The Red Eye: Countdown BICS-2 Weeks

So much news - so little time!

Secure all personal belongings and keep your arms inside the car at all times...

Burke and Hare: Reaching the Heart

Here we go then, with the last of the pin-up previews. This week we have Hugh Parker, Gary Erskine and Frank Quitely:

Hugh Parker

Gary Erksine

Frank Quitely

Layer Zero:Choices ebook sampler

Just in time for BICS we now have the Layer Zero: Choices sampler up as an ebook.

Myebook - Layer Zero: Choices - click here to open my ebook

Take a look inside for a preview of each story, the pin ups and creator biographies.

Snow Job

Valia Kapadia has been getting in the mood for some desire and depravity, ready for BICS. Hang on, that didn't come out right!

What I meant to say is that she has been creating some amazing concept pieces as part of her style experiments for Snow.

Go on, admit it, you're already a little bit frightened, and even worse, a little bit temped.

Roy Huteson: Artist Double Header!

Not, in fact, a rare example of the two headed comics creator, but Roy Huteson, who is the first artist we have to be working on both a Vigil book and an Original Graphic Novel at the same time - and we snapped him up for both books in the same week.

Having been doing dark and stunning work on Daemon Seeds (the prequel to Daemon by Alasdair Duncan) for Layer Zero: Survival we are delighted to have him on board for the full book.

Alasdair said:

"Roy has the ability to put a highly detailed and realistic drawing right next to an impressionistic almost abstract piece of artwork and make it work as a whole. His biro doodles alone are worthy of display and his style has given me as a writer so much more freedom with the story."

Daemon Seeds

And then later in the week Roy sent us his bleak, inspiring, tinged-with-madness character concept sketches for how he would approach Crowley: Wandering the Waste. As soon as Martin Conaghan (editor), Martin Hayes (writer) and I clapped eyes on them we knew we had to have him.

Crowley: Wandering The Waste

Taking Over The Airwaves: Insomnia Podcastpalooza!

You've read about them, you've seen the pictures, and now thanks to the wonders of modern technology you can also hear their actual voices!

And next week will see Cy Dethan interviewed by Comic Book Outsiders

New Signing: Terminus

We are very pleased to announce that we have signed a second book by Michael "Quarantine" Moreci last week.

"In an imagined 2033, advances in genetics have allowed a person’s physical and mental health to be known from birth. Those who are a danger to society—the poor, terminally ill for being a drain on healthcare economy, or those deemed prone to criminal tendencies—are removed, housed in government-operated facilities.

For some, on the surface, it’s a better world, until a government agent is murdered—the first murder in nine years—and the façade begins to slowly peel away."

Terminus is a sci-fi noir described by Michael as "Blade Runner meets The Constant Gardener mixed with A Clockwork Orange."

You can read more about the genesis of the story over on his blog.

Michael was at the Windy City Con this last weekend getting the word out about Insomnia.

Not only did he give up time - but it was his first wedding anniversary. However he is keen to point out that he is not a bad person, or a bad husband. His wife was gone most of the day as well at work and being the best judge at a pie contest ever :)

Huge thanks to him for that.

Small Press Expo

If you are going to be in the Maryland area on Saturday the 26th September then you'll be able to check out some Insomnia previews, enter the competition to win one of our new books, and find out some more about us by stopping by Mickey Farineau's stand at the Small Press Expo.

Mickey got in touch with us to see if he could do anything to help with promotion at the show after hearing me on Comic Racks a couple of weeks back.

It was an incredibly generous offer, and right out of the blue. Things like that are what makes it so great to be part of the indy comics world, and they restore your faith in human nature.

Thanks Mickey!

Fallen Heroes Special Edition

We will have a limited number of copies of the Fallen Heroes Special Sketch Edition for sale from the stand at BICS.

This edition will contain a section called Lost Passages which are scenes that never made it to the final version of the book and Barry's reasons for why they were left out (including his original opening chapter).

There will also be a section of the book called Fallen Heroes Sketchbook where comic book artists (some of whom have worked for Marvel and DC) have given their interpretation of some of characters from the book.

Sketches are provided by:

Emma Vieceli, Scott ‘Atomic Robo’ Wegna, Andie Tong, Leigh ‘2000ad’ Gallagher, Steve Sims, Gary Seaward, Jimmy Bott and Michael Schwartz

If you cannot make the show, or want to be sure of having a copy, then you can pre-order the book directly over on Barry Nugent's own site.

I wish I could share the things we've been talking about for the comic adaptation recently as I'm so excited about how it is taking shape - but they are not quite ready to go outside on their own yet!

And Finally...

Happy Insomnia birthday to me! Yes, today is one year to the day that I joined Insomnia on the management side as Creative Director.

The year has flown by, and it has been a wild wild ride. It's a wonderful time to be involved with comis right now.

Thanks to everyone, especially all the creators, for showing me such a great time.

Next week I'll putting up a Ptiching and Portfolio Review FAQ to help those of you coming to see the Insomnia Crew at BICS and try to make the whole experience as painless as we can.

If anyone has any particular questions they'd like covered drop me a line and let me know.