Expo Bound!

This weekend sees me heading off to ExCel in London's Docklands for the twice yearly London MCM Expo (that's Movies Comics and Media, if you were wondering). As you can probably tell from the logos below the banner above, the main focus of the event, comics wise, is really the whole Japanese Manga scene, but Markosia will be in attendance, and it'll be the perfect opportunity for anyone who hasn't got their mits on one to pick up a copy of Smoke & Mirror #1. They should also have copies of the Smoke & Mirror and Of Bitter Souls tradepaperbacks for any Sharman completists out there (hah!).

So, while there is a work link to the event, this will mainly be a social thing for me. I will, sort of, be dressing up for the event too (yes, I know, shocking, ain't it?). Frustratingly, my Sephiroth costume hasn't arrived from China in time for the event, but I've got enough to cobble something together....including a wig.... (yes...I know...).

Saturday night is the big Expo Party, which I'm looking forward to as there's a live band, and it's been waaaaaay too long since I've seen any live music.

In the meantime, everything else seems to be gradually moving along. I'm a few brush strokes away from finally finishing the Young Gods six pager and Pete is hard at work on the Slam Ridley script. What I've seen of the script so far has really impressed me, and I think that, assuming we find a publisher and get the marketing right, there's the potential for Slam to be a big hit.

Well, that's all for now, look out for a post-Expo report and hopefully some pictures early next week.

Celebrating 2500 hits with some fairly random nonsense...

Yes, I should really be working, but I couldn't let 2500 hits go buy without doing something, but what?

Well, one thing that's fascinated me for a while now is the volume of hits that this blog gets. Sure, it's not stratospheric, but it's still fairly high for someone whose only real claim to fame is colouring a little known though critically acclaimed comic book from a relatively obscure British publisher. My visitors are fairly anonymous and rarely break cover and post comments to reveal their identity. The only real clue I have to who you all are are the Google searches that lead people here...and...um...they mainly reveal you all to be a bunch of loonies.

So....I'm going to go through all the recent Google searches that have led people here and address them ins ome form or other...answering them where they are questions or directing you to more appropriate parts of the web where...ah....appropriate...

So, here goes....in the order that my webstats present them to me...

"Melanie Espinola" can be found here, she's very pretty. Tell her I said, "Hi."

"Slam Ripley" was part of the inspiration for Slam Ridley (who, yes, was originally called Slam Ripley). He's from the classic book "How To Be A Superhero."

"smoke wacom tablet pın out" Ok, this one is just odd. Do not try to smoke your Wacom tablet. It's not a good idea. A Wacom tablet is essential, however, if you wish to colour comic books. I would recommend the Graphire 4 for the budget minded (like me).

"peter rogers, comics, writer" Peter Roger is not just a comic writer, and a damn good comic writer at that, he's a very good friend. Links to Peter Rogers' web site and to our little publishing concern, Orang Utan Comics, can be found in the column to the right (along with links to many other cool and interesting things....look at the links...the links are your friend). Pete is, of course, the man who has breathed life into my Slam Ridley plot. He's also just been published for the first time. Pete is a writing God, bow down and worship before him. Really. (Oh, and the person that did that search came from Canada...so it wasn't just Pete searching for himself...).

"children of men completely cg character" Why? Just...why would you type this into Google? And...more importantly...why would it lead you here?!?

"midnight run chris mccay" Chris McCay is a great mate and den mother...sorry...I mean Managing Editor of Visionary Comics Studio. He's also the creator and writer of Midnight Run, which I recently inked a six page story for. You can find a link to Chris's myspace page in the column on the right...and you can also find out more about Chris at the Visionary Comics website.

"flash show animation orang utan" I have a feeling that this person didn't find what they were looking for here. That said, if you like Orang Utans, and you like comics, you'll probably like Orang Utan Comics. Our first comic, Eleventh Hour, is due out in January. It's written by writing God, Peter Rogers, with art by a whole host of very, very talented folk. We'd really like to expand Orang Utan over the next year to the point where we're able to publish some really excellent creator owned books that just can't seem to find a home anywhere else. But...these things take money...so if there's anyone out there with a bundle of cash just looking for a promising new comic book company to invest it in...

"can you render photos in comic book creator" Why would you want to? Get some real software...

"strip creator being ian" Now, this is an interesting one. I mean, technically, I'm a "strip creator"...and I'm certainly "being ian"...so maybe they were looking for me.

"she freak daz" Click the many Daz banners all over the page, I believe that the She Freak is fairly cheap or maybe even free if you join the Platinum Club. It's an age since I even loaded Poser. I just don't have the time, and all my work seems to be writing, colouring or inking these days. I really should keep my Poser skillz up to date though...

"hell fire club movie" This would be cool. Anyone know if they're making one?

"club giantess"...and... "3d art giantess love" ....wtf?

"malcolm reynolds han solo" Malcolm Reynolds is Han Solo written well. Slam Ridley is Malcolm Reynolds and Han Solo written by two British guys who refuse to avoid the obvious gags...

"poser 6 jedi clothes" are probably available for free from somewhere. Keep searching...

"cyber 3d catfights" Get out more. Really.

"skander keynes girlfriend" I've said it before and I'll say it again - I do not know now, nor have I ever known if Skander Keynes has a girlfriend. All I ever did was say that he was very good in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe...stop hitting my site trying to find out if he's attached... I have news for you...even if he isn't...he's not going to go out with you! Go find someone you actually have some chance of dating and bother them!

"musica swett child o mine" Really...I mean....hitting my site and mis-spelling the title of my favourite song. That's just wrong. "She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they'd thought of rain, I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain." Blue eyes...

"club 3d strange colors" As I said, you people are odd.

"randy valiente" Is an exceptionally talented artist, who provided the pencils art to the Young Gods short which, yes, I am STILL inking. Yes, it's taking me forever, but I have a LOT to do and my own stuff always seems to sit at the bottom of the pile (because I haven't got me asking me where it is and when I'm going to get it done). This is why I'm aiming to step off the art teams of anything I'm writing. You can find links to Randy's stuff in the column on the right.

"strip creator of being ian" Okay....now I'm wondering if there isn't some kind of strip out there called "being ian"...which would be interesting....

"marvel hellfire club logo" Hmmm...is there one?

"tony curran girlfriend" Who is Tony Curran??

"swett child o mine lyrics" Mis-spelling my favourite song again....sigh... "She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky." Check...

"sneak peek for gods the movie" What baffles me is that searches like this lead to people actually looking at the site....

"chclub blogspot" Ah, bless you....bless you the one person who was actually looking for this blog. Waitaminute....Cardiff? Rogers....

Okay, so that was an odd insight into the strange and varied people who visit the site. Hits from Google make up roughly 33% of vistors to this site. Most other people come here via my myspace page, or the forum at Visionary. A fair few have the blog bookmarked. But...who are you?

Come on...here's a challenge for those of you that regularly read this blog, post a comment just saying "Hi"....or maybe say who you are...where you're from...and how you came to be reading my inane ramblings on a semi-regular basis.

Smoke & Mirror Vol 2 #1 OUT NOW!

Today is a pretty big day for me!

Yes, that's right, Smoke & Mirror Vol 2 #1 finally hits comic book stores today.

Go....now...buy it.

Buy lots of copies.

Now.

If your local comic store doesn't stock it, or they're sold out, or you really meant to ask them to order a copy but forgot, then go here and order a copy direct from Markosia. There are four covers available, giving you the perfect excuse to buy four copies.

Order Midnight Kiss - Or A Puppy Learns There's No Santa Claus

[We interupt your regularly scheduled blog to bring you this special message from Mr Tony Lee...]

This is Butch - a pretty little puppy. He wuvs yoooo yess he doesss.

Butch is looking forward to Christmas this year - because he loves it when Santa brings him presents, including special doggie medication to help his damaged doggie kidneys from failing.

But if Santa wasn't to turn up, Butch might not get that medication. Or worse, if someone was to tell Butch that, for example Santa Claus didn't exist - well, this cute little puppy might lose the will to live altogether.

But nobody would do such a thing, right? Well, we'd like to think so. And we'd like you to spread the word for us on something, ensuring that lil' Butch here never needs to know the Christmas lie.

There's a book coming out soon - a Graphic Novel. It's called Midnight Kiss. You might have heard of it.

It's the collected issues of the five part, Eagle award nominated series by Tony Lee, Ryan Stegman and Kieran Oats - with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.

That's right, the Elric guy. He's cool, right? Well he likes Midnight Kiss. And he likes Butch, too. You like cute little Butch too, right? He loves you.

So, this Midnight Kiss - it has loads of extras as well, like sketches, alternate covers and the never seen before fifth episode.

But we need people to pre-order it, so that Markosia remember to print it - as they're all caught up playing with our friend Butch. Because they love him too.

Now, your local comic shop might find this difficult, as there's no Diamond code yet - Diamond don't love Butch, and they want him to learn the truth - but we won't let them, will we? Well, there's another option. In fact, there are two.

Firstly, you can go to Amazon.Com and order it from them - for this will work. For this we might throw Butch a stick, play with the ball, give him some of those tasty blue tablets he so desperately craves sometimes.

Alternatively, you can go to your local book, or comic store with the following details -

# Name: Midnight Kiss
# Paperback: 132 pages
# Publisher: Markosia Enterprises
# ISBN: 1905692161

And ask them very nicely to order it for you. That's right, any book store in the world can order from an ISBN number. Apparently. We were told this by ninjas. And we have no reason to distrust them, yet.

When people order, then Markosia see better numbers. This makes them happy. And when they're happy they print the book and I'm happy.

And when I'm happy, Butch gets a shiny new collar for Christmas.

But if you don't order, if you don't pass this message, link this message, do whatever it takes to get this book printed and in the shops -

Butch is going to have a very nasty 25th of December. I would say 'buy this book or I kill this cute, adorable puppy' -

But as you can see - if you don't buy this book, I don't do anything at all.

You do. Shame on you. Butch loved you.

Pass it on, brethren.
--------------------------------
A note from Ian: Order Midnight Kiss, it's flippin' brilliant! See that little example of my inking that's been on this site forever...yeah, up there at the top right...no, not the pic' of me....below that....yeah... That's some inking I did over Ryan Stegman's pencils...from Midnight Kiss (no, I didn't ink the actual comic...the actual comic has Kieron's colours straight over Ryan's pencils...).

So help Tony out and go preorder his book...I have...and just to make it super easy for you if you're in the UK, I'm including a link so that you can order it direct from Waterstones here.

Greenland Is Not Green

Okay, to be fair, I've always known that Greenland is ironically named, but nothing quite prepares you for looking out of an aeroplane window flying at 34,000 feet and seeing this. This was, quite simply, one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen in my entire life.

It very nearly made flying to Baltimore via Iceland worth the extra four hours it added to my journey. Nearly, but not quite. I've heard that Iceland is a remarkable land of stark beauty...but Reykjavik airport is quite simply one of the bleakest spots on the entire planet. Spending an hour there, waiting for a connecting flight, you get a sense of being in limbo. A strange otherplace that only exists to link real places together. It was an odd feeling and one that I'm in no hurry to repeat. Plus, if you're used to airline staff being friendly, helpful and polite, the employees of Iceland Air will be a real culture shock for you.

So, after travelling for what felt like my entire life, I finally arrived at Baltimore Washington International airport and was met by Visionary Comics Studio's business manager, Charlie Hall. This was a bit odd for both of us as we've actually had very little contact with each other, and this guy was giving up a room in his house for me to stay in for the next three days. Me and Charlie quickly hit it off though...and I can say that he really was not what I was expecting from what I knew of him...but in a good way. Charlie, if you're reading this, you da' man, I take my hat off to you, dude.

Charlie was also due to pick up my good buddy, Headlocked creator Mike Kingston, who was flying in from New York and was due to arrive at roughly the same time as me. Mike's documented his travelling woes elsewhere, so I won't go over that ground again, but suffice it to say that Charlie and I had some time to kill before Mike finally arrived, most of which was spent searching for a toilet as the person next to me on the plane from Reykjavik had fallen asleep and I'm far too polite a person to wake someone up so that I can squeeze by them to get to the loo.

So, eventually Mike arrived and I was surprised to find that he's obviously been cloned from a lock of Bruce Willis' back hair (yeah, I'm going to pay for that comment...). Until that point me and Mike had only ever talked through email and MSN, so he was a little thrown by the accent. You know, it's funny, I don't really think of Americans as having accents...just goes to show how many American movies and TV shows I watch...

OK, so, from the airport, Charlie, Mike and me headed straight to Edgar's bar, which is right opposite the convention centre in Baltimore. There we met up with Offspring/Midnight Run creator Chris McCay and Visionary's head honcho, Chuck Sellner. I was introduced to a local American brew that was actually drinkable (unlike the stuff they send us here) and it flowed freely for many, many hours. It was at Edgar's that I first encountered the strange US custom of checking everyone's ID when they either order a drink, or enter a bar if there's someone on the door...no matter that they may have a full beard, be clearly going grey and unquistionably be of an appropriate age for drinking. What was amusing about this was the look on everyone's face when I handed them my UK driver's licence and they tried to figure out what on earth it was. Much fun.

