved watching. So much so I saw it three times in the theater before it made its bow, largely dismissed and overlooked. May be the second best film in the franchise if not the first, depending on what criteria you want to use. Yes, I missed Max but we’ve never had a finer more lived in exploration of the wasteland and I was keen to stay forever. I have criticisms but I also just adored it. Probably our last Mad Max movie, not the one we wanted, but the one we got, and I am all the more grateful to have had it. Thank you, George Miller, I salute you with interlocked fingers over my shiny chrome V8, you have done more to shape action cinema, sci fi and the entire conception of the post-apocalypse than you’ll ever get credit for.

Megalopolis - By far the most unique and audacious movie of the year if for no other reason than it was made for no one but Coppola himself and as a diehard champion of artists making their art, I could not be happier for him. Not sure if it was good, time will tell, but it moved me greatly and left me invigorated to make my own art, my way. I would love nothing more than to see more idiosyncratic work made by auteurs in the future. Down with corporate mass media, up with weird crazy personal pieces.

In a Violent Nature - So simple and conceptually brilliant. I kick myself for not having this idea myself. Beyond brutal and gory. But also eerily beautiful. A true art-horror film. Deceptively difficult to pull off.

The Substance - Have to respect this one. Had me squirming in my seat and wishing death just to end it all but damn has it stuck in my brain and flesh. Incredibly effective and well executed. Hats off to Coralie Fargeat for making me feel so gross and upset.

Between Miller, Coppola and Fargeat, this seems to be the year of mavericks, or a return to singular visions. Definitely something I want to personally bring with me into 2025 and hope to see more of in my creative brethren.

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The Books I Read in 2024

• The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock

• The Forgotten Language by Erich Fromm

• Path to Paradise A Francis Ford Coppola Story by Sam Wasson - One of my favorites this year, endlessly thrilling and inspiring, Coppola may go down as one of cinemas most pure capital A artistes. He is a godfather to me, pun intended.

• Doctor Moebius and Mister Gir by Numa Sadou and Moebius

• Endymion by Dan Simmons

• Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

• Rain Like Hammers by Brandon Graham - My favorite of Brandon’s work. Ambiguous and searching. A true sci fi epic about being lost in space.

• Moonray Book 2 by Brandon Graham

• Infinite Warheads by Brandon Graham

• We Only Find Them When They’re Dead by Simone Di Meo and Al Ewing - Really loathed this book. Drove me nuts. Never found a single thread that led me anywhere emotionally, figuratively or literally. Solid first issue that led to increasingly diminishing returns. Disappointing on the highest level.

• I Hate This Place by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin

• Patience by Dan Clowes

• Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

• The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss jr.

• Tyranny of the Night (Instrumentalities of the Night Book 1) by Glen Cook

• Lord of the Silent Kingdom (Instrumentalities of the Night Book 2) by Glen Cook

• Surrender to the Will of the Night (Instrumentalities of the Night Book 3) by Glen Cook - My second series from legendary grim dark creator Glen Cook. After Black Company and this, Glen has risen to my favorite and most inspirational fantasy author. I fucking love Glen Cook.

• Virtue Ethics by Richard Taylor - If you want to reorientate your perception of good and evil by shattering the western Christian lens and return to the ancient Greek paradigm.

• Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign by Geoff Darrow

• Bloodrik by Andrew Krahnke - Fun and satisfying in the simplest pure way. I love a comic created to do nothing but explore an authors whims of seeing one simple idea all the way through to its ideal and perfect end.

• Destiny Disrupted by Tamil Ansary - After reading this history I now understand Islam on its own terms. Highly recommended. Easy to read and throughly informative.

• Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram - Also hated this book but the art was so good I also loved it. Disappointing because it could have been so good if the writing had been more developed and paced appropriately.

• Heathern by Jack Womack - A shank to the gut which has left a scar. Cyberpunk without anything cyber.

• Providence by Alan Moore - Loved Alan Moore’s final comic book work, a deep dive into the mythos of HP Lovecraft, reordered and decontextualized by another master.

• Luther Strode by Justin Jordan and Trade Moore

• Crave by Maria Llovet

• The Call of Cthulhu by Gou Tanabe - One of the best Lovecraft adaptations I’ve read.

• The Legend of Mad Max by Ian Nathan

• Light and Bold by Carlos Trillo and Jordi Bernet - Shout out to Brandon Graham for recommending such a shocking and surprising piece of erotic satire with exquisite art from legend Jordi Bernet

Online Shop Restocked

Right before the holiday I receive fresh shipments of Birdking and Kali. (I believe Kali just sold out of its third printing and may be unavailable for a minute.)

