Review of 2011
The idea of doing a ‘Year in Review’ post seems like a good one. Unless you’re as verbose as I am. If I was to write a blog that genuinely summed-up my year, I’d probably go on for about 100, 000 words.
Instead, I’ll do a VERY brief summary of some best bits from my “career” this year and the things I’ve been reading.
Sugar Glider
Although Sugar Glider issue 1 was released in November 2010, most of the (very positive) reviews related to the book were written in the first months of 2011. And we sold over 200 copies of the comic during 2011 too.
The ambitious it’ll-never-work Sugar Glider Stories issue 1 was completely and released in March. This comic was written by me and Gary Bainbridge (the co-creator and artist) and drawn by a lot of different artists. Some of them were veterans of the small press scene but post were from the Paper Jam Comics Collective. Again, this comic sold well and received great reviews.
By the time Sugar Glider issue 2 was released in September, it was clear that my aim of getting the whole series (3 issues of Sugar Glider and 2 issues of …Stories) completed by Thought Bubble was lost.
But it didn’t matter. Sugar Glider 2 was the comic I wish issue 1 had been. It’s not perfect, but it achieved my intentions - there’s family drama, Geordie vigilantism, London-based superheroes, self-critique and amazing artwork from Gary throughout.
But that’s not all! Sugar Glider 2 came with a free mini (tragi)comic called Anthony, drawn by Lee Robinson. We launched Sugar Glider issue 2 at Travelling Man in Newcastle. This was the first time Sugar Glider was available at an event in it’s home city and, thanks to Mike and his great team, it was a huge success!
Because editing Sugar Glider Stories 1 wasn’t a big enough job, it was decided that issue 2 should feature guest writers as well as artists. For me, this was a huge success and made me feel like Susie and her supporting cast were even more real than before. I wasn’t the only one giving them a voice and actions - other people could do it too. Susie and her friends (and foes) surely have a life of their own, right?
Due to decreasing amounts of free time, Sugar Glider Stories 2 hasn’t yet reached it sales potential, but a few more reviews should increase the sales from ‘good’ to ‘very good’.
I’m ending the year worrying about finishing off the Sugar Glider series. I’m sure issue 3 is going to be hard to write (there are lots of loose ends to tie up, and I’m not sure all of them have “shocking” enough conclusion for most readers) and I’m also sure it’ll be a longer issue than usual. Gary will not be happy.
Art Heroes
2011 was the year I hooked up with Lee Robinson to work on Sugar Glider 2’s Anthony mini-comic and then a story for Sugar Glider Stories 2. I loved Lee’s work on those projects and got on brilliantly with him so, needing to find someone new to work with during freelance workshops and wanting to work with him on more comics, I proposed that we go into business together.
The result was Art Heroes - a partnership business set-up in late October to 1) publish all-ages comic books 2) facilitate comic book workshops in libraries, schools and other organisations and 3) create content for other publishers and mediums.
The first Art Heroes release, Halcyon & Tenderfoot issue 0, was hell to put together but well worth it in the end. Lee’s artwork, although rushed for release, is splendid and I’m very happy with the introductions to my two new favourite characters. Issue 1 of the series is written and will be released in March 2012. I’m halfway through scripting issue 2 now, which will be released in June 2012.
Other comics
The first anthology I put together, A4 Comics presents…, sold out at Bristol Comic Expo in 2011. This comic was very expensive to print and I simply didn’t have the drive to push it any further - it will not be reprinted, but most of the contributors will be putting out their strips in various forms as we go ahead.
Lily and Danel: Adventurers and Friends couldn’t find its audience so I decided to give all of the issues away with convention purchases. I’m really proud of the story and Lily’s artwork, so it was more important to get the comic into people’s hands. Even if it cost me to do so.
(at this point, I’ve realised just how long this blog is…short for me, though)
I successfully pitched a story for Into the Woods, a fairytale anthology that will be released in February 2012. The story I pitched doesn’t really fit into the 5 pages available in the book so the scripting process was…difficult… I’ve learned a lesson with this one. Still, the art looks good and from the creators involved, I know the book will be amazing.
I was asked to contribute to Grant Springford’s Abnormals anthology and successfully pitched an idea for the character Throwback. Lee Robinson will be drawing this strip, which I’ll be writing once I’ve finished Halcyon & Tenderfoot issue 2.
