The economic crisis explained the only way it can be: through the twin media of 80s drug comedians and Tron.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Slaughterman's Creed: Fair Warning...
I've mentioned before that Slaughterman's Creed, one of my upcoming Markosia titles, is among the darker things I've written. To be fair, it pretty much tops that list with room to spare, which probably explains why it's so close to my heart. Stephen Downey, my partner-in-crime-fiction on this one, has spared no effort in finding the right style to convey the tone of the book - as the examples below should demonstrate.
I'm really impressed with how Creed is shaping up in Stephen's hands, and working with my Cancertown co-creator again is beyond awesome - so buckle up, people. This is going to be a rough one...
I'm really impressed with how Creed is shaping up in Stephen's hands, and working with my Cancertown co-creator again is beyond awesome - so buckle up, people. This is going to be a rough one...
Friday, 10 July 2009
Where My Stitches At?
Regular readers of this blog (should such an obscure cryptozoological entity exist) will by now have heard of a textile artist and friend of mine named Ferret. She's unquestionably been among my most vocal supporters since this whole comic thing started working out for me, and now she's got a book of her own - the awesomely titled "Ferreting Around". Here's the book's foreword, written by internationally acclaimed quilting god, Ricky Tims.
Every now and again, a new talent emerges in the quilt world that transcends the ordinary and is instantly unforgettable. I witnessed this first hand at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August of 2008 when an emerging artist's name was announced again and again as a winner. Not only were her quilts fresh and exciting, but so was the artist who stepped on stage to receive the awards. It was a thrill to see a young talent making her mark in the quilting kingdom. It is obvious to quilters worldwide that the general quilting demographic is of a ‘certain’ age. It is therefore exceptional to me when someone from a younger generation latches on to this timeless art/craft and puts a fresh spin on it. To this I say, “Hear, hear!” However, I have discovered that Ferret enjoys creating her work using a variety of quilting techniques, many of which are rooted in tradition. She does not fly in the face of traditional quilting, but rather she embraces it and includes it into her extraordinary ‘quilting toolbox’.
Ferret is young and talented. But being young and talented are not the qualities that I most have come to admire in Ferret. It is her enthusiasm and heartfelt desire to share her passion with others. Many artists have a selfish side—or at least they hoard a few secrets to themselves in fear that someone else might rise above them. Not so with Ferret. She has not chosen to write a book about shocking and unorthodox techniques. Instead she polled individuals to find out what they most wanted to learn. In turn she has authored her first book with you in mind. The techniques included here range from simple to complex, but in every aspect it is written with easy-to-understand language and presented with excellent illustrations.
I am honored that Ferret asked me to write a foreword for her first book (thank you, Ferret). I hope she will pursue quilting and fiber arts as a lifelong career. If she does, you are no doubt holding in your hand a collector's item for it will always and forever be—Ferret's first book!
So, I guess it's safe to say he liked it, then.
Congratulations to Ferret. It's like I've always said, no-one ever got rich betting against her.
Every now and again, a new talent emerges in the quilt world that transcends the ordinary and is instantly unforgettable. I witnessed this first hand at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August of 2008 when an emerging artist's name was announced again and again as a winner. Not only were her quilts fresh and exciting, but so was the artist who stepped on stage to receive the awards. It was a thrill to see a young talent making her mark in the quilting kingdom. It is obvious to quilters worldwide that the general quilting demographic is of a ‘certain’ age. It is therefore exceptional to me when someone from a younger generation latches on to this timeless art/craft and puts a fresh spin on it. To this I say, “Hear, hear!” However, I have discovered that Ferret enjoys creating her work using a variety of quilting techniques, many of which are rooted in tradition. She does not fly in the face of traditional quilting, but rather she embraces it and includes it into her extraordinary ‘quilting toolbox’.
Ferret is young and talented. But being young and talented are not the qualities that I most have come to admire in Ferret. It is her enthusiasm and heartfelt desire to share her passion with others. Many artists have a selfish side—or at least they hoard a few secrets to themselves in fear that someone else might rise above them. Not so with Ferret. She has not chosen to write a book about shocking and unorthodox techniques. Instead she polled individuals to find out what they most wanted to learn. In turn she has authored her first book with you in mind. The techniques included here range from simple to complex, but in every aspect it is written with easy-to-understand language and presented with excellent illustrations.
I am honored that Ferret asked me to write a foreword for her first book (thank you, Ferret). I hope she will pursue quilting and fiber arts as a lifelong career. If she does, you are no doubt holding in your hand a collector's item for it will always and forever be—Ferret's first book!
