Think Indifferent!

As we start the build up to Bristol Con we'll have quite a few new ebook previews over the coming weeks of what will be out over the coming year.

First up here is the 14 page intro to The Indifference Engine:

Writer: Cy Dethan, Pencils: Rob Carey, Colours: Mel Cook, Letters: Nic Wilkinson, Cover: Paul Cartwright

“My name is Alan Blake.
I've got no resources, no skills and no friends.
But if I were you, I'd be the very last person on Earth
I'd want coming after me...”

Responding to a strangely specific job advertisement, a distinctly ordinary twenty-something suburban slacker finds himself in the middle of an inter-dimensional task force staffed entirely by superhuman alternate versions of himself. Struggling to fit in, he uncovers a conspiracy that strikes at the very heart of the organisation – a conspiracy that only he can stop.

Alan Blake, by any credible standard, is a waste of good skin - a directionless and ambitionless slacker whose single most notable characteristic is that he makes other people feel good about themselves in comparison to him.

Alan considers himself a good listener, but it’s more complex than that. It’s almost like he absorbs other people’s problems and somehow unburdens them. If he weren’t such a loser, that one character trait alone could have made him immensely popular. Still, at least he serves a purpose of sorts. Whatever your own personal flaws or failings, hey – it could be worse. You could be Alan Blake.

And now, please welcome the extremely talented Rob Carey, who has agreed to a rare interview appearance as he tells us some more about himself and working on the book...

Q: How did you hear about Insomnia and come to be the artist on the Indifference Engine?

A: I went to the 2D festival, in Derry last year, and met Stephen Downey, of Cancertown. He gave me the email address for Insomnias submissions. Nic Wilkinson (Creative Director) at Insomnia got back to me. I was given the choice to either work on a short script, or a graphic novel, so being a complete fecking idiot I choose the graphic novel, with no concept of how time consuming it would be, but ultimately one of the most fulfilling and satisfying jobs I have ever had.

I jumped at the chance to work on a Cy Dethan script, after getting a copy of Cancertown at the 2D festival, I knew that this guy could write. I even agreed to The Indifference Engine before reading a script, the synopsis was more than enough to win me over.

Q: Tell us about how you approached the script, and how you work with the rest of the team

A: When I first read the script I burst out laughing. I could not believe that I had been given a chance to illustrate something this awesome.

I kind of jumped into it a little to quickly, and started without doing much in the way of thumbnails, designs etc. The first page I sent needed some adjustments, so I said fuck it, ill just start from scratch.

My advice to anyone starting a book, or any kind of script, is preparation. Thumbnail the shit out of it before you start detailing it. And read the script. And reread it. It can be very easy to omit a necessary element of the script by accident. From there the pages started to fly out.

I was very fortunate that Melanie Cook who colored Cancertown was brought on board. She is so professional, and has done such fantastic work to make my line art look somewhat presentable. Nic Wilkinson is lettering, which I am dying to see the final pages.

Q: What is your process when drawing. How long does it take, and tell us about getting up at unearthly hours in the morning.

My process for drawing is constantly evolving. At the moment, my process involves providing clean finished pencils. I start with thumbnails, which I like to do for an entire chapter before starting the pencils.

I then build the environment of the story, each location in a 3D modeling program. This is used mostly for perspective. Then I will take photo reference (if needed), the compile them on to a A3 page in photoshop, this way the actual page layout and perspective are as accurate as I can get them.

I then rough out the lineart with a mechanical pencil, using a red carbon nib, I prefer the red to the blue as I find it much easier to clean up in photoshop. Then I go over the red lines with a HB 0.03 nib, leaving the black areas to be filled in with the paint bucket tool in Photoshop.
It takes anywhere between 3 to 12 hours to complete a page.

I draw when ever I get a chance, and when a full day is free, I like to get up as early as possible, mostly around 4ish, and bang out as mush as possible. I can get a page, sometimes 2 finished in a day. But these are long ass days. People say the aren't enough hours in the day, well ill tell them there are, you just have to look for them.

Q: Do you find inspiration in other media while drawing.

A: When I draw I love to listen to music, any music, except ska punk. Cause its shit.

I sometimes watch a movie, or a tv show, but these mostly need to be dramas, or comedy, because if its action heavy, ill get distracted to easily, so they need to be talkies.
Reading comics usually gets me in the mood.

And I am so god damned lucky that my mate opened a comic shop, Dublin City Comics, fuck it a little plug. But the best part is he frigging delivers to me, which is easily comparable to a crackwhore having her dealer show up, with comics. Filled with crack.

Q:Are there any particular ideas or techniques you wanted to explore in doing the art for this book?

I just wanted to get better, and no better way than trial by fire. I did discover that traditional inking was not for me, not when quality and deadlines were an issue.

I did want to get faster, and I achieved that.

Q: What are your favorite comics and why?

The Authority, hands down is my favorite comic of all time. When Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch did their run, it was outstanding, but what made me fall in love with it was the The Millar/Quitely run. The Nativity storyline was one of the best comics I have ever read. There have been some spin offs and one offs and jerk offs, but the best by far was the Kev series by Garth Ennis. They were hilarious.

The Ultimates vol 1 and 2. Not vol 3. That was the worst comic of all time.

