Severe Plumbing Event

The last couple of weeks have not been about writing comics but what can only be described as a 'Severe Plumbing Event' here at Winter Acres. Instead of bashing out pages and wrestling sentences for the graphic novels I'm writing, I've been dealing with rotting joists, 'damp specialists' and excess payments to the insurance company. It's quite a drag, to be honest, and the next person who suggests we be relocated to 'alternative accommodation' while they sort it all out is going to be told, politely but firmly, to fuck right off.

The upshot of all this leak-related madness is that I won't be able to attend The Birmingham Comics Festival one-dayer at Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Saturday. This makes me rather sad because I had great fun there last year and was looking forward to catching up with friends, who I only really see a couple of times a year. You should definitely go, though; they have a great bunch of guests, including David Hine, Leigh Gallagher, and Ryan Brown, a ton of impressive exhibitors (Nostalgia & Comics, Markosia, and Futurequake amongst them), and the cricket ground is a surprisingly decent venue that's only a short taxi ride from the city centre. You could even swing by the Markosia table and pick up a copy of my graphic novel, Hushers, if you're so inclined. You'd be doing an old man in the middle of a plumbing crisis a big favour, believe me.

Knackered: My kitchen floor, right now

In other news, the planned return of Tim Skinner has hit the buffers once again as I find myself without an artist. The whole 30+ page book/web comic/whatever has been completely written and is ready to go. It's as funny, rude and pathologically unpleasant as you'd hope it to be, too. So, if you're a comic-book artist - or know of such a beast - give me a shout. I'm still very keen to get Tim Skinner: Retconned out there, preferably before I'm old enough to draw my pension.

Rather more encouragingly, Markosia last week released a cover image (albeit unfinished) for my next project with Hushers artist, Manuela Bassu Lebrino. We're teaming up to do a version of Robin Hood - simply called Hood - and my intention is to try and offer a very different take on the character, inspired by real-life villains such as the Krays, Jacques Mesrine and John Dillinger. It's really about the attractiveness of criminality and how criminals - despite committing terrible acts - can become folk heroes and legends. It will still contain plenty of swashbuckling and derring-do, though, so don't worry...

Anyway, better go, there's someone at the door who wants to get at my joists...