So, I guess it's safe to say he liked it, then.
Congratulations to Ferret. It's like I've always said, no-one ever got rich betting against her.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Introducing Alan Blake
Just a quick one today - the first concept sketches of The Indifference Engine's Alan Blake. Very cool work from Robert Carey and, as the art on his website demonstrates, the man's got a gift for forceful characterisation.
As for me, I put together the entire 6-part structure for the second volume of Cancertown today. I'll be grinding the sharp corners off that tomorrow, in preparation for turning it into a full-on plot outline. All the pieces are in position; it's just a case of stress-testing the whole thing and making sure it's solid. I'm excited about how it's turning out already, though - which hopefully is a good sign...
...and I'm gone again.
Friday, 3 July 2009
Plugging the Whole
Got a bit of an update on the Isle of Wight signing. Nic and I'll be at the Newport Waterstone's branch from 11am-1pm on Saturday the 25th of July. For this one, we're going to do a bit of a comic workshop alongside the signing. Anyone who's interested will be able to take a look "behind the curtain" and see how the whole process works. Should be fun. Check out the flier below for more.
Cancertown is given a spotlight feature in July's Previews. It's on page 7 of the UK section, and the order code is JUL091827. It's also been given a listing on the Forbidden Planet website, which is very cool.
One last bit of Cancertown news: I've just been informed that the book has acquired a Hollywood agent. More details on that when I can spill them...
So, it's been another busy week for my collaborators. I've got some beautiful concept sketches for The Indifference Engine coming in from Robert Carey and a metric tonne of rock-solid Slaughterman's Creed art on its way from Stephen Downey. For my part, I've just completed a treatment for a five-issue story I'm going to be pitching around pretty soon.
Catch you next week.
Cancertown is given a spotlight feature in July's Previews. It's on page 7 of the UK section, and the order code is JUL091827. It's also been given a listing on the Forbidden Planet website, which is very cool.
One last bit of Cancertown news: I've just been informed that the book has acquired a Hollywood agent. More details on that when I can spill them...
So, it's been another busy week for my collaborators. I've got some beautiful concept sketches for The Indifference Engine coming in from Robert Carey and a metric tonne of rock-solid Slaughterman's Creed art on its way from Stephen Downey. For my part, I've just completed a treatment for a five-issue story I'm going to be pitching around pretty soon.
Catch you next week.
Monday, 29 June 2009
"A Rip-Roaring Mindfuck"
All in all, that was pretty cool.
One of the great things about stumbling blindly through the unmapped foothills of a career in comics is that pretty much every step offers you a "first" something. Last Saturday, by way of example, was my first bookshop signing. I'd seen a couple of these happening in the local Waterstones in the past, so I was slightly wary. There's something unutterably sad about the sight of an unknown author sitting alone at a signing table, that helpless, apologetic smile flickering up at anyone who happens to throw a disinterested glance in their direction. The potential for soul-chewing humiliation seemed rather high to me, but I figured that if the worst came to the worst I could simply add Chelmsford to the already impressive list of places I've no intention of showing my face again. Nothing ventured, right?
Turns out this particular venture was a lot of fun. I got to sign some books (and I'm finally starting to pin down my unruly signature to some level of consistency, so gigs like these are good practice for me), I chatted with the customers and staff and generally had a cool-to-awesome time of it. The two hours flashed by, and I emerged with some measure of my dignity intact. A particular high point was one customer, with whom I had a kind of surreal, wide-ranging dialogue that lasted for pretty much the whole time I was there, with him stepping aside whenever I was signing books but always ready to pick up the thread again. Seriously, that one phenomenally cool guy was worth the trip on his own.
Getting back home, I saw that the profoundly excellent John Freeman of Down The Tubes had posted the following Cancertown review on the site.
In Review: Cancertown
While regular downthetubes readers are well aware there are plenty of "graphic novels" on the market, they also know many are actually collections of monthly comics, better known as "trade paperbacks", perhaps complemented by additional material such as pin ups and background "extras". It's actually quite rare to pick up a graphic novel that truly exploits the opportunities afforded by the longform equivalent of a novel, slowly but surely delivering a story over many pages rather than in bite-sized, previously-published material.
Cancertown is one of those exceptions.
