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Think of A City: we live side by side with the past
Some time ago artist Alison Sampson asked me to be part of her and Ian MacEwan’s on-going project: Think of a City: a mass storytelling project ‘to experience this city of the imagination, told page by page, by storytellers from around the world.’ Artist and writers are matched up and given time slots in which to produce the work. Alison hooked me up with Pablo Clark, a half-Scottish, half-Spanish illustrator and comic book artist. I offered him a variety of four ideas, and the one he engaged with most was my favourite, which was an immediate pleasure. The concept was to evoke how we move through the past in cities…
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Think of a City collaboration
Think of a City is a very cool on-going mass storytelling project told page by page by artists and writers from around the world. It’s essentially an exquisite corpse project that’s the brainchild of Alison Sampson and Ian MacEwan. Here’s a description: Our project is an opportunity for creators to bring the background to the forefront, and to delve into ideas of setting, place, design, geography, politics, architecture, materiality, mise-en-scène and much more besides, within storytelling. It will take time. Comics provide linear stories, but the urban environment is something different: non linear, multi-layered, complex, communal. We’d like to prove that cities are so much more than cityscapes. Every place…
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Worldcon Comic Book Programme
Nearly two years ago my friend James Bacon phoned me up and asked me if I’d be on for designing the comic book programme at Worldcon in London (known as Loncon 3) in August 2014. I agreed readily enough as I was keen to raise the profile of comic books at the event. Comics are still a bit of a newcomer to Worldcon – the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story was only introduced in 2009. I didn’t realise how much work was involved, which was probably lucky for James, as I might have turned him down if I truly understood. I now have huge respect for the Worldcon programming…
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art progression on Witchfinder 1 cover
Most of you are aware that I’m co-writing the next Witchfinder mini-series with Kim Newman, and that the amazing Tyler Crook is providing the art, with colours by the multiple award-winning Dave Stewart. I’ve now seen all the art for issues 1 and 2 and it’s terrific. I can’t wait until other people see it too. On top of all of this we’ve been lucky to have Julian Totino Tedesco as our cover artist. I’ve seen most of the covers now and he’s doing tremendous work. Recently on Facebook he posted the art progression of the first cover of Witchfinder: The Mysteries of Unland, and I thought other people would…
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Twisted Fairy Tales
I'm delighted to announce that my first collection, Twisted Fairy Tales, will be published by Barron's in the USA in Spring 2013.
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Jennifer Wilde 2
Issue 2 of Jennifer Wilde is in the final prep stages and should be heading off to the printers soon. So, as an appetiser here’s the cover of issue 2. Once again artist Stephen Downey has delivered another captivating image.
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Róisín Dubh issue 2 cover
The cover of issue 2 of Róisín Dubh, the comic book mini-series I’ve written for Atomic Diner Comics. All art – including this dramatic image – and lettering are by Stephen Byrne.
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going up north
This weekend I’m heading up north to Derry’s 2-D Comic Book Festival. It’s my first time attending, but I’ve heard really positive things about the event, so I’m looking forward it to (but not the 5 1/2 hour bus journey!). It’s taking place from the Thursday, 2nd June – Saturday, 4th of June, and is completely free. The Guests of Honour are Mark Chiarello, Mick McMahon and Glen Fabry. The guest list includes both Irish and International comic book writers and artists, including Stephen Downey who is the artist on the other Atomic Diner title I’m writing, Jennifer Wilde. I’ll be attending from Friday evening just in time to catch the panels that…
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in the spotlight
The image on the right happened the night after I returned to my hotel room after the ZeBBie Awards in Dublin. Perhaps there was a version of “I feel pretty” playing in my head, as I don’t get the opportunity to dress up often. This started as a blurry picture of me without my glasses (rather appropriate), and as I do sometimes I began mucking around with the image. Of course I should have gone to bed, but after the buzz of a party I wasn’t in the humour to sleep. I ended up looking a bit like a comic book character, which dovetails nicely with what I’m writing at…
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take a deep breath
I like to play around with images in Paint Shop Pro: change their colours, deform them, reverse them, etc. and see what happens. A lot of the time I have no objective other than to see what arises. It’s an enjoyable exercise for me. This started out as a photo I took of a children’s ride outside a café in Santa Ponsa, Mallorca last February. It was late at night and the town was deserted. This gnome and his crazy, wild-eyed horse companion had that weird, startling life of the neglected toy. Perhaps I was inspired by tonight’s fun episode of Fringe, with its homage to Inception, A Scanner Darkly…
