Countdown: BICS-4 weeks

Here we are at BICS-4 weeks, more on this below, but first over to Crawford Coutts for the low down on what happened at the MILK launch and exhibition opening:

MILK Delivery

On Thursday night, MILK, the graphic novel and the exhibition, were launched at the Fine Art Library, located within Edinburgh’'s Central Library.

Around 50 people (significantly over capacity!) attended the hour-and-a-half long event – including a large number of the Edinburgh and Glasgow comic creators, numerous family members and former co-workers of Stref and some longer-distance folk who’d travelled up from London just for the launch.

Many other Insomnia creators came to see the event, reporters from the local Newspapers and even a Film Producer. Thankfully, we purchased more wine to cater for the large number of people! It was incredible to see such a brilliant turn-out and Stevie seemed delighted to see so many familiar faces that he’'d not seen for many years!

Piles of signed copies of the book rapidly disappeared and we received an endless stream of compliments about the art, production and print quality. I don’t know if this was the alcohol talking, but the enthusiasm and excitement about the book and exhibition was extraordinary!

We also had copies of Cages and Cancertown on sale at the event along with previews of other titles currently in development.

We received lots of interest from the Directors of the Libraries and the Edinburgh Art council in the hope we can work together more in the future, provisionally continuing the MILK exhibition to other libraries and looking at future Insomnia exhibitions and running similar workshops and events to the pilot scheme we’ve been running at the Essex Libraries.

After all the wine was consumed, many books were signed and sold, Winker Watson’s final outing original pages had found new homes, our first exhibition and book launch came to a close.

“To the Pub!”

A saying that is customary after these sorts of events, or so I'’m told.… We headed across the road to The Villager where some great networking took place, and lots more alcohol was disposed of.

Thank you very much to everyone who attended the launch, I am very grateful for your support and your interest in what we’re producing.

I'’m very grateful to the library staff who were extremely helpful with the organization of the exhibition, preparation and running of the launch. I look forward to working with you again in the future.

Also a big thanks to my better half, Audrey, who ran the “bar”, with the help of our good friend’s Corrie and Richard, who ran the signing table and till for the whole evening.

And finally, thank you to Victoria Wine for the loan of their wine glasses –the event would not have looked quite so sophisticated with plastic cups!

The MILK Exhibition continues until the end of September and the remaining copies of the limited edition signed copies of the book are now available from Amazon and all good book stores.

• Details of the Exhibition
• Details of the Book
  
• Buy MILK from amazon
  

BICS 2009 Update: Convention Special Offers

As usual we will be doing a number of convention specials on new and existing books.

This year the offers will be:

• 3 for £20 on all standard edition books
• Any special edition + one standard edition for £20

Standard Editions Con Prices

• Burke and Hare (RRP £12.99) Con Price £10
• Cancertown (RRP 14.99) Con Price £10
• Cages (RRP 10.99) Con Price £8
• Layer Zero Choices (RRP £9.99) Con Price £7

Special Editions Con Prices

• Buskers (RRP £14.99) Con Price £12
• MILK (RRP £19.99) Con Price £15

You can pre-order to collect on the day, or to be sent out by post (paid by cheque or paypal) so long as you order by 3rd October.

MILK and Buskers special editions are limited to 100 copies.

To reserve for pickup or to pre-order and for payment details you can email me at nichola[at]insomniapublications.com

Soon I'll be posting a list of our creators who will be at the show.

Burke and Hare Gallery Preview One

Looking forward as we all are to BICS 2009 we will be counting down to the big day by showing previews of the pin-up gallery from Burke and Hare as we gear up for the launch.

First out we have Stuart Beel, Stephen Daly and Nulsh:

By Stuart Beel
(and PJ Holden)

By Stephen Daly

By Nulsh

You can meet Martin and Will at the Insomnia stand at BICS 2009

New Artist Signing

Today (just in time for blog news update) we signed up an artist I have been wanting to work with for some time, and waiting for the right project to come along.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Valia Kapadai.

Valia's work has already been in an Insomnia book, Layer Zero Choices, and she keeps up an incredible workrate with links to projects she is working on seeming to pop up every other day!

Valia will be working on Snow by Richard McAuliffe. We only had to see one page of sketches to know how perfect she would be for the story, nailing the look, mood and personality of the character right from the off.



More on this, and some previews very soon.

Valia and Richard will both be at BICS 2009, and we will have some limited stocks of Valia's mini comic on the stand as well.