I failed to pitch to any comics that would pay money for producing content. What a silly sausage I am.
But I am developing a non-superhero pitch (!) with Gavin Mitchell for next year. And maybe James Cornell will draw the indie love superhero story pitch I wrote this year.
Conventions
I went to a lot of conventions this year.
Bristol was great for socialising with Lily, Martin Eden, Grant Springford, Graham Pearce, his wife Maxine, Stephen Downey and Amy, and for meeting writer/artist Paul Grist, artist PJ Holden and reviewer Luke Halsall. And I was on a bloody panel!
2D was fantastic for dancing, hanging out with friends and finally meeting Kevin ‘Gio’ Logue. I also met Ron from Sunnyside Comics and the writer David Hine. All were lovely.
Glasgow Comic Con was almost spoiled when my tablemate, Graham Pearce, was diverted by a train-related suicide. But we didn’t let a little thing like death stop us from having fun. I sold more comics to the main audience for Sugar Glider than ever before. I met artist Graeme Neil Reid and went home smiling on my first class train.
Thought Bubble saw the ending of Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshops with our last session and the beginning of Art Heroes with our first comic book release. Both went brilliantly. In fact, including Sugar Glider and Art Heroes releases, 83 comics were sold from our table. More on Gary’s table too.
The first Canny Comic Con was a huge success. Lee was brilliant during our day-long Art Heroes workshop and I thoroughly enjoyed my second stint on a comic convention panel. Aside from that, I couldn’t get involved in the day too much - being slap-bang in the middle of two weeks on emotionally-draining Jury Duty. Roll on next year!
Comics I liked
Non-exhaustive and in no order…
Uncanny X-Force
Thunderbolts
Daredevil
Swamp Thing
Batman
Animal Man
Sweet Tooth
Abnormals
Spandex
A book and a CD I’m enjoying
Grant Morrison - Supergods (the American cover is so much better)
The Magnetic Fields - i
And that was my year. How was yours?
Thought Bubble 2011 Megablog, GO!!!
I’m going to have to accept that I’m not very good at blogging. I’m especially bad at blogging my convention experiences. If I hadn’t deleted it, you could look at the one I did for Glasgow. It ended on a cliffhanger!
With that in mind, I’m going to try to do a coherent and comprehensive report about Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble is a comic convention that takes place in Leeds every November, organised by Lisa and Clark and their great team. It’s linked to Travelling Man somehow. Yes, I am not the most knowledgeable about Thought Bubble’s organisation. Except that it is exemplary. Indeed, the people behind Thought Bubble make this the easiest convention to enjoy for their exhibitors and attendees.
Before I attended Thought Bubble 2009, I had heard of comic conventions. They were things that happened in a place called America. Or other places far away. They were things that people with houses and cars went to. Not me. They were impossible things. But by November 2009 I had written a few comic strips and I was friends with a number of comic creators. Comic creators who were heading to Thought Bubble. Wait… Normal English people can go to these things? And there’s one happening in Leeds? We used to go there for day trips!
After attending Thought Bubble 2009, I became even more entwined in this comic book world. I started listening to podcasts, hanging out with podcasters and became friends with even more comic creators. I also started Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshops, while developing three comic book projects.
I launched those three comic books at Thought Bubble 2010. One of those comics was Sugar Glider issue 1, which went on to be a huge success (relatively, speaking) and helped me to get even deeper into the comic book world.
(I recently spent over an hour opening a bank account because I spend so much of my time giving back story - looks like we’ve finally reached the opening titles)
Thought Bubble 2011 was always going to be very important for me. It represented my 1-year comic book publishing anniversary for one. On top of that, the convention would include the very last outing of Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshops, as well as the launches of Sugar Glider Stories 2 and my new comic book Halcyon and Tenderfoot and the business behind it, Art Heroes. My love of Thought Bubble means that I put a lot of stock into the convention every year. This year that kind of backfired. Staying up most of the nights in the week leading to the show worrying about whether or not we were going to get everything ready meant that I was ill most of the weekend. Not contagious ill. Just stupid nervous ill.
Despite my inability to eat and subsequent spacey demeanour, Thought Bubble 2011 was my favourite convention so far.
Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshops’ last outing was lovely. I was very lucky to have known and worked alongside Jack Fallows for the last few years. We’ve both learned a lot about comics and facilitating sessions through working together, and this workshop was a fantastic last hurrah.
More children and young people than could fit around the one table, were squeezed around the table making comics. The kids designed superheroes, ninjas (a lot of ninja cats), robot animals and every other type of character a wonderful young mind could come up with. They drew comic strips about those characters, as well as boy geniuses, robots and more cats.
At one point Jack turned to me and said, “They’re doing what we’ve always been trying to get people to do at our workshops.” And Jack was right. These young people had clearly been surrounded by comics, had swum in seas of comics and could instinctively utilise the conventions of the medium in their own work. A marvellous send-off!
On the comic book sales side of things, I shifted more copies this weekend than at any other convention in the last year. In fact, I think that I sold more than at the last three conventions PUT TOGETHER!
The great thing about publishing a multi-part story like Sugar Glider is the fact you get the same people returning for more! And I’m not saying that that’s the best part because you get more money from the same people, it’s good because the returning customers are saying, “I really like this comic you’re doing. I like it so much, I want to read more of it.”
The last year has seen a lot of work go into Sugar Glider - not just from me, but also from the artist and co-creator, Gary Bainbridge, as well as all of contributors to Sugar Glider Stories. There are also a load of comic readers and reviewers who have done their bit to support the comic and spread the word about it. If the comics themselves hadn’t already done so, then the sales we made at Thought Bubble validated all that hard work.
But things weren’t just ending or peaking for me at Thought Bubble, the convention also marked the official launch of Art Heroes - the partnership I have set up with Lee Robinson. I’ve blogged about Art Heroes before so I won’t go into too much detail, but - for me - this was the most important part of the weekend (business-wise, anyway). As well as talking to people about the workshops and comics that Art Heroes has been set-up to create, we also launched Halcyon and Tenderfoot issue 0 - a teaser comic for the first Art Heroes comic book series.
I was very happy to be able to tell readers of Sugar Glider what they could expect from Halcyon and Tenderfoot comics. It went a little something like this:
“You know how Sugar Glider is firmly routed in real-world Newcastle? This new comic is set in a completely fictional city. You might have noticed that there’s a reason for absolutely everything in Sugar Glider… I don’t even know why they have superpowers in the new comic. And I don’t care! But it will still have all of the things I’m interested in writing about: finding your place in the world, living up to expectations, tough family relationships… Everything like that!”
I love Sugar Glider (I make no secret about that) but the differences between SG and Halcyon and Tenderfoot are what makes this new comic so exciting to work on. And (potential) readers seemed really excited about the new series too!
Away from the workshops and the comics, I had an excellent time with friends, old and new. This is secretly why everyone goes to comic conventions. If we just wanted to buy/sell comics we’d visit/run the local comic shop.
Again, I have to praise Lisa and Clark for the excellent organisation of the convention floor. The block of tables I was situated in contained most of my very best friends - people associated with the Paper Jam Comics Collective and others I had been raving about for the last year or so. There were a few on our row I had never seen before (or maybe I just didn’t remember them - I am awful for that) but it was lovely company for the weekend. Of course, I had Lily and Lee working on the Art Heroes table too!
As a stroke of luck, the Unseen Shadows team were right opposite me, giving me a chance to catch up with Cy Dethan and Nic Wilkinson, joke-feud with Barry Nugent, and meet Dan Thompson and Steve Penfold for the first time (out of character, anyway).
I never made it to the Saturday night party due to the butterflies raging war in my stomach and the lost sleep catching up on me (and I had been desperately looking forward to it since last year), but I still managed to speak to most of the people I had intended to.
I spoke to all of the Sugar Glider Stories 2 creators in attendance and thanked them personally for their involvement. Lily was very good to hunt them out at the start of the show and deliver their complimentary copies of the comic too.
I was most looking forward to meeting Gavin Mitchell for the first time. Gavin created four amazing pages of art for Sugar Glider Stories 2 and we’ve had a great time chatting and joking over the internet since we started on that journey. And now that SGS2 is all wrapped up, we’re developing a pitch to take around publishers next year.
