Benjamin Marra - 'Night Business - Issue 4'

I got the new issue of 'Night Business' a couple of days ago. Another great issue. This time we see the crazed mayor of the city and there's a fancy double spread of 1980's sex as Johnny and the Rider get together. I hope other people in the UK are buying these too. It's got another great author photo and bio as well.

Bryan Talbot - 'Grandville' & 'Grandville Mon Amour'

I enjoyed Bryan Talbot's two Grandville books that I read last week. My brother got them out from the library and he liked them too. They are good adventure stories, nice and exciting, and don't take themselves too seriously. Another good find in the library, but I'm running out of comics to get out from there, which is a shame. I hope they get some more books in next year if they still have any money. I've hardly bought any books this year so the library has been really good.

A Little Bit of my Second Ice Cream Comic

I'm up to page ten of my second ice cream comic now. Here's a very basic panel from it before I rub out the pencils and add the grey bits. It's going to be twenty four pages long, same as part one.

Brrr

Brrr. On mornings like this it is hard to get out of the house and go and sell things on a market outside all day. Luckily the weather went a lot more sunny later on, even though it was still very cold, and I had a really good day. That's the last of my markets this year so now I can have a break for Christmas. I'll try and get some drawing done too.

Ice Cream Comic News

I'm drawing the markets from last January at the moment for my second ice cream comic. It's not a lot of fun as they were very quiet markets where it constantly rained. I hope this January is a bit better.

'Christmas Pudding Ice Cream' Recipe

As it's December now, here's my christmas pudding ice cream recipe, from my second ice cream comic.

Comical Animal Issue 6

Comical Animal Issue 6 is out today. Why not have a look? I did a drawing for it of 'British Animals in their Winter Coats'.

A Little Bit of my Second Ice Cream Comic

I like this little bit of page four of my second ice cream comic. It's weird to be drawing about last Christmas while getting ready for this one.

Leeds Thoughtbubble Report

Here's my table at Leeds Thoughtbubble. I took my green checkered oil cloth that I use for selling ice cream at markets. I was going for a sort of ice cream theme because of my new comic. I thought my table looked a lot nicer than usual so I was happy about that. I went to Leeds on the train on Saturday morning so it was a very early start.

The Saturday went really well. My table was in a good place, at the end of a row, with no queue problems like last year. I sold three times as many comics as last time, so I was very pleased. That means I will be going back again next year. Thanks to the organisers, I thought it was very well run. There were plenty of people on the Saturday but it was a bit more spread out, as it was two days long with two halls. That was good as it was easy to walk about and I got to see everyone. I didn't manage to go and look in the other hall as I was stuck behind my table a lot.

The Sunday was very foggy, and so was I, after the Saturday night party. It was a lot quieter and went really dead after dinner. Maybe it should finish about three on the second day so I can get home earlier. I was very tired but managed to get home by half nine on a very busy train. It was really nice to catch up with everyone that I only see at cons.

Here's my haul of comics. I got Michael De Forge's 'Lose - issue 3' from Koyama Press, which is amazing. Also I got Francasca Cassavetti's new comic 'Panic Attacks' and Dan Lester and Oliver Lambdens 'The Killer Next Door' which is the new issue in the Dan Lester Mysteries series. I got Simon M's latest 'Smoo #4' comic and Nick Souzek's 'Falling Away'. Also Colin from Accent UK very kindly gave me a copy of 'Bite Me' by Dylan Meconis. I'll have a read of them all tonight. I saw a lot of other great comics which I will be ordering soon once I sell some more soup.

Review of 'Its a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business'

Here's a review of 'It's a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business' from Optical Sloth. Thanks Kevin!

Leeds Thoughtbubble this Saturday and Sunday

I'll be at table 117 at Leeds Thoughtbubble this weekend. Please come and say hello! Here's a photo of the new stuff I'll have on my table, 'The Flying Leaf Creature' newspaper comic, 'It's a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business' and my hand-coloured 'Ice Cream Recipe' posters. Hopefully it'll be a great weekend. Here's a plan of the event so you can find my table.

Cover for 'Its a Mans Life in the Ice Cream Business Part Two'

Here's a go I had at drawing a cover for the second part of my ice cream comic. I like it apart from the snow on the floor. Snow is hard to draw in black and white. I'm going to get going on this new comic now.

Review of 'Its a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business'

Here's a review of 'It's a Man's Life in the Ice cream Business' from Richard Bruton at the Forbidden Planet blog. Thanks Richard!

Review of 'Its a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business'

Here's a very nice review of 'Its a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business' from Rol Hirst. Thanks Rol!

A Page from 'It's a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business'

Here's a page from my new ice cream comic as I haven't posted any artwork for a while. If anyone would like to buy it it's for sale on my website, only £1.50.

I haven't been able to do any drawing for a couple of weeks, luckily I've finished everything for Thoughtbubble so hopefully that'll go well. I am waiting to think of a decent idea and suffering with the writers block or whatever.