Black Summer, by Warren Ellis. The story was great, but the art was mind blowing, Juan Jose Ryp is such a awesome artist.

Q:If you had to recommend a lesser known book, writer or artist for readers to check out what would it be?

Golly, by Phil Hester, published through Image, was a good read. Funny as hell.

Irredeemable, by Boom studios is enjoyable.

But I think that I am the wrong person for recommending anything comic wise, my overall knowledge and exposure to the medium, especially towards indie and small press, is embarrassing for someone claiming to be an artist. But this is being rectified, I am reading and buying so many comics now its ridiculous.

Q:Who are your main artistic influences?

Brett Booth, on WildCore, was my favorite book, in my mid-teens. Its what got me seriously thinking about becoming an artist. But time changes opinions and perspectives, and looking back at the art now, I have a somewhat different opinion of it.

But these days the artist that really inspire me, easily have to be Steve McNiven, Shawn Gordan Murphy and Ryan Ottley. Again there are to many amazing artists out there, Bryan Hitch, Gene Ha and Tony Harris.

My mates Cormac Hughes and Ciarán Finnegan, who participate with me on our sketch blog, Sketch Paddys, they not only influence me, but inspire me to become a better artist. Cormac especially, now that he is working on an incredible script form my brother Stephen, who if there is any justice in this world or the next, will be a big name in comics writing someday. His scripts are savage.

Q: This is a tricky question because of spoilers, but, very carefully, what were your favourite things to work on in this book?

A: Since the book revolves around the character of Alan Blake, and the many variations of himself, my favorite character is probably the main Alan Blake.

Cy has written a very believable loser. I think I like Alan the best, because there is no one who can honestly say there hasn't been a time in their lives when they should have stood up to someone, but didn't, something that afterwards they wish they had had the courage to stand and fight. Alan's initial introduction to his daily life, shows a person that is in a little way identifiable in all of us. Alan's, how should I put this, so its spoiler free, progressing through the story, is unique.
I wont detail to much about the scenes I liked the most to illustrate, but the falling fight and the double page spreads, where tons of fun.

Q: If you could work on any character in the world of comics who would it be and why?

A: Deadpool, cause he is fucking awesome. I love his costume design, his dialogue.

The Authority would be a dream come through. But I would love to work on a character book as opposed to a team book, someone like the punisher, cause I like to draw guns and violence, in a postmodernist deconstruction of course, so its ironic and not just a guy getting his rocks off to some gorenography.

Q: What words of wisdom do you have for other people embarking on their first full length project?

A: Don't do it unless you love it. And beware of your other responsibilities. Only take on a project that you are 100% sure you can commit to and complete.

Make sure if you have a partner, that they at least believe that they have a say in your decision, I have been very fortunate that I have a wonderful girlfriend that fully supports my decision.

You have to be prepared to give up a lot of sleep.

Get online, set up a portfolio and start a dialogue with other artists. Twitter is great, Deviant art, Penciljack are good places to start. Other artists will be more than happy to critique or give advice.

So there you have it.

Burke and Hare at the Edinburgh Dungeon

Last week the Burke and Hare boys were at an event hosted by the Edinburgh Dungeon. You can read all about it in this article from the Scottish Herald

Until next week, when we'll have some info on some recent signings.

Intermission

Due to the bad weather, we’re experiencing lack of reception in some areas... please do not adjust your set... this program will resume shortly.

Psssssst! Look at this...

The next Chapters of Burke and Hare, Cancertown and Cages are on their way to Sony for release in the coming weeks on the PSP Digital Comics service. We’ve had a fantastic initial response to the first chapters which are currently available for FREE on Sony’s PlayStation Store, direct from your PSP or via their website!

And The Beginning Of Another...

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010!!

We’ve had a little break, enjoyed lots of good food, some of us have moved house, and most of us have been snowed in at some point. So, now that’s all out the way, we’re ready to go and make this an even more spectacular year than 2009 – although it’s going to be hard to beat with all we’ve accomplished in the past 12 months!

Since we ended the year with an assortment of artwork from books currently in production, I thought we’d start the new year by introducing our Business Development Director, Richard Murphy, in the time honoured tradition of a short interview.

Richard, welcome to Insomnia Publications – now you’re on the Red Eye its official – great to have you on board. Over the past couple of months, amongst other things, you’ve been working on ramping up the scale of the company, analysing how we’re working and how we can push forward even further in the industry.


Tell us a little bit more about your background?
Thanks very much, it's great to be a part of Insomnia and I'm looking forward to working with everyone. My main background is in product design and business studies, particularly business in and around creative industries, although, I studied everything from national economics to art and in my later years in education I studied in depth creativity, production quality and project management. What I enjoy most is to take all the briefs and tasks and apply my methodology of analysis and problem solving to secure the strongest possible end result.


What inspired you to join Insomnia?
Crawford’s vision, drive and motivation to succeed in such an interesting, diverse and growing industry; the potential of the medium and the Insomnia brand really drew me in. The opportunities these present for the company and creators are fantastic and I instantly wanted to be involved.


You’ve been working with the Insomnia Management Team for a couple of months now, getting a feel for what the company requires and what you can do to help make these things happen. What do you find rewarding in your new role?
Since I joined the company, everyone has been very responsive to what I’m looking to achieve. There’s not much of a lag and Insomnia is a very tight network which is great to work in.

