I like to think of myself as the sort of person that doesn't get phased by a lot. I read through all of the Damaged Goods reviews and didn't really see how it could be as bad as they said. Then it came time for editing. Then I read it. Then I understood. Then I gagged.
So I'm sure everyone wants to experience these same feelings of disgust, nausea, and some sort of sick enjoyment that does worry me a little. Well, for all of those with a strong sense of morbid curiosity, the wait is nearly over. Mark the date on your calendar, Saturday the 16th of October, 2010, and remember to bring a change of clothing... just incase.
And in anticipation of its release, here is the first official look at its front cover:
Here's a word from one of the men responsible for this monstrous creation, Richard McAuliffe.
"I'm really looking forward to this coming out and seeing what the comic fandom makes of mine and Mark's sick little comic book world. We've had some very cool advance reviews which have all been very positive if a little on the "please dont ever come near me or my family again" side so it'll be cool to see if we can REALLY offend some people or at least mess them up a little bit. Everyone at Insomnia, especially Nic Wilkinson who gave us the initial kick-start, have been really cool so hopefully we've given them a book which can hold its own with their other twisted titles."
"Damaged Goods’ is a carefully wrapped and decorated package of psychotic twists and turns; delivered in a meticulous and sometimes horrifically dystopian artistic style - think `Raymond Briggs-meets-Hieronymus Bosch’ and written with manic aplomb and dark affection for the genre.
Once unwrapped, this Pandora’s box of nightmares will claw its way through your eyes & play happily with your morality and fears. I half-expected a cover made of human flesh.
A genuinely, creepy and emotive parcel of shocks delivered by two creators who have yet to emerge from the shadows.
"I don't know what foul childhood traumas were inflicted upon McAuliffe and Chilcott, but from the evidence of the disturbed and twisted nightmares trapped between these covers they are pair of sick sick monkeys and their monstrous talents need to be captured, weaponised and directed against less civilised nations. As for Damaged Goods itself... I say we nuke this book from orbit. Its the only way to be sure."
"Richard McAuliffe and Mark Chilcott bring together a great collection of Horror shorts which take a look at the Genre from a different perspective. It had me leaving the family to fend for themselves so I could finish it.
They both are on their way to making some big waves in the industry!"
"McAuliffe's pitch-dark tales of moral outrage combined with Chilcott's muscular, Lynchian artwork form a battery of short sharp shockers from the 'hit-em-hard' school of horror."
"I doubt we will never know what perverse, bizarre acts were once committed upon the creators of this book, but we should be glad it happened if this is the result."
"It's unclear as to whether the title of the book; Damaged Goods refers to the creator's minds, the stories themselves or the sate you will be left after reading. All are equally true as the blood soaked stroytelling cannot help but leave you unhinged though thoroughly satisfied." "Each page drips with the kind of primal horror that permeates your very soul and will be sure to stay with you long after you put the book down."
More and more keep flooding in, so check back each week for updates.
And that's not the only news coming in...
Who remembers 'Bad Rain' by Ferret? Nic Wilkinson first reported on it at about this time last year, which can be seen here. Last weekend it won the Judges Choice Award and the Sandown Quilt show. Congrats!
And finally this week, I just wanted to share with all of you some of the beautiful art work being created here at Insomnia. We're really luck to have so many talented artists here, so why not show of a little of what's in store!
Our good friend Ian Cullen, webmaster of Sci-Fi Pulse has been interviewing some Insomnia creative teams over the last couple of weeks.
The interviews are available to download from Blog Talk Radio.
First up is the team behind the adaptation of the novel Fallen Heroes
This interview is split into two parts - the first with Barry Nugent who wrote the cult hit novel (and is currently at work on the sequel) and Martin Conaghan who is adapting Barry's book into a trade paperback. The second interview is with artist Steve Penfold who'll bring the visual versions of Barry's characters to the page.
Synospis: A stalker of demons and legends, a pair of master criminals, a teenager on the brink of madness and a man forever cursed with the desire for vengeance. They are all pawns in a plan set in motion over nine centuries before their birth. Pursued across the globe by enemies both human and supernatural they must overcome their mistrust of each other and uncover the truth before it destroys them all.here. Fallen Heroes pits an unlikely group of heroes and anti heroes against an evil which has existed since the first crusade. If they can keep from killing each other long enough they might just be able to stop the world from plunging into a new dark age.
