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!
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