The Shadowless Man walks again

A couple of years ago I wrote the story of another character who is central to the stories that surround Jigsaw Girl. 

The Shadowless Man could also move between planes, using the Nexus, and their tales are set to meet at a significant crossroad in the greater story.

Joe Campbell, who I had enjoyed working with on my Blessed/Cursed story Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? agree to do the art and got to work.

The first issue was completed, and I'm very happy with it, but then one thing or another got in the way and it went into limbo.

Good news is that I've contacted Joe recently and he's agreed to pick it up again and get it finished.

We'll be producing it as a combined story as I think that works best for this tale.

I just need to get the scripts to Joe... and try not to read and play with them first.

Another great review of 'Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man ?'

...can be found over at curiosityofasocialmisfit.blogspot.co.uk.

Small Invisible Man update.

It's always difficult to know how well your comic books are doing once the boxes leave the house and are shipped around the globe through Diamond distribution. Every now and then I use an internet search to see if there are any reviews or comments.
It's encouraging to come across an article that indicates that it's selling out at Diamond after only a week... http://investcomics.com/features/sold-out-new-1-and-2-comics-for-january-8-2014-release-week, but then again we didn't get a huge order when you compare it with any of the big companies so it's no surprise I guess.
Haven't managed to find any recent reviews though, so I'm not sure what those people who have picked up a copy think of it.

Invisible Man seen in comic stores...

I've just been informed by my local comic shop (Millennium Comics in Northwich (thanks Dan)) that Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man? has been delivered by Diamond and so should be in stores across the country (and wider) as of tomorrow.

If you would like a copy then I suggest you pop in before they run out as stores don't tend to order many.
And please do let us know what you think of it.

Invisible Man and WesterNoir update.

Well, the machine that is Diamond Distribution has received orders from the stores for Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? and so comics should be hitting stores in the next week or so. It's a healthy number, for a small independent outfit like us, so thanks to everyone you went into their store to order a copy. Please let us know what you think of the book when you've read it.
I had a great two days at The Lakes event last weekend, you can read a report over on the Accent UK blog. The biggest high for me was getting our new banner out of the packaging...

It's a great visual draw, thanks to everyone involved in its creation.
Speaking of WesterNoir, Issue 3 has been reviewed over at curiosityofasocialmisfit.blogspot.co.uk
pop over and see what Pat thinks of the latest book.
Gary Crutchley is busy finishing off Issue 4, which'll see print first thing in 2014. It'll be nice to start the year off with a bang.

Paul Gravett highlights 'Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man ?'

Paul has highlighted our Invisible Man comic from September's PREVIEWS over on his website which is great as it'll help raise the book's profile.
Thanks Paul.

Invisible Man Spotted in Previews Issue 300.

Well I've finally managed to sort out getting Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? in the latest issue of Previews, which is the catalgue that goes out to all comic retailers so that they can decide what their respective stores will stock.

You're probably thinking that this should have been sorted out a while ago, as the comic has been on sale at a number of Cons already, and you'd be right. It's just that with all the Cons and life in general, sometimes important things just never get to the top of the To Do list.
Still, it's finally been sorted.

and page 240 has it in all its glory. Yes, I know I name dropped the Eagle Award that Marleen Lowe and I won for Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? but us Independent comic creators need all the nudges we can drag up if we're going to look interesting to the Comic Shop Guys out there.
I still get complaints from customers that our books never appear in their local stores, we used to send out a free copy to stores across the globe in the hope that they'd order some through Previews but it costs a lot of cash, and I'm not sure if it was very effective.
The problem is that the retailers have to spread their cash across a whole heap of Marvel and DC Event Books as well as the usual number of X and Bat books ... so it's no wonder that they buy one or two copies of our books at most. And when they've sold them, that's it. There's no re-order or re-stock.

 

So, if you want to get your local store to have a copy for you then you really need to go and ask them to get you one.. and do it before they put their Diamond Previews order in. Which means over the next week or two. All the details you need can be seen in the above scan.. the Order Number is STK623409...
I hope you do, and I hope you enjoy the read.

WesterNoir Update.

Well WesterNoir is getting more and more interest, and it's clear that having an on going title is quite different to one shots. At the Carlisle MegaCon yesterday one customer came over the to stall, picked up the three issue sketch pack and said that his gaming friends had recommended the book to him. That kind of 'word of mouth' recommendation is great, and reviews like these www.intheblackhall.wordpress.com for Issue 1 and http://intheblackhall.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/review-westernoir-book-2/ for Issue 2 really help.
Meanwhile Gary Crutchley has completed in the artwork on Issue 4, with Andy Bloor (also featured on the cover of Issue 4) providing the lettring... you'll know what I mean when you pop over to have a look on his blog) has provided the lettering. It's looking great and is going to be a great issue to end the first mini-series on.
Whilst you're on Gary's blog you also find a link to an interview where he also mentions WesterNoir a few times...
Not stopping there though, Gary (mostly) and I have already plotted the second mini-series and Gary has started emailing me about Issue 9...
And finally, with regards WesterNoir, Gary has produced a great piece or artwork that is being coloured by equally talented Matt Soffe (who I met again at yesterday's Carlisle MegaCon and is a really nice bloke) and once that's done we'll ask Andy Bloor to design some kind of frame/setting and I'll get some printed off on some nice paper. Not sure when all this will have been completed by but I'll announce it here when it is.
...and almost finally, the Invisible Man review from http://intheblackhall.wordpress.com/2013/08/ is now also up on www.inter-comics.com, which is great.
...and finally... one of my little doodlings has turned up over on http://instagram.com/p/dF5g6GEqxp/#, which is nice.

