Digital Bullet

HERO KILLERS - the Eagle Award-winning one-shot I did with Marvel artist Declan Shalvey - is now on ComiXology. You can buy it here for the very reasonable sum of 99c/69p. I now intend to submit a few of the other Moonface Press titles, starting with Blood Psi.

* DEFIANT! THE LEGEND OF BRITHNOTH is now about one-third coloured and - thanks to the excellent Aljosa Tomic - is looking very good indeed. I've also managed to get permission to use a fine translation of the original Battle of Maldon poem in the book which is great news. 

The plan as it stands is to bring Defiant! out early next year so Time Bomb Comics publisher Steve Tanner has a chance to submit it to Diamond and to get a bit of publicity going ahead of its release.

Here is one of the coloured pages; art by Dan Bell...

* I have two other major things I'm working on - one a graphic novel with publisher contracts already signed, the other a very intriguing webcomic with a name artist whose brilliance intimidates the hell out of me. Unfortunately I can't say anything about them until I'm given the green light to do so. Soon, though, hopefully...

* What else? Need to get on with writing more Tim Skinner very soon. It's slipped down the schedule a bit as other stuff has elbowed it out of the way... artist Jim Lavery and I have collaborated on a fun short story which has found a home in a very exciting anthology. I'm really proud of it, actually, probably the best short story I've written since... ever. Aljosa (again) and Nikki Foxrobot have turned in sterling work on the colours and letters for it too.

* I've reached that part of the year where I need to rush to get through as much stuff as possible before the kids break up for the summer. I love them both dearly but struggle to get any writing done when they're around, and there are deadlines I simply can't leave hanging until September. I really don't know how proper professional writers and artists cope with this stuff. I mean, I can't just decamp to a hotel for six weeks, can I? Hmmm...

* Finally, I now have a tumblr page here. At the moment I'm really just using it as a second home for this blog but plan to do a bit more with it soon. Feel free to follow me there, if you must...

Talk is cheap

HAVE I really not updated this blog since the middle of November 2013? Yes, that's exactly what has happened. How embarrassing.

It isn't that I haven't had a lot going on, because I have - bloody loads, actually. I am, however, trying to avoid talking about projects until something actually, properly concrete exists. Like finished pages, printed issues, viewable webcomics... that kind of thing. Because I've noticed that I come on here and jabber on about what I'm up to and then, more often than not, bugger all ever comes of it.

There are also things I won't talk about because I don't want to jinx them - after this morning, one thing in particular...

A few projects I will mention though, purely because they seem a bit more concrete than most of the half-arsed, airy-fairy nonsense I blather on about.

Firstly, I've finished writing the first episode of Tim Skinner: Retconned for Ruairi Coleman to draw. The idea - at least as it stands - is that we will finish all four episodes before the first one goes live and that the episodes will appear weekly for a month later in the year (September is favourite right now). I'm very happy with the first episode and had forgotten just how much fun it is to write Skinner.

I've also penned a one-shot for artist Henry Simon to illustrate. It's a pulpy sci-fi story featuring motorcycle gangs that runs to 28 pages. There's also a seven-page short story for artist Jim Lavery. I'm really proud of this one, actually, and I'll be going all out to get it into a decent anthology.

Thing is, though, I've mentioned those three projects and none of them actually properly exists yet. Any one of them could go tits up tomorrow, making me look foolish... again.

So, let me turn my attention to Defiant! The Legend of Brithnoth, which is becoming more and more real with every passing week. Artist Dan Bell only has a few pages and the odd panel revision to go before pencils and inks on the book are finished. I suspect Dan will treat himself to a stiff drink when it's all done. Then it's just the colouring and lettering, the cover and backmatter to sort out. Easy.

There's other stuff - stuff I'm pitching, stuff I'm struggling to find reliable artists for... the usual. I'll talk about it when and if... or probably not at all.