If you still need a copy of Birdking Vol 3 or a late gift for someone, my webstore is fully restocked. (Except for UDL and BTO which are now both out of print).

https://www.danielfreedman.tv/shop

I raise my glass to you. Cheers. We’ve officially made it to the future.

Onward and upward in 2025.

Until then…

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BIRDKING Vol.3

From the creators of Raiders Daniel Freedman and CROM, comes this third installment of the dark fantasy graphic novel of epic adventure and magic.

Nothing has gone right. With Birdking out of commission and most of her friends lost, Bianca finally reaches the golden city of Atlas. But when she finds herself too eager to pay her debt to the All Father, she threatens to lose the only thing she has left; herself.

136 Pages

Volume 3 marks a huge turning point in the story, specifically for Bianca, who really comes into her own in this volume. It’s been a long road to get here. And as I’ve said before, this volume contains what I think is my finest cliff hanger of an ending. Can’t wait to hear your reactions as we go into the final leg of the journey.

The TPB will be available in stores on Dec. 3 as well as shipping from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. This volume is the 3/4 point of Bianca and BK’s journey. One more volume to go before the full 500 pages graphic novel is complete. Crom and I are making our way through it now. The script is finished and I couldn’t be prouder and more excited about it.

If you live in the Los Angles area, you can find signed and sigilized copies in the wild at the comic shops Collectors Paradise and Secret Headquarters. If you do want a signed copy with stickers, you can order one directly from me here.

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NEW INTERVIEW

Crom and I did a long rambling interview together over at AIPT talking all things Birdking and beyond. You can read it here:

New Mural

GOSH comics in London has once again allowed us to grace their window with a brand new hand painted mural by Crom. It will be up for awhile so if you are in London or passing through in the near future, swing by and check it out.

I should have some new podcast interview links to share soon.

Please do send your feelings, questions, and reactions to Volume 3 once you’ve had a chance to read it. I’m looking forward to hearing.

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That’s it for now.

Until then…

I turned 40 last week. I was lucky to spend on it on the island of Maui with my family. It was a special trip for a special time. I return golden (more a sun baked cookie blond) and ready to take on this next decade, whatever it may bring.

For the first time in my life, after twenty years of work, toil and struggle, I finally feel I am on a path. It's a path of my own making and I couldn’t be more grateful to have carved it after years and years of looking for it. For nearly two decades I sought out masters and mentors to guide me, to show me the way… And I found many who were only able to show me what not to do by witnessing their mistakes and floundering in their own failures.

I realized during the pandemic that there was no one who could help me. No one to show me a way out of the proverbial forest of what to do. There was no help coming, no passwords, no secret handshakes, no side entrances to locked gates. If I wanted to accomplish my goals, I had to figure it out on my own. And that’s where I am today. This is not to say I have not had help and support from family, friends and many of you. I have many times over. I feel grateful and blessed, as cheesy as that sounds. I look back on all the years of struggle with fondness. They helped me find my resilience and temperament. I have had to let some of my dreams die in order to make others a reality. But here I am. Alive. With a full tank and an open heart. I am ready for 40. I am excited for this next decade. I say: Bring it!

Birdking Vol 3

While away I received a notice that due to printer delays, Birdking Vol 3 will be shipping a week late with a new release date of December 3rd…

Cannot wait for you to read this one. I feel strongly it’s the best cliffhanger of an ending I’ve ever written. Can’t wait to hear the cries of agony.

The final volume is in the works now, coming in at a whopping 155 pages. When all is said and done, Birdking will be a 500 page story, a true graphic novel.

Book Review: Little Bird

This book really pissed me off. It had so much potential and some of the best art I’ve seen in recent years and yet, it fails miserably.

Little Bird suffers from the same symptoms I see plaguing many books these days. That of under-developed visual story telling and a rushed narrative.

If I may rant more generally for a moment, I see way too many books rushing through their stories, most likely because the publisher agreed to a four or five issue run and so the creators, intent on telling their whole story, jam it into roughly 100-120 pages. And in doing so, ruin any prospects they had. This forces most books into a corner where they are lucky to get their concept established, let alone tell a gripping nuanced deep story. It just kills me to see so many stories hamstrung into the same tempo and rhythms, that of go go go, the end is coming…

Little Bird falls victim to this from the very first page. We are immediately introduced to a cast of characters we will never meet and will be dead in 2 pages but whom we’re supposed to care/be excited about. I know I was. Look how many cool characters are pictured here. The guy with the two dogs. The trio with matching green pants. Twin machine gun shirtless guy. (This problem runs the whole book, that of cooler background fodder who never became part of the story)

We don’t even get an establishing image of the place, just a location caption. Then, in panel 3, after our heroine’s rousing speech, we don’t even get an image of the people she was rousing, just a SFX of them chanting before we’re already moving on.