Next up we spend time with the creative team from The Ragged Man: writer Cy Dethan, penciller Neil Van Antwerpen and colourist Peter-David Douglas.
Synopsis: The Ragged Man is a fast moving, violent character piece. It’s a psychological dissection of a man whose fear of failure is so great that he levels a world to accommodate it. Insane with grief, his self-hatred grows so all-consuming as to become a physical character in its own right, but the Ragged Man’s single-minded retreat into denial continually thwarts his own redemption. Reality is layered and fractured in the Ragged Man’s world, a world in which he clings frantically to the role of martyr, simply to deny his position as monster.
A few notes and links to what our ever busy creators have been up to recently, and where you can find their work:
Stephen Downey and Andrew Croskery have been working as part of a multimedia fiction project to showcase the talents of Northern Irish creators called TalesOfThe which has launched with Tales Of The Cthlulu Quarter.
Chris Lynch in his guise of one half of Monkeys With Machine guns has been interviewed by the lovely ladies of the The Comic Racks. Chris is also doing a number of signings at the moment to promote his new book The Dark from Markosia publications and details, and links to the ebook preview are over on his site.
James Reekie was commissioned by the BBC to produce an image for a short article on "Nature's Assassins", insects and fungus that "take out" destructive pests. That may sound more National Geographic than Comics but check out James's blog to see his concepts of turning the insects and fungus into comic book style super villains in a police line up based on the famous "Usual Suspects" poster. Look out for more of James' work in an upcoming issue of ImagineFX magazine.
Richard McAuliffe and Mark Chilcott have recently had a Dredd story accepted for an upcoming issue of Zarjaz featuring Judges Dredd and Death if they were London based in the late 1800s.
Will Pickering has been an extra in Burke and Hare, the John Landis movie version.
Michael Moreci will be at C2E2 in Chicago with new preview copies of Quarantined - this time with the new cover art by Keith Burns and this is his appearance schedule:
Valia Kapadai has produced a self published anthology of dark stories called "Twisted Vision". It's pretty hefty at 100+ full colour pages and includes stories from some familiar Insomnia names. It will available at Bristol.
Kev Levell and Rich Clements received a coveted intergalatic shout out from the Mighty Tharg with Zarjaz and Dogbreath being promoted in the Nerve Centre of Prog 1681 with a special mention for Teen Wulf. Find out more about both publications at the The Quaequam Blog
The way is works is that the top 5 most nominated in each category go through to the voting stage. You can only nominate once and then vote once.
It's great to see the awards back again this year.
Bristol Comic Expo Update
Comic cons are always fantastic for us in terms of meeting new creators. Next week I'll be posting details of what you need to do if you have a book proposal or art portfolio you would like to discuss with us at the show.
Over the next few weeks we'll have a lot of previews of upcoming books and details of what will be going on at the stand, with a schedule for signings and reviews.
Here they are then, the first screen shots of Cages, Cancertown and Burke and Hare sitting proudly in the PSP.
Our friends atThe Geek Syndicatevisited Sony Towers recently for a preview of the technology and to talk to them more about the Digital Comics Store. You can hear about their adventures in episode139which will be up later this week.
Kronos City: Reflections on a Vampire
Recently Team Kronos City decided to compare their visions of some of the book's main characters.
"Everyone sees a character differently so here are our versions. Here at Kronos City, we'd also like to see your ideas of Karl, which will be published here on the 20th of November, just before the Thought Bubble Convention where they will also be on display."
If you want to take part fly on over to the How Do You See Karl competition to see their versions, read the character description and find out how to send your pictures to the team.
I think I might even try doing one myself.
The team have started on chapter 3 now, so expect some new previews in the near future.
More Ragged Man Sketches
Following on from last week's update Neil Van Antwerpen and Peter-David Douglas sent us some more Ragged Man characters recently.
Here are Consensus and The Grudge.
Consensus
You'll need to click on it to see the true wonder and horror of the figure on the right! To all the artists wondering, yes, those tiny figures are all hand drawn individually!
The Grudge
As writer Cy Dethan said on his blog, although it is very early days in the production of the book he posted them "on the grounds that some things are just too good to keep quiet".
Right, though, isn't he?
