‘2012:Final Prayer’ Roundtable – Paranormal Podcast

30th December, 2009 - Posted by Chris

Mr Heske was recently doing his stuff, promoting the ‘2012:Final Prayer’ Anthology on the Paranormal Podcast Episode #121.

I’ve never subscribed to this podcast before and it’s unlikely that I will in future as I pretty much fall on the side of scepticism in these matters, that being said this particular show was a good discussion about the 2012 phenomenon and the anthology I’m a part of.

Worth a listen.

Also just wanted to post another review of the anthology that has been posted at the Morbid Romantic blog :

http://www.morbid-romantic.net/2009/12/29/book-review-2012-final-prayer-by-r-m-heske/

I hope to have more news on new and existing projects in the New Year, I’m plugging away and have been putting the feelers out and will post here when things happen.

Cheers,
Chris

The not so elementary…

5th December, 2009 - Posted by Chris

Last Saturday I attended the grand opening of my friends comic shop (Mondo Comico) in Nottingham and had the pleasure of meeting Ian Edginton and Ian Culbard who were there signing – among other things – their adaptation of the Conan Doyle classic ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’.

I got a few Edginton comics signed from my collection and being a sucker for anything Sherlock I bought the ‘Baskerviile’ book too. Now being an adaptation of a book the story is already on good ground and they’ve done nothing to compromise it. The thing that stood out about the book to me though was the work that went into it and the vision that seems to exist between Edginton and Culbard.

The lettering and art absolutely fit and in the cases of flashbacks they had found an excellent way of presenting the speech heavy flashbacks etc.

See in the panel above how the silhouette a character bookends the tale that is being told and the speech balloons join to the caption box. It may sound like a silly thing to pick out but it’s this kind of attention to detail that just made this book an absolute joy to read, despite already knowing the story.

It’s also that sort of thing that so often doesn’t factor when writing a script, in this book though I’m pretty sure there must have been some thought about it upfront. I guess this is part of the reason that I’ve dabbled in lettering and colouring, for a tighter control and influence on the end product, things like the above really amaze me when I see them. Small touches that are just out of the ordinary but serve the story rather than being done for the hell of it.

I hope one day one of my books will make someone else feel the same.

Cheers
Chris

“Dénouement…”

28th November, 2009 - Posted by Chris

So, ThoughtBubble has come and gone and once again stated it’s case for being the best UK Comic Convention/Festival there is.

Whereas last year I was caught up in trying to get ‘Shiver’ officially accepted, wandering the aisles looking for anthologies to submit something to and didn’t actually get much time to taste the convention proper. This year I decided to go prepared with books to get signed by some of the confirmed guests and made three of the panels and having a thoroughly great time in the process.

I managed to meet some folks I’ve been speaking to online, but unfortunately missed some of the people I had wanted to catch up with due to having to head for the train home at 5pm.

Firstly the Insomnia stand was there in full force and frequently was a source of bodies jamming together as people stopped and gawped at the wares on show.

During a period of being stranded down one of the narrow aisles I got talking to Matthew Craig and impressed by how easy he was to talk to I bought a few of his Hondle mini-comics. If you see Matthew at any future cons please stop by and give his stuff a look, he’s a super nice guy.

I stopped by and spoke to Terry Martin from Murky Depths, excited to find out when Mike Carey would be along to sign on their table. On my way up to Leeds to the train I had chance to read the latest Murky Depths (#10) which contains a writing competition where the challenge is to finish a story that Mike Carey started. It’s a difficult one but I think I’m going to give it a go.

I got comics signed by Andi Watson, Mike Carey and Sean Phillips but avoided the other larger lines that clogged up the end of the hall.

Panel wise I hit the following :

‘FROM PAPER TO DIGITAL’, ‘DO ZOMBIES READ COMIC BOOKS’ and ‘MARVEL COMICS, HOW TO WORK FOR US MASTECLASS’. I won’t review these panels there are plenty of blogs already posted about most of them, I will say that I really enjoyed the ‘How to break into marvel’ style panel that was hosted by Stephen Wacker (Spiderman Editor). I wasn’t expecting any secret backdoor or such and rather than being a master class it was just and opportunity for aspiring creators to ask him questions about working for Marvel. The takeaway for it from the writing side is that they only look at published worked, if they like what you’ve done then they may approach you to pitch them. Till then it’s just about busting your ass and getting your work seen.

