Vanguard Issue 3

Well, sadly I've been neglecting this wee blog for some time it seems. Have been caught up in a whole heap of snowballing Real Life Shit this last year or so, which hasn't left much time for blogging, or writing of any description really. Hopefully I will be able to get back on track soon.

In the last few months I've had a few stories turn up here and there, like "Five Minutes to Midnight" in the most recent issue of Something Wicked, "Incarnation Shift" in the most recent Futurequake, and  a second airing of "Claus Encounters of the Santa Kind" which appeared in Strip magazine's Christmas Special at the end of last year - my widest exposure yet, an actual newsstand title! That came about as a result of submitting the strip to the Strip Showcase Challenge and being selected to represent that slot in the final issue of volume 1, which I was quite chuffed with!

"Icarus Dangerous" has also been continuing in Paragon of course, now up to episode 7 (!) which will appear in the forthcoming issue 13. The series will conclude in issue 14. I'll post a bit more about that in a later post but for now I just wanted to give a heads up on Issue 3 of Vanguard, which is finally locked and loaded after a bit of a tough year for myself and a few of the other chaps involved. Still, the end product looks damn good I must say, printer did a fantastic job and we even managed to get the full bleed on the pages sorted to perfection this time! Woah, major achievement there! :)

For loads of info about the comic, head on over to the Vanguard blog, where you can check out plenty of sample pages and ogle at the wondrous artwork which adorns the free set of postcards we are giving out. Go on, away with ya!

Ick-Day, chapter 4!

Issue 10 of Paragon has been available for a couple of weeks now and I've been a bit re-miss in blogging about it. In between looking after the kids full time, taking online courses and trying to master Japanese, I seem to be letting my comic responsibilities slide....really need to sort that out and get my priorities straight! Nevertheless, better late than never, so here is the fabulous Matt Soffe-rendered cover art for issue ten of Paragon:

This is the biggest issue of Paragon yet, clocking in at about 52 pages. There's a great variety of content by writers such as Matthew McLaughlin, Chris Cronin, Jim Cameron, Greg Meldrum, Davey Candlish and myself, and artists such as James Corcoran, Stephen Prestwood, Louis Carter, El Chivo, Davey Candlish (again) and Jim Cameron (again!) Of specific relevance to THIS blog is myself and Mssr.Prestwood's ongoing series Icarus Dangerous (or Ick-Day as it would be known in Japan, where English words tend to be abbreviated down to a single syllable).

 As you may remember, in the previous installment, Icarus had finally managed to locate his saviour Meriope and release her from imprisonment on the mysterious Bonemen's starship. Sadly, he also inadvertantly released some of Meriope's 'not-quite-fans', adding to his already not-inconsiderable problems. Now trapped between the advancing Bonemen on one side and a motley crew of mythical beings (including Gorgons, Centaurs, dismembered soldiers and, er, a young girl) on the other, Icarus must decide if the alien Meriope is really someone he can trust...or if she is actually just another threat to his well-being.

Stephen Prestwood has turned in his best work so far on this frenetic, action-packed chapter - take a look at the splash page below showing all our players in action to see what I mean:
                                

 Does that look like fun or does that look like fun? And yes, I know I say it every time, but this is STILL just the tip of the iceberg for this story. It just keeps on getting more and more dangerous for our hapless hero - if you don't believe me, you just need to check out the final shocking page of this installment! And to that, you need to get your hands on a copy. To that end, I will hand you over to my editor Davey Candlish, who has provided all the info you need to order a copy (as well as plenty more previews) right HERE.

 If you are even slightly intrigued, please do order a copy and support the small-press and all of us comic-lovers, who are making these comics for YOUR enjoyment! That is all!
 Until next time.....
  Danger Out!

Coming Soon...Even More Danger for Icarus!

