I know its going to make me sound really old, but 2010 really felt like it flew by. Its not like in my day, when the time would drag along like its supposed to. Damn kids, yadda yadda...
I've been very busy the last few months, even though if you were looking at this blog it may have appeared that I fell off the face of the Earth. I have been pottering away on three Transformers strips, hopefully they will be seeing the light sometime in the new year.
I've also become a contributor to Sketchpaddys, a regular blog where Irish artists Robert Carey, Ciaran Finnegan, Cormac Hughes (and now me) show off their talents. Have a look, but some of the stuff is slightly NSFW (Robert Careys, er, interpretation of Brian Cowen probably isn't safe for civilised society full stop!) There's a black & white version of this Judge Dredd pic up on there too.
My plan over the Christmas break is to get as much of my outstanding artwork out of the way (though I did have a bit of a chat with Santa, so I know what my kids are getting, and I may end up getting slightly distracted!), and start work on Issue 2 of Short Sharp Shocks in the New Year. I'm hoping to have something to show by the time the next Irish comic convention comes around. So I'd better get my thinking cap on and do a bit of writing!
Thanks to everyone who bought a copy of Issue 1 this year (if you still want a copy you can buy it from Dublin City Comics & Collectibles or online at Indyplanet. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year

Ger

Bots of Honor!

I've been pretty busy the last couple of months doing Transformers artwork for a new project. It's been kept under wraps for the last while, but they have let a little preview out so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it.
The guys behind the Transformers: Mosaic project (a fantastic idea for fan comics, if you are anyway interested in robots or comics you should check them out) have decided to organise a massive undertaking. Here's the official low-down:

Logo by James Biggie. Art by; Ger Hankey, Kris Smith, Andrew Griffith, Daniel Light and Jenny Son.

Even in the most peaceful of times, when the people are happy and safe, there are those that would bring misery and suffering unto others. Those that would seek selfish gain. Those that would plunge the world into darkness. But, there is always a light to ward off the dark. A beacon of hope for the helpless. A symbol of justice that watches over all. There is always......a Prime.Patrolling the streets of the capital city of Iacon, the newest link in the Prime Legacy, Optimus Prime, keeps an ever-vigilant optic over the citizens of Cybertron. Armed with the power of the Matrix of Light, Optimus Prime has the ability to create any object out of pure energy, and uses the accumulated wisdom and skills of the Primes before him to battle the forces of evil, wherever and whenever they prey upon the weak. No one bot stands alone, and there are many other protectors of Cybertron who have dedicated their sparks to upholding justice. As Optimus Prime hunts down wrong-doers, he is joined by these heroes, each with their own unique abilities and talents. Together, these "Bots of Honor," strive to maintain the peace that has blessed Cybertron for many meta-cycles. But, all good things must come to an end. Although the various villains that Optimus and his friends battle, dangerous as they all are, may seem random and un-connected, there is a dark force rising that could threaten the whole of Cybertron. Will Optimus Prime uncover the truth about this hidden threat before it's too late? What will the consequences be, not only for our heroes, but for every Cybertronian on the planet if they fail? In 2011, get ready for action and adventure like you've never seen as everyone's favourite 'Robots in Disguise" do battle on a whole new level! If you want to stay up-to-date on all things "Bots of Honor," check out our deviant art site here; http://bots-of-honor.deviantart.com/ Just to get you a little bit more excited, here are the full character designs featured in the above promotional piece;

Optimus PrimeGrimlock
Wheeljack
Galvatron

Megatron

And just because the design for Optimus Prime isn't 'new,' here's a pic of his alt-mode;


So that's what I've been doing with my time lately. I'm nearly finished my part of that, then I've a one-page story for the afforementioned Mosaic project to do. When I'm finished those it will be time to sink my teeth into a really big project (for me anyway); I have written a script which I'm hoping to have turned into a comic for sometime next year. So stay tuned, and I'll keep you updated when I have some news!

Ger

Last weekend was Summer Edition, and the last comic "event" in Ireland for a few months. Its a bit different in that its not exclusively a comics event, there are a number of other small press and self-published works for sale. Some of the stuff people produce is just amazing. I'll make a point of hyping this a bit more next year cause even if you are not a comics fan, and like a nice book (of nice looking things in general), its well worth your while stopping in. A big thanks to Phil, Paddy & Katie for all their hard work in organising this and well done on its sucess. I had a great (and worthwhile) time at it and most of the people who I talked to did too.
I started doing a few little sketches on postcard-size card, and sort of using them as a "business card" type of thing (I was giving them away with every sale and they had my contact info on them). The seemed pretty popular and are fairly easy to do, so I think thats going to be an idea I'll be sticking with.
"Short Sharp Shocks" is selling well, so thanks to anyone who bought it! If you want to let me know what you thought of it, feel free to drop me a line with your tuppence-worth.
I've a couple of things in the pipeline at the minute; two Transformers strips that I'm currently working on and then its on to my next self-published project. Its the biggest thing I've tried so far, and I'm just hoping I turns out OK!

