March 2012
1 post
Halcyon & Tenderfoot launches on Saturday
We’re still working on the comic itself, but on Saturday we’re launching Halcyon & Tenderfoot issue 1 at Newcastle City Library.
Here is a poster for the event:
If you can come along, do. This is the most important day of my life so far - the launch of a comic I truly believe in and want to be as big a success as possible.
This comic has something for everyone. I think. I...
December 2011
1 post
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...
November 2011
2 posts
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...
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...
October 2011
2 posts
Jack and Daniels Comic Book Workshops comes to an...
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...
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...
August 2011
1 post
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...
June 2011
1 post
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...
May 2011
7 posts
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...
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:...
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...
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 4 Days to Go!
Over the last few days I’ve been talking about A4 Comics presents…, Lily and Danel Adventurers and Friends - The Pirate Adventure, and Sugar Glider. That means I have only one more of my comics to talk about, Sugar Glider Stories.
A spin-off from Sugar Glider and intended to act as a stopgap between issue 1 and 2, Sugar Glider Stories adds context to Susie Sullivan’s world by delving into the...
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 5 Days to Go!
I’m not very happy with the writing in the blogs over the last few days. I’m out of practice and rushing them to make sure they go up. Hopefully, today I’ll write something where the article/essay is as good as the subject of it.
I’ve already blogged about A4 Comics presents… and Lily and Danel: Adventurers and Friends - The Pirate Adventure (damn, I love that long title!), today I’ll be...
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 6 Days to Go!
Aha! I’ve managed to get online in order to post a second Bristol Comic Expo blog! As I said yesterday, I’ll be talking about each of the things I’ll be selling at the show and the other fun things to look out for too.
Today: the most fun, cheapest and worst-selling comic I have published so far.
On the way home from Thought Bubble ‘09, Lily finally relented and agreed...
Countdown to Bristol Comic Expo: 1 Week to Go!
It’s been a long time since I’ve managed to finish a blog. Indeed, I’ve been writing this one for two days now - so even the title has had to be redrafted.
I will be in the city of Bristol for the second time, attending the Bristol Comic Expo for the second time, and exhibiting at the expo for the first time - although, I will be exhibiting at a convention for a second time.
I’m hoping that I’ll...
March 2011
2 posts
Sugar Glider Stories interview 12: Gary Bainbridge...
It’s taken a long time to get this sorted, but here is the final Sugar Glider Stories interview. This time Gavin Jones from The Sidekick Cast has interviewed…erm…me and Gary.
I haven’t posted any blogs between this and the last one as I wanted there to be a fluid progression along all of the Sugar Glider Stories interviews. Over the next few days I’ll be starting to post regularly again.
Oh, and...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 11: Martin Newman...
And, finally, we have reached the last of our interviews with the contributors to Sugar Glider Stories (as conducted by Gavin Jones, naturally). This time, we’re looking at the artists who worked on the longest story in the comic - Martin Newman and Christian Kerr.
Q1) Can you tell us a little about yourself and where we may have seen your artwork before?
Martin Newman: Boring, bald,...
February 2011
13 posts
Sugar Glider Stories interview 10: Ian Mayor
I mentioned in a previous post that the creators contributing a pin-up to Sugar Glider Stories had all been revealed and interviewed. Then me and Gary decided that we should replace a page of his artwork with the a pin-up drawn by one of our friends from the Paper Jam Comics Collective, Ian Mayor.
So, here’s Ian’s answers to the questions provided by Gavin Jones.
Q1) Can you tell us a...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 9: Lee Grice
Looking back through these interviews, it becomes clear that the contributors to Sugar Glider Stories can be split neatly into two categories - veterans on the UK small press scene, and newcomers launching themselves onto that scene (you can decide for yourself where Andy Waugh goes).
Today’s interviewee is a trickier one to categorise, though. At the time of writing, Sugar Glider Stories will be...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 8: Simon Cavanagh
These interviews are slowing down now - only two more after today’s. Then it’ll be either one with me and Gary or one interview each. But my good friend Gavin Jones won’t even be writing the questions for us until we’ve posted the first ten interviews.
