A damn fine book

THERE was a lovely review of Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth over at the Forbidden Planet blog last week. Highlights from Richard Bruton's piece included: "It's a damn fine book, the pacing the thing that really stuck with me" and "This is a thrilling tale, well told, writer and artists really getting over the legendary nature of the history here". 

You can read the whole review here.

And you can buy Defiant for a little over a tenner from the FPI store here.

While I'm encouraging you to buy the book, we also have digital copies available through DriveThru Comics - it's a snip at $7.99 (a fraction over £5). Get it here.

* HUSHERS - my collaboration with Italian artist Manuela Lebrino Bassu - is being released by Markosia on August 1. The book - a tale of Victorian apocalypse - will retail for £12.99p/$17.99 and I shall be doing a proper blog post about the whole thing next week. In the meantime, here's some of Manuela's art. This isn't featured in the story itself but will appear in the book's back matter, along with a ton of other stuff...

Defiant hits Previews

Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth appears in Diamond's Previews catalogue this month (page 5 of the UK section). Fifteen quid for 92 full-colour pages filled with death, destruction, madness and betrayal seems pretty reasonable to me. Please order it from your local comic store and support independent creators!

Next stop for the Time Bomb Comics Viking Brigade (that's me, artist Dan Bell and publisher Steve Tanner) will be the Cardiff Independent Comic Expo on June 27. Tickets are only a fiver with under-12s going free with a ticket-holding adult.

Bleeding Cool say nice things about Defiant

Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth received a perceptive and complimentary review over at Bleeding Cool this week. 

Writer Olly Macnamee said of the book: "[Winter and Bell] create a well realized and believable, living breathing facsimile of Essex, Maldon and Anglo-Saxon England; its society, its people, its clothing and customs. I felt drawn into each page, the artwork is clear, with an eye to the details of life in 10^thcentury Essex."

You can read the whole review here.

The Defiant bandwagon next appears at the Birmingham Comics Festival, on Saturday April 18th, at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Hope to see you there!

Defiant launch details

THERE are only three days left to the launch of Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth at the London Super Comic Con this weekend.

Artist Daniel Bell and I will be signing copies of the book at the Time Bomb Comics table both days so please come along, say hello and buy a copy for the special launch price of £12. 

You can find us in Artist Alley on table A118 (Aisle 9); just look for publisher Steve Tanner's brightly-coloured jacket and you won't go far wrong! If you're still unsure here's a map with a very big arrow pointing the way on it...

The book will also be appearing in the UK section of Diamond's Previews catalogue towards the end of April (cover-dated May). I shall have more details about this nearer the time. There will also be further con appearances to promote and sell the book, starting with the Birmingham Comic Festival on April 18. Again, more details to follow.

Oh, and Defiant now has its own Facebook page where we'll be posting art from the book and some of Dan's original character sketches amongst other things in the coming days and weeks. We need your "likes" so please come visit!

Defiant launches

Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth will be launching not once but twice! Artist Dan Bell and I will be signing at the Time Bomb Comics table at the London Super Comic Con over the weekend of March 14-15, and then I will be at the inaugural Birmingham Comics Festival on April 18 (unfortunately, Dan can't make that one due to a prior engagement).

There will also be a Defiant Facebook page going live in the next few days where you can go for updates, art pages etc.

This book has taken so long to get together and I'm genuinely excited that we're nearly there!

Four months later...

Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth is finished and should appear in Previews (at least the UK bit of it) early next year. There has been talk of launching the book at one of the country's multitude of conventions but nothing has been confirmed yet. Possibly the London Super Comic Con, in March, or The Birmingham Comics Festival (publisher Steve Tanner is one of the organisers) the following month. Perhaps even both. When I know, you'll know... 

I'm really pleased with how the story came out - artist/letterer Dan Bell and I spent a lot of time tweaking bits here and there to get it right and I think that has paid off. I think it's one of those stories that will need to be read more than once to really get the most out of it. I've tried some storytelling ideas that I haven't used before and taken some serious liberties with the original poem but hopefully it all works as it should. I'm very proud of it and can't wait to see it printed and published - Dan and I have spent the best part of two years on it!