Good panel none-the-less though.

I can’t end this bit on ThoughtBubble without mentioning Sam Johnson (Geek Girl Creator and former SPI competitor) who I spent a lot of time chatting too at the convention. He has a desire and eagerness that I need to try and get myself. A discipline to sitting down and making the story happen.

This regular, longer, more precise blog posting is a first step to that.
*FINGERS CROSSED*

Cheers,
Chris

Thoughts on the ‘Bubble

20th November, 2009 - Posted by Chris

So it’s Friday, another week another blog post. I have made a pact with Steve Stone to hopefully encourage and remind each other to post something at least once a week. He has just posted his and so I thought I should pull my thumb out.

THE OBLIGATORY ‘2012:FINAL PRAYER’ PIMPAGE

Friday the Thirteenth is traditionally a day of bad portents and poor luck, fitting then that it should be the date that the ‘2012:Final Prayer’ anthology is released.

The anthology is now available from www.zaldiva.com

You can order a digital download at www.drivethrucomics.com by clicking this link:

http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65626&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2614

You can also pre-order at Amazon (a small shipment of books have been shipped); and the book (both US and UK variant) will soon be available from Haven Distributors.

There has also been some further reviews/press with more expected in the coming few days.

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/comics/2012-final-prayer/

http://www.jazmaonline.com/presspreview.asp?prID=904

THOUGHTBUBBLE IS HERE

Tomorrow I will be waking up at some ungodly hour to head to the train station and head to Leeds for this years ThoughtBubble comics festival.

ThoughtBubble last year was amazing and by all indications this years is going to be even better, following from this years B.I.C.S there are a few people who I need to say hello to again and some I need to meet for the first time.

I don’t know when conventions became more about meeting up with mates and fellow creators more than getting sketches and signatures.
Strange how things happen however that brings me on to…

COMICS GLORIOUS COMICS

The last two days I have finally had a chance to begin to sort out the many A4 printer boxes full of comics scattered around my flat. I am about 6 boxes down, the comics have been sorted and placed into nice comic long boxes. I have started with all the comics that are mine. The ones from 2001 onwards as opposed to the earlier ones I have inherited from my father.

Again it’s strange to realise just how my comic reading habits and tastes have changed over the years, I used to be a Marvel/TopCow nut and by the looks of it I had far too much money to spend on comics. I did find a nice stash of comics that I bought but have still not read yet.

For any nosey folks out there, here is a link to my ComicBookDB profile, as I say there’s still a lot more comics to add :

http://www.comicbookdb.com/collection.php?ID=21938

That’s all for now folks,
Hope to see some of you in Leeds tomorrow,
Chris

‘Making procrastination work for you!’

11th November, 2009 - Posted by Chris

‘Tis the month of November and that for me in the past few years has meant only one thing.

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

Did I need to write that in capitals? Probably not but that is the gravitas with which NaNoWriMo presents itself. It is a large, imposing gargantuan of a month. I’ve reached the top for the past two years running but I still panic come the 31st October when I stand at the base of ‘the mountain’ and look up.

This year I am too busy to do NaNoWriMo, I said I would be all the way back to last year so why now November has trundled round do I find myself registered on the site as a participant. Why am I going to the meetings and talking to other NaNoWriMoers?

I can only come up with one reason myself, it sounds inane but I can procrastinate with the best of them. As such I figure that if I have this looming deadline of the end of November for something I have bo idea what I want to write then I will procrastinate by working on my comic projects more readily.

Inane, insane… Maybe, but it’s working.

Cheers,
Chris

More and more…

20th October, 2009 - Posted by Chris

Just an update on more press on 2012: Final Prayer.

INTERVIEWS:

http://www.comicmonsters.com/features-1060-2012__Final_Prayer_interview_with_Robert_Heske.html

http://www.superheronation.com/2009/10/10/15-questions-with-bob-heske/

WEB/PRESS COVERAGE:

http://www.secretidentitypodcast.com/

http://movieblips.dailyradar.com/blog/horror_movies_stuff_com_latest_horror_news/ (NOTE: Sign up and vote it up!)

http://www.havendistro.com/newsletters/RWHavenNL_Oct09.html

It’s coming thick and fast!

Cheers,
Chris

‘The Ends’ is near!