Rol Hirst - 'Too Much Sex and Violence'

I really enjoyed Rol Hirst's new comic 'Too Much Sex and Violence'. Rol has written it all and the art is by many different artists including Paul Rainey, Andrew Cheverton and Martin Eden. Each artist has drawn a different short story so that works really well as a whole issue. They all tie together nicely and are all set in the small coastal town of Fathomby. There was a good review of it yesterday from the Forbidden Planet blog. It's quite a lot like the 'League of Gentlemen' with a large cast of very weird characters in a strange town, so if you liked that I'm sure you'll like this. I'm very interested to see what happens next as it's a very good start to a new series.

'Ice Cream Recipe' Posters

I'm making these posters of my ice cream recipe cartoon to sell at Thoughtbubble. They are A3 and I am colouring them all in by hand. It takes a while but they look nice. I've made ten and so far I've coloured three this morning.

Comics for Sale

All my three new comics that I've brought out this year are on sale in my shop. I will also have them all at Leeds Thoughtbubble next month.

My Brother is Some Kind of Booze Making Genius

My brother has been spending his time making various kinds of booze from fruits he has foraged around the place for the last few months and the first one was ready to try today. It's elderflower wine and it's really nice! I am very impressed. It tastes like a flowery desert wine like Beaumes de Venise but you can tell its made of elderflowers. Now we can drink lots of very cheap fruit wine. It gives me high hopes for the rest of the booze he's been making, redcurrant wine, plum wine, cider and apple wine.

Comics for Sale

Today I dropped off some 'Flying Leaf Creature' and 'The Gods Must be Bastards' at Travelling Man, Manchester. Why not buy one if you are passing? They also have a couple of copies of 'Goblin Hall' left. I went in to see the Anders Nilsen book signing, and got my old copy of 'Monologues for the Coming Plague' signed and sketched in. Cool. Thanks to Travelling Man for selling my comics!

'It's A Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business' now on Sale

I stapled and folded my new comic last night so it is now on sale. I'm going to take a bunch of copies to Leeds Thoughtbubble next month but if anyone's not going or can't wait they are now on sale on my website via paypal. They are £1.50 and are 24 black and white pages with black and white covers. Postage is free. It didn't take me long to fold and staple them, I guess it's one of those things you never forget how to do, even though I've not done it myself for a couple of years.

Optical Sloth Fundraiser

Optical Sloth is doing a little fundraising thing for the next couple of weeks to help him pay his website bills. Why not buy some comics from his shop if you can or send him small amounts of cash? It's a good site for small press comics and it would be a real shame if he can't afford to carry on.

Old School

I've just finished drawing my ice cream comic. It shall be called 'It's a Man's Life in the Ice Cream Business' and is 24 black and white pages, with black and white covers. I am getting it photocopied so I've got old Longy above out of retirement. It will be nice to do some old fashioned folding and stapling. I'll have the new comic for sale at Leeds Thoughtbubble next month along with copies of my 'Flying Leaf Creature' newspaper comic.

John Robbins - Inside Outsiders

The whole of John Robbins 'Inside Outsiders' is up on Irish Comic News here so you can read it for free online. It's a very good story.

Half of Page 17 of Ice Cream Comic

I'm just starting on page 19 of this now.

Gareth Brookes - The Black Project 1

I got Gareth Brookes' 'The Black Project' at the Bristol Comics and Zine Fair. It's really good. It's the story of a strange boy called Richard who decides to build himself a girlfriend. He thinks that if people find out he will get in trouble so it is his secret project. He struggles to work out what to make the girlfriend out of, and to keep it hidden from his parents. Here's a link to his website where you can buy it and here's a more detailed review of it from Optical Sloth. Highly recommended, its very funny and dark.

'Flying Leaf Creature' Review

Here's a review of the 'Flying Leaf Creature' from the Forbidden Planet blog.

Bristol Comics and Zine Fair Report

This is 'Start the Bus' which was the venue for the fair. It was very rainy in the morning but cheered up later on.
Here's an obligatory shot of my table at the fair. My camera was running out of batteries so I didn't get anymore photos but don't worry I'll steal some soon.

I had a very good time at the Bristol Comics and Zine Fair yesterday. Thanks to Simon, Nick and Dave for organising it and sorting everything out. I went down on the Saturday and we had a good night out drinking bitter with loads of cartoonists. I sold a reasonable amount at the fair and did a lot of really good trades so I'll write about some of them in the future.

Here's a better picture, its Simon and Nick. Picture stolen from this much better written report on the day.

Bristol Comics and Zine Fair

Just a reminder that I'll be at the Bristol Comic and Zine Fair on Sunday. Why not come along if you live near there?