What if this one page had been 4 or 5, and we’d been able to really sink into the location and see the people and maybe get to know one or two before they are all killed (off camera) two pages later. I commend the creative team for trying to cram so much into one page but ultimately it fails to connect and narratively disappoints. The whole book is like this. Rushing from location to location, introducing characters just to kill them off right away. Never fully developing anything.

As I sped through this world, one that seemed very interesting but didn’t actually spend any time any where on any thing, I grew more and more frustrated and by the end, was completely disengaged and bored. I simply didn’t care about any one or anything.

I really wanted to love this book. I was so excited to read it. The artwork is outstanding. But alas, it’s another victim of its environment. I don’t hold that solely against the creators, but I do lament the loss of another potentially great story. Each of the five issues could have been a 4-5 issues arc, culminating in a richly developed world with dozens of complex characters, but instead we get force fed a generic good guy (gal) who literally can’t die (almost) and a flat one dimensional villain who’s only motivation is religious domination of the most reductive kind.

I reckon some of you will disagree with me, hell, some of you recommended it. Hit me in the comments with your rebuttals.

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Book Review: Heathern by Jack Womack

Just to contrast Little Bird, I recently read Heathern by Jack Womack. I only knew Womack’s name because William Gibson had dedicated multiple books from his cyberpunk trilogies to him or mentioned him in interviews as the real king of the genre.

Here is the synopsis: Thatcher Dryden, former drug kingpin and now leader of the megacorporation Dryco, intends to supply a waiting world with the Messiah it so desperately seeks. But Lester Macaffrey, a schoolteacher found performing miracles among the human flotsam of the Lower East Side, proves no more controllable than any Messiah. While Thatcher's minions scheme to sell the world salvation with a Dryco label on it, Thatcher's own mistress is strangely drawn to Macaffrey -- and begins to be transformed into something new and strange ... something that might change the world.

This book is barely 200 pages and packs so many punches I was floored. It oozes gen x cynicism and wit. It has real bite, real teeth. It ambiguously paints a detailed multi layered world filled with characters that compete for who’s willfully or unwilling jettisoned their soul fastest in order to climb the ladder. You won’t find any lasers or cyberware or street samurai here, just desperate peons succumbing to an overwhelming wet blanket of a reality that looks and feels all too real. I doubt Womack could have better accidentally predicted the real cyberpunk future that we’re all living in right now.

Heathern shows that you don’t necessarily need a lot time or pages to tell a a great story. You just need to economically tailor your narrative to fit its capsule. Heathern could have been ten times longer, but it didn’t need to be. I’m sure there’s a version of Little Bird that would have better fit into its five issue run that could have explored the same subject matter but actually been impactful and haunting the way the ending of Heathern has not left my mind since I read it.

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Big Things Inbound

Hoping that sooner than later, I can share some of the new unannounced things I‘ve been working on.

Until then…

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While Crom was being a super star, I was here going the movies. My thoughts on two films that hit me square in the heart below:

MEGALOPOLIS

This movie is not for anyone. At least not anyone other than Francis himself. This is 100% an artistic statement and not a commercial endeavor. Perhaps the most personal film Coppola has ever made and that’s saying something. This is an old man’s last wish. A warning, a promise, and an invitation to the future.

While there is a story, this movie has little interest in plot but a huge interest in ideas and feelings. Scene to scene, it’s never boring, as Franics has claimed himself. It is certainly incomprehensible at times and at others, utterly brilliant. The performances run the gamut, from stilted to bombastic, often from the same actor. Laurence Fishburne and Shia LaBeouf stole the show for me personally with Aubrey Plaza displaying a side we’ve yet to see from her. Jon Voight surprises and Talia Shire delivers as well. Production design and costumes, specifically costumes, are fantastic. Roman aesthetics updated to the modern. Truly original in presentation, editing and formalism.

This movie is expressly not for the masses. In fact it takes shots at the masses. It’s not a literal movie, but a collection of visual metaphors and analogies. That alone makes it indecipherable to most. It demands an active engagement that modern audiences are not trained nor prepared for. I am not surprised by its reception but I am disappointed. I can’t help but feel this is the movie the world needs and yet they don’t want it, in fact, they refuse it. It doesn’t fit any mold. It’s strange, perplexing, confusing and even confounding. And that’s because it’s Art. Capital A art made, uncompromisingly, by a capital A artist, with his own money no less. If I’m a champion of anything, it’s artists making their art.