I’m very happy to announce that Mr Mitchell (aka @bobgoblynn) is exactly the same in person as he is online. Something that can’t be said as often as you would hope about internet friends. I’m sure many people are sad to realise that every nasty thing I say online is joke, for instance!
Gavin also won the 2000AD X-Factor-style award for best artist with a semi-fashionable haircut!
At this point, I’d love to mention everyone who I spoke to at the convention. But that would take far too long and I’d miss people out so I’ll just say that if I spoke to you, it was amazing and leave you with a few new discoveries to check out: Biz Horne and Team Girl Comic’s Gill Hatcher.
See you at Canny Comic Con!
Art Heroes
If you look back to the beginning of this blog, and the beginning of the year, you’ll find that I set myself a bit of an ultimatum: Get serious about succeeding in the arts or give up and get a normal job.
I’ve been playing in the arts since I was about 17 and, although I always had the intention of making it my job, I’ve never been able to do so. I made short films and music from about that age but I was far too stubborn to join in with either of those industries and decided to be completely DIY, without having enough skill, experience or money to pull it off. I’ve got a scriptwriting degree but I can’t find the motivation to develop TV scripts that most definitely will never be bought. I have, however, been making some money doing comics.
Along with Jack Fallows, I’ve been running comic book workshops in schools, libraries and anywhere else that would have us for the last two years. These have been fairly successful but due to other commitments, the workshops never really reached their potential.
With Gary Bainbridge and a handful of other artists, I’ve been working on Sugar Glider and a few other titles for over a year. Since my first publications went on sale last November at Thought Bubble ‘10, I’ve shifted well over 300 units and received rave reviews for my work. But, again, I feel like I’ve not been able to do as much as I would want to as everyone is making comics in their spare time - and everyone has precious-little spare time!
Another frustration factor has been my “day” job (I work evenings as a Youth Work Assistant). Not only is this job in constant threat, it has also changed so dramatically over the last few months that it is no longer the same job I started three years ago.
All of these things (and more too tedious or petty to include) drove me to the self-imposed ultimatum I blogged about when I first switched over to Tumblr.
Now that it’s nearing the end of the year, I suppose I should have made some decisions and moves towards success or, quite frankly, I should be getting myself a ‘real’ job and start contributing to society. (yes, that was a little tongue-in-cheek)
Art Heroes is the answer to all these problems. Or, at the very least, the beginning of the answer. But what is Art Heroes.
Art Heroes is the trading name of the partnership business I’ve set up with Lee Robinson. I met Lee back in March after our mutual friend Ruth Comer told Lee that I’d be the best person to talk to in regards getting started in comic books. As is my way, I immediately convinced Lee that it would be a good idea to draw the Anthony mini-comic that came with issue 2 of Sugar Glider.
In the most basic terms, Art Heroes is a comic book publishing company, which also runs comic book workshops in schools, libraries and any other establishments that wants them. Over time, we’ll also be pitching other companies with the intention to develop content for other publications and mediums.
The first Art Heroes comic, Halcyon and Tenderfoot, will be released 4 times per year starting in March 2012. However, we’re working incredibly hard to get a preview #0 comic ready for Thought Bubble next week. I’m sure we’ll get it done… This A5 black and white preview will be just £1.50, though you will be able to buy a digital version for £1.
Here’s a lettered rough version of page 1. Lee hasn’t done the finished artwork on this yet, but it already looks great:
The Art Heroes website is not finished yet (we’re doing a comic at the minute!) but if you want to have a little look, go here.
Jack and Daniels Comic Book Workshops comes to an end
For the last two years, I’ve been running comic book workshops in libraries, schools and other establishments around the North East. I’ve been facilitating these workshops with Jack Fallows, and we’ve called these things Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshops. It does what it says on the tin.
Jack is a very good friend of mine and an incredibly talented and experimental comic book creator. All of his work is worth reading, but my personal favourite is his 24hr Comic, John Henry Split My Heart. Go and buy it.
Although Jack writes most of his comics himself, he played the part of Artist in our little team while I played the part of Writer like a disciple of Stanislavsky.
Starting on Oct 1st 2009, our workshops were designed to encourage young people to be excited about literacy, as well as creativity and comics in general.
