Getting Down To Business

This week over to our Sales and Distribution Manager, Alasdair Duncan for more on the Essex Book Festival, which is where you will be able to find him, me and Cy Dethan this Saturday if you live nearby.

"Insomnia will have slots at the events taking place at Harlow and Shenfield libraries as follows:

Cages consequeces - allows you to have a go at writing a plot, albeit a very simple one based around a tight structure in hat the two characters are locked in a Cage together. You have to put two characters into this situation and come up with an outcome based on their behaviour. It's a verys imple story but has large scope for using your wit and imagination.

Monster draw - invent your own monster and have a go at drawing and see that it's not as easy as it may look. First you have to come up with your ultimate monster and that's before you put pencil to paper.

Crosshair speaks - aside from looking really impressive at 6'2" tall with a leery grin and crosses for corneas , what happens here is that you must decide crosshair's first words. He could be a good guy, evil or simply lost ('do you know the way to the post office?') the choice is yours and againsets a challenge to budding writers. And with writer Cy Dethan on hand we might even find out what he really says.

There will also be the chance to simply talk comics and see Tony Wicks draw his C2D4 creations in real time. Want to know how to make a samurai chicken look cool. Tony will show you."

How could a samurai chicken not look cool? I mean, really? Tony is a brilliant artist and I have loved his work since I was first handed a copy in Whatever Comics with a "see what you make of this - I think you'll like it" by the ever-surprising and incredibly well informed Manny Armario, my comics dealer of nearly 20 years.

And now some news from Crawford:

“A little bit of business news as well this week:

We are very excited to announce that Insomnia Publications Ltd was recently approved for the Growth Pipeline from Scottish Enterprise. This means that we are receiving professional assistance from Scottish Enterprise and their networks, with a professional Business Advisor and Mentor to help develop and grow the business in the coming months.

We would also like to give a warm welcome to our new US Business Development Manager, Jim O’Hara, who recently joined the Insomnia Publications management team.

Jim’s role in the company is to assist us in our growth and development by exploring options in North America, helping Insomnia expand into the US market, and assist with the exposure of the company and our products.

Jim’s expertise in business, with running his own company Jigsaw, along with his experience in developing multi-million dollar promotional and marketing campaigns, and not to mention being another huge comic book fan, makes him a valuable addition to the Insomnia team.”

In the meantime go and see Watchmen. You know you want to.

See you in seven.