PROFESSIONAL LIAR RETURNS! My short story RAIN-HAT SAM storms into comic book shops this week

Art by Ed Catto

My latest short story will hit comic book stores this Wednesday, July 24, a prose adventure in the back pages of the AHOY Comics book Project Cryptid # 11.

"Rain-Hat Sam" stars a preposterous superhero I created when I was a kid. Our Sam is a (presumably) heroic figure whose magic hat makes it rain, but the magic hat only makes it rain on Rain-Hat Sam. A silly idea, even for a (presumably) creative adolescent.

But damned if I didn't make it work, here in my current capacity as a (presumably) grown-up storyteller. The resulting short story is a love letter to DC Comics superhero books of the 1960s, specifically to the filler strips like Super Turtle and Cap's Hobby Hints that appeared amidst advertising pages placed in between the (presumably) more-important pages of the funnybook's actual story. The events of my little tale are kinda like what might happen if Super Turtle had been called forth to participate in Crisis On Infinite Earths. Ol' Super Turtle wasn't available; the task fell instead to Rain-Hat Sam.

Rain-Hat Sam THEN...

...Rain-Hat Sam NOW!!

And super kudos to artist Ed Catto, who perfectly recreated my long-ago notion of what Rain-Hat Sam looks like, albeit in a considerably better-drawn rendition. Ed did this with no reference materials other than the text itself, yet it precisely matches my vision of Rain-Hat Sam. Thanks, Ed!

If you don't already have a preferred local resource for new comic books, you can use Comic Shop Locator to find a comics retailer near you. I recommend calling ahead to see if the store stocks AHOY's titles; if they don't have Project Cryptid # 11 in stock, most stores can order it for you.

And so we direct you to the adventures of an unlikely superhero called Rain-Hat Sam. My inner child is thrilled. Hell, my outer child is pretty enthused, too. Let justice rain.

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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. 

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Professional Liar Rains...um, REIGNS! (Or: Carl sells another short story)

The one, the only...RAIN-HAT SAM!!

The good folks at AHOY Comics have purchased another one of my short stories. My story "Rain-Hat Sam" will appear as a prose feature in a future issue of one of the many fine AHOY titles.

This is my eighth fiction sale to AHOY, continuing a relationship that begin in 2019 with "Guitars Vs. Rayguns," my first AHOY sale. "Guitars Vs. Rayguns" was also my first-ever fiction sale to anyone, following decades of freelance work in nonfiction markets. HuzZAH! 

"Rain-Hat Sam" is based on an unlikely superhero I created as a kid in the '60s. It was a silly concept of a hero whose magic hat rained on...himself. That's it. Just himself. A ridiculous premise, sure, but I was dead serious about it when I was in grade school. Good ol' Sam was part of my early efforts to create superhero stories, and I held on to this weird notion of a moistened avenger until my early teens. 

Grow up, you say? Not gonna happen.

In seeking to invent fictional worlds, some claim there are no bad ideas, just the risk of bad execution. Rain-Hat Sam was a bad idea. But somehow, I rescued it anyway, and I think I made it work very well for one story.

Um...don't hold your breath waiting for "Rain-Hat Sam II."

The story has not yet been scheduled. AHOY's editorial team will assign one of their pencil-and-ink wizards to craft a single illustration for the story, and I very much look forward to seeing Rain-Hat Sam--of all characters, Rain-Hat Sam!--brought to visual life by one of AHOY's gifted artists. I will post here when the story is set to appear at a comic book store near you.

Rain-Hat Sam. RAIN-HAT SAM! Cower before me, evildoers. Justice gets wet, as the Professional Liar strikes again.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl