What I'm Doing and Something Worrying from the news...

Well, it's been a while, I know, but I thought it was time that I posted a quick round up of everything I'm working on at the moment, just so you all know I'm not spending my days watching Power Rangers and Charmed (Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano in one show together...it's so hard to resist...).

ELEVENTH HOUR #'s 1 & 2

Both issues of Eleventh Hour have been spectacularly well received. We've had some great reviews online, particularly from Geek Syndicate. However, I think my favourite review has to have been Doctor Who and Wisdom writer, Paul Cornell's comment on #1, "It was lovely." In fact, he thought that it was so lovely that he was the first person to buy a copy of #2 when we released it at the Birmingham show a few weeks back. He was walking past our stand, just after we'd set up and did a double take. "Eleventh Hour!" he exclaimed. "I loved the first issue, I have to have the second." Considering the fact that he's become a bit of an idol for me and Pete, you can imagine what a boost that was to both of our egos. We're pretty much sold out of both issues now (although if you're in the Cardiff area you can still pick up a copy of #2 from Comic Guru, and I'm planning on dropping off my last few copies of #2 at The Grinning Demon in Maidstone this weekend). We'll be ordering more copies of both issues soon, so we can keep up with demand. So, not only were we able to pay for the printing of #2 with the money we made from sales of #1, but we've also been able to pay for our tables at next year's Birmingham show with the money we made from sales of #2, and we still have money left to pay for reprints! We're still a long way off from becoming a global publishing empire, but it's a good start.

ELEVENTH HOUR #3

Would you believe we've already started work on #3? Well, yes, you probably would. I don't want to give too much away at the moment, but you can expect stories from myself, Pete and Cherie, in collaboration with an array of talented artist from around the world. Not only that but #3 will also feature a story by our good friend James Redington, who we all sorely miss. I'm so glad that I got to work with James before he passed away, and it's just a shame that he won't get to see the results in print. My own contribution to #3 will hopefully see the return of an artist who was associated with Orang Utan Comics in our early days, plus the return of the first ever comic book character I published - watch this space. Issue Three will be released at the Bristol Comic Expo in May.

YOUNG GODS

I've decided to split the Young Gods OGN into a two part mini-series entitled Young Gods: Birth Pains. As such, issue one is now completely pencilled and inked and just awaiting colouring and lettering. I've also asked several artists to produce cover art for the book, and once they're all done, and we've got a few pages finished, we'll start looking for a publisher for the book. It's looking fantastic, Ezequiel Pineda is a star in the making.

THE INTERGALACTIC ADVENTURES OF SLAM RIDLEY

The pencils for # 1 have been complete for a while, and, indeed, so have the inks. However, after discussions with our publisher (yes, we have a publisher for Slam Ridley - surely that's the worst kept secret in the world by now? For those of you that don't know, we'll hopefully be making an official announcement about that soon) we've decided to redo the inking for a cleaner, brighter look. I've actually decided to digitally ink the book in Illustrator, and the results so far have been fantastic. We're also planning to use the traditional DC colouring palette to ensure that the colours have a bright and vibrant feel to them.

We've also just released this promo video to whet people's appetite for the book:

Let me know what you think!

IRAQ: OPERATION CORPORATE TAKEOVER

I did the pre-press work for this OGN from the charity War On Want which, I believe, has just been released. I know that it was mentioned recently in the Guardian's "Guide", but I haven't heard too much about people's response to it yet. Obviously, my own involvement in the book was fairly limited, but hopefully it will do well.

THE FLYING FRIAR

The Flying Friar was recently released to much critical acclaim. The nice thing for me being that, as it has previously been released in black and white, every review has commented on the colouring, and those comments have been very favourable. I really enjoyed working on The Flying Friar, and outside of OUC, it's probably the single piece of work I'm most proud of to date. If you haven;t picked up a copy yet, shame on you!

CONTRABAND

Contraband by TJ Behe & Phil Elliott - a multi-issue graphic novel hitting the shelves February 27 2008 from Slave Labor Graphics.

Caught filming an illegal violent content transaction, a self-styled “citizen journalist” is bullied into finding the female activist who's sabotaging the world's most controversial cellphone video channel - Contraband. His search leads him into voyeur underground where profit-hungry youths prowl city street filming violent events to satisfy society’s accelerating demand for sensational content.

A rich character-driven thriller, Contraband vividly highlights our near-future use (and abuse) of wireless technology by incorporating modern elements of mobile communication throughout the story including text messaging, online blogging, avatars, alerts and live video broadcast.

Canadian writer TJ Behe has over ten years experience developing wireless content for global entertainment companies including BBC, Playboy, MTV and T-Mobile.

UK Artist Phil Elliott’s graphic novels include Illegal Alien (Dark Horse) and Tupelo (Slave Labor) and he has over 20 years experience providing illustrations for international publishers including Marvel, DC, Image and Fantagraphics.

Ian Sharman (Inks) and Cherie Donovan (Tones) are active professionals in the UK comic scene currently developing sequential titles at Orangutan Comics.

"Contraband is a great sci-fi thriller…" - Comics International

"Cool stuff!" - Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night)

“Contraband is as visionary as the technology Behe writes about.” (Broken Frontiers)

"Phil Elliott's work is optimistic and loving and fine...he makes it look so easy.." (Neil Gaiman)

Issue #1 Available @ www.Eyemelt.com.
Free Preview @ www.contrabandcomic.com.
Pre-order Contraband @ www.Amazon.com.

OTHER STUFF

As many of you will know, I'm now working full time in comics, which is a little scary. Thankfully I picked up a couple of new paid inking jobs this week, which should keep the wolves at bay for a little longer.

Check out the website for one of them, there's not much there yet but it looks interesting enough: www.ginaaxiom.com

AND FINALLY...

I was reading The Guardian Weekly today when I came across this little passage which I found rather disturbing, I won't editorialise too much here, just read it and draw you own conclusions. The one thing I will ask, however, is what is this woman's crime?

"Consider the case of a 23-year-old Muslim woman who was found guilty last week under new anti-terror laws. Samina Malik worked for WH Smith at Heathrow, but was given to writing poetry about beheading non-believers and martyrdom. Not long after she had begun visiting chatrooms, calling herself the "lyrical terrorist" - she thought the name "cool" - the knock at the door came. Examination of her computer revealed she had downloaded something called "How to win in hand-to-hand combat". She lives in Southall, and she now awaits sentencing."