During that time we worked with
- BBC Blast
- Seven Stories
- Bede’s World
- The Pavilion, Peterlee
- South Tyneside Council
- Newcastle Libraries
- Middlesborough Libraries
- Houghton Library
- Holystone Primary School
- Wheatley Hill Primary School
- Shanklea Primary School
- Whitley Bay High School
- Houghton Kepier Sports College
- Prudhoe High School
- Gosforth Academy
- Churchill Community College
And probably a few others that I’ve forgotten about.
Well, Jack was so taken by the session we ran at Shanklea Primary School that he has decided to make a career as a teacher. Now that Jack is studying for his PGCE, he can no longer devote any time to the workshops.
On Sunday 20th November, the last Jack and Daniel’s Comic Book Workshop will take place at the Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds. Buy tickets for Thought Bubble here (it’s well worth it) and see the workshop listing here.
Sugar Glider 2 launched, you know?
On Saturday 27th Aug, Sugar Glider issue 2 launched in Travelling Man Newcastle.
Travelling Man in Newcastle has always been very supportive of independent/small press comics. A lot of that is down to Jack Fallows work shepherding local creators into the building every other Thursday night, but I think the Newcastle TM’s manager, Mike Thompson, just loves great comics and wants this store to be the best comic shop it can possibly be.
This support of local comics and comic creators meant that a launch event for Sugar Glider 2 - a relatively unknown comic book by two relatively unknown comic creators - wasn’t out of the question in Travelling Man Newcastle.
Between 1pm and 4:30pm, we chatted to a lot of friends, co-workers, fellow comic creators and - surprise, surprise - people we had never met who liked the comic and were eagerly awaiting this new issue.
Without a doubt, this was an amazing day hosted brilliantly by the Travelling Man staff. Myself, Gary Bainbridge (co-creator and artist of Sugar Glider) and Lee Robinson (artist of the Anthony mini-comic that comes free with Sugar Glider 2) were made to feel very welcome and thoroughly enjoyed chatting with readers and signing copies of the new comic.
For me, Sugar Glider 2 is a creative highpoint. I’m very happy with the story, characters and dialogue and how I’ve managed to mix-up a lot of different story strands. More happens in issue 2 than in issue 1, but I’ve managed to break it down into less moments and less panels. Gary’s artwork is amazing. His acting, which was always great, is fantastic. And the action scenes are laid-out brilliantly, making the issue look incredibly exciting. We also have included the Anthony mini-comic drawn by Lee Robinson. A small light-hearted character story, that will impact the events of the third and final issue of this series.
You can buy Sugar Glider here.
Travelling Man’s website is here.
Gary Bainbridge’s blog is here.
And Lee Robinson’s blog can be found here.
Photos by Gary Wilkinson, who you can find here.
Sugar Glider 2 launches this Saturday!
If you’re in the Newcastle area (and I’m in South Shields so I include a lot in that ‘area’) on Saturday, then you should come along to Travelling Man between 1 and 4pm.
Why?
Travelling Man is a cool comic shop with great staff, a good small press section and a range of offers.
Oh…AND Sugar Glider issue 2 will be launching with me and Gary signing copies and chatting with anyone who wants to chat. There might be some free gifts too. Might be.
This will be the first chance for anyone to pick up the comic and the first chance for Newcastle readers to chat to me or Gary about the book. We’ve appeared at events in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and Northern Island…but never Newcastle. Where the book is set. Oops.
Sugar Glider 2 has received 2 great reviews so far. My favourite quote is “The Empire Strikes Back of comic books has arrived” from Geek Syndicate’s Luke Halsall.
Please come along. And if you can’t tell some of your friends who might like to.
The Facebook event for this is:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207338189319821
The flyer is:
A blog about a blog
When I started up this blog, I had hoped to be able to update on a fairly regular basis. My last blog (the one I had on Blogger) was very rare and very long posts and I didn’t want to be in that situation any more. Unreadable long posts few and far between.
And it started well. When I signed up for Tumblr, I was posting a blog every weekday and a few on weekends when I got a chance. But now it’s gone wrong again. I seem to be posting regularly for a short period and then…nothing for so long.
Indeed, the last blog I posted was on 13/05/11 - the day before Bristol Comic Expo. And a lot has happened since then.
That’s always been my problem with diaries and blogs. When you’re busy and you’ve got something to write about, you don’t really have the time to do the writing about it bit… That’s what they call a Catch 22, right?