The The Geek Syndicate and The Annual Podcast Awards
Congratulations are in order for our friends at The Geek Syndicate who have been nominated in the 'Best Entertainment Podcast' Category in the 2009 podcast awards.
Barry Nugent says:
"As there were over 321,000 people submitting nominations Dave and I are very happy to find the podcast nominated and we wanted to say thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate us."
Daily voting will open for the awards at www.podcastawards.com on November 13th with voting closing November 30th. You can cast one vote per person per day during this time.
Next week we'll have a feast for your eyes with an update from Sidhe creators Kev Crossley and Rachel Robbins.
"Right before last weekend's London MCM Expo, I received an email from former Starship Troopers: War Stories collaborator and artist on Markosia's recent Harker graphic novel, Neil Van Antwerpen.Neil's work has always been impressive, both in terms of fluid storytelling and sheer beauty, so when he mentioned in conversation that he honestly felt that The Ragged Man, our upcoming book from Insomnia was going to be the one that really showed what he and Peter-David Douglas were capable of I was chewing my own arms off in anticipation of some previews."
And here are those previews in all their glory:
"You save worlds the same way you end them – one inch, one hour, one life at a time."
You can read more about the story that Cy describes as being:
"at once a heart-felt love letter and a final fuck-you to the city I've lived in for the past fourteen years"
and why
"Having this vicious, sharp-cornered monster of a story squatting in my brain is the reason I've ended up turning down every superhero-flavoured project I've been asked to get involved in or invited to pitch for."
In his recent blog post and on his website (where there will be updates and a growing gallery as the story progresses) .
Neil and Peter-David were recently interviewed on the Halloween episode of Sci-Fi Pulse on Blog Talk Radio and you can catch the show here.
New Babble Pages
As a special thank you to all the new followers of the @Babble_GN twitter feed for updates on progress on the book writer Lee Robson posted these delicious looking pages by artist Bryan Coyle:
If you want to be the first to see more then you'll need to start following them, too. Go on, make them feel loved.
Lee's well into chapter two now, and sent the latest pages over a few days ago, so it's cracking on.
There is a beautifully illustrated full report up on her blog, which you should read now, but here are the highlights:
Jen and her friend Ellen, feeling a little nervous, arrive at the conference.
Jen Says:
"I’m a very shy person (believe it or not), so when I was confronted by the sight of confident, professional comic-book creators and enthusiasts, I preferred sketching and observing them from a distance, rather than conversing with them myself."
"The first one to take to the ‘stage’ was Asia Alfasi, a Libyan-British manga artist...Asia, as a person and artist was very fascinating and unique! She is currently working on an Autobiographical Graphic Novel about her upbringing with the different cultures meshing together (Muslim, British, Scottish etc), also talking about her choice of wearing the hijab (headscarf). It was a very personal and optimistic talk, which I enjoyed a lot."
"After Asia came Sarah Zaidan who spoke about her post-doctoral study ‘Miss Meta: Analysing the Female Superhero Through Time’. She showed the evolution of superhero-physique and discussed what triggered the changes."
"The final morning-talk was held by Sarah McIntyre who spoke about her experiences within the Picture Book industry and how comics are sneaking into this genre. Even though picture books tend to be for children and I want to do graphic novels for a more adult audience, I found this talk very inspirational."
"When the three first speakers were done, a short panel discussion took place, which I found was mainly dominated by Sarah Zaidan."
"And then, Lunch break! We were all offered food and drinks in the conference hall, so me and Ellen grabbed as much as we could and sat down on the floor in a corner again to eat and draw. I doodled people while munching on some lovely ham-sandwiches."
"Lunch-break over, it was time for the long awaited talk by Melinda Gebbie, the artist of Lost Girls, an erotic Graphic Novel that has been in the making for 16(!) years together with Alan Moore. I didn’t really know what to expect. My initial thoughts were simply: Erotic Graphic Novel? Ooo. Alan Moore? Ooo."
"… And then explained why she did Lost Girls entirely by hand.‘It’s a loving, stroking, hands on meditation which you could only do with your hands, because it’s a part of your body which goes directly onto this beautiful paper… And then you’ve got the originals forever.’She spoke of the importance of physically layering the artwork with your own hands, onto paper in front of you, not on a computer screen with a plastic tablet.At this point, I was in love. Perhaps even going slightly lesbian.‘You must never be hindered by what other people think.’ "
When Melinda was done, she sat down in the front row with me and El. I was starstruck and hated my shyness.
