Basement Updates!!

Wow. 2011 has been a busy one so far. Things are moving along nicely on 'Maker & I'. I received the first colored pages back from Matt Soffe and I have to say that man is a little bit of a genius...I love what he's pulling out of the bag and so glad he's on board with myself and Dan. Totally stoked for this book. Find Matt Soffe and Dan Duncan's sites on the right.

Also, I've become friends with the chaps at Tales From The Parent's Basement, as you probably guessed because I never shut up about them. The more I work with those guys on various things the more I want to hit a convention with them and get into misadventures. I recently told Ryan that I imagine their podcasts being somewhat like Lord of the Flies (from what I have gathered I think Cally would be the one beaten to death with a Gonch shell, and that makes me sad :(

They're awesome guys so please check out their site! Our bromance continues in my preview of Oni Press comic 'The Sixth Gun', as well as the article 'planet nerd' that was previously posted here... http://talesfromtheparentsbasement.com/reviews/?p=609

Rocket Fuel!!!!!!

October has been an insane month full of various bits and pieces for me to get excited about...

On the 16th-17th of October I journeyed up to the Think Tank in Birmingham for this years Birmingham International Comic Show. I was on the Accent UK table and had a truly amazing time there; having long chats with Colin, Dave, Tony and Gemma about movies, comics, future projects and everything in between; talking to comic fans and selling books; signing my first ever comic (i couldn't believe it!), and generally making a nuisance of myself.

At the con I also pitched the new Accent UK anthology that I'm editing to prospective contributors, all of which I am incredibly humbled and grateful to get the chance to work with. That will move forward shortly, so watch this space...

I met some great new faces for the first time, one of which being Matt Soffe, an incredible writer/artist/colorist and all-round renaissance man that can be found here:- http://mygrimmbrother.blogspot.com/
Matt is now the colorist on 'My Maker and I'- the book co-created by myself and Dan Duncan - and I can't wait until he blows all your brains out with his paint-set. After receiving the (almost) final inks of the first pages on my return from the con, I have to say that Dan is doing unbelievable stuff on the book. How he's not working for a major company yet is beyond me...but he will be very soon.

Thanks for such an amazing weekend must go to the Accent UK boys for being such generous and supportive hosts, Andy Bloor for rocking the artist corner, Dave Hitchcock who drew in my sketchbook and chatted to me for longer than he had to, and the wonderful nerd-goddess that is Laura Ayres - for her burnt pizza, great conversation, and giving me somewhere to crash.
I returned to Oxford exhausted but satisfied.



This week has seen me working on pulling contributors together for the new anthology and lead a workshop on 'Word and Image' for the Oxford Brookes Creative Writing society. It was a great turn out - thanks to the efforts of society head Verity Heir - where I talked about the merits and tricks involved in writing screenplays, comics, illustrated children's books and television (anything involving the interaction between word and image, hence the title). I had fun and it was great to meet new, young writers taking their first steps.

There are other covert missions and underground clockworks, but all in it's time...