What’s exciting is that there’s no limitation to the vision of the company. Crawford is keen to try new things, and isn’t afraid to dive in the deep end and get his feet wet and he’s happy for his management team and creators to do the same. Seth Godin, the business and marketing guru said:

“Please understand that book publishing is an organized hobby, not a business. The return on equity and return on time for authors and for publishers is horrendous. If you're doing it for the money, you're going to be disappointed.” (Seth Godin, 2005)

Insomnia is not someone’s hobby, it’s a proper business and part of Crawford’s vision is to change this view of publishing - Insomnia is very different to what publishing used to be - and it's very exciting to be a part of it.

I love creativity, the creative industry and enjoy this the most – Insomnia has hugely tangible products which is becoming a rarity now days and working differently to the current industry makes it hugely interesting and challenging.


How do you feel about Insomnia’s ethos towards creators?
I’m fascinated by how much control and creative freedom the creators are allowed – as I mentioned before, the lack of restrictions really allows everyone to push themselves and strive to produce something to the best of their ability, which is a completely different way of thinking. It involves a lot more trust than traditional publishing models from all parties. One of the elements we’re looking to build on is the community feel to the company – it’s completely unique – and we’re enhancing this so creators have more communication between each other enabling them to build up an even tighter network. In fact, the private forum for “Insomniacs” will be live very soon.


What are some of your plans for the company?
Ah, see I was hoping you’d ask that! Obviously I think Insomnia is a great publisher, offering some fantastic publications and I’m very excited to see that extend to more publications with wider styles and variety, pushing the medium to its full potential. New stories can be told in fresh, innovative and interesting ways, rather than conforming to traditional ideas of what a comic book is.

I’m really hoping to get a broader sense of the industry, to appeal to a wider audience and get them to appreciate the medium. I believe we can do this by providing them with interesting, engaging and enjoyable stories, which can help them get into reading.

Although the comic book has been around for decades, this medium is just at its first stages of evolution – the story of Graphic Novels has just begun.


Finally, what are your thoughts on the digital movement?
I think Graphic Novels are already well placed to capture peoples’ interest and imagination in the rich media world which we live in – we have interactive bus stops and even adverts on buses and trains are now full videos which include sound, so developing this form of literature and art for screen is a logical step. However, I believe that digital isn’t competition, it’s complimentary; it’s an opportunity to expand the experience and Insomnia is hoping to show this with forthcoming digital projects.


And so the development continues...


Later this month, our first event of the year will take place in Edinburgh with Burke and Hare... in fact 3 events on the anniversary of Burkes Hanging, the 28th January.

First, at 4.30pm there’s a signing at Forbidden Planet which Joe Gordon and Kevin O’Donnell have very kindly arranged, next at 6pm, there’s a talk from Martin Conaghan at the Central Library, Edinburgh Room, with another signing after if you miss the first one at FPI, and finally there’s an opportunity to attend the Burke and Hare tour after the Library which John Landis recently attended during his research for his upcoming Burke and Hare movie.

More information will be available on the Insomnia website and Facebook pages in the coming days.


See you next week!

Welcome To The World of Tomorrow

This week is the week that the PSN Digital Comics store goes live.

A whole library of comics in your pocket where ever you go? The Future is truly upon us and you can wait up for Santa with free to download chapters of our red-eyed and dark-hearted tales.

Our graphic novels will be published in chapters on the PSN with the first of each being offered free of charge as a taster. Three titles will be on the virtual shelves from launch, with many more to follow.

If you’re looking to try to something different and challenging then our mind bending, skin crawling, heart wrenching books will keep you up all night. So, rub your eyes and take a look at:

Cancertown
Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Mel Cook, Nic Wilkinson,

Morley is a man with big problems and a brain tumour like a baby’s fist, living with one foot in a monstrous alternate world. When the lost and dispossessed of London start tripping over those same cracks in reality, Morley must confront the residents of Cancertown - or find his place among them.

“Cancertown will disorientate you, suck you in, chew you up and spit you out and you might well be in need of a change of underwear by the end. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Bryan Talbot

“I described it to someone asking me what it was about as a "rip-roaring mindf***.”
John Freeman: Down The Tubes

“A complex, dark and twisted fantasy with a heavy noir feel to it...Think Maltese Falcon crossed with Criminal Macabre and a dash of Alice in Wonderland, trippy as hell (god knows what sort of dreams I'm going to have tonight!)...Seriously though, pick this up as it’s one hell of a read."
The Geek Syndicate

“Cancertown leaps out of the page at you, grabs you by the jugular and doesn’t let you go.”
Sci Fi Pulse

Burke and Hare
Martin Conaghan, Will Pickering, Paul McLaren

From 1827-1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland’s most notorious serial killers, Burke and Hare, murdered 16 people and disposed of their bodies to the eminent dissectionist Dr Robert Knox. Delve into murky, misquoted history and unravel a ghoulish story of medicine, murder and money.

