A Bit of a Review of the Year 2012

I know it's late, but I don't want to get into the habit of just missing out the even numbered years. Nevertheless, let's look back at 2012, the Year I promised would be the Year of the Trilogy. Which it wasn't. But it was too.

I started off with the foolhardy notion that I could draw something everyday and blog about on a weekly basis. I did a total of nineteen Draw Everyday posts. Which is pitiful. I reckon I might give it another go. The pressure of having to blog something was a good motivator, but also a hinderance, in that I got hung up with having something ready for public consumption. Bottom line is, people are glad to see anything, and with Twitter and Instagram, those are probably the best places for such updates.

While I was waiting for the Sugar Glider 3 script from Daniel, I went to see The Artist at the cinema. There's a scene within a scene where one of the characters reminded me of Don Quixote from Sugar Glider 2, and after looking at the film's poster, an idea was set in motion that resulted in the most popular post of 2012 on the blog, and also the idea of promoting the free web serialisation of Sugar Glider with DVD box-esque posters. We quickly decided to do posters for the main title based on some of our favourite independent films, some of which related to the content and themes of the books. Then we thought it would be hilarious to parody more schmaltzy, sentimental romantic comedies for the two Sugar Glider Stories books to reflect their ensemble cast.

In February, there was still no sign of the SG3 script, but this little lady made an appearance, courtesy of Laura Swaddle.

March was spent mostly building up for the fourth Leeds Alt Comics Fair which took place in April. It's consistently one of the best comics events I've attended. I had time to work on a small mini comic called Column, about my thoughts on public art. I was going to do a larger and longer version if there was any interest, but I think it served more as an incentive or reward for people buying more than one comic. Here's my poster again, I was dead chuffed with it.

The merry merry month of May is home to my birthday, so not a lot of comics work going on there. However, I did find time to work on Nightbus 3, which at this point was pretty much simply called Nightbus. The lack of numeration was a conscious decision to not put off people who may think they were missing out on one and two, but simultaneously, could have been confused as an issue one. Comics, eh? Interestingly, a few people have said that it works as a starting point as well as an ending. I'm pleased to have created something that ends, not on a bang, but a full stop and an ellipsis.

In August, I went to the City of Lights to be proper romantic on mine and my wife's second anniversary (naturally), track down some BDs (success), capture a giant Totoro (he escaped), visit the Robert Crumb Retrospective (extensive) and cross the canal Saint-Martin and la Seine a few times (#riverfans). I adore Paris and love that they take comics seriously there, without question, clarification or defensiveness. I got the new Lewis Trondheim book for Christmas. It is an absolute joy. I'm going to write a comic in French. It'll be mint.

About a week later, I was at the Carlisle Megacon, another small to medium event that was lots of fun to attend. Sales weren't great, but I think this is the first of its kind in the area, so hopefully word of mouth will ensure a greater footfall next year.

Nightbus launched online in October, in time for Thought Bubble and the Canny Comic Con. It's been met with positive reviews and good sales so far. I'm really pleased with the book and the series as a whole. You can see a great leap forward from the first 'snapshot' to this one. I feel that my writing, really came into its own here, both in terms of visual storytelling, dialogue and story. It's something I've been looking forward to getting back to for so long. Leaving a trilogy unfinished is poor form, so I was glad to get back to those characters even if it was just to give them the send off they deserved.

What's new for 2013? Well SG3 is on its way, I can't guarantee a specific launch date, but you'll find out soon enough. And after I finish the second of my two trilogies? I plan to take a little break from comics. I'll concentrate on learning a few new tricks in Photoshop and Illustrator and maybe just drawing. I have plans to work with Daniel on something soon though, so don't get too upset.

I'll take this opportunity to say a massive cheers me dears to everyone who's helped to make 2012 a superawesome year, and will hopefully be there to make 2013 even better.

Draw Everyday Part XV

It's been a while since the last Draw Everyday, and that's because I've been too busy working on a couple of things to post sketchbook stuff consistently. More on that later, maybe next week.

I had a request a while back (on Draw Everyday Part VII to be exact) from Lily for some architecture, specifically, Newcastle's Civic Centre. I mentioned that I had something in the pipeline, but I've only just managed to ink it this week. The Civic Centre is a funny building, a sort of miss mash of buildings that don't seem to fit together, with a huge tower that adds a circle of seahorses to the Newcastle skyline.