I think we eventually made it back to Charlie's house in Anapolis, which is a 30 minute drive from Baltimore, at around 4am...we had to be back in Baltimore at the convention centre to set up the booth at 8am. Somehow we actually made it.

OK, first and foremost, the Baltimore Con' is what my American friends refer to as a mid-size con'. To put things in perspective here for my UK based friends, you could probably fit the whole of the Bristol con' into it about five times over, and still have spare room. So, it was big, with booths for all the big publishers, and guests the like of which we could only ever dream of having at a UK convention.

So, despite being tired and slightly hungover (Ok, I should point out that Chuck was only drinking Coke, and that he and McCay both went home the night before at sensible times, so were both fresh and full of beans), we quickly got to work setting up the booth. That done, it was time to take in our surroundings and....stone me....but we were sat right next to Joseph Michael Linsner. Now that was a seriously surreal feeling. I was standing next to him while he did a sketch of Kitty Pryde for someone. Seriosuly, I couldn't make this stuff up.

The con' was just getting into full swing and people were starting to move from just wandering around checking everything out to actually stopping and talking when the fire alarm went off. This was, of course, completely ignored by everyone in the hall. It's always amused me that everyone's reaction to a fire alarm is just to assume that if there was a real emergency they'd make an announcement about it over the tannoy, so it's safe to ignore the EMERGENCY ALARM. As it was, I think it took around three or four announcements over the tannoy before people accepted that they actually had to leave the building.

We found ourselves standing outside next to Lou Ferrigno, who was quite clearly baffled by the indignity of having to stand outside amongst all the normal people.

Eventually they let us all back in, exhibitors and retailers first...so everyone rushed to get to their booths before the masses were let back in and decided to start looting. The rest of the day ran pretty smoothly with a fairly steady stream of people visiting the booth. It was great to finally meet a few other VCSers, such as the Haiku writing Fortress guys - Brain Koscienski and Chris Pisano. We were also joined by Offspring artist Kirk Kugel and his lady friend, Leslie. Kirk is damn cool, with a dry wit that caught everyone off guard. We were joined by a few of the other guys in the studio throughout the day, and we certainly set a record for the highest number of studio members together at one time, which was awesome.

After the show on Saturday we adjourned to Edgar's for dinner and drinks and to discuss the next stage of the studio's developement. I believe it was during this meeting that Chuck first received his new nickname - Papa Smurf. He loves it. Really, he does. I think it was also during this meeting that the idea of the Visionary Bullpen first emerged. Basically, just how freaking cool would it be if we all worked together under the same roof. We've all been so energised and inspired by being together for a couple of days...what effect would it have on the creative process if we got to work together all day every day?!? It remains, for now, a dream...but now I'm back to sitting in my studio in England all on my own again, it's a dream that really, really appeals to me.

Sunday saw Visionary's first ever convention panel, which I was invited to take part in, which was very cool. Scheduled for the same time as the Romita Snr/Romita Jnr panel, it's no surprise that we didn't exactly draw a huge crowd. As such we quickly decided to abandon the stage and joined the small but very interested audience for a very productive Q&A session.

We made some cool new friends who, I suspect, will be turning up in the studio over the next few weeks. Visionary continues to go from strength to strength, and I'm very pleased to announce the very first published work from the studio will be a six page Soul Star back up strip that will see print in... Smoke & Mirror #1! So, now you have two reasons to buy it...so buy two copies! Heck, buy ten!

Sunday night saw Charlie, Mike and me at something of a loose end, so we headed into Baltimore looking for somewhere to hang out for the evening. Which is when we got a call from the Comics Review guys to meet up with them for a few beers. Of course, it would have been just plain rude to say no...heh... Despite being Canadian, they were actually very cool (I'm kidding, everyone knows I love Canadians...Canadians flamin' ruuule). We had a really good time with them, made even better by the confused bar staff who were certain that we'd paid for our drinks in full...when we hadn't paid for a single drink all night.

So, from there we headed to the airport to drop Mike off (obscenely early) for his flight back to New York (which, once again, turned out to be a series of disasters). Monday was spent hanging out in Anapolis with Charlie until it was time for my flight home...once again via Iceland. This time, however, I was fast asleep when we passed Greenland.

So, that was last weekend...hopefully I'll be able to get over to the New York con' in February...which would be awesome as I'd get to tick off "Visit New York" on my mental list of things to do before I die. Before then we have Brumcon in December, one way or another that's bound to be a blast.

Ladies and Gentlemen....The Young Gods

The Young Gods, six page preview story, page 1, pencils by Randy Valiente, inks and colours by Ian Sharman.