Sharing the Love

Three loves to share this week:

• Michael Moreci has a prose noir short story Blurred Lines over on A Twist of Noir. You can also read more about the background on his blog.
  
  
• Adam R Grose has an ebook preview of Phoenix: A Warrior's Tale out for your reading pleasure. The book will be released through Clown Press on 13th of October. Described as an "an ‘onomatopoeia’ sequential graphic art novella , and illustrated by Tony Suleri it is something very different and well worth a look.
  
  
• The ever busy Geek Syndicate also have an ebook out, and this one includes sound and video! If you only know them from the podcast take a look and see what else they get up to, and find out more about the other parts of the expanding Geeky Syndicate Network.
  

And finally...

In our news snippets this week:

• You can catch me interviewed on Comic Racks this week. The Racks ladies Iz and Stace are both all kinds of awesome and made me really welcome.
  
  
• We are going to be at the London MCM Expo the 24th and 25th October, in the Comics Village section. More on this very soon.
  
  
• The Insomnia APA is taking shape nicely and is up at almost 70 pages now.
  

Phew - well, back to preparing for the events - we want to show you all a good time!

Buskers: First Look

This week we have a 15 page preview of Buskers to read to whet your appetite for the launch at BICS 2009 in a few short weeks.

The special signed limited convention edition that will be available from the Insomnia stand at BICS comes with a CD featuring music by the Bullitts.

If you are coming to the show and want to reserve one, then email us and let us know.

MILK Exhibition and Launch Party

The MILK exhibition in the at the Fine Art Library in Edinburgh starts this week and runs through the whole of September.

There will be the opportunity to buy some of the original artwork during the course of the show, although, of course, you won't be able to take it home until the exhibition has ended.

The gallery is open open 10-8 Mon- Thurs, 10-5 Fridays and 9-1 on Sat.

You can order the special edition hardback from amazon now!

News Round Up

Quite a few little snippets this week:

• Head over to Andrew Croskery's blog if you want to hear the real story of how Kronos city came about. Or if you want to see an artists impression of how colourist Lauren Anne Sharp thought it happened have a look at her page first.
  
  Kronos City is developing at a blistering pace. Here is a first look at a mysterious and dynamic page from chapter two.
  
  

• Jennie Gyllblad is back from her trip to Sweden and cracking on with Butterflies and Moths. Have a look at her blog to see her work in progress, a really expressive speedpaint and a splash page where you can even recognise the picture on the bathroom wall! What's more impressive is that Jennie's work is all real hand painted watercolours, so no "undo" button there.
  
  
• Cancertown artist Stephen Downey was pleased to find, to his complete surpise some Cancertown sketches from Northern Irish artist Darren Reynolds on his blog.
  
  Stephen says: "I love his interpretations and really hope to see them in person if he brings them along to the next Belfast comics creators meetup. I only really know Darren's art through his blog, but I love his style and really want to see more."
  
  
• Our podcasting friends from the Geek Syndicate Network (Including Insomnia writer Richard McAuliffe) are going to be featured in an upcoming prog of the Judge Dredd Megazine talking about their shows. It will be Rich and co-host Flint on "Everything Comes Back To 2000AD", Barry Nugent on "Geek Syndicate", Iz McAuliffe on "Comic Racks" and Jimmy Aquino on "Comic News Insider". They are not sure which prog number exactly yet, but it should be out in October / November.

That's all for this week, I'm off to enjoy the bank holiday and think about what the Disney take over of Marvel means for the industry!

Buskers: The Graphic Novel

Popquiz, hotshots: What do the artists Mos Def, Kevin Spacey, Damon Albarn, Ian Brown, Sean Michael Wilson and Michiru Morikawa have in common with Insomnia Publications?

A: All of the above are involved in some way in with Jeymes Samuel's BUSKERS project, some with the comic, some with the music, some with the independent film.


BUSKERS is an offbeat tale set in contemporary London with an array of odd but realistic characters. The comic book is based closely on a screenplay written by singer and writer JEYMES SAMUEL (who might be tired of being refered to as the brother of the singer SEAL, but just so those not familiar can get an idea) .


It's written by Sean Michael Wilson, who we profiled when we announced the recent signing of his book, Conway, and is illustrated by Michiru Morikawa, an incredibly talented Japanese artist who won the International Manga and Anime Festival Award a few years back.

“Yet you get into a full blown fight over Joni Mitchell and I have to just suck it up. I mean, what is it with you and Joni Mitchell? As soon as Gary’s face heals he’ll be looking for me, because of you and Joni Mitchell. I had to do a pick up from Terry Ryan because of you and Joni fucking Mitchell.” - CABBAGE

I just loved the dialogue from the very first balloon.