Brace yourselves, this ones long!

Hello there again! After a busy cople of months on the comics front, I thought it might be a good time to sit down and write about it before it gets mental again! And one of these days I'll set myself aside a few minutes each week to actually write this bloody thing too, cause my memory isn't what its used to be and its a strain trying to remember back a month... what was I talking about again?
First off, I recently had a new Transformers: Mosaic piece published. It's called "What'cha gonna do?" and was over a year in the making. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the response it received. Have a look for yourself;

The summer months of June & July are becoming the "convention season" over here in Ireland, and it was kicked off in Derry with the 2D comics festival, which is my favourite convention. My wife Hazel and I went up and she got to see what I do in my spare time. Needless to say she sees me in a whole new light! If you have a chance next year I would recommend you give this one a go. It's free (always a good thing!) and there is a great mix of big-name comic celebrities and independent creators all mixed in together. I made a few sales & had a portfolio review with Steve White, editor of Titan Magazines in the UK. I didn't get any work out of it, but he was kind enough to give me a few good pointers, and enough compliments to send me on my way without feeling completely crushed. As usual at these, I had a great time with all the small press crowd, the guys from Longstone Comics, Tommie Kelly, Andy Luke (and his impressive harmonica skills!) to name but a few. A big thanks & well done to David Campbell & all at the Verbal Arts Centre for putting on another good event. Have a read-up of Andy Luke's coverage of the event, and I think he might have said something nice about me in there too!

The following week (told you it's been busy) was the inaugural Point Village Market Comics Festival, organised by the hyperactive Hilbo Lawler. For its first run out, it proved to be a big sucess, though I think I (and most of the other exhibitors too) spent more than we made at the food stalls in the market! I brought two of my sons along for the day so they could attend the excellent comic workshops. They had a great time and made me look good too, which is a plus! I think it suffered slightly from the fact that the market itself is only finding its feet, and its just ever so slightly far enough outside town for people to think twice about heading out there, but hopefully those little bumps will be ironed out by the time the next one rolls around. I did pretty well on the sales front as well as a mention on bleedingcool.com, so all in all I'd have to give it a big thumbs up. Once again, a big thanks to everyone involved in the orgainsing & running of this and the workshops too. By the way, I have to give a mention to Marty & the guys at Comics & Collectibles in Derry, who were selling at both events and had some great deals. They are really cool approachable guys who make it fun to go browsing & buying comics. Thanks to Marty my house now has a Hawkman & Blue Devil fan!

Next up is Summer Edition 2010, on in Filmbase in Temple Bar on the 24th of July. This one is a little different as it is a much wider range of small press creators as well as us comic book types. I was at this on last year too, and I was really impressed with the range & quality of the stuff being put out by people on their own. If you are around the city centre at all, its well worth spending an hour of your day here.

As for what I'm doing while I'm not sitting around trying to sell people stuff? Well first off, my comic Short Sharp Shocks, is geting some good feedback, which is great. In fact, I think I'll have to start thinking about a second print run soon! A number of people have told me different stories in the comic were their favourite, which is great, its nice to be able to appeal to a wide range of tastes. If you have a copy, please drop me a line & let me know what you thought of it (even if you hated it! I'm a big boy, I can take it!). If you want to get your hands on a copy, its on sale at Indyplanet and I'm hoping to have it in a few comic stores soon too. As for upcoming projects, I have one or two little things on the go at the moment, which I'll post about when there is actually something to see! My next small press comic project is also now in the works. It's a comic about Irish superheroes. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, haven't we heard this before? It's a big departure from Celtic Knights, and possibly my most serious work so far. It's also the biggest thing I've done too, so I'm not putting a deadline on it. Lets just say it will be done when its done. I'm also hoping to work on the next issue of Short Sharp Shocks at the same time, so I'm racking my brains for a few new stories for that too!
Anyway, thats it for now. I'm sure I'll post again some time in the futue. Did you sit down and read through all that? Well done you, have a picture!

Short Sharp Shocks is here!

Hey folks!