The new issue of Paragon is almost upon us, featuring (amongst other things) the continuing adventures of Icarus Dangerous, as things start to get reeeeeeeeeeally wierd. Now up to chapter 4, we will rejoin Icarus where we left him - with his souped-up sentient wings, on an alien spacecraft, millions of light years from home, on the run from an army of Bone Monsters, with Meriope, the not-so-grateful alien-in-sort-of-distress he has freed from imprisonment giving him an earful for inadvertantly releasing a whole bunch of FREAKS who have a bone to pick with her...and anyone who gets in their way! Pickaxe the miniaturised dwarf, Ophalia the Gorgon-like snake-beast, Severus the dismembered warrior, Brusque the monosyllabic Centaur and Mynx the, er, teenage minx, are all about to make Icarus' life even more insane than it already was...and that's before Bonehead Dax comes into the picture. And THAT's before....but that would be telling! Let's just say the ending to this chapter is a doozy! As ever, Stephen Prestwood is on art duties and from what I have seen so far, Jack Kirby would be proud! Stephen's space-scapes are nothing short of perfection. I won't put up any preview art from the strip until closer to the time of release, but just so that this post isn't piccy free, here is a super-cool pinup of Icarus Stephen did as a 'doodle', followed by the cover for issue 10 (also featuring Icarus) by the wonderful Matt Soffe. More details on how to pick this baby up coming soon!

Finally...Jikan!!!!

Here's a funny thing.

When I first decided to have a crack at writing some comic scripts, the very first person I approached about submitting some work was Davey Candlish, who edits Paragon comic. He had put out a call for writers to take on the writing chores for his character Jikan, and when I got in touch interested about having a go at it, he was kind enough to give me the opportunity. I pitched an idea, he liked it, and away I went. The result was a tale called "Griffin's Bounty" --- and it was the very first multiple-page comic script I wrote.

Thing is---that was back in (I'm guessing) March or April 2010. And it's only now that this story is going to be unleashed into the public eye! The reason? Nothing sinister, simply the fact that there were already a whole bunch of Jikan stories in the bag before I came on board, so its taken some time for my spin-of-the-wheel to come up. But it's coming around now, kicking off with the release of "The Jikan Chronicles, volume 2", a 90page collection of brand-new Jikan tales --- including not just the aforementioned "Griffin's Bounty" but also another tale I wrote entitled "Uchuujin" (that's "Alien" in Japanese).

First of all, have a look at the cover, by Dave Candlish:



Pretty sweet, huh?

And guess what's sweeter? When you open the book and turn to the first page---it's the first page of "Griffin's Bounty", right up in your face for you to ogle at! The art is by my old friend El Chivo, who I've worked with on a number of projects over the last two years (most recently with Mammoth-Jack in issue 2 of Vanguard...you know what I'm talking about right? If not----why the Hell have you not checked out issue 2 of Vanguard? You can view it for free and everything!!) Here's a typically awesome panel from the story, and Jikan is having a bit of an awkward moment:



Nice one, Chivo!

In this story, Sam Beckett...I mean, Jikan (sorry, I always think of Jikan as Quantum Leap Gone Native...really, there should be a Sam Beckett/Jikan crossover sometime, where Sam leaps into Jikan's body and says "Oh, boy" a lot...) turns up in ancient Greece, and is witness to a flock of typically boisterous griffin's doing a bit of ransacking and pillaging. He comes across a couple of survivors of the raid, young kids, who have been left all alone in the world as a result of the griffin attack. Naturally, Jikan decides he may as well help them out while he is hanging around waiting for his next leap, er, time-shift, and off he goes to set things right. Things don't turn out exactly as he was expecting them to though, and he finds himself up against a bigger threat than he thought. This story is notable as it introduces something new to the Jikan mix, something that will seem completely irrelevant at first, but will later turn out to be very important indeed.


Onto "Uchuujin" then, a shorter tale written as a bit of fun late last year. This one features art by Davey Candlish, which is cool, because I'd been wanting to work with Davey on something for a while, and his Mignola-stylings on this strip are quite groovy.