Jeymes is currently working on the film version of BUSKERS and the different versions will complement each other.

He says:

"I was a comic geek since I’ve been able to read so it was an absolute necessity for me to have a graphic novel of BUSKERS whether I was making a film or not.

I liaised with Mike Lake (the founder of Forbidden Planet comic stores), who then introduced me to the the cult pen-man Sean Michael Wilson, who in turn brought on the IMAF Award winning Manga artist Michiru Morikawa. Thus began the creation of BUSKERS: The MANGA graphic novel."

You can find out more about the film version, and its soundtrack, on the Buskers Movie Blog.

This is how Jeymes summarises the story:

"Timothy Book is considered a big success amongst his peers – a high ranking job in banking, plush city apartment and trophy girlfriend to top it off. He’s on top of the world – until he crashes back down to earth with an almighty bang!

After underhand dealings at work lead to a police escort off the premises and a botched suicide attempt on the Thames, he turns up on the doorstep of ex best friend Cabbage, a streetwise busker who Timothy fell out with many years ago.

Cabbage inhabits the exciting underbelly of London’s colourful busking scene and Timothy is introduced to a side of life that he has never experienced. As he tries to claw his way back to his previous self he becomes embroiled in Cabbage’s eventful and often dangerous lifestyle and begins to fall for the lovely Variniana – Cabbage’s beautiful girlfriend.

Timothy falls deeper into the busking scene and is forced to re-evaluate his former existence, friendships and relationships while embarking on an eventful journey back to the real Timothy Book." Buskers the comic will be launched at BICS 2009 in Birmingham, UK where we will have a very special edition of the book (signed and limited to 100 copies), including a "Buskers Demo CD", with previews of a number of songs from the incredible soundtrack by The Bullitts.

If you cannot get to the show this year there will a number of books set aside for pre-order by paypal. You will need to email me at nichola[at]insomniapublications.com for details. Also if you want to be sure of getting your hands on one at the show, you can reserve your copy for pick up on the day.

The creators will be on the Insomnia stand at various points throughout the weekend, watch this space for more details as the event approaches.

Sean is a special guest of the show and will also be speaking on a panel showcasing his AX: Alternative Manga work for the godfather of indie publishers, Top Shelf.

New Signings

• Babble by Lee Robson and Bryan Coyle
  
  "Carrie Hartnoll is a working class English girl stuck in a life going nowhere fast, but after a chance meeting with her old university professor she heads to America to start a new job as part of his research team.
  
  The team works to resurrect the mythical language of Babel - a language, Curtis theorises, that can be understood by any human being - and use it as the basis for the world's first universal translator.
  
  In this tale of dead languages and deadly secrets it’s not what you say, but how you say it that counts. "
  
  Lee and Bryan have worked together before, with work appearing in the Accent UK anthologies and Futurequake
  

• Sun Moon by Matt Gibbs
  
  Not about to let Matt slip away now he has completed the frankly wonderful Ion Monger's Daughter script we have signed him up to a second project, Sun Moon.
  
  "One ageing, one eternally young, two lovers must overcome the growing gulf, as their differing social classes remain locked in an endless cycle of oppression.
  
  Exploring love, devotion and duty, SUN MOON is the story of star and time crossed lovers, set against a backdrop of environmental disaster and segregation. One of the underclass, Leto is the son of a cryogenic engineer and destined to follow in his father's footsteps. A member of the ruling elite, Selene is a young and gifted scientist and one of Leto's cryogenically frozen charges. As the years pass they fall in love, against the conventions of their segregated society and the counsel of their friends and peers.
  
  For Leto their affair is a few brief days grabbed every few years, for Selene it is the passage of weeks, watching him grow from a boy to a man much older than her. As the years move on Leto becomes a dissident, rebelling against the injustice and oppression of their society, forcing Selene to choose between him and all that she has known."
  
  Matt says:
  
  "I’m really excited and grateful that Insomnia has signed Sun Moon. I’ve been kicking around the idea in one form or another since before The Ionmonger’s Daughter and the opportunity to realise it now, as a graphic novel, is fantastic.
  
  It is great keeping Sun Moon in the family, so to speak. Working with Larry and Insomnia on The Ionmonger’s Daughter so far has been a delight. Chatting with people on Twitter, reading people’s blogs, it is obvious everyone who is part of Insomnia is doing work they love, and it shows in the atmosphere and attitude of all involved.”
  

