January 2025 – John Fleskes

Hello, everyone,

We’re just one week away from launching our new Jeffrey Alan Love Kickstarter campaign. This event is to celebrate Jeff’s new graphic novel, The Last Battle at the End of the World. There will be a hardcover and a deluxe signed hardcover available. We are also releasing expanded editions of Notes From the Shadowed City and The Thousand Demon Tree. All three books will include a behind the scenes section that features sketches and commentary revealing how each book was made. The campaign will launch next Tuesday, February 4th at 9:00AM PST. We have a pre-launch page online where you can click on the “Notify me on launch” button. We’ll also send out a newsletter reminder that morning.

In other news, we returned from a short trip to the LA area last Sunday evening. It has been heartbreaking to see how the fires continue to affect people in certain areas. William Stout and his wife were evacuated at one point. They are safe and back in their house. We were glad to see the rain on Saturday and Sunday while we were there.

We had a nice get-together with Bruce Timm where we went over the second round of his new book together. Bruce’s original art is so valuable at this point that we stopped mailing packages years ago. Since we make a handful of trips to the LA area each year, we make a point to pick up and drop off material as we pass through. This is my favorite method since we can take our time photographing and scanning the art at home. Once the new material is organized, I drop the pieces into the appropriate book (we’re currently jugging three different themed books) and tighten up the book maps. Once I’m happy with the latest revision I print out a hard copy for Bruce and hand write or type any thoughts or notes that may be useful for him to see. I then mail this copy to Bruce. During our next visit I pick it back up from him. The printout will have his notes and sketch guides written and drawn all throughout to help guide the next revision. I have the second revision for one book in my hands. I will begin to make the appropriate improvements over the next few weeks. Bruce is an absolute joy to work with. He’s always pushing to improve the books, while being easygoing and thoughtful with his communication. We’ll keep going back and forth like this until a book is done. As soon as we are done with the first title, I’ll announce what it is. I’ll give you one themed book hint… HORROR.

On another topic, I had a few productive days working on the Daniel Warren Johnson book last week. I emailed and talked with Dan to fine tune the final art picks for his collection. There are a few recently completed pieces that we slipped into the book. I’m doing a little shuffling around to adjust the flow slightly. I tend to come up with new ideas often. It’s not unusual for me to make small or drastic changes all throughout the book map and design process. I’ve been having some recorded conversations with Dan to ask questions. I capture the relevant portions of our talks that I then transcribe into commentary. I send off the text to Dan who gives his words a final look to make sure his voice is captured correctly. I then insert the commentary on the relevant page. The artists like this method since they can draw while we talk, and they don’t have to write anything. I never plan my questions. Instead, we let the conversation go in any direction. In this way we get interesting and natural dialogue for the book.

I’m also working out some details with the printer for the two new Tran Nguyen books, Ambedo and Spectres. And I’m doing the same with the Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea revised art book by Mike Mignola and Gary Gianni. These details include obtaining the pricing, reviewing and ordering paper, and looking into some production options. This lets us review our budget, set the cover price for the books, fine tune the release schedules, and gather the final details for when we officially promote and offer the book to you all. This is typically a 2-3 week process depending on how much specialty work goes into the book. I have ongoing conversations with Tran, Gary and Mike to keep them up to date and to get their input and approval on everything. All our books are a collaboration and involve a lot of communication.

Besides the three Love books, the two Tran titles, the Gianni/Mignola collection, the DWJ and B.T. books, we still have the three-volume William Stout Comics set on the schedule to be released late this year. This Stout collection is stunning. I can’t wait to tell you more about it.

2025 will be our best year yet! We already have our 2026 and 2027 schedules mapped out as well. We are not considering taking on any new books or artists for the next five years. This is how long it will take for us to get fully caught up on all the upcoming books that are on our existing plate. I’m grateful that we are in this position. Thank you for supporting us so that we can continue.

Enjoy,

John

Flesk Publications
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Welcome to our top 10 list of Flesk books sold throughout 2024! This ranking was calculated by the actual number of copies sold, rather than by the total funds collected. The number of people holding a copy in their hands is our favorite way to measure success.