Here's a panel:



WHOK! Take that nasty...alien? Yeah, that's right, just for a change it's not demons Jikan's fighting in this tale, but ALIENS!!! Didn't see that coming, did you? Doesn't matter to Jikan though, aliens, demons, people, they're all just things to be chopped through if they piss him off. And the aliens in this story REALLY piss him off. This story also refers back to the previously mentioned "very important thing" Jikan comes into possession of in 'Griffin's Bounty', and we get a bit of a hint about what it can do and how it is going to change things for Jikan in the future. Luckily, you won't have to wait long to find out the truth, because in this very same volume is a multi-part story by fellow Jikan scribe Mark Howard, which explains everything via a series of shocking revelations, setting Jikan off in a new direction for his future adventures.

Other contributors to The Jikan Chronicles volume 2 include writers Matthew McLaughlin and Chris Cronin, and artists Dustin Parr and Chris Askham. It's a great book and well worth the few quid required to get your hands on one (£1.50 for the digital download and a fiver for the book!) Click HERE and pick up a copy in whatever format tickles your fancy.

Of course, my Jikan fun doesn't end with the two stories in this book. Oh no, I've also written a very special 2 part episode in which Jikan turns up on...well, that would be telling, to be honest, and I don't wanna. The 2 parter features art by a number of different artists, including Matt Soffe - coincidentally, another artist I've been wanting to work with on something for ages and ages. Jikan, eh? He's like a little-matchmaking cupid for artists and writers, bringing people together! :)

I'll leave you with a preview panel from part 2 of "Stowaway", with art by the aforementioned Mr. Soffe. It's a doozy. This 2 parter will be appearing in an issue of Paragon in the VERY NEAR FUTURE (no, you won't have to wait over 2 years for it!) so keep your eyes and ears posted in the usual places for info as it becomes available.

Thanks for reading - now go get yourself a seeing to by Jikan!


(Jikan, Stowaway, art by Matt Soffe)

Catching up....

This re-location business has meant I haven't really been keeping this blog up-to-date. I've got a really cool new book to talk about, but before I get into that (in a separate post), thought I would take a moment to add in a couple of things that I did for the 2000ad forum in the last few months.

The first is a 5 part Judge Dredd story which I wrote for last year's (God that sounds like ages ago) Forum Advent Calendar. I wrote it in the style of an old Daily Star Dredd and rounded up five different artists to illustrate each installment. The results were pretty damn good I have to say, with Owen Watts, Filip Roncone, Tony Rothwell, Neil Roche, and Stephen Prestwood all turning in some cool art for their contribution. It went down well on the forum too, I am glad to say. And here it is, in its entirety:







Groovy, huh?

A few months later, last February (that doesn't sound quite so long ago thankfully), there was an art/writing collaboration competition on the forum, to mark the 35th anniversary of the Galaxy's Greatest. The idea was that writers and artists were to collaborate on something, but it didn't really take off, unfortunately. I kind of cheated a bit....I wrote something, as I always do...then I took it to the NEXT LEVEL by drawing it myself!! But don't worry...I only said I "kind of" cheated...I did get a collaborator on-board, namely Owen Watts, who coloured and lettered my terribly bad scribbles, turning a turd into, well, something quite polished and pretty to look at! Here then, is the 2 pager I wrote/drew in honour of 2000ad's 35th Anniversary (don't worry, I won't be trading my word processor in for colouring pencils anytime soon).






And there we have it, a little bit of catching up and filling in the blanks.


Now onto something new and different.

Vanguard Issue 2

Oh look, I haven't been here since November. How time flies! Last time I was here, I was in full-time employment being paid a decent salary, had nary a care in the world and had plenty of time for engaging in my favourite passtime - comics, both reading and writing them. Things have changed drastically however. My company went bust and closed before Christmas (cheers!) leaving me unemployed with no salary and forced to depend on the dole for my weekly survival (not easy when you have a mortgage and four kids!!)

To say that knocked me for six is an understatement. Took me quite a while to get my head around my new circumstances and I really didn't know what I was going to do with myself. Still don't, to be honest, but at least I've started to take a few steps in a new direction. As my wife is Japanese, we decided in January that we would make the most of this 'opportunity' (see, I'm a glass half-full kind of guy) and head to Japan for a while. It's something we've talked about before. It will be good for the wife to get home for a while, good for the kids to spend some time exploring that side of their culture and heritage, good for me for improving my Japanese skills, which I'm probably going to need sooner than later. Also, I can use the 'time-out' to try and come up with an 'action plan' for getting myself back into some kind of gainful employment. Or something. Kind of making this up as I go, to be honest. In any case, the tickets are bought and we fly on the 19th so I'm committed now. Just have to see how it all pans out.