* Most of my time this year has been spent working on Hushers, a graphic novel for another UK publisher being drawn by Italian artist Manuela Bassu Lebrino. It is all written and Manuela is due to start illustrating the final chapter any day now. It's looking good and will almost certainly be the thing I talk most about on here in the coming months.

* Working on Hushers meant that plans for the Tim Skinner: Retconned webcomic slipped down the schedule but I've now finished the third chapter and only have the fourth and final one to write. Artist Ruairi Coleman sent me the first few inked pages the other day and it looks brilliant. Ruairi is signed on for at least the first two chapters but might have to drop out after that to concentrate on his work for US publisher Dynamite, where he is currently drawing Turok: Dinosaur Hunter with the equally excellent Stephen Downey. One way or another, though, there should be new Skinner in 2015.

* And that's about it for now - we're nearing the end of another year in which this blog has been updated even less than usual. I'll try and make it one of my new year's resolutions to change that. In the meantime, have a lovely Christmas and a happy start to 2015.

Run for cover

Defiant: The Legend of Brithnoth now has a cover (above, click to enlarge), courtesy of Dan Bell and Aljosa Tomic.

The book itself is very close to being finished. I'm currently proofreading all 84 story pages while artist Dan busies himself designing various bits of backmatter.

Proofing a story is, I think, one of the most important parts of the creative process (but, then, as a professional proofreader and sub editor, I would say that). Having one last thorough read through what you've created is crucial because you almost always identify one or two things that haven't quite worked. Not just typos but maybe the odd scene in which the art and dialogue don't mesh correctly, a vital detail that has been underplayed, a misplaced speech balloon...

It will hopefully hit Previews before the end of the year and see actual publication through Time Bomb Comics early in 2015. We're also discussing launching it at one of the UK's many comic conventions but nothing has been confirmed as yet. More details as and when I have them...

* On the subject of Time Bomb Comics, they currently have a book out called Longship, by Lawrence Rider and Rebecca Teall. It's a clever and really quite touching tale of a Viking boat, a father and son, and a funeral. You really should buy it. Drop them a line at: sales@timebombcomics.com or order the book through your local comic shop.

* And while I'm dishing out plugs, Defiant colourist Aljosa Tomic worked on the most recent issue of Veil (#4), by Greg Rucka and Toni Fejzula, through Dark Horse. It's a terrific and unusual supernatural mini-series from Lazarus and Queen and Country writer Rucka so well worth picking up.

Cut 'n' thrust

I finished writing Defiant! The Legend of Brithnoth a couple of months ago and artist Dan Bell is just under two-thirds of the way through drawing it. It feels like we've been working on it forever and there's still a long way to go (colouring and lettering for a start), but I'm confident it will still see the light of day towards the end of next year – Time Bomb Comics' schedule permitting of course...

Dan's been a pleasure to work with and his stuff has just got better and better the further into the book he has gone (see a recent page above). He's always happy to take a second look at certain pages and panels when I've asked him to and, likewise, I've valued his opinions when it comes to what works and what doesn't in the script. We're a good team, I think, and hope we do more stuff together in the future.

And while I'm talking about Dan, he has a couple of stories in the recently-released British Showcase Anthology graphic novel (published by Markosia). More details here: www.markosia.com/titles/british-showcase-anthology

He will also be at Thought Bubble, in Leeds, this weekend, where you can buy copies of his excellent comics The Goose and Psircus.

* Next up for me, two new projects (which aren't actually new at all). The first is a one-shot called Razorsnakes for R-Comics, with artist Henry Simon. It was originally going to be a longer 'graphic novella' type thing but I've been keen to have a crack at a couple of shorter, sharper stories in the mould of Hero Killers and Blood Psi. It's only 26 pages of actual story so I'm going to be editing down and refining my original idea and hoping it still works. I first had the idea for Razorsnakes five or six years ago and always planned to do something with it. Anyway, its time has finally come...

The second is the Tim Skinner: Retconned webcomic. I've been holding off starting on this because I really wanted to clear my schedule to get it right. I've also spent the last few months just thinking - soaking up all the comics silliness I can find and generally getting myself into maximum snark mode. Maximum snark mode has now been achieved...

