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Enniskillen Comic Fest 2022
I will be guest at this year's Enniskillen Comic Fest, taking place on 18 June, 2022.
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Paying the Artist
I’m encouraged by the recent publication of the Irish Arts Council's policy, Paying the Artist.
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British Fantasy Awards 2012 – nominees
The short-lists have been announced for the 2012 British Fantasy Awards: Novel 11.22.63 by Stephen King (Scribner) Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books) Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press) A Dance with Dragons by George R R Martin (Bantam) The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz) The Ritual by Adam Nevill (Pan) There will be two awards in the best Novel category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel. Novella ‘Alice through the plastic sheet’ by Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books) ‘Ghosts with Teeth’ by Peter Crowther (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books) ‘Gorel…
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Kapow ignores women again
Tickets for the 2012 Kapow! comic book convention went on sale today, with the first version of the guest-list announced. After the controversy from last year over the lack of representation of women guests at the convention I expected it would lead off with a better showing on its subsequent line-up. How wrong I was. There are twenty-three ‘star guests’ listed so far, all of them men. If you dig into the programming you’ll find there are a few actresses mentioned, but in the ‘hot’ film writers/directors section there are no women listed either. Not surprisingly, I tweeted about this as soon as I noticed and several people retweeted it…
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Nelson reflects the scene
Last weekend I was in Leeds for the Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival, a mecca for comic book artists and writers in the UK and Ireland – with a number of well-known Americans attending as well. The event was extremely well-run with a friendly atmosphere. The range of talent on display was quite staggering, and after a while a certain level of guilt kicked in because it was impossible to support everyone. I did my best to visit as many stands as possible, spread around my cash and buy work that really caught my attention. I was lucky to know a few people at the event, and I quickly met…
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lucille
On the Forbidden Planet International blog today I have a review of Lucille, the graphic novel by the artist/writer/singer Ludovic Debeurme, which has recently been translated into English and published by Top Shelf Productions. It’s a complex and impressive book, and one that deals wtih serious themes. It’s very French, and by that I mean it’s deeply interested in the human condition in a way that is philosophical and meaningful. Plus, it’s drawn in a unorthadox comic book style, which just adds to its Frenchness. While reading the graphic novel I wondered how on earth you would pitch this story to an English/American publisher? I suspect it would be a…
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Womanthology
I’m sure many of you reading this blog have heard about the Womanthology project: it’s the brainchild of artist Renae De Liz, and is an all-woman anthology comic book that will be published by IDW Publishing this December, with all proceeds going to the charity, Global Giving Foundation. You can read a long interview at Bleeding Cool with Renae about the project and its evolution. With the aim of raising $25,000 Renae set up a Kickstarter campaign for the project, and by the end of the first day that goal had been achieved. Now, with just five days to go until the campaign ends, the amount of money pledged stands…
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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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A day out
That’s an action shot – taken using my mobile phone – of the delightful Naomi Bomb, dressed as Harley Quinn, giving her bearded antagonist what for during UCD’s FanSciCon on Friday. The event was a good day out for meeting my fellow comic book creators. In particular it was great chatting to Hilary Lawler and Deirdre de Barra. After months of correspondence it was brilliant to meet Jennifer Wilde artist Stephen Downey for the first time. I got to see the physical inked and pencilled pages of Jennifer Wilde, as thus far it’s all been virtual. As lovely as it is to see the artwork online, it’s another experience to…
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Kapow! – with added women
The Kapow! Comic Book convention is going on this weekend, and it’s good to see that in the face of criticism over its initial all-male line-up the event has adjusted its guest list. I was not the only one who pointed out the lack of women, and I’m not claiming this result is due to my input alone. Honestly, this is a positive response, and I hope it means more women featured at the event (if they hold it again) when they have time to include women in the planning from the very beginning. Millar is even talking up the female angle now, mentioned a 30% female readership in this…