After several months of running round, pricing printers, being nice to comic shop owners, having computer headaches (and a bit of drawing thrown in too!), my new comic, Short Sharp Shocks is ready to go!
Its a collection of short strips all written & drawn by me (mainly cause my ego didn't leave enough room for anyone else's name on the cover). I could go on and on (and on) about how good it is, but if you had any sense you wouldn't take my word for it would you? No.
So instead you can read a review of it by David O' Leary of comicrelated.com

"SHORT SHARP SHOCKS # 1
Story by: Ger Hankey
Art by: Ger Hankey
Letters by: Ger Hankey
Cover by: Ger Hankey
Publisher: Self Published
Reviewed By: David O' Leary

This is the first issue of a self published title from the artist of the much lauded Celtic Knights which, I think was the best Irish comic in recent memory. I know that there is a new artist coming on board for issue two in American Tim Dumas and I also heard through the grapevine that original series artist Ger Hankey was working on some creator owned material. Until I received this book, I hadn't seen anything about it and was actually looking forward to reading it.

The thing about self publishing books is that all the risk is on you. If the material is poor, you're sunk. If the material is golden, you are sitting on something that can pay the bills. The last completely one creator published book I read was Dublin City Comics from Alan Nolan last year which I really liked and noted as much in the review. I would like to see more of this type of stance and honestly brave move from a person to self publish in these uncertain times. Those who do such a thing deserve to have their work looked at by many people and as such I have no hesitation in recommending this book.

The format of this book is four short stories in the vein of 2000AD. The first story is a silent strip charting the travails of a bin-bot named Binbo whose only job in life is to collect rubbish. One day he comes across a flyer for a holiday on a beach and he likes the idea only to be laughed out of his boss's office. He comes across the idea of strapping two planks of wood to himself and jumping off a roof and flying to his dream holiday. He barely makes it. He crashes on the beach and after realising that he has no money has to go to work. I liked this strip a lot. The parallels to WALL-E are there but there is enough an original personality and premise to make this first story a winner.

The second story is Mighty Morgan: Ruler Of The Earth. This was brilliant. You couldn't help but hear the narration in your own head in the voice of the guy who spoke over the action in the original Batman TV series. The was a cool witty dialogue in the script and this strip worked well in that the art and script melded beautifully to tell the story in unison. This would have been a cool comic by itself.

The third story was nourish in tone and called Hybrid. It told the story of a hero who has a power that made me laugh out loud, but in a cool way. Hybrid's power is that s/he is a genetically engineered hero who can change gender at the drop of a hat. Like the story says itself; "just consider of the engineering that must have gone into the costume." Great stuff.

The final story stars Blackstuff, who is the official mascot of Transformers Ireland Online. It tells the story of Blackstuff who is confronted by a version of Transformers bully. Blackstuff takes care of him in the only way an Irish person can. He gets the bully blind drunk. Another moment that made me smile.

I was very happy with the quality of the book. Ger's art has never been in question and until now his writing was an unknown quantity. I'm happy to report that it is just as good. This would be a great buy as it is a fun book that I would hope to see more of. If there are going to be more issues of this book in the future I would wholeheartedly endorse it. You just don't get enough of these books nowadays. A great first issue"

The comic is going to be launched on the 5th of June at the 2D festival in Derry, then the following week (12th June) at the Point Village comics event. After that, I'll be doing the rounds of the comic shops and trying to get it on as many shelves as possible. I'll post up details of where it's being sold as soon as I know! If, however, you have no patience and a few spare bob on your credit card or paypal account, you can buy it now on Indyplanet

So thats all for now, hope you enjoy the comic. It's been great catching up with you all, we have to do it again soon!

Yes, I'm back!!

Hey,
Hows it going out there? Yes, I know its been a ridiculously long time since I've posted (yet again), and I always end up apologising for it. Well, you know what? Not this time. I'm busy, get over it!!

Seriously though, I've been keeping my head down and doing lots of drawing, and now my new comic is finished!! Its an anthology called Short Sharp Shocks, and I sent it off to the printers this morning. It will be available on Indyplanet soon, so stay tuned for the details. I'll have proper hard copies in a couple of weeks and I'm going to start selling them in June. Why June? Well, it seems to be the month things are happening in Irish Comics. First off is the 2D comics festival in Derry, and the following week there will be a comics fair at the new Point Village right here in Dublin. I'll give you lovely people more details closer to the stage.

So expect some shameless self-promotion on the way!! In the meantime, here's some artwork I've been working on to keep you all happy.

Till next year, err, time!