Actually, I did manage to write a blog the week after Bristol. But it wasn’t for here - it was for the FPI Blog. I was asked to do an overview of the panel I was on/organised. So I did. And you can read it here.
After Bristol I had a lot of comic book work to get on with: Sugar Glider issue 2 had moved into production, and I was preparing the scripts and artists for Sugar Glider Stories 2. There were also meetings to be had with James Cornell about Simon and the Sundial.
And, before long, I was off ‘on tour’ again. At the beginning of June I was over in Derry with Lily to stay with the artist, Kevin Logue, and to attend the 2D Comics Festival for the first time.
A fantastic weekend of meeting new people, meeting internet friends for the first time and meeting up with my regular convention friends was followed by a very hard week at PAYE work, and then a time-consuming week of freelance work. And then the tour bus was revving up again. Readying itself for my journey to Scotland for the Glasgow Comic Convention!
But more on that tomorrow…
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 1 Day to Go!
It’s only 1 day to go until the Bristol Comic Expo (I’m definitely not writing this on Thursday straight after I finished yesterday’s blog) and I’m extremely excited!
Tomorrow I’ll be trying to sell people my comics and merchandise but without being too pushy - I don’t want to take anyone’s money who doesn’t want to give me it and doesn’t really want my comics. But I’ll have Sugar Glider, Sugar Glider Stories, A4 Comics presents…, Lily and Danel: Adventurers, Sugar Glider badge pack 1, and Sugar Glider badge pack 2.
I’ll also be in the Mercure Hotel’s Panel Room 1 from 1pm on the What’s the point in small press superheroes? panel with Paul Grist (Jack Staff), Graham Pearce (Sgt Mike Battle), Matthew Craig (Trixie Biker) and host Stacey Whittle (Small Press Big Mouth).
But aside from those events, what should people be looking out for? Well, let me tell you…
Martin Eden will be launching the latest issue of Spandex. This series started strong and has been getting better with each issue, so issue 4 should be such a good comic that you’d be a fool to pass it up. Plus, Martin will be sharing a table with me so you won’t have far to go to get hold of a copy.
My advice is to pick up all 4 issues of the series, but if you only buy one issue of Spandex make it issue 3 - a self-contained story that gives you everything you could possibly want from a singe issue.
Grant Springford is launching his latest comic with Abnormals Special #1. I’ve heard great things about Grant’s work in the past (I think his comic was called Pest Control) but never had a chance to read any. However, I have read this issue and I can tell you that it’s a lovely self-contained horror, adventure, superhero book with some of the best dialogue you’ll read all year.
Graham Pearce is launching Sgt Mike Battle issue 16, which promises to be just as funny as the previous 15 and reveal more secret histories of war and politics.
Here’s a confession: I hate ‘funny’ comics. The comedy general falls flat, they either don’t have substantial stories or suffer from diminishing returns, and I’m just not that interested.
But I like Sgt Mike Battle.
The politics, GI Joe references, the - actually funny - jokes… this comic just speaks to me.
If you’re interested in picking up an issue, go for the new one but you could also pick up the trade, which collects the first 7 issues of the series. Whatever you do, though, buy some of Graham’s comics.
Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Vicky Stonebridge and Nic Wilkinson will be launching their new Markosia book, Slaughterman’s Creed.
I haven’t read this book but I have heard a lot of great reviews (and I mean GREAT reviews) and Cy and Stephen’s previous collaboration, Cancertown.
I picked up Cancertown at BICS last year - one of only a few books that I picked up at that show and read it in one sitting. An enjoyable and weird book with fantastic artwork, Cancertown demonstrated the potential of the whole creative team to deliver a truly stunning book. And from what I’ve heard, Slaugterman’s Creed is that truly stunning book.
There are many more comics that people should be picking up, but these are the things launching at Bristol that I’m most excited about.
Pick ‘em up, people!
But buy my comics first.
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 2 Days to Go!
Supposedly there’s only one sleep left until we make the trip down to Bristol for the show. Well, if I have my way there’ll be TWO sleeps - I plan on an afternoon nap tomorrow to prepare me for Friday night in the bar.