“Burke and Hare is well paced, beautifully illustrated and painstakingly researched. A very impressive launch for Insomnia's new Vigil imprint.”
David Hailwood: Down The Tubes

“It’s not pleasant, but it is truly engrossing. It’s also genuinely chilling

Stripping away the oft misunderstood folk-lore surrounding these two iconic figures the book delivers a ghoulish, yet fascinating account of murder, history, medicine and greed”
Forbidden Planet

“There's a moment in life that I savour: that delicious, perplexing instant when you realise that something you've 'known' for years is actually a crock of nonsense....and when it rights itself, reality has taken on a slightly different hue.

I had just such a mini-epiphany the first time I read Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering's 'Burke & Hare'.”
Alan Grant

Cages
Xander Bennett, Mel Cook

What if you’d spent your whole life in a cage, never glimpsing the world outside? What if everything you knew was darkness, fear and cold, clinical steel? What if one day, an angel came to you with a message of hope – a message that you were about to be set free?

“Lovely… and disturbing. Let’s not forget disturbing.”
Ben Templesmith

“Mother of a compelling read.”
Comic News

“If dark and futuristic stories are your thing, then this is one book not to be missed. The artwork alone is worth reading, and the story is incredibly compelling and will keep you glued to every page until it’s over.”
Moya Dawson

Talking about having a book included in the PSN launch Cy Dethan said:

"You know those really big roller coasters where there's this phenomenally steep climb that tilts you right back so all you can see is sky and then you reach the crest of it and the car tilts down and you see the track dropping away toward the ground and time just sort of freezes for an eternal instant while you wait for the drop and it's both unbelievably cool and unutterably terrifying all at once?

It's been a bit like that."

And Xander Bennet added:

"It feels fantastic to be at the forefront of this as one of the first indie books. The more formats that are available in which to read comics (computer, PSP, etc.), the more choice people have. Hopefully, this means readers will be more inclined to take a chance on indie books and publishers other than just the big names.

Digital comics are absolutely where it's at -- or, at least, where it's going to be. We spend so many hours in the day reading on screens that I think, for most people, it now feels very natural to read comics this way. Plus, those floppy paper comics are getting expensive!"

And they are right.

I've talked about the "UK Indie Comics Renaissance" before on this blog, but in actual fact this incredible explosion of creativity is going on globally as more and more people are realising the power and potential of the form to tell all sorts of stories in all sort of ways.

Technology has a huge impact both on the technical side of art and production, and in allowing people from all around the world to work together easily.

The next natural step was to actually get the results of all that work easily into the hand of of readers whenever they want it and wherever they are.

Personal technology like the PSP hopefully means readers will be able to enjoy a much wider range of creators, styles and genres than just whatever happens to be on offer in any one specific local shop, or even tempt in people who have never read a comic before.

We could even see new creators inspired to produce their own work, not to mention the as yet unthought of new creative possibilites that working for a new medium will undoubtedly bring.

To quote Cy in an interview with Frugal Gaming recently

"Given the enthusiastic welcome that Sony has shown to indies like Insomnia, I think there's definitely an opportunity here to demonstrate the true breadth of the medium... there's nothing preventing the indies from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with giants. I think that's something to be celebrated"

So, go, celebrate, the alchemical wonder of the fusion of comics and technology!

And if you haven't finished making your Christmas list for Santa yet here are some PSP game recommendations from the boys and me:

From Cy:

I'm currently working my way through Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Resistance: Retribution - which is more colons than I've ever put in a sentence before.

From Xander:

Some of the best PSP games recently have been Monster Hunter, Pangya Golf and GTA: Chinatown Wars. But my absolute fave PSP game would have to be Jeanne D'Arc -- I highly recommend it if you're into RPGs.

From Me:

God of War: Chains of Olympus!!! Yeah, baby.

Really, this blog has everything, doesn't it?

Sharing The Love

Loves to share this week are:

• Richmond Clements "Turning Tiger" which is now out to buy. There is a preview on Myebook if you want to see the first issue.
  
  
• Lee Robson is going to be writing an ABC Warriors story for Zarjaz next year. The Warriors are one of my personal 2000AD favourites so I can't wait to see this.

In Memory of Eric Martin

On November 18th this year Eric Martin, a great supporter of, and contributor to, the world of comics podcasting sadly died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 36.

His brother Mike has now set up a Donation fund and all the money will go to Eric’s 8 year old daughter Gracie.

Dave Monteith and Barry Nugent of The Geek Syndicate have organized a small auction of some cool stuff to raise money for the fund.

The auction has now started on ebay. More items will be added as the day and week goes on. Any items which do not initially sell will be auctioned again at a later date with the proceeds going to the fund.

Full details can be found on the Geek Syndicate website

Individuals and companies from throughout the world of geekdom have donated some fantastic items for the auction including:

• Auction 1 – . A lovely Mike Ploog pencil cover from Werewolf by Night donated by Radio DJ ,TV host and comics fan Jonathan Ross from his own personal collection

• Auction 2 - An original page from his run on All Star Superman donated by Frank Quitely (Batman and Robin, We3,All Star Superman, The Authority) .

• Auction 3 - Two Star Wars RARE art prints here and here donated by Tommy Lee Edwards (Batman, Daredevil, Hellboy, Star Wars) will be donating . Signed artist proofs that he did for Star Wars Celebration shows ( Coming Soon)

• Auction 4,5 & 6 - 2000AD will be donating a Greg Staples signed sketch, Books of Invasions Vol. 1,2 & 3 signed both by Pat Mills and Clint Langley (with a quick sketch in each by Clint) and a signed copy of Pat Mills’ Requiem Book One.