16th October, 2009 - Posted by Chris

The press release for ‘2012 : Final Prayer’ is doing the rounds and with the E-Book preview up at myebook.com it seems to be getting some decent attention.

Below I am including a link to the E-Book preview and links to the places where the press release has appeared so far :

COMICMONSTERS.COM
http://www.comicmonsters.com/ftopict-12442.html
HORROR MOVIES & STUFF
http://www3.webng.com/horrormoviesandstuff/2012Preview.html
THE OUTHOUSE
http://www.theouthousers.com/content/view/4810/228/
COMIC BITS ONLINE
http://www.comicbitsonline.com/2009/10/15/2012-final-days/
PROJECT FANBOY
http://www.projectfanboy.com/
INVESTCOMICS
http://www.investcomics.com/

More to come hopefully,
Cheers,
Chris

A BELATED BICS ROUND UP

16th October, 2009 - Posted by Chris

well folks, BICS (British International Comics Show) came and went, leaving a trail of destruction in my liver and my wallet. It was a great weekend filled with meeting both old and new friends.

I did a bit of self promotion, handed out some ‘”business cards” and although I didn’t lug my portfolio around I managed to sort out a few things I had intended to and hopefully sow some seeds for some future comics work whatever form it may take.

I wont dwell on the specifics of the con, I’ll just post these three pictures and then some links to some other blogs and coverage of the convention.  

(Paul Richardson, Luke Foster, Myself and Victoria Charvill at the Launch Party on the Friday night)

(Larking about in Birmingham Saturday morning, surprisingly hangover free)

(Saturday night drinks in the company of too man awesome people to list. Me and Hannah doing classic ‘thumbs up’)

LINKAGE :

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/bics-2009-a-convention-worthy-of-its-british-international-comics-show-name-part-1-the-weekend/

http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/241021.html

http://theraggedman.blogspot.com/2009/10/citadel-of-comics-fantasy-convention-in.html

Cheers,
Chris

Shiver to hit PSP

16th October, 2009 - Posted by Chris

Below is a press release that is GREAT news for everyone associated with Insomnia (including myself with ‘Shiver’).

Insomnia On Demand: Catch the RedEye on PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable)

In the blackest hours before dawn, when all good comic readers were tucked up in bed, the Insomniacs crawled into their dreams.

What were they whispering into the darkness? What did they wish for, lost in the sleep of the innocent?

No less than:

· To be able read Insomnia comics anywhere, at any time

· Take their entire comics collections wherever they went

· To listen to their own music while reading

· To navigate pages their own way

· To find and buy comics easily and access content instantly from the PlayStation®Store

All this will be on offer for PSP owners in December 2009, with the opening of the Digital Comics Store on the PlayStation®Network.

Red Eyed and bushy tailed, Insomnia Publications will be standing proud on launch day as our critically acclaimed books take their place on the virtual shelves, next to world famous names in comic book publishing.

Insomnia Publications’ graphic novels will be presented in the store as single-issue length chapters, following the publication of the book. The first chapter of every book will be offered free to readers as a “taster” of the story.

Crawford Coutts, Managing Director of Insomnia Publications, says:

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Sony in the launch of the Digital Comics Service.

Insomnia is committed to nurturing the very best new art, new writing and new concepts in its original graphic novels and the unprecedented scope of this Comics Store will connect independent publishers and readers around the globe.

The help and guidance we have received from Sony throughout truly demonstrates their commitment to support the medium, the publishers, the readers and the comics industry itself.

Many of our creators are gamers themselves and so were delighted to hear that their work will be offered through PlayStation Network.”

With the first Insomnia titles available right from the December launch, you will be able to:

· Unlock Cages (http://www.insomniapublications.com/cages)

· Fall into Cancertown (http://www.insomniapublications.com/cancertown/)

· Dissect the bloody history of the notorious Burke and Hare (http://www.insomniapublications.com/burke-and-hare/)

With a growing range of titles to choose from and the phenomenal scope of the Digital Comics Store, this is just the beginning..

Notes:

1. The Comics Store will launch on the PlayStation Network for PSP in December 2009

2. Official Sony Press Release
http://uk.playstation.com/games-media/news/articles/detail/item229628/Take-comics-everywhere-you-go/

3. For further information, interviews and comments please contact Crawford Coutts, MD, at info@insomniapublications.com

Insomnia Publications can be found online at:
Website: www.insomniapublications.com
Blog: www.theredeye.co.uk