Its beginning to look a lot like...

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Well, my favourite time of year is almost upon us again - I am just a big kid after all - so I thought I'd put in a quick entry to my recently neglected blog just to make that little guilty feeling go away. Lots of comic news for you all. First up, the colour covers of Celtic Knights Issue 1 have arrived & Stephen is dilligently dispatching them to comic book shops as we speak. So If you are doing some last minute Christmas shopping in Dublin City Centre, pop into one of our great cities fine comic book establishments and ask for your copy. If they don't have it, tut and shake your head disapprovingly. They might be guilt-tripped into picking it up!! If you are elswhere in the country, just drop myself or Stephen a line & we will be glad to post you out a copy. We are those kind of guys. We do hope to be able to distribute to comic shops around the country in the New Year, so watch this space!

The reviews of issue 1 are in! David O' Leary, of Comic Related wrote this review for the website:

"Book Summery: 90% of Earths superheroes are either dead or in hiding. This is the best of what's left.

I wasn't sure what to expect of this when I first got it. What drew to me to it before anything else in my stack was the homage cover to X-Men #11, I had been picking up a lot of smaller press items recently and some of it was lukewarm but this; By issues end, I wanted more. As in now!

Stephen Paul Coffey is a published novelist of Zodiac: A Rosemary Herbb Adventure and a very capable comic writer. I adored the idea of an Irish superhero team and was very curious to see if it could be pulled off. The story opens at the International Mega-Human Headquarters in Dublin where we learn that 90% of the worlds superheroes are dead or in hiding after the fail safe files on the heroes were stolen with the purpose of wiping out the heroes by the villain "The Broker" General Blake then sets about recruiting the best of what is left and what is left is a rag tag bunch of misfits. Coffey injects a wit and enough sharp dialogue that it was a genuine laugh out loud read. I cannot tell what it was like to read a superhero comic where places like Dublin and Tallaght are referenced and the accents are written as they sound and the jokes are funny to those who know the region and to those who are not. I now know how New Yorkers feel when the read Marvel Comics! Now that the set up issue is out of the way I hope that we see a continuation of the book soon. Coffey's cast of characters are not exactly what you would call world class. Take for example Fallout a guy from a galaxy far away, who has all the powers of an A-lister buy whose control over gravity is unreliable. Or Rapid who has an overbearing over protective mother who comes along to the recruitment meeting but has to walk because the militaries vehicle has its wheels stolen while in Rapids house. Viciously fuuny!

Ger Hankey is currently involved in the "Transformers: Mosaic" projct run by the IDW publishing. So far he has been invloved in the production of six pieces for the project. This is my first exposure to his work though and I found the black & white interior art suited the story quiet well. His art is very easy to follow and where needs be the facial expressions of just about all the characters are well suited to the story allowances. There is a very strong base here for Hankey to build on .

I was very surprised to find that the book was as strong as it was. I have great hope for the book as it was a very funny read with a lot to draw in a local audience. If anyone overseas can get hold of this book then I very much recommend that you pick it up. As for Stephen Paul Coffey and Ger Hankey, bravo gentlemen."

Well thats about a good a note to end the year on as any, I suppose! I'd like to thank both Stephen and Barry for all the hard work they put into both projects, and hopefully we can do it all again bigger & better next year!
I'll leave you with a couple of recent Transformers pictures. I'd like to thank everybody for your support & praise, and I hope you all have a great Christmas & a very Happy New Year.
Now, where are those presents...

So now what?

I know that I'm a few days late updating the blog this week, so apologies. I wasn't going to bother at all this week but I wouldn't want you all thinking I was just using the blog to sell comics at the convention.....
It all went very well actually. Both comics were very well received, with Celtic Knights selling out of all the copies we brought with us!! There are a few more copies on sale in Sub City, Exchequer St. here in Dublin, and once our second print run arrives it should be in a few other places too. I'll keep you posted so watch this space!! I got to meet a lot of fellow Irish comic creators (there are too many to mention by name, but I was very impressed with the standard of Irish independent comics out there) and a few of the bigger names in the business. Irelands own Nick Roche, of IDW Transformers fame, did a great sketch for me (have a look below), and was showing off artwork for the first two issues of his latest project "Maximum Dinobots", which looks great.
I spent most of the convention sketching robots for people & trying to force sweets on them, so if you bought a copy of either of the comics or some artwork- thank you, and I have the number of a good dentist if you want it...
So next on the agenda are some more robots... I have a commission piece and another mosaic to do before I get cracking on Issue 2 of the Knights. I'm taking a break from anything too pressing between now and Christmas though, so I'll probably not get anything at all done...
No picutres by me this week, but one of me! Top one is Ultra Magnus by Nick Roche, and the bottom one is the Celtic Knights/Rosemary Herbb table at the convention. I'm the one in the middle about to get a smack on the head from Stephen, with Barry wisely staying as far away from it all as he can. Next convention, I'm sitting on the end...