Volume II. An Honouring of Commandment III.

I’m pleased to announce that Volume II is well underway and on course for its planned November release to coincide with the (Melbourne) Armageddon Pop Culture Convention.

Henry is madly scribbling away, producing some of the best work I’ve seen him do - which is saying a lot. Tom Bonin, our man on inks has done a sterling job of complimenting Henry’s work while simultaneously bringing his own style to further enhance the dark, heavy atmosphere that the script demands.

I can tell you that it’s a little disconcerting see this volume come alive. Sure, I knew it was a gruesome, insane instalment when I wrote it, but that didn’t prepare me for seeing just how full-on it was when brought to life by Henry’s hand. For all the people who were (justifiably) thinking ‘what the hell is going on‘ at the end of the first book, I can promise you that, while not all your questions will be answered (would you really want to know all the answers just yet?), you will be left more sure of the story’s direction…and maybe just a little bit nauseous! Ha!  I’ll be needing some pumped up warning labels on the front for this happy little volume, I assure you.

Anyway, here’s an example of Henry and Tom’s collaborative efforts (please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this update):

Our hero does not look happy!

…and dad doesn’t look too well.

Check out the cover for Volume II!

This amazing piece of work by master illustrator Mr. Wayne Nichols (www.wnichols.com) is the result of an idea of mine beautifully realised and will look great on the shelves. So, now I’ve shown you, you know what to look for, right? ;^)

Doujicon 2008

Despite not bringing in the numbers that all involved thought it would, this Convention was still a blast and remains my favourite due to its intimate atmosphere and focus on promoting local small press and independent creators.

Now while I didn’t do great on actual book sales (more than likely attributable to the 80% drop in numbers from last year as well as the fact that Volume I was launched at the same event last year, so most people already had it (which is a nice thought in it’s own right)), the thing that did sell well were the framed, signed and dated prints of this beautiful pin-up by Henry.

The decision to sell these was a spur of the moment thing, and I grabbed only two frames, thinking I would be pushing to sell one. So, after I sold the first one before I’d even set up and the second within the first hour I had to grab some more…

Now here’s the part where I show you a bunch of photos I took…something I would have been happy to do if I wasn’t having pc problems in that area.

Seems any photo I save to my hard drive, I lose access to (any tech-heads out there to give me heads up on what the hell is going on there! Please?).

Anyway, my good mate and creator of his own very nice works, Mr. Bobby N. (www.bluetoaster.com) has been nice enough to allow me the use of some photos that he took of the event and was smart enough to upload straight away (must take a note form his book…). Thanks Bobby!

Brother’s in Arts: myself and the very talented Mr. Bobby N.

Doujicon 2008!

My favourite part of the Hall: The Bar!

Pizza, (more) beers, great chats and many a laugh were had after the first day of trade at a Lygon pizza restaurant. Featured clockwise from top left: BMB (a man with a talent to bring out the wrongness in me), John Retallick (barely visible in this shot, John host of the excellent ‘ComicSpot’ on the last Thursday of every month on 3CR 855am on the dial at 5pm - I’m on next month babbling away about The List!), Jason Franks (all round nice bloke, prolific writer/artist and fellow Mark of Cain fan!), Zora (Bobby N.’s long suffering girlfriend - just kidding Bobby), Fleur (my long suffering girlfriend - and I’m sure she’d agree. Ha!), Me, and last but certainly not least Dave ‘The Machine’ Cunning (Owner/Director of Australia’s largest comic publishing house, Local Act Comics).

Despite the low sales and attendance I had a great two days. My highlights included:

• sitting next to Bobby N and trading jokes and jibes all day
• seeing all the great new work and high standard of work being produced by Aussie Creators
• having some friends drop in to say hi and check out the stand (special thanks to Soraya Mobayad and family, my lovely lady Fleur and her just as lovely mum Liz, and my very good friends Coops and Michelle).
• selling the framed prints.
• signing copies and having my photo taken with a couple of punters.
• the bar which was just next door! :^)
• the dinner with some very good friends (and fellow creators) on the Saturday night.

I visit so many sites where I find apologies for not updating, and my immediate reaction is to think the admins of the site are slack. But…here I am doing it myself. The main reason here has to do with change of sites. As you can see the site has been revamped. I have my very talented sister-in-law, CC (www.topfive.com.au), to thank for the facelift. I love the new look…and she loves that fact that instead of me hassling her with updates all the time, with this site I can do it myself!

With regards to the site, you will see that there are few new sections. The first is Fan Art (which I should have called ‘pin ups’, as I hate the term fan art). That aside, I consider myself very fortunate to have had some creators of note within the Australian comic industry compliment me with their interpretations of my work. Check out this site for the pieces submitted thus far (more being added all the time). By the way, all pieces are to be included in Volume II and contributors receive a free copy when it is released, so, if you wish to submit a piece, go right ahead (make sure it’s black and white – greyscale is ok too)! Also, you will see that you can leave a comment on any of the pieces posted here. I’m sure the artists would love to know your thoughts.

The other new section is the Readers and Other Creators page. Via the Press menu, you will see this heading tops the list (no pun intended). Here you can read the thoughts of those who aren’t critics, but have taken the time out to send me their words with regards to my work. My motivation to include this was spurred by the fact that I never really get to know the thoughts of those who buy the book from conventions or stores, and to be honest, these are the people who I really want to get opinions from. So, like the Fan Art section, I encourage you to send in your impressions of The List. No, they don’t have be glowing reports, they can be highly critical - so long as they are fair and constructive.

Ok, so much has happened since the last update that I’m bound to forget either whole chunks of it or will leave out details of the bits I do remember. But here goes…

Volume II is well and truly underway and we are really hoping for a release date of October to coincide with many events that will foster its launch (there is to be a launch party also - you’ll be notified of that). Henry has been plugging away with grand results, and now with Tom Bonin aboard doing inks we have the makings of a great product. I can assure you that Volume II ramps things up dramatically. Volume I, you will see, is very tame compared to what’s in store for you, so buy a torch as you’re about to trek a very dark path. Check out the Preview Panels section for a sneak peek at the pics.

SupaNova (Melbourne)

Well, I have to say I have several complaints about this event - I simply can’t believe it was put on by the same people who ran the awesome Sydney show. It seems they are taking us local creators a little for granted by lining their own pockets without really organising the event to facilitate sales for us indie creators - I am still in denial there were no ATM’s on site! I don’t know how many sales I missed out on because people simply did not have any money. Anyway, enough bitching about it, there were a few good points, such as the people I met. It really makes the day worthwhile when you meet people who truly get your work. Two of the most notable where Soraya who wrote me a very insightful email about my work - she’s only fifteen and understood more about what I was trying to achieve with The List than many so called critics; you can read a few of her thoughts in the Press section under the Readers and Other Creators heading. The other was a fellow by the name of Liam who bought a copy of The List on Saturday and returned on Sunday to tell us that he had read it three times. He then proceeded to assume the role of The List chief-promoter and, after grabbing a handful of bookmarks, ran about the entire convention hall giving them out and telling people about the book while directing them to our stall - his methods actually converted into quite a few sales, so thank you Liam! It’s meeting people like this that make it all worthwhile. Here’s a pic of myself (on the left) and Henry Pop (my kick-ass artist) at The List stall:

The List gets some Street(press) Cred

Despite being out on the shelves for but a month (at the time of this article’s publication), the long running Melbourne street press magazine were good enough to do a feature on myself and our work. Here ’tis.

Oh…and I promise the site will be updated more often (“yeah, right” I hear you say.)