Morning folks,
It’s a busy one this week. Work is relentless. But on Saturday myself and Mr Falp are off to Bridlington Comic Convention. This event is run by Andy Hempal and stands up for comics in the UK by giving free table space to the small press. This will be our second time visiting and we are pretty excited. We’ll be there along with Johnny Cannon, Ian Ashcroft and some other pals. If you are local then pop along to say hi.
Over at the ACP this week we had guest and chum Rory Donald on to discuss the dynamic of working within a collaboration. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks digging into what it is like to act as a solo comics-maker and we switch it up to working with someone else. We really get into the weeds and Rory is as always a great guest. He also has a Kickstarter running for his new Cornish-based fantasy series Spaceboy and the Future King. Go back it right here.
Let’s get this ball properly rolling.
Small Press Comic of the Week.
Nothing tickled my carrot this week from the world of physical comics. I had a good long look at the small press shelf at Gosh on Sunday. Went to pick a couple up but noticed some massively inflated prices and put them back (again). So, what I’m recommending this week is a Patreon.
Simply put, Zack Cahill makes the sort of comics that I like to read. Well drawn with stylish visuals that are focused on storytelling and action, but with a great sense of humour. His Patreon supplies the goods with regularity. Recommended.
Tops.
This was a nice little surprise from Mad Cave Comics. It is the first issue of a five issue anthology with a different story in each issue. This ticked my personal box as being about a favourite trope, that of the man at the end of his life with nothing left to lose. A hard man who races the devil.
Cracking visuals were you want the story never to end. Get on it while you can.
Bottom.
Hey! The Marvel office had a great idea. Why not write a comic where we open on a street scene, turns out our main character works in a bar, she goes for a walk and gets some texts, then she feels a bit tired so has a lay down on the couch. Gets up, watches some TV, talks to the reader, goes out again………
Blah, Boring, Blah.
That, dear reader, is the first issue of an X book. Not a graphic novel/slice-of-life. Not a manga with hundreds of pages. This is a twenty page comic from the X-Universe that cost me £4.90. It’s actually a shame because the art isn’t too shabby.
It just suffers from being really boring and unimaginative.
Many thanks for reading this. (Not that.)
Just a quick thought before I go.
Jimmy Saville remains a scar on the British people. A man who sexually abused for decades. He hurt so many. For almost the whole of his offending history people in authority and in the press knew what he was doing. They said nothing. And during that silence more people, vulnerable women, were hurt. And other victims fearing that they were a lone voice couldn’t come forward. The media world has changed since Saville, not necessarily for the best. Let’s never let that happen again.
I urge you to seek out Pat’s blog and throw your support behind it and him. Whether it comes from the Catholic Church or a media personality then or now something needs to be done within our laws and those quiet should be ashamed of themselves.
See you next week.
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