• A big welcome to letterer Jim Campbell who will be joining the Kronos City team, for starters. Jim also works with Classical Comics on their range of graphic novel adaptations of classic literature, and for Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales.
  
  Jim's sensitivity to the art in devising his lettering styles is exquisite, and I'm incredibly pleased to have him on board.
  

Rachel Robbins: Sidhe-Wolf Of the North!

Proving that not only is she a great writer, but a bit of secret artist on the side here is what Rachel "Sidhe" Robbins has been up to instead of writing her script:


Rachel says:

"This piece --titled "In the Dark"-- features a blindfolded Brigid O'Connor, Queen of the Bean Sidhe.

The story is an amalgamation of mixed mythology, twisted history, and borrowed genres.

Our book is a celebration of collaboration and the marriage of contraries and this piece is an expression of exactly that: darkness juxtaposed with light, Celtic paganism, gothic mentality - multi layered in both themes and media"

Combining various elements from both creators: Kevin's modified drawings, Rachel's painting/collaging, Sharpie (!), various paper textures, random glossy clippings, etc. the collage truly reflects the nature of Sidhe I: The Howl and is a perfect expression of the minds of two creators truly working as one.

The knot is a letter taken from the Book of Kells. Rachel is offering a free copy of "In the Dark" to the first Redeye reader who can translate! Go to the new Sidhe facebook group for full details.

I've been talking with Kev Crossley and Rachel about some incredible ideas for the presentation in this book - you've been warned!

Insomnia On The Road

• Cancertown Signing and Comics Workshop in Waterstones, Newport, Isle of Wight. As well as a signing with Cy Dethan we're going to do a bit of a comic workshop, open pitch session and portfolio reviews. Anyone who's interested will be able to take a look "behind the curtain" and see how the whole process works
  
  In other Cancertown news I was pleasantly surprised to find, on a random visit earlier this week that the free ebook preview of the complete chapter one has now had over 100,000 views.
  
  Visit our ebook page on our website to see what other previews we have for you.
  
  

• Half Term Seminar: What Makes A Comic with Alasdair Duncan
  
  On Tuesday 21st of July writer Alasdair Duncan will be holding an Insomnia workshop in Colchester Central Library from noon onwards.
  
  Topics covered will include what is a comic; where you find comics; how do comics differ from prose and paintings ans illustrated texts. Practical sections will explore using a familiar sequence of events to look at scripting, layout, artwork and types of panel progression.
  
  It will all be very much hands on, with with lots of examples and exercises.
  
  The workshops will run approximately one every 8 weeks, with the students having produced a book by the end of the course that will be published with the help of the library.
  

The Oxfam Comics Event sounds like it was a great day for all involved. Here is the piece from the Evening News that appreared the night before the event (click on image to read full size version):



Crawford writes:

"I arrived at the McDonald Road Library with banner, table and previews in hand and my glamorous assistants - my girlfriend, Audrey and my good friend, Matt. We were the first to arrive and met up with Jamie, one of the organizers from Oxfam who had very kindly arranged for Insomnia to come along and be a part of the Edinburgh event. While Jamie was busy setting up all the stock from the Oxfam shops, including some Akira, Ghost in the Shell, 2000AD, Nightmare on Elm Street, and a copy of Insomnia’s Cages (which was purchased later in the day) John McShane, Publisher of the Bogie Man (amongst many other things), former owner of A1 Comics in Glasgow and the panel chairman for the event arrived.

Soon after, Ferg Handley (Commando, Spiderman) and our very own Insomniac Stevie White (MILK) appeared. Stevie had brought along some of the original pages from MILK to put on display.

I was introduced to Barbara Bryan who’s producing a graphic novel on Human Trafficking which sounds very interesting, and Ben Morgan (Zoo Keeper) arrived later on, along with Callum Carr, who is contributing to the next layer zero and currently talking to us about some longer projects.

On the first panel, talking about “Comics in Scotland: Scottish Comic Creators” were John McShane, David Bishop, Ferg Handley, Stevie White and myself. This was a light-hearted discussion about how we’d all become interested in comics, our backgrounds, and our inspirations.

At the first interval I spoke briefly with David Robertson (Carnoustie Library) and Jeremy Briggs (Down the Tubes). Before the next panel I gave a short presentation on Burke and Hare, showing the eight pages which are currently available to view on MyEbook and two exclusive pages which have never been seen before. The second panel was a discussion about “The Up’s and Downs of Small Press Publishing”. This time David Bishop took to the audience and we were joined by Bad Press and Wasted’s Fraser Campbell for an insightful look at Small Press from screen to print and distribution.

