Don't Say He Didn't Warn You

Today we have some fantastic news that cannot wait until Monday night -

Bryan Talbot has written the foreword for Cancertown.

Creator of books such as "The Adventures of Luther Arkwright" (considered the first English Graphic Novel), "The Tale of One Bad Rat" and "Alice in Sunderland" he has also contributed his beautiful art to titles such as "The Sandman", "Fables", "Nemesis The Warlock" and "Judge Dredd".

Not only that but Cy Dethan says:

"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.

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.

Signs Of Spring

Spring seems to be in the air today, at least where I am in London. The sun is out, the birds are singing (you can hear them when the traffic stops) and little weeds are poking up their heads in the flower pots outside the office.

It is probably just a pratical joke on the part of the capricious English weather system - but I fall for it every year.

Adding to the general air of hope and expectation we have news on some new signings, the start of the Fallen Heroes adaptation, Layer Zero pages starting to flow in and the plans for the Bristol Comics Expo starting to get underway.

So, to begin at the beginning with the signings:

Dream Solver by Luke Foster

When 22 year old picture researcher Ione-Rose Young has a disturbing, recurring dream about seeing her own death, she doesn’t know whether to dismiss it as just another weird dream, or worry that it’s about to come true. Unable to shake the dream from her mind, she sets out to decipher its meaning.

Urban Legends by Steven Stone

A collection of short stories all based on the urban legends that everyone swears happened to a friend of a friend. The book's 15 stories range from the comical to the terrifying and all of them leave you with the uneasy feeling that it could happen to you. But they're only stories right? Right?

Fallen Heroes

The Fallen Heroes adaptation now has a writer attached.

Martin Conaghan will be picking up the pen on this one and working closely with author Barry Nugent over the coming months.



I didn’t so much read the first scene of Fallen Heroes back in 2008, as see it come to life out of the page, so visually arresting is the writing. With the sharp, multi-layered plot and slick characters of modern crime writing juxtaposed against the shadowy agencies, ancient magic and bold dynamic characters of pulp adventure Fallen Heroes is going to be a truly striking comic

With any adaptation finding the best writer for the job was crucial. Given the book’s increasing cult status we had a lot of very good pitches from both known and new writers hoping to get involved with this project. Fallen Heroes will be a very complex adaptation, as those who have read the novel will know, and there is huge amount of work to be done on the structure and coaxing the characters over to a new medium before the writing even begins.

We asked Martin to do the honours as he is a very experienced writer and researcher and is making a welcome return to comics (with Burke and Hare, also for Insomnia) after a 10 year absence. Martin’s background as a journalist, his incredibly deep knowledge of comics, their creators and their history, and his ability to deftly re-structure disparate historical sources into gripping stories with vibrant, vital characters all make him the perfect person for the job.

Martin himself says:

"Fallen Heroes is jam-packed full of fantastic ideas and thrilling set-pieces. I’m looking forward to finding out where I can take Barry’s rich characters when I translate them on to the comic-book page; from the reluctant hero Jason Chen to the ruthless demon stalker Napoleon Stone. It has everything; a great blend of mythology, science-fiction, action and the supernatural - all told in a very visual style - it’s perfect for the graphic novel format."

If you would like to read the original novel before the adaptation then you can find it in Waterstones , Borders, or Barnes and Noble (if they can keep it on the shelves!), or on Amazon.

However the really lucky ones can get hold of one of a limited number of special editions from our table at the show in Bristol. These include some of the original sketches of the cover and some deleted scenes (which come with an explanation as to why they were cut).

We also hope to have Barry signing copies and talking about the story at the table at some point in the day, if his Geek Syndicate duties allow. If you want a signed copy and can't make the con then Waterstones around the country have Barry on a regular signing schedule, keep an eye on his website for dates and details.

Right then, I am off to try and sort out bowls of eyeball sweets for the table at Bristol. "Why eyeballs?" you say. Well, that is all to do with the Cancertown launch, but more on that later.

Until next week...

Official Website

Welcome to The Red Eye, the official Insomnia Publications blog.

If you were expecting the official website (www.insomniapublications.com) we're currently moving to a new hosting company and having a new website produced. During this process we'll be able to give you the latest news and information about Insomnia and our products on The Red Eye.

