It's been awhile...

HELLO... anyone still here? Ah, there you are. Apologies to my half-dozen regular readers for not updating this blog in nearly four months but, to be honest, there hasn't really been much to report. Um, Happy New Year!

Because I've stepped back from self-publishing for the forseeable future, I don't have new releases or shipping dates to talk about any more but I have kept very busy. In fact, writing-wise, I've been rather more prolific in the last couple of months than at any time in the past two years. As I've mentioned before, all my efforts are now focused on collaborating with artists on projects to pitch to professional publishers in this country and the States.

As a result, I've got a few things on the go at the moment, including projects with Tommie Kelly (Roadcrew, Mongo: Music Critic) and Andrew Radbourne (BritForce, Brothers). The plan is to get 'pitch packs' together to show off to publishers and editors at the Bristol Expo and B.I.C.S events in May and October respectively. I'll reveal more the nearer we get to the events in question.

* ALTHOUGH I'm hoping to attend, I won't be exhibiting at Bristol for the first time since 2003 nor at the Birmingham show for the first time since its inception. Copies of all my comics will continue to be available through the Moonface Press website and I'm hoping to make at least some of them downloadable in the near future, starting with the full-colour Tim Skinner one-shot.

* AND on the subject of digital comics, there's a very positive review of mine and Tommie Kelly's Mongo: Music Critic webcomic here.

Comics Bulletin columnist Regie Rigby describes it as "a great, fast, funny comedy hit". Which is nice. You can still download Mongo for free at moonfacepress.com

* ANDREW RADBOURNE'S BritForce graphic novel is available for order in this month's UK section of Previews. You'll find it on page six of the catalogue, under Moonface Press, and the book's order number is FEB10 1756. It has a lovely cover by comics legend Glenn Fabry (Slaine, Preacher) and costs £4.50 for 64 pages.

* AND finally - I shall endeavour to update this blog a bit more regularly in future even if it's only a couple of times a month. Promise...

Blood Psi STILL getting great reviews!

THERE'S a lovely review of mine and Keith Burns' Blood Psi one-shot in episode seven of the Small Press Big Mouth podcast. Reviewer Stacey Whittle , who also blogs for www.sfx.co.uk, describes the cover and interior art as "gorgeous" and says the story is "very satisfying" and kept her guessing right until the end.

The review starts at 17 minutes 20 seconds into the podcast and you can check it out here: http://castroller.com/podcasts/GeeksyndicatesPodcast/1209360

You should also take a look at the SPBM blog here: http://smallpressbigmouth.blogspot.com/

Blood Psi has been out for at least a couple of years now but a great review's a great review as far as I'm concerned.

Post-BICS

I HAD a blast at the BICS festival in Birmingham over the weekend, catching up with lots of friends, meeting some great new people and selling loads of comics. Septic Isle and BritForce were my top sellers, suggesting punters are more interested in a meaty graphic novel-length read these days than in flimsier pamphlet-style comics.

If anything, though, the event very much underlined to me that I've really taken the self-publishing lark about as far as I can. I simply don't have the money to kick on from here, especially since Diamond's increase in their minimum order benchmark makes it harder than ever for tiny indies like me to get into Previews. Nope, my decision to concentrate on my writing and slowly run down the publishing side of what I do is, I think, the only one that makes sense right now.

To that end, on the Saturday morning I met with one of the artists with whom I'm going to be pitching to companies and we agreed a way forward for our project. I'm really excited about working with this particular illustrator (whose identity will remain a secret for now) and about the project itself. The plan is to get the 'pitch package' ready to show to people at the Bristol Expo next May.

I also met a young artist called Matt Birks whose work is terrific (strong storytelling, great design sense) and I'm keen to collaborate with him on a pitch, too.

I probably won't stop publishing altogether at this stage - BritForce's creator Andy Radbourne is keen to do a second issue and I might do the odd thing to keep my hand in just to sell at cons. But I'm not sure right now whether I'll be exhibiting at Bristol and Birmingham next year or whether I shall just attend as a regular punter/aspiring writer. I have to say it would be very nice to go to a comics convention and not spend all weekend stood behind a table endlessly spouting the same sales pitches for my comics. It's given me a sore throat and aching legs this year...

BICS bits

I'M off to Birmingham tomorrow for the British International Comics Show - or BICS as it's better known. I have a table there as usual and Brothers and BritForce will both be making their BICS debuts. These are going to be the last titles I publish for the timebeing as I'm going to be concentrating on pitching projects to other publishers instead of putting out my own stuff.

