At the moment I've had to put issue 5 on the back burner while I get on with mainstream comics work that pays the bills. I'm still hoping to publish it in late April or early May but it really depends on how much the current coronavirus pandemic affects things. If postal services are postponed or restricted to essential items only there's little point in me publishing a comic that depends on mail order. More importantly, if I lose income from my mainstream work (e.g.: comics being put on hold if printers/distributors/shops close) then I'll have to save my money for essentials just to survive. (Last year was a bad one financially and I'm still dealing with that.)
As we're all well aware, the situation is changing daily and it'll get worse before it gets better. The whole of human society is dealing with massive unexpected lifestyle changes worldwide and I fully appreciate that people will have to prioritise things that are far more important than funnybooks. (I've already stopped buying most comics I was following, and have ceased buying books for the time being.)
At the moment I'm still booked for the list of conventions shown on the right hand column of this blog and if that changes I'll notify you here right away. Likewise, if Combat Colin No.5 does go into production soon I'll post an update here. At worst, it'll be postponed until later in the year hopefully. When it is available you'll be able to order it from my online shop. http://www.lewstringer.com/page7.htm
I don't know about you folks but I keep thinking this is a nightmare we'll suddenly wake up from. Sadly it's all too real. Wishing you all good health and let's hope we survive this crisis for brighter and happier times ahead.
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6 comments:
well, not saying it's great news but it's great you are keeping people informed like this ^_^
I'm kinda stuck at home now the Community centre I work at has basically closed for the duration (fully decided Thursday-Friday). I can see most of this matter being dealt with within 3 months max. Not saying completely dealing with everything, but the most part and things should calm down by then.
Hope you remember to take care and your health comes first, then your main stream work, then you can think about Self publishing stuff. Don't get into a situation where you feel pressured to do stuff. It's not a fantastic situation but we are doing fairly well, but there is a lot of scaremongering which is having a lot of bad effects on people (my mother has some health problems which, while she is trying to keep calm, the way everyone is panicking is stressing her out more and leading to more heart issues.. but it's very minor right now so.. that's good).. at least it's only really America that seams to be having major issues with people selling fake 'home testing kits' and 'cures'.. I'm a bit surprised the evil Gwyneth Paltrow hasn't chimed in on that with another one of her life threating 'treatments'.. (.. some of the stuff her and her company try to sell you CAN and has lead to MAJOR problems.. though I think you need to be over 18 to find out about some like the stones ¬_¬)..
anyway.. Fear to a degree is good. Caution is good, Panic is bad.
Thanks Ryan. Wishing you and your mum safe passage through the coming weeks.
This has to be the country's, heck, the world's, worst crisis since World War II. In terms of comics, the war caused a LOT of titles to cease, and a lot of what survived reduced frequency. But this Coronavirus has the potential to shut down Beano and Phoenix among others for months (2000AD will probably already be having problems getting into US comic shops unless they actually print it there) - while the writing and drawing of stories won't be an issue as creators often work from home anyway, publishing and distribution, at least in print, is a potential problem. With the conventions already off too, obviously, you're right to watch the pennies. You have to prepare for the worst case scenario, even if it turns out things carry on mostly as normal. Good luck, and let's hope this is over sooner than later.
Thanks James. It's business as usual at the Beano so far, with editors working from home, so let's hope it remains that way.
On a completely different note, and piggy backing onto this thread, have you ever drawn a Mickey Mouse strip, Lew? I’ve just seen one for Mickey Mouse Weekly from IPC. It’s certainly Stringeresque.
Afraid not, Christoper. I was still at school when IPC were publishing that comic, and wasn't born when the original Mickey Mouse Weekly was around. :D
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