Anyway, here it is, let me know what you think. I'll try to post more architecture soon.

A Bit of a Review of the Year 2011

I was going to call this post The Year of the Sugar Glider, but that seemed a bit conceited. Other things happened in 2011 aside from the runaway successes of SG, I just can't remember them.

I won't labour the points too much, but the year kicked off with a deluge of positive reviews of Sugar Glider issue one, which had been released in the November of 2010. In 2011, SG1 was joined by three more Sugar Glider titles, Sugar Glider Stories 1 was launched at the 2nd Leeds Alternative Comics Fair and finally, we got round to doing a Newcastle based launch for SG2. A thousand thank-yous to Mike and the crew at Travelling Man Newcastle. Finally, Sugar Glider Stories 2 was released at Thought Bubble. All of the titles have received positive reviews and any of the niggles about yet another superhero comic have been ironed out by issue two. This isn't a superhero comic, it's a comic about a girl who happens to have an absurd extra-curricular pursuit. Oh, and there's superheroes.

Speaking of conventions, the last of the year was an absolute delight. More is written elsewhere about how awesome and essential the Canny Comic Con was, but from my perspective, it was great to be able to meet Sugar Glider fans who had followed the series from the start, and new fans who were intrigued by this new Geordie heroine. The day itself was so much fun and I can't wait for next year's event.

One of the most wonderful and humbling and joyous things about doing Sugar Glider has been the fan art. We received a boatload at the start of the year, and it's kept coming with each release. A lot of people have taken to Susie so much as to spend some time drawing her. I think that's the greatest compliment. If you've got any fan art, of Susie in or out of costume, or indeed any of the Sugar Glider cast, email it, post it on Twitter, or the Facebook fan page or send a carrier pigeon.

New Year's Resolutions? Well, the obvious one is to get Sugar Glider 3 out, thus completing the trilogy. This is a big one for me really as I haven't completed a series since I first got into comics. Having said that, issues one and two have been so special, it would be a crime to rush the conclusion. Expect SG 3 before the end of 2012.

Secondly, I'd like to get super organised for comics fairs, preparing an emergency comic con kit esssentially. The reason being, I make that promise every time we do an event and always forget something. Never again. Plus, I don't do a massive number of events, so it would be good to get through them sans stress.

And finally, sort out the website. Andy Waugh has been badgering me about this for aaaaages, and his new site is amazing. I'm jealous. I want one too. So there.

Right, I think that's all for now. See you all on the 2012 side.

Nightbus Fever Continues...

OK, so in addition to the review I mentioned in the last post, Stacey Whittle will be reviewing Nightbus in the prestigious Small Press Big Mouth podcast which will be online later this week. How terribly exciting.

But wait, there's more! I'll be on the radio on Thursday afternoon too. NE1 fm can be found on the wireless at 102.5fm in the Newcastle area, or on the Internet on the other side of this link. I'll be on Gari Sullivan's show after 3:00pm

Fayre Play

Fellow comics creator Andy Waugh and my good self are off to the pub on Sunday. We're selling comics, by the way.

The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle. Sunday 29th March. 1-6pm

Do join us, it's closer than the Thing in London, which was fun last year, but we're giving it a miss due to travel costs. And the emotional drain of having to get out of bed at 3 in the morning.

I'll do a debrief afterwards. If I remember. There might be pictures.

Nightbus

Behold! The first Nightbus Snapshot!

Brought to you by Mr Chris Jones, my good self and the letters C and N.

Have a click, have a read, read the first page before the second, enjoy.

So what's this all about then? Conrad and César run the university safety bus. It's set in Newcastle. You love it. That's all you'll need for now. Chris and I are dishing out the snapshots for FREE in Newcastle and some select other places, but if you're outside the Toon, they'll be on here as regularly as I can muster. Eventually, there will be legions of you who'll want a hard copy, so we'll collect a few of the snapshots and some bonus stuff and flog them in comic shops and suchlike.

So that's the plan, also, many thanks to everyone who's read the comic and everyone who agreed to give us the space on their flyer shelves.