As far as that goes I have three outlines with artists right now and the plan is to get proper 'proposal packs' together to show editors and publishers next year. I'm keen that this stuff shouldn't be rushed as I want to make all of the proposals as slick and professional as possible. I've certainly found three terrific artists to work on them with me, one of whom I shall be meeting up with in Birmingham to discuss our collaboration in a bit more depth.

In the meantime, new stories will continue to appear from me on the Moonface website - Mongo, Music Critic is already up there and will be joined in due course by a couple of other tales, one of which will be drawn by my old Septic Isle collaborator Mick Trimble.

After a very lazy summer - the kids being around gave me an excuse to do bugger all on the writing front - I'm keen to really get back into things. I've done a fair bit of work on another story idea but need to retool it a bit, while another couple are at the 'very roughly sketched out in my head' stage. After BICS I have a couple of weeks off work and intend to use them to get some of this stuff up and running...

All Hail Mongo!

MONGO, MUSIC CRITIC, my collaboration with artist Tommie Kelly, is now available to download for FREE as a PDF at www.moonfacepress.com

Mongo is a violent alien warlord with a sideline in scathing music journalism. All Earthlings must tremble before Mongo's might - especially those in terrible emo and indie bands.

Tommie is the creator of the frequently hilarious Road Crew comic strip, which you'll find here: www.roadcrewcomic.com

The first collection of Road Crew strips in book form - called Electric LadyLand - is now available for pre-order from that site, too.

Hopefully, Mongo will be the first of many free strips going up on the Moonface site. In fact, if there are any artists out there who'd like to collaborate with me on one, please get in touch. The strips will all be under 10 pages in length and I have scripts ready to send out right now...

There's a good chance an extra-special version of the now completely-sold-out one-shot TIM SKINNER: TOTAL SCUMBAG by 28 Days Later artist Declan Shalvey and I will be made available on the site at some point, too, although I shall probably charge a quid or so for people to download that.

Holding pattern

APOLOGIES for the lack of updates in the past month but the kids have been off school for what feels like an eternity (roll on September!) and my time is at even more of a premium than usual. And, to be honest, there hasn't been loads to report anyway...

Work on the Kurse proposal continues apace and I'm a bit nearer to naming the artists I'll be teaming up with on further pitches but that's about it really. All told, when the dust settles, I should have at least three or four things to show editors and publishers over the next year or so. The good thing is that the projects are all pretty diverse, spanning a couple of different flavours of sci-fi, a bit of comedy and some other tomfoolery I don't really have a name for yet.

One of the sci-fi projects is the post-alien invasion story I mentioned in passing a while back. Just waiting for the potential artist to get back to me and say whether he wants to do it or not - I'm actually quite nervous about his response as he would be SO perfect for it and it would be a disappointment if he doesn't fancy it...

* I'M seriously thinking about attending the Dublin City Con again this year - for me, it was one of the comic highlights of 2008 so if I can get a cheap flight and accommodation that's a few quid less expensive than last time I'll be there. I'm not sure the event's official website is up properly yet but when it is you'll find all the details here: www.dublincitycomiccon.com

* I'VE seen a couple of pages of Dec Shalvey's 28 Days Later artwork and I think people are going to be in for a real treat. Dec's black and white stuff is as tight and dynamic as ever but the coloured version is lovely, too. I enjoyed the colours on Dec's Frankenstein graphic novel but felt they overwhelmed his art a bit. This is a much better fit - muted and subtle, perfect for the subject matter and a great showcase for Dec's work. Not sure when the first issue hits the shops (later this month, I think) but I'm looking forward to seeing it in all its finished glory.

Kurse komes together

GETTING the Kurse proposal together continues apace with sketches of the story's main and secondary characters all completed by artist Chris Simmonds (with his permission I might post a few here at some point soon). I've now sent Chris the first 10 pages of script and I'm sure that will be keeping him busy for the next couple of months. I have high hopes for my collaboration with Chris as he got what it is I'm trying to do with Kurse straightaway and has already brought quite a few of his own ideas to the table.

I've heard from a few artists who are interested in collaborating with me on further pitches and they're all really good. Unfortunately, none of them has an art style that would suit the particular stories I'm working on. After all, it's pointless having an artist with a light cartoony style working on a black-hearted alien invasion story full of death, misery and violence. My search continues...