The Invisible Man reviewed and artwork revealed.

There's a great review of Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? over at intheblackhall.wordpress.com which quite rightly highlights again the fabulous work that Joe Campbell did bringing invisibility to the comic book page.
Over of Joe Campbell's blog he shares his process with those who would like to know more. Here's a sampled page, in case you need any further temptation.

'A Place To Hang Your Cape' reviews Fastest Man and Invisible Man.

David Molofsky has reviewed both of our Blessed/Cursed books over at A Place To Hang Your Cape, and there's also an Interview up there as well.
This week, and the next, will be spent getting ready for the Copenhagen Con, Gary Crutchley, the driving force behind WesterNoir has produced some special sketches for the show, I wonder if I'll allow people to buy them though... The always busy Gary has posted the title page for Issue 3 up on his blog. In a word... awesome.

A great review for Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man?

I just came across this great review for Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man? over at brokenfrontier.com, a nice way to unwind after a hectic, rewarding, weekend at the Super Comic Con in London. I'll do a write up of the event this weekend.

Josiah Black and Invisible Man... in Lego.

A while back, and you can find them somewhere on this blog, I started reflecting our comic book titles in the form of Lego Men.
I'm not sure if I've posted this one up before but here's Josiah Black, central character in the WesterNoir comics that I'm working on with Gary Crutchley.

The other recent release from myself is Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? illustrated by Joe Campbell. It would be wrong to miss him out of the Lego line-up and so here he is as well...

Hope you all had a great Xmas and are looking forward to what 2013 brings.

Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? can be purchased online.

I've finally managed to get the time to both get some stock and also update the Accent UK website and so you can now purchase copies of Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man?, illustrated by Joe Cambell, by hitting the 'BUY' button on the website and pay through Paypal.

You can email me via the 'CONTACT' button if you prefer not to use Paypal and we can sort something out.
I've also got a short story in Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? illustrated by Steven Howard, and that can also be ordered through the Accent UK website ...
... it may be late in the year but I finally feel that I'm getting on top of all those little jobs I've not managed to sort out already.

All Quiet On The Western Front ?

I've been pretty quiet on the blog for the last few weeks. But rather than that mean that I'm not very busy it's actually the opposite. I've a number of projects in various stages of development at the moment and it's hard at times picking which one to focus on. A nice place to be.
In order of publish date I guess, I'm finishing off the final touches of Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? with art from Joe Campbell. Just playing around with the back cover, assisted as always by Andy Bloor, and then it's pretty much off to the printers.

Sample of a page from Joe Campbell

I'm also starting to pull together the script for Issue 3 of Josiah Black (WesterNoir), following a gerat couple of development meetings with Gary Crutchley, meanwhile Gary is busy completing art on Issue 2.

Gary Crutchley unlettered page

 And then there's Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ? illustrated by Marleen Lowe. Our follow up to Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? but obviously not featuring Bobby Doyle himself.


Marleen's artwork shows Kane Mesmer taking some down time.

A new project From SuperZero to SuperHero, is now also underway. Sebastian Velez is providing art on this one. It's my first all out Superhero book, and of course it's my take on things so you know what to expect. Seba draws a great superhero.

Seba's design for 256 (pronounced Two Fifty Six)

I've also been pretty busy at work (the day job), and even had time for a Community Day, where we are let loose on the community to do some good... or try to anyway. This year we moved weeds from a pond to a lake in a park in Bolton. A good fun, if tyring, day. Alan Rigg was the team photographer (and you can follow his blog on the right), and so I had him take a couple of extra photos for me.

Photo by Alan Rigg

I'm not sure what it is about me and rust...

Photo by Alan Rigg

maybe it's that there's something slightly 'old-robot' about it all.
No wonder I'm finding it difficult to get back into Strange Times Book 2...

Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man?

Once again I've struck it lucky with another talented artist, Joe Campbell, breathing life into one of my scripts. Joe is doing a great job illustrating my story about a man with the ability to make himself invisible ...

Joe's artwork is ideally suited to this tale, and you can see a sample of it on the cover, designed once again by Andy Bloor.

This story continues in the Blessed/Cursed line and again balances the pros and cons of having an ability. Not sure exactly when it'll be available, but I getting more and more excited about it with each new page of artwork that arrives in my inbox.