• Auction 7 – A signed initial pitch document for Captain Britain and MI-13 that no one has ever seen donated by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Primeval, Captain Britain and MI:13) will be donating. Please note that the winner of this item agrees not to put the contents of the pitch document online or publish it. The copyright for the item (including the unused stuff,) remains with Paul Cornell or Marvel.

• Auction 8 – Geek Syndicate will be putting in The League of Extraordinary Gentleman: Century 1910 signed by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill

• Auction 9 & 10 - Titan Books will be putting up Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia and a Watchmen Film Companion signed by Dave Gibbons.

• Auction 11 & 12 – Shine the team behind BBC’s Merlin have kindly offered Series 1 Volume 1 and Series 1 Volume 2 DVD’s signed by the cast( Bradley James, Colin Morgan, Angel Coulby, Katie McGrath and Anthony Head).
  
  
• Auction 13 - A signed script from Season 2 of Sanctuary. It is from the first episode of the season “End of Nights, Part 1″ and is signed by Amanda Tapping, Ryan Robbins, Christopher Heyerdahl and Agam Darshi.
  
  
• Auction 14 – Termight replica of Dan Dare’s Spacefleet Cap Badge
  
  
• Auction 15 – Termight Replica of Judge Dredd Belt Buckle
  
  
• Auction 16 – The DC Comics Encyclopedia
  
  
• Auction 17 - Guest spot in Geek Syndicate the Comic by Harold Jennett
  
  
• Auction 18 – Original art from The SLightly Askew Adventures of Imspector Ham & Eggs by the talented Lauren Monardo
  
  
• Auction 19 - Guest Spot in Moon Freight 3 Web Comic by Luke Foster
  
  
• Auction 20 – Exclusive James Cameron AVATAR press Accessories pack

It's incredible to see this kind of support within the community. The generosity of both Dave and Barry in organising this, and from the contributors themselves are deserving of huge praise.

Thanks guys.

After Thoughts

This weekend we were at the Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds and a great time was had by all!

Comics folk defeated both the severe weather, and the Leeds one way system, and the event was incredibly busy all day. I didn't get a chance to go over to the conference side with everything that was going on, but talking to Paul Gravett later in the day it sounded like it was going very well.

As always it was great to catch up with old friends and make lots of new ones.

Plenty of Insomnia folk were around the table throughout the event, singing, talking about their books, making great plans for lots of things that we can't reveal just yet - and Kev Crossley's live sketching wowed the crowds, while his portfolio left them speechless!

Highlight of the event had to be the Geek Syndicate panel. The boys were on top form as usual, and Dave's impromtu rendition of Rawhide was fantastic, as was the mystifying, and really slightly unnerving revelation of the existence of the "glue man" who haunts comic cons asking artists for pictures of superheroines stuck in glue! All the panel seemed to have encountered him, and at various different shows! Frank Quitely and Cameron Stewart's tales of having to draw the mad things that live in Grant Morrisson's brain were wonderful, too.

Congratulations to Alex and Lauren of Kronos City who both won prizes at the Dr Sketchy's Burlesque drawing competition on the Saturday night. Their "How Do You See Karl" non competition has been very successful and you can see the results on the blog.

Thanks also to Martin Conaghan, Cy Dethan, Ollie Masters, Steven Stone, Roy Huteson and Christopher Barker for helping hold the fort on the day.

We got to meet Ian Cullen from Sci-Fi Pulse in person for the first time, having spoken to him online and even on the radio before now!

Fallen Heroes News

Barry Nugent, Martin Conaghan and I had arranged to meet up to talk about Fallen Heroes plans this weekend as scripting is now well underway.

With an astounding piece of timing, though, we discovered, and signed up, the perfect artist only hours before the show :)

Ladies and Gentlement, please allow me to present Steve Penfold - and his initial character sketches that just blew us all away:

Martin's got brilliant plans for how this is all going to come together. I wish I could tell you more, but for now will just have to leave you with that tantalising little hint of things to come.












Burke and Hare: Getting Into The Guts

Last week Burke and Hare creators Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering had an in-depth interview over on the Forbidden Planet Blog with lots of beautiful artwork from later on in the book that has not been seen before.

For those north of the border, In Scotland, there will be a Burke and Hare signing event at Forbidden Planet Edinburgh in January, followed by a gallery event. More on that as we get closer to the time.

The excitement and interest in this book from many non traditional comics sources with an interest in history and literature is really fantastic, and shows the power and very high quality of the art and storytelling that it can cross what often seems an unbridgable divide between comics and the rest of printed literature. More in this in the coming weeks.

Shock Theory

Celeste Sharp, writer of Shock Theory, is all over the news this week. Bournemouth University, where she studied until very recently, has been writing about her success in being signed to Insomnia for her very first graphic novel.

Jersey radio have also been in touch with Celeste to request an interview about the book next week.

Imagine FX

This month's ImagineFX magazine has two pieces on Insomnia, one with a picture of Crawford Coutts, if you haven't met him and wanted to know what he looks like!