I spoke with Lyndsey Hutcheson, who’s producing a piece for the Burke and Hare Gallery in the book, briefly at the second interval and Fraser about his work on Wasted. Meanwhile, Stevie spoke with visitors about MILK and was able to show off some of the incredible artwork he’d brought along. The last session of the day was “Inspirational Scotland: Why do so many comic folk come from Scotland?” with the original 5 members, David and John brought up interesting discussions about 2000AD and Ferg spoke about his work on Spiderman in Edinburgh and much about his work on Commando and using locations in the highlands of Scotland.

Concluding the comics fest we headed along to Pearces Bar (on Elm Row) for a good bit of “after-party networking”. Amidst the consumption of numerous pints there were thoughts and suggestions bouncing around of a monthly meeting with the Edinburgh local creators. If any of the folk that were there are reading this, please get in touch with me and we’ll see what we can arrange!

It was fantastic to be a part of the Oxfam Comics Fest, and I hope all the visitors found the topics interesting… we’re already discussing what to do for next year!

My thanks to Stevie for coming along and braving an audience, and to Jamie and Andy, from Oxfam for inviting us and for putting together a superb event."

And Finally...

The Geek Syndicate are running a competition to celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of Watchmen on July 27.

Paramount Home Entertainment and Empire have teamed up to offer you the chance to meet Dave Gibbons and also have him draw your favourite Watchmen character!

More details on the Geek syndicate website - but quick though, it closes on 23rd July.

Bryan Talbot was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts last week by the University of Sunderland. This is the first time such an award has been given to a comic book artist.

Bryan says:

"This doctorate, a first in the UK for work in the comics medium, is an indication of the growing recognition of the graphic novel as a respectable vehicle for entertainment, education and communication and the medium itself as a legitimate art form. There's still a lot of prejudice and preconceived notions of what comics are but we're getting there."

Congratulations to Bryan, and well deserved. He's been blazing the trail for all of us for decades, and he's still as far out in front as ever.

Read the full story and see a picture here.

See, it's not all happening at San Diego.

Got MILK?

If not then you can you pre-order the special edition hardback from amazon now!

MILK is an incredible piece of work by artist Stref, and has been 10 years in the making. In fact, rather than me tell you about something so visually arresting why don't you have a look at the ebook preview:

There will only be 100 of the original hardbacks, all signed and numbered, to co-incide with a gallery exhibition of Stref's original art at the Fine Art Library in Edinburgh during September.

There will be the opportunity to buy some of the original artwork during the course of the show, although, of course, you won't be able to take it home until the exhibition has ended.

The gallery is open open 10-8 Mon- Thurs, 10-5 Fridays and 9-1 on Sat.

Alan Grant said:

“Coming from a virtually unknown artist, MILK contains some of the most beautiful, expressive art that I’ve seen in a long time. It deserves to be a huge commercial success.”

So what is MILK?

MILK is a collection of short stories but unlike the usual comics anthology, every story is written and drawn by the same artist.

MILK is an artist retrospective, but unlike most art portfolio books, each piece is masterfully executed in a completely different style.

There is currently a competition running over at the The MILK facebook group to win the original art for this fantastic page:


And if you're still thirsty for more MILK take a look at:

• His recent interviews at Jazma and RKYV
• The MILK youtube channel
  

Oxfam Comics Fest

Staying in Edinburgh this Saturday, 18th July, will see our beloved leader Crawford Coutts is taking to the podium again this week and this time "it's for charidee, ladies and gents".


Crawford will be part of a panel on “the ups and downs of small press comics” with Ferg Handley (Marvel Heroes, Commando), David Bishop (2000ad, Doctor Who), followed by a Q&A session.

There will also be a sneak peak at some of the never-before-seen pages from our imprint Vigil’s upcoming Burke and Hare Bio-Graphic Novel.

The event takes place at:
McDonald Road Library,
2-4 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4LU
12pm - 3pm
Tickets are £3 from all city Oxfam Bookshops.

Six Months: First Art

This week I saw the very first "work in progress" art for Six Months.


Six Months is by Jim O’Hara, with art by Gary Crutchley and is an uneasy exploration of what happens when, perhaps too late, you discover the answers to what it is that gives your life meaning, the relationship between law and society, and what it means when you longer need to hide anything from yourself or others.