'Nuff said.

Comments please....

At flamin' last....

Woohoo...finally got this thing working again. Would seem that Blogger's recent amalgamation into the great Google empire caused some kind of conflict with my registration details, so I couldn't log in...figured it out now though....

So...uh...did you miss me?

Right...um...what's been going on in my absence....

The Young Gods

Right, Randy finished all six pages of the short and they look sweeeeeeeeeeet. I'm currently in the process of inking the pages, and then I'll be colouring them. I'm hoping to have this done in time for the Baltimore Con'...which is...a week and a half away...gulp...

The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley

As you can see from the pic'...I got my hands on the very first official Slam Ridley T-shirt. Buy yours today at www.slamridley.com! Somebody out there has ordered the very second official Slam Ridley T-shirt...come on...own up... (I'm guessing it was Mr Rogers...). There's plenty of other cool stuff to order and, ladies, Slam ahs some very special items just for you in the European SlamStore! As if that wasn't enough...Slam even has his very own theme song now, which you can merrily sing along to on the website (and yes, you can even download it and listen to it on your very own i-thingy).

Whazzat? The comic? What comic? Oh...The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley... No, we haven't forgotten about that! Production of the full script for the one-shot is about to go into high gear, and we hope to make the script for the six page sample story available on the website soon (note to self: mention this to Pete...). Mr Ridgon is hard at work on a promo poster for the book, which should be available soon.

Everything else...

Okay, considering I am working on what feels like every other comic book in existence, I'm not going to go into detail on every project. However, I can tell you that the Headlocked 6-page strip is now 100% complete, and should be appearing in the pages of a Markosia comic near you soon. You'll know which one as soon as I do.

As I've mentioned, I'll be attending the Baltimore Comic Con in about a week and half's time. If you're going to be there, stop by the Visionary table and say "Hi." Pick up a FREE Slam Ridley badge (that's a button for my Atlantically challenged readers) and say "Hi, Ian, I read you blog!" Now, you won't get anything special from me for letting me know you read the blog, but you will help to boost my already over-inflated ego. This can only be a good thing. There will also be some lovely Headlocked t-shirts to buy at the con', featuring the rather excellent Headlocked logo, designed by yours truly.

(By the way, if you turn up to the con' wearing on official Slam Ridley thong, and you're a cute girl, I will, of course, be more than happy to sign it for you...).

Well, I'm currently STILL jet lagged, so I'm off to be slightly confused about what time it is...

The Young Gods - Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek at Randy Valiente's quite frankly jaw dropping pencils for the six page Young Gods preview story. Randy still has a bit of work to do on pages one to three, but I've seen what he's done so far and I'm completely amazed.

I'm currently hard at work on the script for the 40-page one-shot which will introduce the world to the full team. Hopefully Randy will be able to stay on board for that!

Oh My Stars And Garters! Smoke & Mirror TPB Gets 5 Out Of 5 at SBC!

Well, I certainly can't claim credit for it as I was just one of the many creators that made the Smoke & Mirror trade paperback what it is...

...but...

...it's damn cool that my first ever published work got 5 out of 5 from Silver Bullet Comics...

...you can read the review here.

Celebrate 2000 Hits with Ethal Nuargi!

Well, the hit counter just clicked past the 2000 mark, which is a pretty damn good excuse to celebrate, if you ask me!

This site will be a year old at the end of next month and it's certainly been an eventful year. It's odd to think that when I posted my first post here I'd never even heard of Markosia. I'd never coloured so much as a page of a comic book. And... well.... I could probably go on all night like this.

Back then I had very little more than a heap of hopes and dreams and the, frankly, quite ropey first draft of The Young Gods #1 (still available to download in the "My Work" section of the right hand column if you want a giggle). Of course, those of you have actually read that first draft will have already met a certain blue skinned, badly dressed alien by the name of Ethal Nuargi. You might be wondering then, if Ethal is in The Young Gods, why I've posted this lovely sketch of him by Slam Ridley penciller and co-creator Paul Ridgon. Well...simply put...Mr Nuargi play a part in The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley too.

Exactly what part he plays is something you'll just have to wait and see.

That's all for now really, except to say that I might just have a treat here for Young Gods fans tomorrow!

(Are there any Young Gods fans out there? I'd ask for you to make yourself known but... frankly... I'd probably find the deathly silence slightly depressing. Ah well...).

Slam Ridley hits the web, and The Slam Store! opens for business!