Crawford is in there talking about the launch of the Digital Comics service for the PlayStationNetwork in December. For those with PSPs the reader software is now available to download from the Sony site.

Average Joe artist Kelvin Chan also has an interview in the magazine, and there is a preview of some of the artwork.

Working With Artists

Just a small mention of the odd world of comics production and the kinds of things you find yourself discussing.

Previously I had thought the weirdest thing I had discussed by email was either the shape of the sounds sheep make with Simon Wyatt when lettering Unbelievable, or maybe the one about how it would effect the perception of Emer's character, in Sidhe, if the underwear visible over her waistband was boxer shorts or lacy knickers.

However this week, working on The Indifference Engine Rob Carey sent me an email that included the following line:

"Does anyone object to seeing a penis in this shot?"

Followed a few days later by:

"New Engine, now with added penis" and a beautifully drawn page that delivered just that very thing!

And on that note, I'll leave it for this week.

Insomnia On Demand: Catch the RedEye on PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable)

In the blackest hours before dawn, when all good comic readers were tucked up in bed, the Insomniacs crawled into their dreams.

What were they whispering into the darkness? What did they wish for, lost in the sleep of the innocent?

No less than:

• To be able read Insomnia comics anywhere, at any time
• Take their entire comics collections wherever they went
• To listen to their own music while reading
• To navigate pages their own way
• To find and buy comics easily and access content instantly from the PlayStation®Store

All this will be on offer for PSP owners in December 2009, with the opening of the Digital Comics Store on the PlayStation®Network.

Red Eyed and bushy tailed, Insomnia Publications will be standing proud on launch day as our critically acclaimed books take their place on the virtual shelves, next to world famous names in comic book publishing.

Insomnia Publications’ graphic novels will be presented in the store as single-issue length chapters, following the publication of the book. The first chapter of every book will be offered free to readers as a “taster” of the story.

Crawford Coutts, Managing Director of Insomnia Publications, says:

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Sony in the launch of the Digital Comics Service.

Insomnia is committed to nurturing the very best new art, new writing and new concepts in its original graphic novels and the unprecedented scope of this Comics Store will connect independent publishers and readers around the globe.

The help and guidance we have received from Sony throughout truly demonstrates their commitment to support the medium, the publishers, the readers and the comics industry itself.

Many of our creators are gamers themselves and so were delighted to hear that their work will be offered through PlayStation Network.”

With the first Insomnia titles available right from the December launch, you will be able to:

• Unlock Cages
  
• Fall into Cancertown
  
• Dissect the bloody history of the notorious Burke and Hare
  

With a growing range of titles to choose from and the phenomenal scope of the Digital Comics Store, this is just the beginning.

Come and visit our stand at the MCM Expo on 24th to 25th of October to learn more.

Notes:

• The Comics Store will launch on the PlayStation Network for PSP in December 2009
  
  
• Official Sony Press Release and video demo
  
  
• For further information, interviews and comments please contact Crawford Coutts, MD
  
  
• Insomnia Publications can be found online at:
  Website: www.insomniapublications.com
  Blog: www.theredeye.co.uk

Burke and Hare: The Grand Tour

Following the mightily succesful launch of Burke and Hare at BICS 2009 last week Will and Martin were out and about spreading the word to the next generation.

Over to Martin for his write up of the event:

"Will and I gave some talks last Tuesday to 5th and 6th year high school pupils at two North Lanarkshire libraries about Burke & Hare, and the response was fantastic.



Many of the kids were keen on graphic novels (some were avid comic collectors) and everyone enjoyed seeing the book and learning about the process via which Will and I reconstructed the story, produced the script, created the artwork and lettering - and the extensive research we carried out to recreate a sense of authenticity.




It demonstrated that comics-books and graphic novels are not always about super-heroes or goofball characters, but can also incorporate abstract themes or concepts and expand to include stories of a historical nature, like our ghoulish story of the Irish serial killers Burke & Hare.



As Will said in at one point our talk – comics are words with pictures, so whatever you want to happen, can happen – and the knock-on effects can include the widespread exploitation of the source material, such as in film, television and computer games.




We hope to do it again at some point in the future."

And we certainly hope they will do it again, too, and have requests in for a repeat of the talk in several places already. I'll posts dates and venues here, and on the events section of the main website.

If you work at a school, museum or other organisation and are interested in arranging for Insomnia creators to come in and do talks, workshops or signing events then visit our FAQ page for more details.

No one ever to came to talk to us about comics when I was at school!

Fallen Heroes

Sticking with Martin we turn now to the Fallen Heroes adaptation.

Fallen Heroes is Insomnia Publications first adaptation, and I am incredibly excited about the book getting underway. Barry Nugent's dark, stylish, cine-literate, multilayered and tangled plotting, fused with Martin Conaghan's gift for the creation of living, breathing worlds, peopled with complex charismatic characters, mean we are set for the pulp adventure comic of the year.

Truly these are the Fallen Heroes we've all been holding out for.

With Burke and Hare having safely flown the nest Martin and Barry met up for some in depth chat at BICS to really explore some of the ideas that have been flowing between them.