Over the last few days I’ve written about all the things I’ll have for sale at the Bristol - comics: Sugar Glider, Sugar Glider Stories, A4 Comics presents…, Lily and Danel: Adventurers, and badges: Sugar Glider 4-badge pack, Sugar Glider Vigilance badge.
But today I’m going to be writing about something that’s completely FREE.
The What’s the point in small press superheroes? panel will take place on Saturday featuring Paul Grist (The Weird World of Jack Staff), Graham Pearce (Sgt Mike Battle), Matthew Craig (Trixie Biker) and…well, ME (Sugar Glider)! I suppose I should also mention the lovely host of the panel too - Stacey Whittle (Small Press Big Mouth).
Since getting involved in small press comic publishing, I’ve felt a fair bit of animosity towards mainstream superhero comics. Something I’ve found a bit weird, as these comics can be just as relevant and artful when done correctly as anything in the other genres.
Then when I started working on Sugar Glider, I felt a general “why bother?” from some of my peers. There was, perhaps, something to justify about adding another superhero to the massive roster already in existence.
That and some of the comments in a review we got for the first issue of SG (a review I largely agreed with or, at least, understood) helped inspire this panel.
As host, Stacey was the obvious choice. She is the queen bee of small press comics (consuming them, talking about them and - soon - editing them). Plus, I know she doesn’t have any real interest in superhero books. She won’t always have to play devil’s advocate - some of what she asks/argues will be based on her real feelings and concerns. Plus, she’s an engaging personality with the ability to keep the panel travelling along at a nice pace while still including the audience’s questions.
Paul is an Image Comics creator working on a superhero book. If I’m right about the way Image works, the system is somewhere between self-publishing and mainstream, which will give Paul a unique perspective on the topic. Not to mention the fact that he put out the first 12 issues of Jack Staff through his own Dancing Elephant Press.
Graham Pearce has been making Sgt Mike Battle for around 10 years now. I’d never really thought of his comic as a superhero book but it seems that everybody else does. However, being a parody of superhero comics - Graham also has a nice take on the genre and the issues we’ll be discussing.
Matthew Craig is another small press veteran publishing superhero books like Trixie Biker that deal in believable characters, fantastical situations and a healthy dose of comedy and fun.
In that respect, Matthew’s comics are probably the most closely related to mine, Sugar Glider. Although there is still a difference in our superhero output and I think that comes down to the tone of the books.
So, there we go - 4 superhero comic creators with different perspectives on their work and the topic we’ll be discussing and a fantastic host. Why would anybody miss out on this panel?
What’s the point in small press superheroes? takes place in Mercure Hotel’s Panel Room 1, at 1pm on Saturday.
Tomorrow I’ll be posting about other people’s comics you should be picking up at the convention.
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 3 Days to Go!
Writing these blogs over the past few days is making me even more excited about the convention this weekend. I can’t wait to talk to other creators and fans and get some of my comic books into their hands.
So far I’ve written about A4 Comics presents…, Lily and Danel Adventurers and Friends - The Pirate Adventure, Sugar Glider and Sugar Glider Stories. That’s all the comics I’ll have for sale at the weekend. But not the only things I’ll have for sale - Bristol Comic Expo 2011 will see the debut of new Sugar Glider badges and stickers!
I’ve taken the 5 new Sugar Glider badge designs and put them into packs of 4, mounted on felt with a card label over the top.
I’m hoping for two things here:
1. People won’t be upset by how the designs are grouped together (“but I wanted the yellow and pink design!”)
2. People will be willing to pay a little bit of cash for the badges because I’ve taken a bit of time (a lot of time) to come up with the design card, print them, cut them out, cut out bits of felt, staple them together and stick the badges on.
There is a second badge pack too. I say ‘pack’; it’s just one badge. But, again, mounted on felt with a bit of card stapled on the top.
This badge is big and square, and emblazoned with the logo of the Vigilance superhero squad - characters featured in Sugar Glider Stories and soon to make an appearance in Sugar Glider issue 2.
Pick up badge pack 1 for £1.50, and badge pack 2 for 75p. Or you could get both in a combo deal for only £2. But you won’t only get a saving of 25p (wow!), you’ll also get the fantastic new sticker that will come free with any of my combo deals.
And, there you go, that’s everything I’m trying to sell you at Bristol Comic Expo this year. I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about the panel I’ll be on.