"The afternoon split sessions of talks commenced. I chose the room which focused on Autobiography. At this point, someone had taken my pencil(!) and I was forced to sketch with a pen. This is a serious offense in my book.
First lady to step up was Kate Evans, a political cartoonist who has a history of crazy protests. She’s lived in a tree house. She’s been to a protest rally in a pink samba outfit… In short, she’s a little bit nutty, in a good way of course!
After her came a duo. Namely Woodrow Phoenix and Corinne Pearlman. They wanted to discuss whether Autobiography is a trap. Whether is makes us lazy, not bothering to create something, but simply using our everyday lives as material. Corinne also showed some images relating to her jewish background. I had a fleeting thought of creating an atheist comic."
"Both me and El were exhausted at this point, but we really didn’t want to miss the last talk of the day. It was going to be a conversation between Dominique Goblet and Paul Gravett."
"I am personally a big fan of Paul after having a tutorial with him at University last year and then being invited to the Bristol Comica event (which ultimately lead me to Insomnia Publications) [Thanks Paul - we owe you one! - Nic].
I see him as the person who helped me get to where I am now. He was the one who told me to come to the Comic Con and bring my drawings with me to show to people. Something I wasn’t very confident in doing.
"Dominique Goblet is a French painter of complex narrative. She has the ability to switch between styles seemingly effortlessly. I personally liked her more detailed and lifelike drawings. She’s brave enough to challenge the boundaries of comics and fine art, asking things like: ‘What IS a comic?’ and also inviting the audience to think about ‘the truthfulness of autobiography’. Are the creators making some of the stuff up? Are they exaggerating? Leaving some important bits out? Twisting it? You need to approach Autobiographical Graphic Novels with care."
It sounds like a fascinating day and wish I could have gone along. It's also great to see such conferences happening more and more often as the medium we love continues to spread its wings.
And then Jen came back to London, where she met her Butterflies and Moths co-creator, writer Corey Brotherson and this is what happened:
Not sure I have not ushered in the apocalypse in some way, putting these two together!
Now, what with this and the now legendary Citadel of Comics BICS report I think we now claim the prize for having the creators who do the GREATEST EVENT REPORTS EVER!!!
Off to start getting ready for Thought Bubble now - those 3 weeks will just fly by.
"The eye-opening experience of reading Luther Arkwright as a kid was one of the key reasons I wanted to start writing comics in the first place, so to have an introduction from its creator is simply unbelievable. "
So this is what Bryan had to say:
"For a first graphic novel from a new creative team, Cancertown is remarkable. Cy Dethan’s concept alone is brilliant. Is the protagonist, Vincent Morley, a cynical knight in tarnished armour battling unspeakable monsters in a gonzoid Chapel Perilous or a dying sad bastard besieged by visions generated by his terminal brain tumour? Vince’s chosen role, that of maintaining the equilibrium between the “real” London and its parasitic, demonic mirror image and his ability to pass between the two, by grace of his illness, sharply differentiates his story from others in the wide-boy urban sorcerer genre, notably represented by Alan Moore’s John Constantine and Mike Carey’s Felix Castor prose novels. And, though your worst nightmares are his everyday reality, Morley kicks serious arse while maintaining a self-deprecating cascade of gallows humour.
Moreover (do people still say that?) Cancertown actively embraces horror, the genre of horror fiction. It’s not trigger-shy. It doesn’t fuck around. It sets out to horrify, and it succeeds. Although Cancertown owes more to Clive Barker than Ramsey Campbell, it still, like Campbell, has its roots in H.P. Lovecraft and its evocation of genuine creepiness is undeniable. This is in no small part due to the visceral, hallucinogenic art of Stephen Downey working in tandem with the hard-bitten script, the atmospheric colours of Melanie Cook and inventive lettering of Nic Wilkinson. We’re seeing here the first outing of creators who will make their mark on the future comic industry.
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
Sunderland March 2009"
Cancertown will be released in May, and is currently available to pre-order from Amazon, or even better, ask your local comic shop to order you a copy in. If you don't have a local comic shop try getting in touch with Whatever Comics from Canterbury in the UK. I have been buying my comics there for nearly 20 years and they are outstanding. Tell them Nic sent you.