All of which is really just a massive lead-in to explaining why this -----



---- is so damn late!

I pretty much lost all interest in my creative endeavours for a few months there and let everything slide, so by the time I started getting myself together and started organising things again, there was still a good bit of work to do. Nevertheless, the show must - eventually - go on, and so I am finally able to say - Vanguard Number 2 is now available! And there is good news, which I will get to in a moment.

This issue of Vanguard sees the continuation of the stories that began in issue 1. As before, art duties on International Woman of Mystery tale "Atomic Call" are by David Blankley, while Louis Carter continues to produce some brilliantly bizarre artwork on sci-fi, fantasy epic "Halo and the Gryphon". This issue's violent installment of 1800's "When Good Donkey's Go Bad" tale "Mammoth-Jack" features a change of artist however, as my good friend El Chivo takes over pencilling duties from Owen Watts. But fear not, Mr. Watts is still on board providing some fantastic lettering work for the 6 page tale...and that's not his only contribution to this issue, as you will see when you take a look.

Apart from this there is another single page Tucker story, featuring glorious, blood-soaked, full colour artwork by Bhuna. This tale features a change of direction for the psychopathic character originally created for Hallowscream, bringing a fantasy-based twist to proceedings in order to 'lighten' the serial-slashing tone somewhat. I've also got another two wonderful pages of art featuring the comic's fictional editor 'Redbats' by David Withers, who also provides lettering for two of the strips herein. And, of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention that lettering master Jim Campbell has also deigned to grace us with his presence lettering David Blankley's noir-tastic Atomic Call pages. It's 24 pages of cover to cover action, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, alien creatures, ass-kicking babes, angry donkeys, demons and deceased serial killers. Honestly, what more do you want from a comic? What's that? Free gifts? Oh alright then....but we'll get to that. First...have a look at some preview pages why don't you?

Page from Atomic Call - art by David Blankley


Page from Halo and the Gryphon - art by Louis Carter


Page from Mammoth-Jack - art by El Chivo



So, now to the crux of the matter. How do you get your hands on this? Well, there are two ways. Though I imagine the majority of you will be more interested in the first than the second. Because the first is...

OPTION 1) READ FOR FREE!!
Yes, that's right, I've decided to put this issue up online to be viewed, in it's entirety, for free. Why? Well, because I would like a lot of people to read it, to be blunt. Although I practically sold my entire print one of issue 1 over the course of five or six months, that still only came to a small number of copies distributed (less than 50). Which means less than 50 people read the comic. I'd certainly like to have more of a readership than that but since it's difficult to persuade people to part with their cash for something they can't see in the flesh before they take a chance on, I thought this might be the way to go. That, and the fact that I will be in Japan for at least the next six months and the postage costs back to the UK would be ridiculous! So, with that in mind, you can, right this very minute, make your way HERE and enjoy the comic.

The only thing I would ask in return is that you throw a few comments our way upon reading. The beauty of that site is that you can comment on each page as you read, so if something comes to mind, if you like something or hate something, if you have suggestions for how we could improve things, you can very quickly make a note of it before going to the next page. I would love to know what you think of the stories/writing and I'm sure my collaborators would love to know how you find their art so please do take a few seconds to do this.

Note - only issue 2 is available to view. I didn't think it would be fair to those who purchased a copy of issue 1 to then make it available for free, so I haven't done so. However, there is sufficient recaps given in the strips themselves that this shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of the comic. If you haven't read issue 1 and what you see here intrigues you enough that you would like to, I still have a few copies left which I would be more than happy to sell to you - failing that, the issue is also available to view as a myebook for the ridiculously low price of 50p - click HERE to access it.