Sidhe Pin Up, Stage Two

Last week you saw the rough pencils for the Sidhe poster, now Kev has finished them off.



Soon I'll be able to show you the final version, which Kev hopes will cause salivation, so make sure you bring plenty of tissues.

Quilty Pleasures

Yes, you did read that right, and no, it's not often you will find a comic publisher's blog that has something to say about the world of quilting.

However, this is no ordinary comic publisher's blog, and this is no ordinary quilter!

Those you who have visited the Insomnia stand at UK events may well have encountered Ferret helping out (long dark hair, lots of tattoos, mischievous gleam in her eye!). Yes, that is her real name. No, that's all of it. Yes, really, it is. However being a stand helper is just a cunning disguise for a woman who, in her time has been a real life rocket scientist (oh yes!), a maker of musical instruments, and deadly weapons (both real and as movie props), part of a drag racing crew and who, a few years ago, unexpectedly and triumphantly turned her talents to the world of textile art.

In fact one of the most famous people in the field, Ricky Tims, just said this about her in the foreword for her first book, Ferreting Around:

"Every now and again, a new talent emerges in the quilt world that transcends the ordinary and is instantly unforgettable."

You can read the full foreword and pre-order the book at her website

To put it in context for us, that's like Jack Kirby saying you draw a mean superhero!

Now that's all very nice, I'm sure you're thinking, someone you know has achieved artistic recognition and success - but what does that have to do with comics?

Well, I'll tell you: Ferret is creating what we think is the first comics/quilting cross over piece for a gallery show she has this summer. It's called Bad Rain and is the first double page spread fight scene from Cancertown. It's going to be 90" across. That is half as tall as me again!

The book will be on sale alongside the piece, and Cy and I will be going to help out at the gallery on the Saturday while Ferret is teaching, so we may even get some signing in.

Surprisingly we have found quite a lot of interest in the graphic novels in the quilting community when Ferret has mentioned the project to her students. They are, or course, both very visual media, and the project has opened up whole new audiences on both sides. But then I guess you only have to have to look at the Bayeaux Tapestry to realise sequential art and textiles have a heritage older than it might first appear.

Watch this space for news of a possibly "Unbelievable" further project in the future.

And Finally...

• We are pleased to announce that we now have our very own Hollywood Agent to look after the screen adaptation side of things for us.
  
  
• Kronos City chapter one is now complete, so look out for an ebook very soon.
  
  
• I just want to mention the beautiful limited edition of Razorjack that is out from Com.x. This is nothing to do with us, but it fills me with joy when I see other independent publishers getting out there and doing something really different and special.
  

And until next week remember the immortal words of Torquemada: "Be pure, Be vigilant, Behave".

In the Red Eye Of The Storm

Wow.

Well that's the Small Press Expo / Bristol Con 2009 over.

We're all feeling pretty shattered and shell shocked here. Our eyes are red, and our throats are raw, but we have emerged triumphant.

There's so much to tell I'm going to keep to bullet points for now, although I'll write more about all of these things in coming weeks.

There aren't any photos. This is because on the Saturday there was literally no time to take any. Really.


So here we go:

• Cancertown sales just blew our minds. Around 150 copies were shifted on the day. We actually had queues at the table and poor Alasdair did not have time to bag them before handing them over. People were walking up and saying "I'm here to buy that Cancertown book I've heard about." Huge thanks to everyone who helped promote the book beforehand. Look out in the coming weeks for more news on the motion comic, what we are doing with digital formats, and more Cancertown books on the way.
  
  The Cancertown signing tour kicks off on June 6th in Canterbury at Whatever Comics. We'll keep you posted with dates here, and on our new website.
  
  If you want the book now, try our very own sponsor, Whatever Comics, Amazon or Waterstones.
  
  The storming foreword by comics god Bryan Talbot on an indie book from a new team certainly attracted a lot of attention in itself.
  
  Bryan's next book is Grandville an anthropomorphic steampunk detective-thriller featuring Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard.
  
  
  
  Thanks to Geek Syndicate for the pre-con push, and to Rich Johnston of Lying In The Gutters who has ensured that we are having to send daily restocks to amazon (if it says out of stock, you can still order it and we will have new books to them the next day), and are waking to up emails from movie producers. Oh yes!
  
  
• Layer Zero and Cages also sold very well. The interest in the anthology from both the reader side and the creator side is getting so big we are considering doing two books a year instead of one. In the next couple of weeks we'll be putting up ebooks of the stories.
  
