Conventional thoughts

With the current world situation, it was absolutely the right decision for the organizers of the London Film and Comic Con to postpone their events until 2027. Rising oil prices, uncertainty of international flights, it's a nightmare for anyone planning a big event to host guests from America. 

I'll really miss LFCC as it's one of my favourite events, but hopefully we'll all be back next year for the re-scheduled summer show on 14th and 15th August 2027. https://londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

I do have a few smaller shows coming up this summer, the first of which will be the Macc Pow Comic Art Festival on Saturday 27th June at Macclesfield Town Hall. Check out the details at this link:

https://maccpow.co.uk/

I'm pacing myself this year so I don't do events too closely to each other as I get very tired after a weekend's show. After Macc-Pow, my next show will be in August. That hasn't been announced yet so I'll reveal more about it on a blog post here as soon as it is.

After that, I'll be at the High Vis Kings Heath Comic Con on Saturday 19th September, just outside Birmingham. You can read all about that at this link: https://highviscomic-con.com/

Following that... I'll be going to the Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Harrogate on the weekend of 14th and 15th November. However I won't be a guest or exhibitor at that one. I'm going along as a visitor just to catch up with friends in the industry I haven't seen for years. I've heard good things about the event and have never been so I thought I'd check it out. 

All of these plans depend on my health of course. At the moment my cancer is stable and still doesn't require treatment but if that changes I'll have to cancel some shows. I'm hoping my health stays stable though and I'll be able to get out and about or there won't be a lot of joy to life otherwise. 

Anyway, let's see how it goes!

Original script from SONIC THE COMIC plus more in this week's auction

I'm selling something different this week. My actual typed script for a Tails story that I wrote for Sonic the Comic No.149 way back in 1999. As you can see at the top, I faxed this seven page script to the editor, Deborah Tate, but this is the original script not her fax copy.

The script gives descriptions and dialogue for every panel that instructed the artist on what to draw. Characters involved in the story include Tails, Charmee Bee, Shortfuse and more. Most of my scripts were lost years ago in a computer crash before I backed them up so this is a unique collectors' item for fans of Sonic the Comic! 

Also up for auction this week:

My original art for a Daft Dimension comic strip I drew for Doctor Who Magazine No.526 in 1999...

...and a full colour Tom Thug page I drew for Buster dated October 27th 1990.

 

Bidding on all these items ends on the evening of Sunday 10th April. Here's the link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=graphite47 

 

Mervyn's Monsters!

What's this? I've always said that this blog is exclusively to promote my own work but here I am plugging a book by Leo Baxendale!? Well, Mervyn's Monsters gets a free pass because it contains a new introduction written by me.

 

Published by Irmantas Povilaika who did those two superb Ken Reid books several years ago, Mervyn's Monsters collects the full run of Leo Baxendale's comedy adventure serial that ran in Buster weekly in 1968. Similar in premise to Baxendale's Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy that he previously did for Wham!, the book involves a kid who works for the secret service, aided by his monsters in the fight against the villainous Mush, a bad guy in the Grimly Feendish mould. 

And of course it's very funny. Some of Leo's best work. 

Mervyn's Monsters is published with the permission of the copyright holders Rebellion and available in hardback (with an A4 print) or softback. The print run is limited, and only available to buy directly from Irmantas himself at this link:

https://www.kazoop-comics-shop.com/

Dandy advance preview

If you go over to Amazon you'll see that they have a few preview pages from The Dandy Annual 2027, just to whet your appetite before the book is published in August of this year. 

It includes page one of a two page Dinah Mo story I did. (There will be three two page Dinah Mo stories by me in the annual, my final work for D.C. Thomson). 

Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dandy-Annual-2027-featuring-characters/dp/1917436440

Who could that possibly be satirizing?

I'm currently working on the Sgt. Shouty page for the next issue of The77. Here's a clip from the previous issue showing the un-named villain who was a threat to society. (He was dealt with shortly after.)

 

Doctor Who Magazine No.629

There's a new issue of Doctor Who Magazine in shops this Thursday, (issue No.629), so here's a clip from my Daft Dimension strip, and the cover to look out for! Click on the image to see it larger.

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Remember TOUGH GUY AND SCRUFFY?

Tough Guy was the vainest superhero in the world, super-powered but definitely not super smart! Aided by his far wiser assistant Scruffy, the characters were creations of mine that appeared in the short lived Triffik! weekly in 1992. 

A few years ago I compiled all the Tough Guy stories into a 32 page PDF comic that can be downloaded from my KoFi shop. Suitable for all ages, you can buy the comic from this link to download and read on your device:

https://ko-fi.com/s/fb5e501d04