* Once those are out of the way, I shall start writing Nix. I produced 11 pages of script earlier in the year for a pitch sample, but now must get cracking on the whole 80+ page story. I've found a publisher and have been working with an editor to get the story absolutely right. The only recent drawback is that the original artist has decided to leave the project (to pursue a lifelong dream to ink Superboy. Or something).

As a result, I'm looking for a new artist (when aren't I?) so if anyone fancies having a crack at a sci-fi black comedy in which a deranged time traveller has a threesome with JFK and Marilyn, before doing something unspeakable to Idi Amin, feel free to drop me a line at: andywinter1@gmail.com

* I was really hoping to make it up to Thought Bubble for the first time this weekend but life, it seems, has made other plans yet again. I've only actually managed one comics con this year (the London Super Comic Con) which is almost certainly my worst showing ever. It's something that needs to change, especially as there's a good chance I'll finally have some new stuff published next year.

If you are lucky enough to be going to TB, be sure to check out Time Bomb Comics (their new Squadron of the Screaming Damned book looks fantastic) and Borderline Press (Dennis Wojda's excellent 566 Frames and the Zombre anthology are both worth a look).

Douglas Adams on meth

SUMMER'S over, the kids are back at school and that means I can put my feet up and watch one of the stack of DVDs that have been sat gathering dust under the TV. Oh, except that I can't do that because I have a shit-ton of writing work to catch up on. A shit-ton of writing work I should have been doing over the summer but couldn't because of the kids, or rather the noise they make. All the time. Even when they are supposedly in bed. 

In some ways, the lack of actual writing has been a good thing because I've been able to properly recharge my mental batteries. Which is just as well because I really have to hit the ground running today, right now, this minute.

Work I need to attack includes...

* One last pass through the final third of Defiant! The Legend of Brithnoth. (I say 'one last pass' when there will be several dozen more passes until I am 100 per cent happy with it).

* A lengthy scene-by-scene breakdown for the editor working with me on Nix. Then, eventually, a script.

* A 10-page sample script for Hushers, the project I'm working on with artist pal Manuela.

* Detailed – but punchy – plot synopses for four more projects I'm going to be pitching around towards the end of the year. An international smorgasbord of brilliant artists has been busy producing sample art pages for these. 

* Writing issue #2 of The Good Ship Otzi, the 'Douglas Adams on meth' space opera I'm doing for R-Comics. The artist hasn't started drawing issue #1 yet so I have wriggle room here.

* Web comics, including new Tim Skinner (teaser image on the way very soon), and a bizarro horror thing I'm doing with artist Nick Wright.

That little lot should take me up to Christmas (and probably beyond). I'd better get on with it all then...

Defiant!

I'VE been extremely busy since the turn of the year and don't plan to take my foot off the accelerator any time soon. As any regular readers will know, I've been trying – and mostly failing – to get a number of projects off the ground for the last couple of years. All that hard work, anguish and frustration finally seems to have proved worth it though. I have a lot of stuff on the go at the moment and, for the first time in a long time, a roster of artists I trust to help me pull it all off. 

First up is Defiant! The Legend of Brithnoth, a graphic novel based on the famous(ish) Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon. Dan Bell is the artist and it's coming out next year through Steve Tanner's excellent UK indie, Time Bomb Comics. It's been easily the most difficult thing I've ever written and it took me a long time to work out exactly how to adapt the original poem. I've tried to stick to the facts as they are known but have fictionalised and taken liberties a fair bit too. We're going to start publicising Defiant! at the London Super Comic Con next weekend.

Next up is a sci-fi project, called The Good Ship Otzi, which has found a publisher in the Netherlands. R-Comics is a small publisher with big ideas – just the sort of people I like in other words. I'm not sure as yet whether the book will be a mini-series or an ongoing but I'm about halfway through writing the first issue and reckon it would work pretty well as either. You'll hear far more about this in the weeks and months to come. The artist, Mike Harrington, is going to be creating a dedicated website for the project and I'll have more on that soon too.

Beyond these two projects I have five or six more that are at various stages of development. Most of them are with artists and I'm hoping to have stuff to pitch before the end of the year. Like I said busy, busy, busy...