We look forward to bringing you New Art, New Writing and New Concepts on our new website very soon!

The City That Never Sleeps - Insomnia heads to New York

Where do I start? Like most stories, I suppose the best place would be the beginning...

What an incredible time we had. New York – what a city! I fell in love with it as soon as we stepped out of our first (and only) “interesting” experience in a NYC Cab. The architecture is stunning - the height puts our tall buildings to shame in the UK; the people, the millions of people, are so friendly, chatty and stylish - in so many different ways. Audrey and I stood out a little in our Snowboarding jackets to fight off the cold (you’ll see how cold with some of these pics) we did the tourist thing for the first four days and I successfully managed to visit some of the comic book shops including Forbidden Planet and avoided the Sex and the City tour. Next time she says… damn!

our home for the week... not the Chrysler... 31st Street

it's a lot smaller in person...

A ninja in a snowboarding jacket...?

We setup our stand at the Jacob Javits centre located at booth 2447, Aisle 2400, 655 West 34th Street on the Thursday morning to avoid the rush of people on the Friday. Some of the displays being erected were incredible! As this was our first comic convention in the States the only events we had to go on were Bristol, Birmingham and London. This was looking like the size of London (ok, 4 times the size of London) but with the comic content of Bristol and Birmingham. It was HUGE!


On the Friday, we arrived early to get the material out on the table and put the finishing touches to our booth (like the chairs which cost $150 to rent!) On my venture to retrieve the afore mentioned seating appliance, I bumped into Richard Emms (former editor for Markosia and partner of Flash Gordon’s publishing house, Ardden Entertainment), who, incidentally was positioned at the end of our aisle. It was good to see a friendly face amidst the blur of golden age, silver age comics, t-shirts, scantily-clad women and some seriously impressive cos-players!



Josef Rother (Argstein, Heavy Metal) was the first to impress. He’d been advised by Jim Alexander (Layer Zero: Choices, Marvel, DC, 2000AD, Black Library) to come and have a chat. Josef showed me some wonderful work which he’s being doing and we’ll hopefully be able to do something together in the future. His discussions over the weekend were very enjoyable, comments constructive and not to mention he seems to know everybody and took the time to introduce me to David Lloyd!

I spoke with a number of the comic shops based in New York and there was lots of interest from everyone about Cages, Cancertown and the rest of our line up for 2009.



Surprisingly, I was able to quickly secure an interview with Comixology in the afternoon with Peter Jaffe to discuss Insomnia, our products but more notable, our business model and how we’re aiming to promote and generate exposure in the USA and Canada.

First thing on Saturday morning, whilst I was still half-asleep, a rep from a film studio came over and we had a good chat about Insomnia and our titles, this seemed to be a continuing theme for the rest of the weekend!

The amount of interest, especially in Cancertown, was incredible, more and more people kept coming over and asking, “what’s this Cancertown I keep hearing about?”
Thankfully I’d had so much practice pitching to people about the story of Cancertown before Pete’s Basement turned up and did a short interview which you can see below:




Jim Alexander, who’s from Glasgow incidentally, came to see me for a chat. We decided that it may be a cheaper idea to meet up somewhere more local next time rather than meeting up in Manhattan. Although it’s a good excuse for us to both go to NY again!

The number of submissions we received across the course of the weekend was incredible and so was the standard of work. It was amazing to see the vast amount of talent gathered in one place. Thank you to everyone who took the time to pitch and discuss your ideas. We’ll endeavour to get back to everyone as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone who came over to the table and showed an interest in Insomnia - your support is hugely appreciated!

Thanks to Audrey for doing a fantastic job at the booth, talking with creators, doing some portfolio reviews and on her opportunities to grab food, drink and free tea from Starbucks (tea you say?!) she did a wonderful portion of promotion.

Thanks to our neighbour at the con, Benjamin Colon, and his friend (see below) for driving traffic to our table.

Sex really does sell!

Hi to Andy Tong and Ben Templesmith. Sorry guy’s I was hoping to see you both over the course of the weekend but unfortunately both of you were either too busy or away when I was able to make it to your tables in the Artists Alley!