Martin said:

"Barry Nugent's Fallen Heroes isn't just a great debut novel - it's a wonderful collection of vivid characters whose lives interweave on a heart-stopping action-packed journey into ancient magic and discovery. I can't wait to get started and find out where Napoleon Stone and the rest of the Barry's Heroes take me."

Barry said:

"I am very, very, very excited about the way Martin wants to take the adaptation and some of the ideas nic has thrown in in terms of dealing with some of the story elements which may not make it into the graphic novel. I think it's going to be very different than what people might have been expecting the FH adaptation to be be, in a very very good way."


If you'd like to read the novel in the meantime you can get it from Amazon and from Waterstones, and we will also have a very small number of the special "sketchbook edition" available from the stand at the MCM Expo.

MCM Expo

Speaking of the MCM Expo, it takes places 24-25th of October and it will Insomnia's first time with a stand at the show.

As usual we will have books for sale, previews of upcoming art, special offers, pitching and portfolio review sessions and creators on the stand to talk about their work.

Cy "Cancertown" Dethan, Will "Burke and Hare" Pickering and Jeymes "Buskers" Samuel" will all be signing on the stand at various points throughout the weekend.

There will be a limited convention edition of Buskers available which includes an exclusive CD featuring music by The Bullitts & the never before seen script and storyboards for the animated prequel to the forthcoming film.

If you would like to pre-order or reserve copies of books to be posted out to you or collected at the show please visit the Insomnia special offers page and contact us with your order.


Watch out for a big announcement related to all of this next week!

Bics and Pieces

"Wow", as Tony Shahloub said in Galaxy Quest, "That was one hell of thing!".

The Death Star like Think Tank at Millenium Point

I think I have the shellshock under control now, apart from the tw-twi-twitching! But where to start? I started making some nice neat notes of everything that happened that I need to mention and it's ended up looking like the scribblings of a madman.

Let me try and break it down for you...

Very Special Thanks

The important bit first, then.

• Huge thanks to Shane Chebsey and James Hodgkins for organising a wonderful show yet again. The effort that goes into making something like this happen is mammoth, and I hope they are now having a well deserved rest.
  
  
  
• Special thanks to Lauren Anne Sharp for creating the Insomnia Trailer (which I will be putting up on youtube very soon) that was playing on the screens throughout the show.
  
  
• Thanks also to quilt artist Ferret for bringing along the showstopping Bad Rain quilt (I don't know if quilting books have ever sold at a con before this one, but we always like to be a the bleeding edge!),

Stephen Downey and Alasdair Duncan with Bad Rain

• Our unbounded gratitude to Sarah McIntyre who did an amazing job interviewing Michiru Morikawa in the brilliant panel about her work on the Sunday. She also invited Jeymes Samuel join in to talk about the comic and the upcoming Buskers film and the panel was described by Matthew Badham of Down The Tubes as "one of my personal highlights of the whole weekend." in his write up of the show.
  
  
• It was great to have so many Insomnia creators come to the stand over the weekend for signing and sketching. Not only was it lovely to see old friends we've been working with for a while now, and to meet others in person for the first time, but to hear you all talking so passionately to visitors about your work, and seeing their response is fantastic. Having people there from all around the world really brought home what an international family we are.
  
  
• To everyone who came to the stand to pitch, show portfolios or leave submissions, thanks for taking the time to do so. The standard was incredibly high once again, and seems to be increasing each year. I will hopefully have some news to come out of some of these discussions in the coming weeks.
  
  
• Of course this would not be complete without thanking everyone who came by the stand to buy books, look at previews, talk about what Insomnia is up to and what we are all about. We do it for you, you know :)

Book Launches

The con saw the first public appearances of Burke and Hare (Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering) and Buskers (Jeymes Samuel, Sean Michael Wilson and Michiru Morikawa).

I saw lots of people just gazing at and even stroking the beautiful cover designs by Rian Hughes (Burke and Hare) and Richard Johnson (Buskers). Seeing them join all the Insomnia books in a row on the table made my little heart swell with pride - I felt like a kitten in a cream factory.

Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering with Burke and Hare

When I say that Alasdair, valiantly manning the sales table, did not stop for a break the whole weekend I mean that literally. He didn't even get away for lunch, or a quick cup of tea, and had to snap quick bites of his sandwiches as an when he could! At several points I could not get back to the stand for the deep crowd around it!

Copies of Burke and Hare were going by the boxload, and the special con edition of Buskers with CD all but sold out. We have only a few copies left for the MCM Expo show in 3 weeks, so anyone who wants to be sure of getting a copy might want to order it from us directly before then.

Following Michiru's interview on Sunday we had a point where we literally could not get the books onto the table quickly enough for people to buy them and get them signed. It sounds like Crawford will be making a visit to the film set soon, but more and that (and pictures we hope!) in the coming weeks.

Michiru Morikawa and Jeymes Samuel with Buskers

Sadly we could not even get away to the Sunday panel for publishers and retailers to explore how to improve sales in the current market, as we were too busy selling! People were still coming up to make last minute purchases as the stand was being packed away. Alasdair had to retrieve the cashbox from where it had been packed away, get copies back out of their boxes again.

Given the current economic climate all we can say is "Thanks everyone!"