Well, the Slam Ridley creative team of Mssrs Sharman, Rogers and Ridgon have been rather busy over the last few days preparing a multi-media onslaught to pave the way for the forthcoming Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley comic book.

First off - I have ordered three hundred Make Mine Slam! badges (buttons for our American friends) which I'll be handing out at the Baltimore con' next month. If you're attending the con', please come by the Visionary Comics Studio stand and pick one up (oh, and say "Hi"). The badges feature high quality original Slam Ridley artwork by Paul Ridgon and myself.

Secondly - Slam now has a fully functioning presence on the interweb. Visit www.slamridley.com for all your Slam Ridley needs. We've got character bios, creator profiles, a message board and a whole load of other stuff. We'll be updating the site regularly with more pics and info as it's generated.

Lastly, but by no means leastly - The Slam Store" is now open for business on both sides of the Atlantic selling exclusive Slam Ridley merchandise to amaze and slightly worry your friends and family. Slam fans in the UK and Europe should check out the Slam Store here, and Slam fans in the USA and North America should visit the US Slam Store here. Why are there two different stores? Well, the simple reason is that it saves you money! It means that no matter what side of the Atlantic you live on you can order funky clothes with Slam's smilin' face on them without having to pay high international shipping costs. How thoughtful of us, eh? Oh, and if you can't find what you're looking for in The Slam Store! then just let me know and I'll see if I can add it to our list of products.

In other news.... and... yes... there is other news... the long search for a penciller for The Young Gods seems to have finally come to an end.

The extremely talented Randy Valiente from Manilla in the Philippines is stepping up to the plate and taking on The Young Gods' six page preview story (coming to a Markosia comic near you, soon!). Randy is both professional and fast, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to share some finished Young Gods art with you all soon.

I am very excited to have Randy on board, but I also want to publicly thank Paul Ridgon, David Miller and the mighty Esdras for offering to take on the project if I wasn't able to find someone before they became available. They're all really busy guys, and exceptional artists, and it would have been a pelasure to work with any of them on this.

You can check out more of Randy's fantastic artwork at his blog here and at his website here.

So, it's all go here! Woohoo!

Midnight Run and more....

You know, as I don't have nearly enough work to do....I'm now inking and colouring the Midnight Run short for the Visionary/Markosia thing. The nice thing about this is that unlike many projects, where I'ma sked to do them and then wait for weeks to get the pages, the pencils were ready and waiting when I jumped on board, so I've been able to get right onto them.

Handily I'd just ordered some new Windsor & Newton Series 7 No 2's (brushes...) in anticipation of inking Mamluk, and they arrived yesterday. It feels great to be inking again, and the Midnight Run pencils are really good.

In other news, Vinnie has had to quit The Young Gods due to health problems, which leaves me in despeate need of a penciller as the strip is already running a month late. I have a few irons in the fire, but I'm open to offers if anyone can pick this up right away!

Well, just a quick one today...hopefully I'll have some pictures next time!

Keeping the lawyers happy....

Well, you know how a couple of posts ago I said not to forget his name...

Heh....

Well, meet Slam Ridley....don't forget his name....

A subtle but necessary name change, I'm afraid. I'm happy with it though because now his name works on two levels. there's still the homage to "Slam Ripley - Crap Pilot" from the sublimely funny "How To Be A Superhero", but now he's also an homage to the director of two of my favourite sci-fi films, Bladerunner and Alien, Mr Ridley Scott.

So....I'm happy....the lawyers are happy....everybody's happy.

The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ridley - coming to a universe near you, soon!

Steely Dan - The Robot Man (NAKED!)

Just a quick post tonight because it's late/early 'cos I've been up all night colouring Headlocked and chatting with that special someone. But...I just had to share Paul Ridgon's latest character design for The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ripley.

So...meet Steely Dan - The Robot Man. No...I'm not a Steely Dan fan...and I don't think I could even name one of their songs....but the name just popped into my head fully formed one evening, and it just seemed to work. He'll be wearing clothes in the actual comic book, but Paul wanted to get his basic, underlying structure right before clothing him. The question of who or what Steely Dan actually is will be an important one in future Slam Ripley stories...but don't expect an answer for a while.

In other news, it looks like I'll be attending the Baltimore Comic Convention, assuming I can actually sort out my flight. Right now it looks like I'll be flying via Iceland (yes, really) because the price of the BA direct flight suddenly gained £136 between yesterday and today. I'm slightly worried about ending up stranded in Reykjavik...but it'll be an adventure at least.