And finally, a huge thank you to all the Insomnia creators, you’ve done and are continuing to do an incredible job with the books you’re working on. New York has been a fantastic experience and the response Insomnia received has been amazing and I very much look forward to the “transatlantic" future!

So… what’s next for Insomnia… I’ll leave that for next week!

Layer Zero: Choices

I had never put an anthology together before, although I had contributed to them, and I had seen other people do it. It always looked like quite hard work. Appearances were not deceptive. However what you don't realise from watching someone else do it, or even by contributing to them, is just how incredibly rewarding it is to see the whole thing come together.

The final contents list for Layer Zero: Choices is below and we are very excited about this one. I think this book is really going to show the vitality and creativity out there in comics today. We have an incredible mix of writers and artists from all around the world, resulting in a great mix of styles. Several of the stories are already complete and more finished pages are flowing in every day.

Some contributors are experienced professionals in comics (previous work including stints for DC, Marvel, Image, 2000AD and Metal Hurlant to name a few), some are new talents and some are known in other fields such as journalism, novels, screenwriting and graphic design.

Watching the teams work together, many of whom had not known each other before, and seeing the help, advice and support from the more experienced people, the energy, innovation and enthusiasm of the newer creators and the sharing of storytelling techniques from other fields as the stories have come together, is inspiring and just wanted to be able to help happen when Insomnia was set up.


Here is the list of what you have to look forward to.

Cover

• Pencils and Inks by Scott James, colours by Jason Millet

Stories

• Beautiful People: Script by Jim Alexander, Art by Dean Stahl
• Beggars Can’t Be Choosers: Script by Chris Barker, Art by Des Langford
• Borrowed Life: Script and Art by Valia Kapadai
  
• Butterflies and Moths: Script by Corey Brotherson, Art by Ariyana Vidya
• Death in Therapy: Script by GM Jordan, Art by Michael Tribble
• Devils Due: Script by Richard Casey, Art by Preston Asvedo
• The Devil Road: Script by James Johnson, Art by Leonardo M Giron
• Erratum: Script by Matt Gibbs, Art by Des Langford
• The God Trap: Script by Chris Lynch, Art by Gary O'Donnell
• Hobson’s Choice: Script by Thomas Romeo, Art by Tom Harry
• Hunger: Script by Peter Forbes Art by James Daniels
• Love Like a Bullet: Script by Aiden Langley, Art by Jane Summerfield
• Magpie: Script by Richard McAuliffe, Art by Mark Chilcott
• Nearest and Dearest: by Monty Borror
• The Proposal: Script and Art by Scott James
  
• Red Wire Blue Wire: Script by Alexi Conman, Art by Larry Watt
• The Right Choice: Script and Art by Stephen J Butler
  
• So Much To Do, So Little Time: Script and art by Dave West
• Soul: Script by Steven Stone, Art by Gary Crutchley
• Time Wave Zero: Script and Art by Adam R Grose
• The Turtle Guitar: Script and Art by Ben Powis
  
• Waste: Script by Cy Dethan, Art by Ben Mcleod
• Waiting for the End: Script by Martin Conaghan, Art by Nulsh

Pin ups

• Andy Bloor
• Marcus Truckle
• Angus Day

If you like what you see in Layer Zero then keep an eye out as several of the creators have books out through Insomnia later this year and next.

Layer Zero: Choices will first be available at Bristol Comics Expo 2009 where you will find our Stand in the SPExpo in the Mercure Hotel.

The next Layer Zero will have stories on the subject of Survival. I already have four stories submitted and accepted for that one, and I'll put details up of how to submit in the next few weeks.

Next week it will be over to Crawford for a round up of his adventures at the New York Comic Con.

Baggage, Books, Bones and Banshees

Well, Crawford has left for New York, with his bags packed full of books, where he will be manning the Insomnia stand at the New York Comic Con 2009.


This will be a great chance for him to catch up with some of creators for the first time in person, and hopefully get to talk to lots more talented people with stories to tell. Me, I'm snowbound in London, but he's promised to bring back lots of pictures for the blog.

