SPRINGHEELED BACK

Good day all. Well, I momentarily couldn't remember my password... that's a great start. The release of the Titan edition of Springheeled Jack seems to be doing pretty well, I was worried as the book has had a few bites at the cherry. Thanks to everyone who has recently bought it, but moreso to those of you who have forked out for it again - at least this time it's a great format, larger than the hardback I self produced back in the day. I'm really proud of it and I do hope to do a sequel at some point.

In other news, I have an appearance in the galaxy's greatest mag iminent. Pat Mill's script for a one-off VISIBLE MAN story, looking forward to seeing that one (no pun intended). I've been selling my original art just lately, and Im pleased to say that I finally got enough money together to get myself a peice of art from the one and only KING OF COMICS (you dont want to know how many pages of my stuff I had to sell in order to get it;) )

Hello all. Not long now before the release of ABOVE THE DREAMLESS DEAD (23/09/2014), the WW1 trench poem anthology. I was very proud to be part of this book, edited by Chris Duffy, published by First Second in the US. Deadman's Dump, a poem by Isaac Rosenberg, is a gritty re-telling of the first few days of the futile battle. Pat Mills turned the poem into a superb short story, full of meaning and emotion. Hopefully I've kept my side of it up to scratch too. Pat said he thought it was "a mini-classic in the making"...that'll do me.

Hope you get to see it, as I'm aware there are a few books on the subject and folk have limited budgets nowadays.



Contributors to Above the Dreamless Dead include: Hannah Berry, Stephen R. Bissette, Eddie Campbell, Lilli Carré, Liesbeth De Stercke, Hunt Emerson, Garth Ennis, Simon Gane, Sarah Glidden, Isabel Greenberg, Sammy Harkham, me, Kevin Huizenga, Kathryn Immonen, Stuart Immonen, Peter Kuper, James Lloyd, Pat Mills, Anders Nilsen, Danica Novgorodoff, Luke Pearson, George Pratt, Carol Tyler, and Phil Winslade. Edited by Chris Duffy.


In the same month the TITAN BOOKS printing of SPRINGHEELED JACK will also be available, world wide, I believe. They have done a nice job, I'm indebted to David Leach for taking the book to his bosses and wafting it under their collective noses. Cheers, David.

That's about it for this time folks, stay tuned.

Happy New Year...oh, wait, that was a good few weeks ago now. I had a busy December which meant working solidly to get a short story illustrated for the legendary Pat Mills. Of course, I didnt mind, the chance to work with such a staple of the industry does not present itself very often. I can see why he has the 'Godfather of British Comics' tagline, because he turned a very grim poem into a very grim, but meaningful, story. When I first read the WW1 poem 'Dead man's Dump' on it's own, I must admit to not being overly enthused by it. Whilst it was undeniably very gritty, there didn't seem to be anything to grab onto to illustrate in a sequential way. Well, I need not have worried, Mr Mills used a very clever mechanic throughout... using the unfeeling, untouchable General Haig as a foil to the horrors of the battlefield, which gave the story a great deal of emotional impact. It was a battle to do, as I put a fair amount of effort into it over a relatively short period of time, had to, to hit the deadline. Anyway, im pleased with the result, Pat calls it a 'Mini Classic' so I can't wait to see it in print. Coming from Macmillan, a US publisher --- I'll let you know when it's out. Amongst that lot, I had 7 character busts to do too for a few collectors, phew, times to put my feet up and get some reading done ;)