Assuming I'm going I'll be colouring up Paul's Slam Ripley sketches and doing some nice prints of them ready for the convention in the hopes of drumming up some support for the book. Paul's mentioned doing a poster (and his concept for it totally kicks arse), so if we can get that complete, inked, coloured and printed in time for the con, I'll see about getting a decent amount printed up and I'll be signing them and selling them there.

Say it with me, people.... "Make Mine Slam!"

The name's Slam Ripley, don't forget it...

Meet Slam Ripley, 'nuff said.

Yeah, right, like I was really going to leave it at that! This is the first character design for The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ripley. Plotted by myself, with Peter Rogers on scripting duties and the unsurpassable Paul Ridgon on pencils. I suspect that Paul telepathically reached into my mind and picked out exactly what I wanted Slam to look like.

I really can't express in words how excited I am about how Slam Ripley is shaping up. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect penciller, and I really hope that Paul's able to stick around for the one-shot after the six pager is done.

I believe Paul's going to be doing a few more sketches of the supporting cast and I'll be posting them as soon as I have them. Please let us know what you think of Slam by posting a comment, and spread the word about Slam Ripley because this book could really be huge.

In other news, as a steady stream of British comic book creators make their way back across the Atlantic in the wake of the San Diego Comic Con (apart from Tony Lee, of course, who ended up stranded in Kansas due to one of the engines on his plane blowing up...nice one!) I'm gearing up to take a trip in the opposite direction. Yep, this boy's just booked himself on a flight across the Atlantic, woohoo! Four weeks and counting...

See you in the air!

And remember.... "Make Mine Slam!"

The Young Gods at Markosia?

Well, odd to think that the last time I posted to this blog I was still 29...now I'm 30 and there have been a huge amount of changes in my life.

Let's get straight into the big comic book related one though, eh? I guess anyone who's been paying attention to the Visionary web site will know that the big secret is out. The publisher for the Young Gods, Headlocked and Mamluk six page introductory back-up strips will be none other than the UK's own Markosia Comics! I can't think of a more appropriate company to publish The Young Gods' debut in print than Markosia. Harry and the gang have been nothing but supportive of me and the book since I first showed it to them back at the Brighton con' last year. We've all come a loooong way since then, and I'm very proud to be working on one of Markosia's monthly books as a colourist (you have ordered your copies of Smoke & Mirror vol 2 #1, right?). It seems very appropriate that I'm making my writing debut in the pages of a Markosia comic too.

I've just received today the script for a Slam Ripley six pager from Pete Rogers, who's co-creating my little homage to the worlds of Star Wars and Firefly. We'll be submitting it to Visionary once the dust has settled from San Diego and hopefully Slam will be making his debut in the pages of a Markosia comic very soon. I'm pleased to announce, also, that the headache of trying to find a penciller for Slam Ripley was recently cured by none other than Visionary's own Paul Ridgon, who volunteered his services pretty much out of the blue. Both Paul and Pete will be sharing credit with me as co-creators on Slam Ripley. Unlike The Young Gods, which is very much my baby, I'm intending The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ripley to be a much more collaborative effort. Dont get me wrong, I'm still just as passionate about The Young Gods as I ever have been...but I've got this gut feeling that Slam's going to completely blow people away. Put it this way...if you were disappointed by the Star Wars prequels...and Firefly's 14 episodes and one movie were simply over too soon...you won't want to miss The Intergalactic Adventures of Slam Ripley.

And that's just the big events in the comic-book creating side of my life.

Add to that a relationship ending (no ring on my finger...)... a new relationship beginning (both wonderful and stressful)... everyone freaking out in the run up to San Diego... and planning what could be the first of many trans-atlantic trips... it's been an eventful time. So... sorry for not posting an update sooner!

I wrote my first song in over two and half years tonight. It's amazing, having a source of inspiration again after so long.

So... I turned 30 and everything changed... what's everyone else been doing?

Return to Mamluk!

Well, those of you that read my Live Journal will know that i recently had a VERY BAD DAY. One of the things that contributed to that bad day was the news that my good friend Paul Ridgon was quitting comics to get a proper job. Paul's an incredible penciller, and the news that he was giving up was a big blow as I was looking forward to inking and colouring his work on the Mamluk one-shot in the works from Visionary.

Well, great news today, Mamluk is also getting a 6 page preview strip...just like The Young Gods and Headlocked...and Paul's going to be pencilling it! (Welcome to the world of working 'till 4am Paul!) And, what's even cooler is that he's invited me to ink and colour it.