I suppose the first spurt of interviews came about because those contributors were working on 1 or 2 pages for the...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 7: Martin Eden
And on the seventh day…we announced another great contributor to Sugar Glider Stories!
More fantastic pages of artwork are coming into my inbox (and Gary’s, when these artists remember!) and we’re getting more and more excited about releasing it. We’ve sorted out a date that we’re aiming to launch the comic but I don’t want to jinx it by announcing it here. Although, you might find it elsewhere on...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 6: Andy Waugh
It’s the sixth interview discussing the forthcoming Sugar Glider Stories anthology - a comic featuring characters from the Sugar Glider universe. The questions for these interviews were concocted by Gavin Jones from The Sidekick Cast.
Each interview reveals the artists working on the comic and what role they’ll be playing in its creation. That way, we’ll be promoting Sugar...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 5: Dan Gilmore
Is it the fifth day of these interviews already?
As I’ve only been responsible for slightly editing the interviews, they’re as much fun for me to read as I hope they are for you. Gavin Jones from the Sidekick Cast kindly drafted these questions for the Sugar Glider Stories contributors in order to get a different perspective on the idea. And, hopefully, to allow the artists involved in the comic...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 4: Kevin 'Gio'...
Day 4 of the Sugar Glider Stories interviews is our first to focus on an artist working on a comic strip (although he did submit a pin-up, as well). Today Kevin ‘Gio’ Logue answers questions posed by Gavin Jones.
Q1) Can you tell us a little about yourself and where we may have seen your artwork before?
I’m Kevin Logue, but better known as Gio. 24, but still in my teens. Living in Derry,...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 3: Matthew Craig
Hurrah! It’s day three of the Sugar Glider Stories interviews! Today Matthew Craig will be answering questions poised by Gavin Jones about how he got involved in the comic, his own comic books and the way he approaches his work.
Q1) Can you tell us a little about yourself and where we may have seen your artwork before?
I’m Matthew Craig, and this is all my dead dog’s fault.
I’ve...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 2: James Cornell
It’s day 2 of the Sugar Glider Stories creator interviews. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be revealing all of the contributors to our lovely anthology - giving me a chance to promote the book and some very talented people all at once. On Friday, the back cover artists were revealed as Graham Pearce and Jim Cameron (Sgt Mike Battle). Today, Gavin Jones poses the questions to one of the pin-up...
Sugar Glider Stories interview 1: Graham Pearce
In the first of a series of interviews promoting Sugar Glider Stories and the creators who are contributing to the comic, Gavin ‘Bones’ Jones asks Graham Pearce how he came to work on the book and what the process was like.
Graham Pearce is the creative force behind the satirical-action-comedy indie comic book SGT MIKE BATTLE: THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO! Since 2001 Graham has self-published 16...
A friend who draws is a friend, of course!
The costumed crime-fighter coming-of-age comic, Sugar Glider, was published in November 2010. But we (that’s me and artist extraordinaire, Gary Bainbridge) started working on it in October 2009.
I went a bit far while conducting the imaginative research for the project. I created back-stories for characters I knew wouldn’t appear or would only play minor roles in the mini-series we were crafting....
Blogging is writing is rewriting
My mind filled with paranoid thoughts after posting yesterday’s blog. “Did I finish that sentence?”, “Did I make my point well enough?”, “Did I come to a suitable conclusion?”
Scary thoughts.
Especially scary when you consider I don’t have an Internet connection at home. I couldn’t edit the blog if I had made some sort of Earth-shattering mistake. I couldn’t...
The first day of the most important year so far...
Around an hour ago I emailed a script to an agent.
This is the first time I’ve been in contact with an agent and the first time anyone with any real power will have seen my work. If he reads it.
And that’s where the title of this blog comes in. Even if that same title does appear to have a huge factual inaccuracy in it. No, it’s not January 1st. But there’s a bigger truth...