It's the story of Morley, a former mental patient with an inoperable brain tumour who conducts search-and-rescue missions into a monstrous, alternate version of London. Except that, if you're reading Cancertown without the advantage of press previews, even this nugget of information only becomes apparent as you read the story - and that carefully strung out, steadily-paced unfolding of the story is just one of the appeals of this horror tale, a book I described to someone asking me what it was about as a "rip-roaring mindf***".
Morley suffers from a rare mental disorder that causes him to believe a number of weird things about himself and his relationship to the outside world. The major upshot of this is that his delusions manifest themselves in a twisted alternate world he calls Cancertown. The real fun for Morley began when dispossessed people - those who were lost or who had a diminished sense of their own identity - started to fall into Cancertown and Morley decided that his purpose in life was to find those people and return them to the real world before they became permanent residents.
Cancertown is no easy read: you have to pay attention as Morley's adventure and encounters with warped characters such as Corpsegrinder and Piecemaker unfold, and what may be the truth of the origin of Cancertown is revealed. The overall feel of the book is distinctly unsettling but riveting -- a graphic novel you'll find yourself wanting to read in one sitting.
Speaking personally, I think I would rather have had a little more exposition than unanswered mysteries, but that isn't to denigrate Cy Dethan's script, which successfully delivers a powerful horror story, ably complemented by Stephen Downey's creepy otherworld art, the Cancertown elements juxtaposed by very realistic "real world" sequences the artist reveals in background notes are based on photo shoots and other reference. While this is still early days for Downey, with the right guidance I can easily see him making the jump to, say, drawing for Vertigo or other publishers. Good luck to him -- and Cy, too, whose potential as a writer is, frankly, enormous.
Considering that all the creators involved in this project are, for the most part, relative newcomers to the professional comics industry, and the opportunities to break into the mainstream these days are scarce, they can all can be proud of their work on this book. In his introduction, veteran comic creator Bryan Talbot, whose talent for creating longform graphic novels himself is well known, suggests we're seeing the first outing of creators who will make their mark in future on the wider comic industry: and I can fully agree with that sentiment.
A tip of the hat too, to newcomer publisher Insomnia Publications for publishing Cancertown: they're nurturing some fine new talents that would otherwise find publishing opportunities in short supply, and if this first title is any evidence of intent, then we can expect further treats in coming months.
• Cancertown is written by Cy Dethan with art from Stephen Downey, with colour by Melanie Cook and lettering by Nic Wilkinson and is introduced by Bryan Talbot. It's available from specialist comic stores and the Insomnia Publications web site: www.insomniapublications.com
So, yeah - not a bad weekend. I'm now looking forward to hearing how Crawford and Stephen got on at the Dundee Literary Festival and Q-Con.
One of the great things about stumbling blindly through the unmapped foothills of a career in comics is that pretty much every step offers you a "first" something. Last Saturday, by way of example, was my first bookshop signing. I'd seen a couple of these happening in the local Waterstones in the past, so I was slightly wary. There's something unutterably sad about the sight of an unknown author sitting alone at a signing table, that helpless, apologetic smile flickering up at anyone who happens to throw a disinterested glance in their direction. The potential for soul-chewing humiliation seemed rather high to me, but I figured that if the worst came to the worst I could simply add Chelmsford to the already impressive list of places I've no intention of showing my face again. Nothing ventured, right?
Turns out this particular venture was a lot of fun. I got to sign some books (and I'm finally starting to pin down my unruly signature to some level of consistency, so gigs like these are good practice for me), I chatted with the customers and staff and generally had a cool-to-awesome time of it. The two hours flashed by, and I emerged with some measure of my dignity intact. A particular high point was one customer, with whom I had a kind of surreal, wide-ranging dialogue that lasted for pretty much the whole time I was there, with him stepping aside whenever I was signing books but always ready to pick up the thread again. Seriously, that one phenomenally cool guy was worth the trip on his own.
Getting back home, I saw that the profoundly excellent John Freeman of Down The Tubes had posted the following Cancertown review on the site.
In Review: Cancertown
While regular downthetubes readers are well aware there are plenty of "graphic novels" on the market, they also know many are actually collections of monthly comics, better known as "trade paperbacks", perhaps complemented by additional material such as pin ups and background "extras". It's actually quite rare to pick up a graphic novel that truly exploits the opportunities afforded by the longform equivalent of a novel, slowly but surely delivering a story over many pages rather than in bite-sized, previously-published material.
Cancertown is one of those exceptions.