Reviews and Interviews and Podcasts

There was quite of bit Insomnia based podcast activity going on before and during the show:

• Cy Dethan talks about Cancertown and his upcoming work on Comic Book Outsiders and why Richard McAuliffe thinks he is "...a lovely bloke, but one intense looking Motherf**ker"
  
  
• The Geek Syndicate do the first ever review of Burke and Hare, coming to the conclusion that the book conclusively proves to them that "comics are a medium, not a genre". Way to go Martin and Will!
  
  
  
  
• The Sidekick podcast fought their way to the stand and interviewed Alasdair about Insomnia and what we get from doing events like this, and Martin and Will about the launch of their book. "I was truly blown away...These guys have lived and breathed this story and it shows in every part of this chilling and macabre production."
  
  
• Just in time for the show the guys at the Temple APA brought out a mammoth size issue 5 which has a large section on Insomnia including interviews, reviews, previews of upcoming books and some never before seen artwork. We have David Hailwood and John Kirkham to thank for bringing this monster to life.
  

New Signings and Teams

We are pleased to announce:

• Lauren Ann Sharpe joins the Quarantine team as colourist, along with Michael Moreci, Monty Bloor and Jim Campbell. This is her second Insomnia book and long may it continue.
  
  
• Shock Theory by Celeste Sharp:
  
  "After a horrific tsunami, England is abandoned and forgotten; even by history. Rising from dark times, a single city known as Hubris is suspended in the Sky, providing a new life based on technology and social order. The N.O Government has put the clocks back to zero and reinvented London as a completely clean slate for a prosperous society and economy... But Hubris wasn’t just built on the ruins of London; it was built on shock. "
  
  Set in a dystopian England, where the totalitation regime uses the Techframe to control its citizens using shock and sedation, Shock Theory draws on the dystopian heritage of George Orwell and Philip K. Dick, woven with theories of investigative journalist, Naomi Klein, to follow Eva and her companions as they attempt to unravel the sinister nature of Hubris and offer the only resistance to the tyrannical Dr.Shock and the New Order government.
  
  
• Gamebreaker by Cy Dethan
  
  "Those who even remember the legend of Bloodshot Iris and her insane, megalomaniacal schemes consider her a myth. They’re right – and like all great myths there’s a potent, even dangerous, nucleus of truth at her core. When the greatest villain of the Cold War emerges from retirement to reintroduce a disaffected world to the glorious chaos it once knew, she has only one target in mind – her nemesis, the ultimate superspy: Capablanca."
  
  Spiralling Insanity returns to the British spycraft scene as the last remnant of the Cold War makes her bid to kick-start the era of the psychedelic super-spy
  
  If you visit Cy Dethan's blog you can brave The Citadel of Comics: A Fantasy Convention in which YOU are the hero and experience the trials and tribulations of convention pitching yourself.
  
  It may be the maddest blog post ever made - you have been warned!
  
  
• Dream Solver now has it's own blog where you can follow the progress of the book in production.
  

Best of The Rest

• Walking through the door on the first day of the con, what was the first table I encountered? Why it was the good Dr Bryan Talbot himself. Pouncing on a copy of Grandville as soon as I could, before even going to the Insomnia stand, he sketched a badger in the front of it while we had a good chat about how the book was doing (very well, with a seque, Grandville, Mon Amour, already underway), how great it has been to have his intro to Cancertown, and the possiblity of a Luther Arkright sequel as he mentioned in a recent interview on the Forbidden Planet blog last week. We went to his talk later in the day and it was mind blowing. The man is truly a comics god.
  
  
  Bryan Talbot (borrowed from Down The Tubes)
  
  
  Bryan is doing the talk at a number of locations as part of the launch tour, and you should try to catch it.
  
  
• Had a lovely time chatting to the lovely Fetishman creators, while coveting a beautiful coat that one of them was wearing, and admiring his magnificent moustache. They do a hilarious illustration of just how absurd some of the proposed new laws are that could affect comics - but you'll have to catch them at a con and ask them to do it. Describing it in words would not do it justice!
  
  
  The Fetishmen!
  
  
  

  And if you haven't encountered Fetishman before you should buy it. It's up to issue 9 now and it is laugh out loud funny.
  
  
  
• The Robosteel sculptures were truly a sight to behold with their 2.5metre sculpture of a Transformer, made all from scrap metal and weighing 155kg!
  
  They do smaller pieces as well - and I think that one of them is going to find a new home with me as soon as my house move is done.
  
  
• I got to catch up with Tony and Martin. the C2D4 crew, eat their sweets and admire their new collected edition of Jack In The Box.
  
  
• Shout outs to our friends at Markosia, Monkeys With Machineguns, Orang-Utan comics, Timebomb, Murky Depths, Comic Book Outsiders, Geek Syndicate, Small Press Big Mouth and Comic Racks - I wish I could have spent more time with you!
  

Special Offers

We will extending our convention special offers for those that could not make this show or cannot get to the MCM take a look at our website for details on how to order.

... And Finally

Crawford made a very special visit to a secret location before flying back to Edinburgh on Monday. Hopefully I'll be able to tell all about that next week!

Until then...

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.

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!

• Richmond Clements on Small Press Big Mouth
  
  
• Stephen Downey and Andrew Croskery on the Sunnyside podcast

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.