If you've got something to pitch to us (here are the submission guidelines if you want to check them first) , want to find out more about Insomnia, or just want to stop by and say "hi" in person you can find us at stand number 2447.

So, what else happened last week?

For starters last Wednesday, the 28th of January, was the 180th anniversary of the hanging of William Burke, one half of the infamous Burke and Hare. As you will remember, Insomnia has a book by Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering out later this year on this very subject.

The research that is going into the book is just staggering. The "extras" we are going to have for the back of this one this will really deserve a book of their own. Martin and Will took a trip up to Edinburgh last week to do some on-site work, get some more visual references, meet with Crawford, and even get a personal showing of Mr Burke's skeleton.



Huge thanks to Lynsey Hutchinson, who works at the Surgeons' Hall Museum in Edinburgh, who took Martin and Will on a personal tour of the incredible exhibits related to the Burke and Hare case.


They also managed to take in a private tour of the Anatomy Museum where Dr Findlater removed Burke and Hare's life masks, and Burke's death mask, from the cabinet for them to photograph. This where, as mentioned earlier, they got a chance to see Burke's skeleton face-to-face, which was "quite incredible" according to Martin.


Making comics is not all sitting in the warm thinking about scantily dressed superheroines in distress, you know?

I am also pleased to be able to announce Insomnia's latest signing: Sidhe by Rachel Robbins.

The pitch outline was so good I am just going to reproduce it here in Rachel's own words.

"PEOPLE DIE. LEGENDS LIVE. AND HISTORY INEVITABLY REPEATS ITSELF.

Emer O’Connor is a Shaman Priestess, capable of performing simple white magic, “kenning”, and traveling between the worlds. Yet the line between the land of the living and the kingdom of the dead has been blurred as of late.

A fundamentalist Christian cult usurping democracy, pharmaceutical companies with political clout, and growing discord between the Irish clans crept into existence, and the world is giving way to early apocalypse.

Like the few other practicing witches, Eden tries to blend in with the brainwashed masses, lest her dedication to the Old Religion lead to her “disappearance”, as it has with so many others.

Then the screaming begins.

According to Gaelic mythology, five spectres of darkness descended from the ancient fairy race Tuatha De’Dannan: the Bean Sídhe, more commonly referred to as Banshees. Each of the five banshees were bound to one of five powerful families: the O’Gradys, O’Neills, O’Briens, Kavanaghs, and O’Connors. Once upon a time the Sídhe’s hair-raising screams merely alerted friends and family of a loved one’s impending death. But times have changed, and the Sídhe have returned with a more sinister mission: to put the universe back in balance via mass genocide, at last fulfilling an ancient prophesy.

Where in days past they foretold and warned of impending death, now their piercing screeches claim the lives of the ailing and infected—before the diseased hosts have become terminal. After the alleged double suicide of Emer’s parents, her saintly sister’s fatal overdose, and baby brother’s sudden illness, she feels called to action. And so begins her quest to silence the Sídhe.

Every prophesy has a loophole."

And some info about Rachel herself

Sídhe creator Rachel Robbins resides on the coast of New England with her thirteen-year-old son-- writing, sculpting, reading, drawing, exploring, and always seeking a new soundtrack to life. She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing, while her undergraduate degrees were in English and psychology. Rachel’s interest and focus has always been on the mythological and mystical aspects underlying a text, and from whence said fascination Sídhe was spawned. Citing a blurred line between genres of artistic expression, Rachel is as much inspired by self-portraits of Frida Kahlo, the faeriegrrls of J.H. Waterhouse, nightmarish creatures of Geiger, Goya, and Bosch, and the rough-hewn sculptures of Louise Bourgeois as she is by Latin American magical realism, dark Russian prose, Romantic era authors, and neurotic confessional poets. She finds the graphic novel a perfect medium within which to interconnect and respect these expressions of the creative process. Rachel has recently completed a novel titled The Land Of Nod, is developing a line of organic healing teas, painting a larger-than-life deck of tarot cards, and plotting the sequel to Sídhe.

At the time of writing I have just been told that Jazma magazine wants to interview Richard McAuliffe and Mark Chilcott about Damaged Goods (out later this year). More on that with links once the interview is published.

Until next week.