Also some of my comics will be on sale from the Rotherham Zine Library table at the Sheffield Zine Fair on the same day (Sunday 25th of September) if you live near Sheffield. There will be copies of my newest comic 'The Flying Leaf Creature' at both events.

Part of Page 12 of Ice Cream Comic

Here's part of page 12 of the ice cream comic, chalkboards in the rain. I've done half this comic now as it will be 24 pages long.

Part of Page 10 of Ice Cream Comic

I have been mainly drawing my ice cream comic this week, and making ice cream. Here's part of page ten.

Ryan Cecil Smith - Two Eyes of the Beautiful 1 & 2

I really enjoyed these two minicomics I bought the other week from Ryan Cecil Smith. They are a reimagining and redrawing of Umezu Kazuo's 'Blood Baptism', a horror manga. The first one is good but the second one gets really great. I thought Ryan's drawing got a lot better, it gets really interesting and very creepy with all the horror scenes. The story is about a beautiful woman with a disfiguring disease who runs off to a small town with her daughter to start some sort of bizarre cure from a secretive doctor. Here's a link to his website. I'm looking forward to part three to see what happens next. They have great colour printed covers too.

Jesse Moynihan - Forming Volume 1

I enjoyed Jesse Moynihan's 'Forming'. This is the first part of a trilogy and has been published by Nobrow Press. its the first Nobrow Press book I have bought and as expected the printing, binding and book design are lovely. These all came out as a webcomic first.

The drawing is great and I love the colours. Its a mythological kind of story with all sorts of space aliens and superbeings from Zoroastrian, Christian and Dogon creation stories all landing on prehistoric earth. Then they all start mating with the earth people, messing around and fighting each other. Everyone talks in American stoner talk, a bit like in Multiforce or CF's work. 'Let me take him Dad, I'll unravel his balls into long parallel lines' says Cain. I'd like to find out where he goes with Volume 2.

Ice Cream Comic Page 5

I think this might be page 5 of my new ice cream comic.

Thunder Brother - Soap Division

Paul Rainey has started serialising his new comic Thunder Brother - Soap Division on a new website today. I am excited to see what it is about. Here's a link to it. He's going to update it with a new page every Monday and Friday.

Comical Animal Issue 5

The new Comical Animal is up today and I have a story in it called 'Tib-by has the last Laugh' where I carry on from three panels of a cartoon from 1956. Have a look at it here.

Ice Cream Comic

Here's some of my trying out things for my ice cream business comic. Its the hardest game in the world.

John Robbins - The Well Below

I really enjoyed John Robbins' latest comic 'The Well Below'. I think it is my favourite of all his comics that I've read. It has two short cartoon stories, and then a long text piece 'The Time Machine' which is really good, and then it ends with a great longer comics story, 'The Well Below'. Very highly recommended, why not give it a try. Here's a link to his website.

'Flying Leaf Creature' Now On Sale

What's this in the post? It's the 'Flying Leaf Creature' full colour newspaper comic! It's come out really well, I am very relieved. If you would like to buy one please do, I have put them on my website for sale with paypal or contact me for other ways to buy it. They are for sale at 4 pounds each including postage as they need big envelopes. I will have them for sale at the Bristol Comics and Zine Fair on the 25th of September and then at Thought Bubble in November.

Bristol Comics and Zine Fair

I'm going to have half a table at the Bristol Comics and Zine Fair on Sunday 25th of September. Here's more info. I should have my new 'Flying Leaf Creature' Newspaper comic on sale at the fair for the first time.

Zine Exhibition in Sheffield

I've sent some comics along to the D.I.Y. Summer at Site exhibition, workshop and events in Sheffield. Sounds cool. It runs from the 23rd of August till the 7th of September at the Site gallery, Brown Street, Sheffield. They are setting up a new Zine Library there too. I sent some comics for sale and some for the library.

'Flying Leaf Creature' First Page

I've finished scanning and cleaning up and arranging the pages of 'Flying Leaf Creature'. Now it's in a newspaper format, finally. This is what the front cover of the newspaper will look like. As soon as I can get enough money together I'm going to get it printed.

Osamu Tezuka - Buddha (volumes 2 & 3)

I've been enjoying this series which I have been getting out from Bolton library. They are ideal books to get out from the library. I don't think I would buy them, especially not while I'm a bit skint, but they are great to read for free. Also it means I can read them quite quickly which feels right for a lot of manga. I hope I can find the rest of the series there soon. These two volumes are about the young Siddharta (Buddha) and his quest to escape his upbringing as a spoiled prince and become a monk.

'Flying leaf Creature' Stall Paintings

I have done these two paintings of my 'Flying Leaf Creature' character to decorate my stall at Leeds. I'll have it for sale by then.

Scarecrows at the Allotments Open Day

I liked all these scarecrows the allotment holders had made at the Harpers Lane Allotment Show yesterday. I was selling ice cream and cheese there, even though it rained we did really really well.

Gas Giant 3

Gas Giant 2