OPTION 2 - BUY A PRINT COPY
So, now that I've told you how you can read the comic for free, you're probably not going to be all that interested in paying for a print copy, are you. NEVERTHELESS, if you are the type of person (like me) who prefers his comics 'in the flesh' and likes to hold some really, physical paper in his hand whilst reading, let me see if I can entice you. Because for those who DO avail of a print copy of the comic there are a couple of extras.

Firstly, you will receive - absolutely free - a copy of "Speed Date", a 16 page full-colour A5 comic that collects together both parts of slaser-serial killer story "Speed Date", which originally appeared in Hallowscream's 2010 and 2011 issues. Art on part 1 is by Ghostpockets and on part 2 by Bhuna. The story comes wrapped in a pair of beautiful covers rendered by Bhuna - check out his awesome "after Bill Sienkiewicz" homage:



Secondly, you will also receive a set of four, full-colour, gloss laminated artcards featuring art by some of the comic's contributors. There's an unlettered version of Liam Byrne's groovy issue 1 cover art, an unlettered version of David Blankley's issue 2 cover and brand new images by Owen Watts and Louis Carter, featuring 'Mammoth-Jack' and 'Halo and the Gryphon' respectively. They look really, really good, if I do say so myself.



So there you have it. If you would like to support us by purchasing a copy, just email me at dirkvandom@gmail.com - or drop me a line on facebook, or a pm on the 2000ad forum - and I'll fix you up with as cheap a price as I can possibly manage. It's your feedback and comments - and readership - I'm after more than your money, so as long as my postage costs are covered I'm pretty much happy. The only thing is, if you want to go this way, you will have to let me know before Sunday so I can get everything ready for postage before I depart for distant shores. (Some travelling money would be nice, hint hint. :)

That's it! I hope you all enjoy the comic, whichever way you choose to read it! And don't forget - let us know what you think!!!

9

The number 9 has been cropping up in my life quite a bit lately.

First of all, my daughter Halo celebrated her 9th birthday on the 9th of November just gone.

A couple of weeks after that we threw a belated birthday party for her that we themed around the movie '9', at which we had 9 guests, watched the movie, ate a birthday cake decorated with images of the movie's characters, made bookmarks and postcards featuring the characters and even got all crafty and made our own little sackdolls inspired by the dolls in the feature. (It was quite a hectic day. Especially when I realised I didn't have any glue with which to stick on the dolls' eyes and had to race around town on a Sunday afternoon calling at three damn shops - at least it wasn't 9! - before I finally found one that sold some. Sheesh.)

My mother also turned 9 in the last few weeks. Or should I say 09. Or should I say 60, which is what the card actually said, except that my five year old read it upside down and happily announced to everybody "Nanny is 9!" (She was happy to go along with this, I must add!)

Which brings me to another 9-related issue...an actual issue, the 9th in fact, of Super Awesome Eagle Award Nominated Small Press Anthology Paragon!!!! Here it is, look!




Behind this fantastic cover are pages and pages of comic brilliance, including the first episode of a cracking new yarn by Greg Meldrum and Davey Candlish, about cool-as-beans 1930's adventurer Spencer Nero (this issue's cover star) and his mysterious, mask-activated alter-ego Janus; the third high-octane installment of sci-fi epic Rise of the Mekko-Sapiens by Matthew McLaughlin and Vanguardian Louis Carter; a Roy Thomas/Conan-inspired episode of caveman-smushing madness in regular strip Jikan courtesy of(once again!) Matthew McLaughlin and James Corcoran; and the 3rd installment of my own tale, Icarus Dangerous with art as ever by the brilliant Stephen Prestwood, excelling himself on this episode with panels such as this:



As you can see, part 3 picks up where part 2 left off, with Icarus cornered by the Bonemen, silent inhabitants of the interstellar starship he finds himself trapped on having attempted to rescue the alien female who saved him from drowning. He's also struggling to come to terms with the fact that the wings his father constructed for him - previously destroyed by his plunge into the ocean - have miraculously repaired themselves, sprouting feathers where there were none before, feathers that have special, somewhat explosive, properties. His make-shift wings are not what they used to be, though he has no idea yet just how much they - or he - have changed. As he rushes to stay ahead of the Bonemen and free Meriope from captivity, he will come to realise just how different things are. And how he will never be the same again. This chapter introduces us to a whole bunch of new characters who are destined to play a massive part in future episodes' proceedings. It was in the writing of this episode, and the one that follows, that I realised Icarus is my Zenith, in the sense that, although he is the title character, he is just the eye of a crazy storm that's about to kick off around him. And I can't wait to bring it to you!