Now...if I can just get the government to add another six hours to each day I should be sorted...

Headlocked

Well, because I clearly have some pathological need to have more work than any mortal man could hope to cope with...and because I've become rather accustomed to drifting off to sleep with the sound of the dawn chorus ringing in my ears...I've signed on as colourist on Visionary's hot wrestling comic, Headlocked.

There is a HUGE buzz surrounding this groundbreaking title set in the world of pro-wrestling and I'm really pleased that I'm able to be a part of it. You can find out more about Headlocked on the Visionary website, or you can visited series creator Mike Kingston's Myspace page here.

In other news - I just picked up Civil War #'s 1 and 2 yesterday. I really enjoyed them and I'm looking forward to where Marvel are going to go with this. This series needs to have serious long lasting repercussions though. There is a rift now between Captain America and Iron Man that neither one should be able to just shrug off...so...when the dust settles, I'll be disappointed if they're both still Avengers. Got to admit though, I have no idea where Marvel are going with this one.

I'm really getting back into reading comics at the moment and I've really surprised myself by getting into Marvel's Ultimate's line. I picked up the first year of Ultimate X-Men in TPB form, and also the first Ultimates trade. It's impressive stuff. I remember when this tuff first came out, just when I was getting out of reading comics, I really didn't see the point of it. I have a great fondness for the Marvel Universe, its history and its continuity, and new books that just threw away all that didn't make much sense to me. Now I'm approaching them from the point of view of someone who is not regularly reading comics, and suddenly I get it. Excellent stuff.

That said, I wuld like to get back up to speed with the mainstream Marvel Universe. I recently read the House of M trade, which I found to be quite impressive. As you may have noticed, I've been buying a lot of trade paperbacks. Again, the TPB market didn't make any sense to me when I was buying something like forty regular monthly titles. Now TPBs are exactly what I need, and a stack of them is much more convenient to read than a stack of bagged and boarded back issues. Consider me well and truly sold on the whole TPB thing.

So...now I want to catch up on the main X-Men books...but I'm resisting because I know it means reading the Morrison run....

In other, other news - I have just three days left of my twenties. Ugh. Ageing has never been a big deal for me before but there's just something about turning 30. It's some consolation, however, that I can look back over the past thirty years and see that I've achieved most of the goals that I would have liked to have achieved before I turned thirty. I've fathered two great kids, recorded live and studio CDs, had songs written and performed by me played on the radio, been on an insane road trip to visit a refugee camp in Macedonia, performed live in front of a festival crowd...and....most importantly of all...become a published comic book artist.

So...what is there left for me to do?

I guess, going into my thirties, it would be good for me to set out a few goals...so here goes...

- Become a published comic book writer (looks set to happen before the year ends).

- Attend the San Diego Comic Book Convention (hopefully next year).

- Do work for Marvel Comics (yes...DC would be cool, but I'm Marvel through and through).

- Write a Pete Wisdom mini series.

- Win an Eagle award.

- Win an Eisner award.

Well.....we'll see...

Independence Day!

Well, it's the day that we all celebrate finally getting rid of those traitorous Americans. Wooohoo!

Well...this post is really just a thinly veiled excuse to talk about my son's passion for drawing. This Spidey pic' was done a couple of months ago, and he's actually imroved an incredible amount since then. (He is four).

I really wouldn't be surprised to see him follow in my footsteps and end up drawing comic for a living. I'm happy to encourage him as much as possible because if he gets into the habit of drawing regularly now, then he's going to be brilliant when he grows up. I've never had the patience or discipline to regularly work at my art...well...until the last year or so.

Ah...who am I kidding? I'm just a proud dad who thinks his kids are brilliant!

Oh...while I'm here...we just blasted past 1500 hits! Woohoo!

The Young Gods - Script Approved!

Well, it's been an eventful few days here and I've now taken over from Derek as the scripwriter for The Young Gods.

I'm pleased to say that my second draft script for the six page story has now been apprroved by Chuck Sellner and we've passed it on to Vinnie to start on the pencils. I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

I've finally taken the plunge and carved myself a little corner of myspace. You can find me here. Stop by, say hi, add me to your friends.

The colours for Smoke & Mirror Vol 2 #1 are 99% done now. It's a real blast working on this book, I only wish I was doing this as my day job already, I'd have it all done in a quarter of the time!

Don't forget that the Smoke & Mirror TPB and the Of Bitter Souls TPB are in the shops NOW ... so go get your copy!

The crazy madness starts here! Hold on tight! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!