well look at that; two news letters in three months! not too shabby :D
part of the reason i wanted to get this out before the end of the month iiiiiiiiiiiiiis… *drumroll*
CONS AND FAIRS
that’s right- it’s show time! here in the UK most of our comic and zine fairs seem to take place in the tail end of the year. in keeping with my masochistic tendencies (waking up at 4am! going for 10 mile runs!!), i _love_ tabling shows. it’s always such an awesome opportunity to meet The Audience, catch up with all your peers and internet-friends and discover some cool new people. it’s always incredibly enthusing and i find i’m itching to get back to the desk and ✨make stuff✨.
first up is IN/BETWEEN THE GUTTERZ which will be taking place this saturday in Wood Green. hosted by Wilson So, this brand new fair showcases work by an exciting range of comic creators, book artists and zine makers from marginalised backgrounds;
Head over to their instagram for more details on the line-up!
THE COUNT OF MONTÈ CRISO
IS PENCILLED.
holy shit. that was an intense five months.
now… you may be looking at the above image and thinking…. gosh. that sure looks like some suspiciously final line-work 🧐. as it happens, some of the layouts were VERY tight (it’s either that or abstract blobs… and i wanted to give the ((totally amazing)) editorial team as much to work with as possible. and not instantly regret the decision to hire me). also, once you’ve drawn the main cast like… 5,000 times you can kinda free-hand it? but also a chance to do a test run on the inks since i’ve always felt my line work can be eeeh… a tad anaemic?
but yes, i am VERY excited to get the notes back and down to inking this bad boy… although i things might be kicking off on the next graphic novel next month. no rest for the wicked and all that i guess!
WISH UPON A STAR
Limit Break Comics are back with their latest genre mash-up anthology! I’m delighted to be partnering up with Ollie Gerlach for something morbid in the key of Dune. There’s a whole bunch of exciting creators involved including Dave Cook, Colin Cracker and Johanna Taylor to name a few!
The Kickstarter will be kicking off in earnest on September 18th, but in the meantime you can sign up to get notified on launch HERE.
MAGIC POWDER #6
speaking of kickstarters…
At the start of this year i decided to ‘do as i say’ and FINALLY cold email all those editors and writer whos’ details i’ve slowly been compiling in my rolodex.
and what do you know.
it works!
one of the people who got back to me was Jeff Schiller, one half of the creative team behind the fantasy-crime series MAGIC POWDER. BEAUTIFULLY rendered by Daniele Aquiliani, this series charts a bloody gang war between dwarves, orcs and elves in a battle for supremacy where no-one is safe.
Jeff let me take a crack at the cover for issue #6 which the conclusion of the first arc. originally, we were going to go with a Godfather homage in keeping with the other movie-poster variant covers but in the end we went with something WILDLY off the original brief. massive thanks to Jeff for letting me take a swing on this one!
Magic Powder #6 is also now in pre-launch and you can sign up to get notified once the kickstarter’s live HERE.
DR WHO: THE FIFTEENTH DOCTOR #6
one of the other people to get back to me after that little burst of self-promotion was Jake Devine at Titan Comics with an email titled ‘Dr Who cover’.
HAHA LOL WUT?!
(needless to say we got back with a resounding YES PLEASE.)
The Fifteenth Doctor is a new mini-series by Dan Watters and Kelsey Ramsey (who’s inks are TO DIE FOR) which see’s the newest iteration of everyone’s favourite time-lord and co(mpanion) aboard a derelict space-mall. besides the few humans who have taken up residence in the abandoned shopping centre, it seems there are some more sinister forces afoot, some of whom will be QUITE familiar…
RECOMMENDATIONS
august has been… a month. as well as everything possible popping off, i also managed to give myself a foot ulcer (turns out that if you’re going to do those aforementioned 10-mile runs, it’s a REALLY good idea to moisturise your feet) and covid. on the upside, that’s meant ENFORCED DOWN TIME, giving me a chance to make *a little* headway into my To-Read list.
i picked up VICIOUS CREATURES at MCM from Sarah Gordon back in May. the few pages i kept on bumping into online with their dark, surreal and at times wildly hallucinatory imagery had put this on my radar years ago.
it absolutely did not disappoint.
this anthology of nine short stories is Gordon’s lock down project, and you can absolutely feel the intensity of her pouring her all into it. while each of the animal-themed folktales feature beastly terrors and primal spectres, these are very human horrors that play on our more fallible tendencies and desire to belong. all the poor, unfortunate souls at the centre of each story are incredibly well realise and relatable, but the witting is also dotted with a wonderful dry humour that lightens the mood. the lively inking compounds the atmosphere.
you can hear Sarah go into more depth in this conversation with Jimmy Aquino on his podcast, COMIC BOOK INSIDER.
ack! i did have a few other things to shout out, but time is short, my brain is taffy and i wanted to get this out before the weekend. with Halloween coming up, VICIOUS CREATURES seems appropriate to shout out. what’s some other horror-things you’ve been enjoying?
till next time!