With all of this plus a set of extra, 'surprise' stories to really put the cherry on top of this ice-cream sundae of a comic, Paragon issue 9 is a mag you're sure to get your money's worth from! So head on over to the Paragon blog and read about how to pick yourself up a copy!

Enjoy!

D.

Hallowscream 2011

It's here!
It's out!
It's awesome!

The 2011 edition of Back From The Depths' Hallowscream is now available to download FREE and its the biggest and best one yet. Hours of reading here, with some great tales and artwork to be found within these virtual pages. This is my second year contributing and once again I've been lucky enough to work with two fantastic artists. Check out Bhuna's superb full colour artwork on Speed Date 2: Cruz Control and Tony Rothwell's darkly atmospheric etchings on Wonderful World of Delight: Serendipity . The comic also contains a fantastic monster tale written by my old pal Matthew McLaughlin and illustrated by the wonderful stop-you-in-your-tracks-and-rip-your-jaw-right-off-your-face Ghostpockets, who I collaborated with for the original Speed Date in last year's edition.

Hallowscream 2011 - so bloody good it's horrifying!

Download from CLICKWHEEL or DROPBOX, or view online at MYEBOOK.

The things you should fear the most aren't necessarily the ones that are mad, screaming obvious...

Last year, one of the very first comics I wrote "Wonderful World of Delight" appeared online in the 7th edition of Temple APA. Almost two years on, and this story remains close to my heart as one of my favourite creations, which is odd, as it was originally conceived as a throw-away strip, a quick tale with a gimmick that would be done and dusted in a couple of pages and that would be the end of it. Thing is, in the process of writing it, I created this bloke called Robin Baskerville...a larger-than-life nutter who somehow took on a life of his own and refused to get out of my head and leave me be.

It was almost as if he had taken up residence in my imagination. I could hear him whispering to me in the night: "Whaddaya mean, I only got one story to tell, are you outta your frosty, freakin' mind? I got a gazillion stories to tell! You might think you know me, but you ain't got no idea, chump. I've got stories to tell that you would not believe!"

It's true. Robin has since filled me in on EVERYTHING about him, his entire life-story and history, who he really is, what he really does...it didn't make for easy imagining. And I can't even tell anyone about it. Robin scares me. He's bad. The baddest of the bad. This guy, who created himself, is the nastiest, vilest creation that has ever popped into my head. I know I need to tell his story. All of it. I'm just not quite sure how I'm going to do it yet. I have made a start though. Robin's second adventure is ready for consumption and will appear in this year's edition of Hallowscream, just a couple of days hence. Here's a few panels from the story, with new artist Tony Rothwell more than filling the sizeable shoes left by Conor Boyle , who illustrated the original tale, and putting his own unique and darkly humourous stamp on things:



The new tale, Wonderful World of Serendipity, will give fresh insight into the depth of Robin's depravity...but it won't scratch the surface of the unthinkable horrors that are yet to be revealed. I didn't have the necessary gumption to get into all of that right away, thought it best to simply present another snapshot of Robin as he is in the here-and-now of his zombie-ravaged, apocalyptic Wonderful World, before delving into his past and opening up a Pandora's box of terror. That's for another time, another place, but Mr. Baskerville's tale will be told, and when it is, you may very well regret hearing it.

But not half as much as I regret being the one who has to tell it...

Mid-October Update

Well! Where to begin? It's been a while since I've posted anything here. You might think that's because I've been working on looooooooooooads of new projects but, in actuality, I haven't. Nothing creative at least. Real life has been keeping my civilian alter-ego busy and hasn't left much time for Van Dom to strut his funky stuff, taking down criminal masterminds, saving damsels-in-distress and writing strange and messed up comic scripts. Nothing new anyway, though I have been tinkering away at certain works-in-progres. Nevertheless, there are a few things that have been happening.

