#126: Got it Covered

Covers, signing, designing and speed-date socializing?

ALL THE LATEST

Hello from the banks of the River Fer- oh wait, no I’m actually in London right now! I’ve been visiting friends before and after my signing last Friday which went great.

I remember going to the Forbidden Megastore when I was a kid. It might have been my first or second time ever in the UK. I remember seeing a Klingon Bat’leth in one of the glass cases and lost my mind, not to mention the huge USS Enterprise model abve the stairs down the the comics section. So, it was very, very cool to be able to sign in that particular store, finally. I talked to the staff there and they were keen for me to sign agin then the OLD DOG collection is out. Everyone was great, I had a brilliant time and signed like, 300 OLD DOG bookplates! Went for dinner and drinks after with TIME BEFORE TIME co-creators Rory Palmer and Joe Palmer, along with Rachael Stott, Eoin Marron, Stephen Byrne and David Baillie. Got to see Torunn Gronbekk who was in town and had a lovely lunch with Kieron Gillen. Popped out to Margate to see an old friend but got drenched in a rainshower so now I’m dying with a headcold after also what has been a lonf round of speed-dating with old friends and peers.

-Since last we spoke I have mostly been doing covers! I’ve finished three Marvel covers and two TIME BEFORE TIME covers, including the final one *sobs*. To do before end of the month: 1 Skybound cover, 1 Marvel cover, 1 Mad Cave cover and 1 Boom cover. I have a feeling I’m forgetting one!

-Currently writing my 8th issue of ALIEN while I’m away from my studio space, will jump on those covers once I’m back.

-Will also need to start on PROJECT MINER, I’m fiddling with some other writing stuff as well as the OLD DOG REDACT ONE trade which is neeeeeeearly ready.

-The artist/co-creator of PROJECT ARCA is visiting me this week where we’re going to work out the concept some more. We had a Zoom call a couple of weeks ago that went great, feel like we really have the shape of the project, I need to dig into it a bit more to flesh things out, but we’ve got a good momentum going.

-I saw this on Tom Brevoort’s excellent Man With a Hat Substack; a “Welcome To Comics” document for writers new to writing in the comics medium by Sarah Brunstad, my editor on AlIEN. Sarah’s an excellent editor, and there’s a lot of hepful stuff in there for anyone who’s interested in writing comics.

#63: Service Disruption

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OLD DOG

OLD DOG #6 is out July 26th! Here’s another peek to whet your appetites…

Yes, I have seen Sicario.

I decided to stop thinking about OLD DOG for a while and concentrate on other stuff …but then ended up listening to interviews wth ex-C.I.A. officers and buying more books about spies and have totally fallen down that rabbit hole again. Definitely more OLD DOG TO come!

I have most of the design work on the OLD DOG trade done. With the #0 story included it’s coming in at a hefty 136 pages with absolutely no exrtras included. The only thing I’d like to do is maybe include all the excellent variant covers from the series, but that would mean making the booj 144 pages, and the book is priced at $9.99 so I’m a little worried about how cost effective it would be to add another 8 pages. These are the stresses of creator-owned! Sound off in the comments ifye have strong feelings one way or the other.

Been working more on the upcoming OLD DOG/Art Deco project. Have a designer assembling all the elements. Should come together fast enough I think, though there is a lot more prep to be done before I pull the trigger on this thing in a month or so. Ye’ll be the first to know, of course.

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ALIEN

ALIEN: THAW is completed! Issue 5 inks and colours were handed in last week. Ruth Redmond had to take over colour duties for Triona Farrell for the final issue. I’m delighted to say, Ruth did a great job, the change is seemless to the untrained eye. Or trained eye, even.

We also have a seriously eerie Kendrick Lim variant for Issue 5

I’m currently working on the script for my 8th issue, had some studio notes on the on the previous one but have worked them out. Andrea has started on the first half of his next chapter, already had the first page or so pencilled and done a lot of the design work needed for this next arc. The man is a beast.

Should be some news soon on the ALIEN front, but til that breaks, here’s a tease for an upcoming issue with a mystery artist…

Coming in October…

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TIME BEFORE TIME

Geoffo has started work on his final issue. His previous issue looks really great, the art is big and bold and really reflective of how the story is escalating to its boiling point.

Issue 24 is out next week! I’m staying with Eoin Marron in London and he did the variant cover for us so I just saw comps today, it’s looking really great. So yes, pick up the first issue of our final arc with art by Geoffo …It’s all kicking off now! Here’s my cover too, while I’m sharing.

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DEC WATCH

An update on what I’ve been wathcing of late. Mainly been watching Ray Donovan, a series that leaves me talking in a Bawston accent for the rest of the night. Just finished it last week, so I’m going to need a new show for my regular dinner-watch. Been rewatching Warrior in anticipation for the long awaited new season. I’m always trying to make sure I’m watching more films at the weekend, just to break up the weeks more. Recently treated myself to a rewatch of Top Gun: Maverick, [just as good as I remembered, if not better!], and Gangs Of New York [been a long time, still love it] Triple Frontier [MUCH better than I was expecting], Many Saints of Newark [enjoyed, though a little underwhelming], Extraction 2 [hell yes, that was fun], Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse [brilliant stuff, though was a but too hectic at times for my rotting brain].

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OUT SOON

July 19th

TIME BEFORE TIME #25 [W/C]

ALIEN #4

July 26th

OLD DOG #6 [W/A/Col/C]

THE RIBBON QUEEN #1 [C]

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