SPACE MONKEY

The Paper Jam Comic Collective are back with another anthology and I'm in it.  Space Monkey, or to give its proper title Space Monkey, featuring: Squids, Bicycles, Cowboys, Skeletons, Bogeys, Dinosaurs, UFOs, Galleons, Loners, Emos, Aliens, Accidents, Bulls, Electricians, Pizza Pirates, Missing Heads, Secret Codes, Astronauts, Cheese, Massive Plants, Toilets, Tortoises and Bob...And That is themed, as you can probably guess, to be both child-friendly and child-orientated.

This came about largely because we've been represented at a number of events (book fairs, arts fayres and the like) that there's been kids at and hardly any of our individual output is suitable for them (I put my hand up as the guiltiest party).  So, the decision was made to embrace this challenge and do a comic that kids would be proud to read.  I'm sure this was suggested in an apologetic manner to me, as if I would kick off at the thought of not being able to fill a comic with rude words.  Quite the opposite was true - this year has been all about trying new things and attempting to stretch myself, so I was right up for a challenge.

The results took many interesting forms - everything from adventure tales, to sci-fi adventures, to half-page gag strips.  I collaborated on 4 pages of the latter with Mr Gary Bainbridge and am very pleased with results.  And they're silent too, which is another break for me, seeing as most of my stuff is very dialogue-based.  For those fans of Melanchomic who miss the swearing, you can always add your own profanity to it.

The cover image is by the hugely talented Dan Gilmore and the whole thing was painstakingly put together and shaped into loveliness by Paul Thompson.  It is frankly the most beautiful anthology the group has done thus far.  Congratulations all round. 

Space Monkey is available now from Travelling Man Newcastle and shortly via the site for the measly price of £3.  We're in the midst of trying to get an online shop set up, but in the meantime if you want a copy just contact them via e-mail and it'll get sorted out.  And I must stress, while this is a comic aimed at children, it's still a very funny and enjoyable showcase for some of the huge North East talent we have in the group.  If you like comics - it's well worth checking out be you child or adult or something in between.

And yes, there will be a launch party - there's always a launch party - but as this is a kids anthology we'll have to dispense with the usual venues, drink and loud bands and shape it to suit the target audience.  This will involve much thought and creative planning, so I'll let you know when we've found our thinking caps.

GIG POSTERS

Seeing as I'm getting quite into this whole poster-designing malarky, I've signed up with the fantastic site Gig Posters and uploaded all the previous posters I've done so far.

Gig Posters is a huge database of concert posters and flyers from all around the world, categorised by band, designer, venue and city.  So if you go on there and look up, say, Daniel Johnston, there will be all the uploaded posters that have been done for him for gigs all around the world...plus my piece of shit attempt!

Gig Posters was a real inspiration to me during my Masters degree, so it's a real honour to be on there.  If you want a look, my page is here.

VIVIAN GIRLS POSTER

I've not long finished another poster for Portions For Foxes, this time a preview for a gig by the all-girl indie rock band Vivian Girls.

As with the last poster I did, this one had to have a quick turnover (despite the gig not being til January), so I was just given the name of the band and the text to go on with.  I did a wee bit of research on the band (by God they're hot!) and was struck by a photo on their blog, which inspired the image on the poster.

Whenever possible I try to incorporate the band's established logo into the poster so that fans can recognise it quicker and Vivian Girls seem to have a hand-scrawled one that appears on all their album covers.

WAVVES POSTER

Another poster for Portions For Foxes, this time to promote a gig by California punk band Wavves.

This one had to have a very quick turnover, so I was left completely to my own devices in regard to visuals.  Following from the skateboarding photos on their album covers, I came up with the design above.  No big concept - I just wanted something that seemed to fit and was visually striking.

COUPLEDOM IS HERE!

Yes, after years of procrastination, my next comic is finally completed.  Behold the wonder that is...Coupledom!

It's a follow-up to my previous comic Melanchomic, but only in the sense that it follows on chronologically.  While Melanchomic is very much about being in your early -to-mid 20s, unlucky in love and socially inept, this is volume is about being in your mid-to-late 20s and in a relationship with someone who's simultaneously the love of your life, your best friend and a crazy mental person who's broken into your house and is holding you hostage with a homemade shiv.  In truth, it's just an excuse for more swearing and stupid conversations, but if you're the kind of person who likes the autobio work of James Kochalka, Marc Ellerby or Liz Prince, you should get a kick out of it.

For those of you wondering why it's taken me so long to put this out...  Well...  Good question.  After my last one I spent a lot of time trying to get it sold in places and promoted.  This took a while cos it was the first one I'd done on my own.  Also, I'd just started a relationship which kind of ate up my spare time (in the best way possible).  Then I did a Masters in Illustration and Design, which sapped up what time I had left, drained me of creative juices and left me with ulcers.  By the time I was done with it, I had zero confidence in my abilities and the worthiness of what I'd done before.  So, I turned back to my first love of scriptwriting and spent a long time trying to get my confidence back.

Eventually I started putting together another comic - this time called Blether - which was to be a semi-non-autobiographical humour book, but it fell apart around the mid-way point for various reasons.  I salvaged what autobiographical comics I could from it and Coupledom was conceived.  I picked away at it slowly for around 2 years in between other things, until January this year when I decided to get my act together and make something of myself.

I hope it was worth it!

At this precise moment Coupledom is only available from my Online Shop and Travelling Man Newcastle , but I'll be trying to get my friend Ali to buy some for the Cartoon Museum in London before the month is out.  It'll also have pride of place on my stall at Thought Bubble in November, for those of you lucky enough to be there.

ELLERBISMS 200

I've been following Marc Ellerby's work for a while now, mostly through his fantastic autobiographical webcomic Ellerbisms.  It's one of three webcomics that I religiously check every time I come near a computer.  One of the others is James Kochalka's, so you can tell I hold him in high regard!

Marc is fair-haired, dates a brunette, does comics, loves Ben Folds and used to work in Waterstone's.  He's like the new and improved me!  Cooler, younger, more fashionable and without a trace of fat on his body (at least as far as I can tell).  I've got a beard though, so I win.  Anyway, so when the call went out for submissions to celebrate his 200th Ellerbism, I put aside my seething resentment and popped a preview from Coupledom in the post.  And Marc has been nice enough to feature me in the celebrations.

While the call out mentioned "your own strips influenced or similar to Ellerbisms", little did I know that I'd be the only one self-centred enough to put in work about themselves and not Marc!  Never mind!  Here's hoping some Ellerbism fans stop hating me long enough to check out this site!

PROFILE ON MUSTARD SITE

Top British comedy magazine Mustard has been given a spruced up website and I've been added to the staff profile page (for my work in the last issue).

The magazine is on a recession-induced hiatus at the moment, but I'm told Alex is gradually compiling the next issue in his spare time.  If you see a copy knocking around, please buy it as all the sales of issue 4 help ensure the magazine's continuation.

NARC MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION (OCTOBER 09)

This month in NARC magazine I've illustrated a question for the 'Pub Quiz' section.  I gave them a choice of notable celebrity birthdays occurring in October and they went for 'Weird Al' Yankovic, who turns 50 this month.

I had the dilemma of how to show Weird Al - in this white fro/tache days or his modern long-haired style.  He's had his current look for over a decade, but to me he was most iconic back in the 80s, so it is in this vein that I have drawn him.  If he ever sees this - sorry Al!