First and foremost - Vanguard! My self-published comic has gone down pretty well, I'm happy to report. I've sold nearly all my printed copies and had some very good feedback, and have also gathered up a few industry reviews, all of which were pretty positive. (Nobody told me to STOP anyway, and that's always a good sign!) You can get the skinny on all of that - with links to all the reviews and some info about the upcoming issue 2 - over on the Vanguard Blog. There's still a handful of copies left too if you haven't gotten around to picking one up yet. Ordering info can also be found on the Vanguard Blog.

As a result of putting Vanguard together, I also found myself in a position to be nominated for the inaugural Irish Comic News Awards. Seemingly, to my surprise, some people did indeed nominate me and - to my even greater surprise - my name now appears on the short list for voting, in not one but two categories. So you can vote for me as best self-published writer, or Vanguard as best self-published comic. Obviously, I'm not going to win, or even come close (just LOOK at who is on the short list --- egads, what kind of whippersnapper am I even daring to have my name in there?!?) but it's definately an honour to be nominated and I'm very grateful. So a big, big thanks to anybody who did so. And, of course, if you DO want to vote for me, I certainly won't tell you not to!

Over in Paragon, my ongoing adventure series Icarus Dangerous seems to be going down pretty well also. I got a few good reviews for episode 1 and managed to more-or-less keep it going for episode 2, although the Forbidden Planet reviewer was a little disappointed that this episode wasn't as simple-and-straightforward as the first part. Not quite sure what to make of that really as this story, as a whole, is far from simple or straightforward! Hopefully episode 3 will get him back on board. Meanwhile, over at Comics Bulletin, the reviewer thoroughly enjoyed it, so go figure! What do you think of the story? I'd love to hear your views!

Do you remember Speed Date, a short, gorey horror tale I wrote for last year's Hallowscream? Well, a few points of interest in relation to it. First of all, there is a sequel. Of course there is a sequel. I couldn't, in good conscience, leave it the way it ended, not with that vicious bastard Tucker still on the loose, a threat to honest-to-goodness, soulmate-seeking Speed Daters everywhere. Common decency demanded that I revisit the character and present a 'what happened next' type epilogue to the tale...a full colour (and what colour!) tale of love and romance that is now in the can, courtesy of the wonderful Bhuna, and being lettered as we speak. Speed Date 2:Cruz Control is, like all good sequels, everything the first part had but MORE. MORE violence, MORE blood, MORE death, MORE twists. It is, honestly, the bloodiest 6 pages of comic I have ever witnessed. They don't come much more blood-soaked than this people, so keep an eye out for this year's Hallowscream at the end of the month to find out if Tucker gets his come-uppance or not. (Hint - Tucker will continue to appear in a 1 page, ongoing strip in Vanguard from issue 2) (Anti-hint - that doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does. Or does it?!) In the meantime - here are some sneak peaks from this blood-drenched tale...











The second item of Speed Date related news is that the movie version of Part 1 (renamed SPEED KILLS as a short movie called 'Speed Date' already exists) is finally finished, and it looks bloody great. Audience reaction at a test screening recently was overwhelmingly positive, which was lucky, as both myself (as the writer of the original story) and Alan Rogers (director, producer and star of the movie) were sitting there in nervous anticipation of being run out of town for coming up with something so nasty and vile! Alan captured Tucker's 'charm' perfectly though, and somehow this made the acts he commits in the film just that little bit more palatable. The really big news though is that the movie has been picked to appear as part of the short film showcase at this year's Horrorthon festival in the IFI in Dublin. It's being shown on October the 31st at 11am (part of the Short Film Showcase) so if you are in the area and fancy checking it out, please come along. More info about this can be found on the Horrorthon website HERE. Be warned - you will be subjected to images such as this. Yikes!