ISBN-10: 1905808135
ISBN-13: 978-1905808137
If you're going to be at the Bristol International Comic Expo and the Small Press Expo 2009, you'll be able to pick Cancertown up (along with its Insomnia brethren, Layer Zero 3 and Cages) at a special convention price as shown below
Cancertown RRP = £14.99, Con Special = £10
Cages RRP = £10.99, Con Special = £7
Layer Zero Choices RRP = £9.99, Con Special = £7
Cancertown + Cages for £15
Cancertown + Layer Zero for £15
Cancertown + Cages + Layer Zero for £20
You can also take advantage of the special prices by pre-ordering directly from us before the 9th of May (either to pick up at the convention or to be posted to you if you can't make it). Just email me at nichola@insomniapublications.com and let me know what you need.
Payment can be made by Cheque or Paypal.
In other news this week:
New Signings
The Indifference Engine by Cy Dethan: 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.
Quarantine by Michael Moreci: Quarantine follows a group of survivors trapped in a small town in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan shortly after a biological plague is released into the water supply. This plague turns a person into a homicidal war machine, which forces the borders to close, leaving our band of survivors to fight for their lives.
Butterflies and Moths by Corey Brotherson: Butterflies and Moths is about a young woman attempting to come to terms with a terrible affliction and her past, and in finding a kindred spirit discovers - through blood and betrayal - that death is a natural part of life. A prequel, "Fragile" to this can be seen in the upcoming Layer Zero:Choices
The IonMonger's Daughter by Matt Gibbs: Victoria Cross wants to see the stars. Against her father's wishes, she leaves the family business to embark on a journey to her mother's home world. Robbed, ensnared by the criminal underworld, arrested and conscripted into the army as a convict, her bad choices turn her dreams into a nightmare.
Focal Point by Jim Alexander, Martin Conaghan and Cy Dethan: The first in a new series of "by invitation" book where we ask three creators for three stories exploring one theme, all linked by a shared "focal point".
More on all of these as things progress.
Art Teams:
The incredibly talented South African art team of Neil Van Antwerpen and Peter-David Douglas will be teaming up with Cy Dethan once again on The Ragged Man towards the end of the year. The three of them last worked together on War Stories: Tasch as part of the Starship Troopers on-going series for Markosia.
Events
On Saturday we attended the Essex Book Festival, more on that next week when all the images are in.
We have booked tables for Thought Bubble in November. See you there.
Well, it's been a very busy few weeks with the Birmingham, MCM Expo and Thought Bubble Conventions. Insomnia becoming a limited company with shareholders and everything (meaning we can now offer better contracts to all our creators), and that sugar fueled frenzy of signing up new books that I mentioned last week.
Now that's all done and we're able to catch our breath we can tell you what all that means for Insomnia, and give some well deserved congratulations to some of our wonderfully talented writers and artists.
This amazing piece of work-in-progress will be the cover. By the time you see it on the shelves it will be in colour, but I was so excited I wanted to give it a preview here. It is by the brilliant Scott James. Scott is one of those artists you can just say a few words to and trust he gets completely what you want. A few days later you will open your email and something like this will be waiting for you. Just like magic, it is exactly what you wanted, but also so much better than you could have imagined.
So, what else is going to be in the book? Well, so far we have confirmed:
The Proposal: script and art by Scott James
Butterflies and Moths: script by Corey Brotherson and art by Ariyana Vida
Insomnia Publications is a UK comics publisher specialising in albums and graphic novels. We also publish the Layer Zero anthology showcasing work by new creators.
Writers and artists welcome. Don't worry if you are a lone creator, we are happy to put teams together. Originality and quality will get you noticed. Your work should be unusual, literate and thought provoking.
For Writers What is the story about Detailed structural breakdown, Characters profiles Proposed length
Format is not important. We want your talent not your technical know how
For Artists (Pencils, inks, colours or all 3) Are you a Penciller, inker, colourist, cover artist or letterer? The length of story to which you feel you can commit. Do you work in traditional media, digital, a mixture etc?
Contact Us by Email submissions[at] insomniapublications.com
.jpg)
Posts