  
• We brought some limited edition ashcan copies of a preview story from Damaged Goods. These were incredibly popular and all snapped up very quickly. The story attracted a lot of attention, so it looks like we are on to a winner there. I got to have a good catch up with Richard McAuliffe, the evil genius who wrote this piece of nastiness about his first full length graphic novel, Snow, that we have just signed.
  
  And as if by magic, here is the promo text for it:
  
  Snow: A Reflection on Desire and Depravity by Richard McAuliffe
  
  “…a daughter of the coven will be her undoing.” they said.
  
  Once upon a time there was a land bound by winter, a land where bloodstains of the deepest scarlet and ravens’ feathers, of the blackest ebony, are fallen on snow of the purest white. Oh, you think you’ve heard this story before, somewhere? So how come the mirrors in the castle are refusing reflections? What is that howling noise out there in the darkness? Who has commanded the release of the Seven? And why is the Queen so disturbed?
  
  Snow is a dark and witty exploration of decadence challenged by duty. Building on a subversive deconstruction of classic themes, it’s a sensuous and disturbing story that rips the meat from the bones of what you know, right down to the last bloody scraps.
  
  
• We raised some cash for Draw The World Together and raffled off the live multi-artist sketch jam piece at the end of the day.
  
  
• It was Simon Wyatt who first suggested we could get involved with the Draw The World Together project, and he spent most of the day sketching his beautiful sketches on the stand. Preview pages of his graphic novel Unbelievable were available on the stand and his portraits of quizzical sheep seemed to go down a particular storm. There will be an ebook preview up of the book, due out later this year, hopefully at the end of this week.
  
  
• Burke and Hare will be the next book we have out, and there was lots of pawing and cooing over Will Pickering's beautiful artwork. Although we did not have them at the show I saw potential cover designs on arriving back today, and they are gorgeous. Of course having been created by Rian Hughes (who is also doing the interior book design), creator of the famous Forbidden Planet logo, not to mention logo and graphic design work for DC, Wildstorm, Marvel and 2000Ad among of others, we expected nothing less. More Burke and Hare news in the coming weeks, including some previews, and news of a very special section in the back of the book.
  
  
• Rounding out the previews on the table were pages from MILK by Stref, along with some original art for sale from his DC Thompson days.
  
  
• Copies of the special edition of Fallen Heroes by Barry Nugent are like gold dust, and the copies we had on the table sold out.
  
  
• As always we heard some fantastic pitches and saw some great portfolios. Rich Johnson was on hand to review the art side this time as well, and we were both seriously impressed at the talent on display. One of my favourite moments from this year's con was Stephen Downey asking me if I had been found by a young artist who had run home to get a portfolio together, after speaking to Stephen who told her she should show me her work. She caught me at the very end of the day, and on seeing her incredible use of shape and colour I knew I could use her on books right away. Two more great moments came when explaining to writers how the company works, seeing smiles start to spread over their faces, and being told "...this is exactly how I've always wanted to work with a publisher." So we must be doing something right.
  
  
• We got to meet lots of people face to face we had only spoken to by email, and it was great to catch up. Creators working together on books also got to meet in person for the first time and get to know each other, and it is great to see how well everyone gets along.
  
  
• Kev Crossley brought his breathtakingly beautiful portfolio along and sketched at the table for a while. He had also done the first rough sketches of Emer, the main character from Sidhe, and I always love seeing characters come to life.
  
  
• We signed contracts with Chris Lynch for his staggering metacomics opus The Fictionalists, which goes like this:
  
  "Welcome to the world of The Fictionalists, seven storytellers trapped in the pages of a graphic novel. The Fictionalists are the only people who know the truth about the world, that nothing has changed here since the dawn of the first word, and that nothing ever is going to change. They have mastered the art of writing their will on to the world but rather than becoming its masters they have discovered no matter what they do, nothing ever lasts for more than a day. The story reasserts itself, forcefully if it has to, and all is as it was. The Editors are always watching"
  
  Chris first spoke to me about the idea at the Birmingham Con last year, and he has been performing complex alchemical distillation processes on it since then. This is going to be something very special.
  
  
• Speaking of Contracts we also signed Alex Willmore and Lauren Anne Sharp as the artists on Kronos City, so that will be going into full production in a few weeks time. They have already delighted the writer, Andrew Croskery, with their character concept work.
  

I hope we'll have some announcements to make as a results of things talked about at the show very soon.

It was also great to catch up with GM Jordan of the Comic Book Alliance. He is working tirelessly to protect you and your rights as readers and creators. Get over to his site and support the cause.