I will admit that the more you know Coppola the more you will understand this movie. Last year, author Sam Watson wrote a biography of Coppola, mostly centered on the making of Apocalypse Now and One From the Heart called The Path to Paradise that I found incredibly invigorating and inspiring. A true rise and fall story. The perfect primer to see Megalopolis.

Coppoloa’s been making personal films for the best decade like Tetro and Twixt but I’d wager few people know that. After climbing out of the debt incurred from One From the Heart, Coppola is the only one of his cohort to actually do what they always said they wanted to do, make personal films. Spielberg and Scorsese certainly have not. And the biggest let down of them all, Coppola’s apprentice, George Lucas, with all his house of mouse fortune, has failed to even make a short film after claiming all he ever wanted to do was make little personal art films.

Megalopolis is not without faults. In fact, it’s mostly made up of them. Narratively the film wanders around, turning corners, forgetting where it is. The actors, especially in the first half, seem lost and unsure of themselves. Coppola awards his cast with too much freedom and unless you’re a powerhouse like Brando or Hackman, it's too easy for to get lost in insecurity. Coppola fails in this regard. This approach was a popular directing style of the auteurs. William Friedkin often did the same thing. When it worked, it really fucking worked, though it was rare.

I’ve never seen anything like Megalopolis, for better or worse. It’s experimental and wholly unique. I admired the movie more than I enjoyed it. I don’t know if it’s “good” but I was deeply moved by it and in tears by the end. I would actually not recommend it to most people as I don’t believe most people would be interested or capable of engaging with the film, as seen by its box office failings and critical reception. I find it ironic and disconcerting that a movie about asking questions like what future do we want, is being ignored and even maligned. No wonder we are where we are.

Time will tell, but I’d wager, Megalopolis, will age like a fine wine. A fine Coppola wine at that.

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ZERO

Zero is the new thriller from French Congolese director Jean Lucas Herbulot of Saloum fame. It’s about two Americans who wake up in Dakar, Senegal, with suicide vests strapped to their chests and ear pieces in their ears where the “voice”, played by Willem Defoe, directs them to complete various missions around Dakar before they go boom. It’s an inversion of the traditional terrorism plot with two Americans causing havoc in a Muslim country. It's an 80 minute mad dash through the streets and alleys of Dakar with escalating stakes and plot developments. It was fun, exciting, poignant, and packed a hell of a punch.

What was so endearing about the film was it co-starred a long time collaborator and friend of mine, Cam McHarg.

Cam and I went to Art Center together. He starred in my first short film Frontier. We tried to get a feature going for years based on his time as an LA club bouncer. We’ve been through hell together. Getting to watch Zero with him, his first time seeing it completed, was such a special treat. I was so proud of him and it was extremely touching to see how anxious he was before the film, and how excited and joyful he was after. It really made my night and reminded me, making art is about connecting with the world. Sometimes I forget that, but seeing Megalopolis and Zero back to back, has recentered me and given me some clarity on what it’s all about. Life, creation, connection. How grand it can all be.

I know Zero will be playing at Stiges in Spain, but other than that, does not have distribution plans just yet. I’m sure it will pop up somewhere so keep an eye out for it. It’s the kind on gonzo but serious action thriller we need more of.

LA COMIC CON

LACC is this weekend Oct 4-6th at the LA convention Center. I will be there all weekend in Artist Alley Table H-16. If you are attending, roll through and pick up some fresh new Birdking stickers in anticipation of Vol 3 releasing in November.

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That’s it for now. Until then…

Here is the new temp cover for Vol 4. We had to turn something in along with a synopsis for the catalog and production pipeline. Crom likes to do the final cover art after he’s drawn the volume and vol 4 is no different.

Below are the previous temp covers for Vol 2 and 3:

In other news, the French edition of RAIDERS has sold out. I don’t believe it will be reprinted so any French speakers who wanted it, I hope you got one.

Crom continues his quest across the north of France signing Birdkings and will even be doing tattoos in Paris:

I will be tabling at this years Los Angeles Comic Con Oct 4th-6th. Come find me in Artist Alley at table H16. Tickets available here

Lastly Birdking Vol 3 is still available for pre order. This is probably your last chance to secure your copy from your local comic book shop. The book is also currently available for pre order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

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That’s it for now. Hopefully will have news on my first licensed property work soon as well as new announcements of new projects that are in the works…

Until then