It's the story of Morley, a former mental patient with an inoperable brain tumour who conducts search-and-rescue missions into a monstrous, alternate version of London. Except that, if you're reading Cancertown without the advantage of press previews, even this nugget of information only becomes apparent as you read the story - and that carefully strung out, steadily-paced unfolding of the story is just one of the appeals of this horror tale, a book I described to someone asking me what it was about as a "rip-roaring mindf***".
Morley suffers from a rare mental disorder that causes him to believe a number of weird things about himself and his relationship to the outside world. The major upshot of this is that his delusions manifest themselves in a twisted alternate world he calls Cancertown. The real fun for Morley began when dispossessed people - those who were lost or who had a diminished sense of their own identity - started to fall into Cancertown and Morley decided that his purpose in life was to find those people and return them to the real world before they became permanent residents.
Cancertown is no easy read: you have to pay attention as Morley's adventure and encounters with warped characters such as Corpsegrinder and Piecemaker unfold, and what may be the truth of the origin of Cancertown is revealed. The overall feel of the book is distinctly unsettling but riveting -- a graphic novel you'll find yourself wanting to read in one sitting.
Speaking personally, I think I would rather have had a little more exposition than unanswered mysteries, but that isn't to denigrate Cy Dethan's script, which successfully delivers a powerful horror story, ably complemented by Stephen Downey's creepy otherworld art, the Cancertown elements juxtaposed by very realistic "real world" sequences the artist reveals in background notes are based on photo shoots and other reference. While this is still early days for Downey, with the right guidance I can easily see him making the jump to, say, drawing for Vertigo or other publishers. Good luck to him -- and Cy, too, whose potential as a writer is, frankly, enormous.
Considering that all the creators involved in this project are, for the most part, relative newcomers to the professional comics industry, and the opportunities to break into the mainstream these days are scarce, they can all can be proud of their work on this book. In his introduction, veteran comic creator Bryan Talbot, whose talent for creating longform graphic novels himself is well known, suggests we're seeing the first outing of creators who will make their mark in future on the wider comic industry: and I can fully agree with that sentiment.
A tip of the hat too, to newcomer publisher Insomnia Publications for publishing Cancertown: they're nurturing some fine new talents that would otherwise find publishing opportunities in short supply, and if this first title is any evidence of intent, then we can expect further treats in coming months.
• Cancertown is written by Cy Dethan with art from Stephen Downey, with colour by Melanie Cook and lettering by Nic Wilkinson and is introduced by Bryan Talbot. It's available from specialist comic stores and the Insomnia Publications web site: www.insomniapublications.com
So, yeah - not a bad weekend. I'm now looking forward to hearing how Crawford and Stephen got on at the Dundee Literary Festival and Q-Con.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Cancergeddon!
In the clearest possible announcement of the imminent end times, this weekend sees what can only be described as a harmonic convergence of Cancertown-related events - a promotional trident whose fiery prongs only the Welsh may hope to escape.
England: Saturday morning will find Nic and me at the Waterstones in Chelmsford for a Cancertown book signing from 11am to around 1pm.
Scotland: Insomnia founder Crawford Coutts will be speaking at the Dundee Literary Festival, along with David "Tharg" Bishop and Warren Ellis. Now, that's good company to be in. Crawford kicks off at 4.50pm, discussing the evolution of Insomnia, its readership and the ever-changing state of the industry.
Ireland: Stephen Downey will be hosting Insomnia's table as a guest at the Q Con (the annual Gaming Convention hosted by Dragonslayers, the Queen’s University Belfast Gaming and Anime Society). He'll be sketching and selling copies of Cancertown from 6pm on the Friday night and all day Saturday.
Stephen has even contributed a Cancertown-themed sketch as a competition prize. Check this puppy out:
...and just like that, I'm gone.
England: Saturday morning will find Nic and me at the Waterstones in Chelmsford for a Cancertown book signing from 11am to around 1pm.
Scotland: Insomnia founder Crawford Coutts will be speaking at the Dundee Literary Festival, along with David "Tharg" Bishop and Warren Ellis. Now, that's good company to be in. Crawford kicks off at 4.50pm, discussing the evolution of Insomnia, its readership and the ever-changing state of the industry.
Ireland: Stephen Downey will be hosting Insomnia's table as a guest at the Q Con (the annual Gaming Convention hosted by Dragonslayers, the Queen’s University Belfast Gaming and Anime Society). He'll be sketching and selling copies of Cancertown from 6pm on the Friday night and all day Saturday.
Stephen has even contributed a Cancertown-themed sketch as a competition prize. Check this puppy out:
...and just like that, I'm gone.
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