That's pretty much about all I have for you at the moment. It's too early to start previewing images from all the stories in the next issue of Vanguard, and everything else I am involved in is still in the early stages of W.I.P. I will be back before the end of the month though with news on another strip due to appear in Hallowscream, which features the return of another of my nastier creations, the jolly, jovial, jingle-singing zombie feeder/killer Robin Baskerville, this time rendered by the wonderful Tony Rothwell. Sneak peak below rounds out this entry. Ta-ta for now!

Icarus is Out!

Yep, Paragon Issue 8 is finally out - and having received and read my copy today I can safely say it's a STONKER! Cosied up alongside wonderful scripts by Mark Howard, The Emperor and Matthew McLaughlin is Chapter II of my "Greek Legend Gone Interstellar" epic ICARUS DANGEROUS, in which our danger-prone hero Icarus says:



If you read Chapter 1 (and if you didn't, stop reading this NOW and go read the blog entry for Paragon Issue 7 instead) you'll know that Icarus has been saved from a watery grave by a strange amphibious female...who, seconds later, is captured and taken on board a monstrosity of a deeply submersed spacecraft! Icarus, helpful chap that he is (and nothing at all to do with the fact that some extremely HOT bikini-clad alien chiquita has just planted a whopper on his lips and might be up for offering a little more if he plays his cards right), decides to give chase in an attempt to rescue the damsel-in-distress who has just saved his life. A noble idea, if not the smartest one, but then Icarus never was the sharpest arrow in the quiver, so what do you expect? It all goes BADLY WRONG...and now Icarus finds himself marooned, millions of light years from Earth and even closer to that dag-blasted sun than EVER. And that's not even the WORST bit.



See? He's got VOICES IN HIS HEAD and everything. That's NEVER good!

Who is Meriope? What has she done to Icarus? Who are the alien creatures who have abducted them both and what do they want with Meriope? Find out the answers to SOME of these questions in "ICARUS OUT!", 8 pages of action wonderfully rendered in PRESTWOOD-VISION, appearing now in a PARAGON near you.

Go HERE to order! And get your Greek on!!!

New project!

Got these images today from Neil McClements, who is hard at work on a brand new project we are collaborating together on. I'm very excited about this one. These two characters are two very different individuals who couldn't be further removed, by either time or space.

Meet Khiabit-Ka, of the Intefs of Thebes, son of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep and commander of the Egyptian Theban Forces:




And meet Mason Reeves, a young American and modern-day rookie cop who suffers from a highly advanced - and dangerous - form of Attention Deficit Disorder:




Somehow, these two guys' lives are about to become intertwined...and it's going to make things very interesting for both of them! More info on this one later!

Vanguard Unleashed!!

It's here!

The culmination of several months work is back from the printers and looking awesome (if I do say so myself! :)

My collaborators on this project have put their all into turning in some fantastic looking pages and the whole thing sits together really well. The only thing to do now is attempt to sell a few copies of VANGUARD ISSUE 1 to you fine supporters of the small press comic arts, so stop wasting time reading this and go HERE for the full lowdown!!! You won't regret it!!

Paragon Issue 8

Check out the cover to Paragon Issue 8 by the awesome CHRIS ASKHAM. It's a beaut isn't it? The comic is going to be available in the next couple of weeks, and it's got some great material inside by a bunch of really talented folk...and me! Returning on art duties for ICARUS DANGEROUS CHAPTER 2 is STEPHEN PRESTWOOD - and below you can get a preview of page 1.



For more info, check out the PARAGON BLOG, where you will be able to order a copy of this very soon.

Remember Alice?

This poor girl fell foul of the evil TUCKER last year, when all she thought she was doing was going on a Speed Date with some specially selected, eligible batchelor elite. That's no good at all.



The bad news is, her situation hasn't really improved all that much, as this image - courtesy of BHUNA ROCHE - will attest to. But not to worry. Tucker still has a few girls to get through, ONE of them might be right for him, if they're lucky... But they'll have to play their cards right and answer his questions JUST so, to even be in with a chance. One thing's for sure, before this night is over, things are going to get worse before they get better...

Stay tuned for more nasty, blood-soaked, murderous speed-dating fun in SPEED DATE 2: CRUZ CONTROL! coming your way this Halloween!