At the top of our 2024 list is The Art of Rachel and Terry Dodson. Luckily for us, we are friends with Rachel and Terry which made this a pleasure to produce. We made numerous visits to their studio, poured through stacks of original art, had regular ongoing talks about the direction of the book, and were able to gather commentary to sprinkle alongside the art. We love how this book turned out and feel pride in how we could showcase these two amazing people.

Coming up at number two is the massive ElfQuest Covers book. As soon as the first printed advance copy arrived in my hands, I did a “holy crap” out loud from the weight and feel of it. Turning the pages is like a memory book of not only the ElfQuest individual comics and stories, but also where I was at as each issue was released. We are very lucky to have had this chance to capture these covers in one big volume. Richard’s commentary is an endless array of the best desserts that one can consume. Working with Richard and Wendy is an absolute delight. They are kind and wonderful friends and an inspiration to us. This book also serves as Vicky’s first fully designed book. She did a great job making sure the covers and commentary were framed and highlighted properly. Our goal is to always serve the artist. On another note, the ElfQuest community was exceptionally supportive throughout the entire process, which we are also grateful for.

At number three is Portfolio by Mark Schultz. This book was another big hit. We took the large-format Portfolio book from nearly ten years ago, reformatted it, and added a whole bunch of new art. Talk about fun! I started to tinker around on this book one day when it seemed to take on a life of its own. The book kept growing and expanding until it became what it was. Being a long-time fan of Mark’s, I made the book that I wanted for myself. The easy to hold format is my favorite when sitting and looking at his art. This is another exciting opportunity to highlight a good friend and exceptional artist.

For number four, we have the number one title in 2023—The Art of Arthur Adams. Arthur is an absolute legend. It has been satisfying to see him gain so much attention over the last forty years. This book was a massive hit last year, and it’s wonderful to see how well it continues to do. This is a testament to Arthur’s amazing art. This was another book that was only possible by having Arthur’s blessing and help. We made numerous visits to his studio to gather the material and quotes to use throughout. This was another fun book to make.

At number five, and just squeaking into 2024, is Arthur Adams Preliminary Studies. While we were making The Art of Arthur Adams, we had access to piles of original preliminaries. We started to make this book slowly in the background. Before we knew it, we had a book made. We intentionally kept this at the same size and page count as a Manga book. (Arthur is heavily influenced by Japanese pop culture.) This format worked out perfectly since almost all of Arthur’s prelims are shown at the actual size. We also wanted something that was easy for Arthur to take to events. All-in-all, it proved very popular, and we had a blast making it.

For number six, we have Xenozoic by Mark Schultz. Even after having this in print for 15 years, it keeps moving year after year. I re-read Xenozoic recently and found it to be just as enjoyable and relevant as when I first read the series back in the early nineties. Gorgeous art is matched with captivating stories to make this a timeless story.

Frank Cho was missing from our list last year, but 2024 made things right again. Thanks to strong distributor restock orders, Pencil and Ink by Frank Cho is back on our top ten list. It’s always a pleasure to work with Frank. We have a bunch of new books in the works with him. He was a guest at over 20 shows last year and spent much of his time on the road. He has promised to travel less in 2025 so that he can focus more on personal projects—including some cool stuff that we will publish.

Numbers eight, nine, and ten are Pastoral, Gilt, and The Genesis Collection by J.A.W. Cooper. Gilt was on our list in 2023 and is now being joined by two new reprint collections. Pastoral and The Genesis Collection are back! I like having titles in print for as long as possible. Cooper was kind enough to design the two covers and we couldn’t be happier. Having this trio available is a delight. It’s no secret that I’m Cooper’s biggest fan. Their work is moving, extraordinary, unique, and majestic. We’re grateful to be able to work with Cooper and to have these books available.

I say this a lot, and I want to say it again. Thank you. Thanks so much for all your support as we enter our 23rd year of making books. Each time you get a book from us, you directly support the artist to make more art, and also help us to make more books. We hope you all have a terrific 2025 and wish you the happiest New Year!

Enjoy,

John

Flesk Publications
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Month: January 2025

Flesk January 2025 Upcoming Book Updates

Flesk Top Ten Books in 2024!