Thanks to everyone who came and supported us, and the industry as a whole at the show.

Finally, the Eagle Awards are happening this year, although not at the show. More Information over at Ian Sharman's Cyber Hellfire Club site. You only have til the 22nd of May to get your Nominations in though.

HUGE thanks to Mal Smith of Fallen Angel for organising things - stay tuned for 2010, same bat time, same bat channel.

Happy New Year

So here we are in 2009. Only 5 days in and it is already looking like this is going to be a storming year for Insomnia.

So, to kick things off here is a list of what we are going to be working on in 2009, and so what we will be talking about here.

First, here are the books with 2009 publication dates already set:

• Cages by Xander Bennett and Melanie Cook (available to order from amazon)
• Cancertown by Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Melanie Cook and Nic Wilkinson (available to pre-order from amazon)
• MILK by Stref
• Unbelievable by Simon Wyatt
• Burke and Hare by Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering
• Shaman by Xander Bennett and David Montoro
  
• Layer Zero: Choices (anthology)
  

Secondly, here are the books "in progress" which are signed and underway. Some of these will be out this year, some next:

• Damaged Goods by Richard McAuliffe and Mark Chilcott
• Daemon by Alasdair Duncan, Daniel Lopez, Yel Zamor and Nic Wilkinson
• Average Joe by Thomas Romeo and Kelvin Chan
  
• Death Hunter: Dead Man's Gold by James Johnson, Georgios Dimitriou, Thanos Tsilis and Leonardo M. Giron
• Six Months by Jim O'Hara
• The Ragged Man by Cy Dethan
• Shiver by Christopher Barker
• Oz: The Fall of The Scarecrow King by Peter Forbes
• Cancertown 2 by Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Melanie Cook and Nic Wilkinson
• Layer Zero: Survival (anthology)
• Fallen Heroes by Barry Nugent
  

And these are the events we will be at if you want to drop by and say hello:

• New York Comic Con (February)
  
• Bristol Comics Expo (May)
• San Diego Comic Con (July, Hopefully)
  
• Cymru Con (August)
• BICS - Birmingham International Comics Show (October)
  
• Leeds Thought Bubble (this is more of a fingers crossed, hope they do another one but if they do we will be there!)

Sounds like we are going to be very busy.

Good busy, though...

Trade Secrets

Latest Updates


Here's a quick round up of what's been going on at Insomnia this week:

• Stephen Downey, penciller for Cancertown, went to the a show in Dublin where he was able to hand Jonathan Hickman a copy of the newly printed Cages which features his fantastic cover, hand out lots of badges and get lots of compliments on his stunning artwork.
  
  
• Stref, creator of MILK (out next year) was interviewed about the book for RKYV Online
  and Jazma
  
  
• We signed Death Hunter: Dead Man's Gold by James Johnson with Georgios Dimitriou - Artist, Thanos Tsilis - Layouts, Leonardo M. Giron - Conceptual Artist:
  
  Profit is a haven of fortune that bears more resemblance to a 'Western Utopia' than any familiar backwater town. It has been built from the pockets of one man - a man whose past is about to return and fulfil a forgotten curse.
  
  Welcome to the dead west, where greed and corruption shows its true origins.
  
  
• We signed Six Months by Jim O'Hara:
  
  An uneasy exploration of what happens when, perhaps too late, you discover the answers to what it is that gives your life meaning, the relationship between law and society, and what it means when you longer need to hide anything from yourself or others.
  

Full details on both of these in the new year.

As you will have seen from posts about upcoming books and projects, Insomnia decided a while back to publish "instant trades" or "albums" of all our books rather than any floppies.

This week I thought I would talk about the main reasons for this, as this difference always seems to be one of the main talking points with creators, readers, retailers and other publishers when I get a chance to chat with them at conventions.

When people say "comics" they think of 22 - 24 page "floppies" as representing an entire medium. I find this strange. When people say "books" or "sculptures" or "paintings" they are not nearly this prescriptive in their thinking. I find this close tie between the artistic medium and physical format odd.


"So what's wrong with floppies then?". Well, nothing, actually. One of my most prized possessions is my original run of V for Vendetta. Not the mention the full sensory delight that is taking my Jim Starlin Warlocks out of their box (not only is the art mind blowing but they feel and smell so nice!). And, being a reader-turned-artist I still personally have a pretty hefty pull list that is like a little slice of Christmas when the package shows up every month.

The question is really "What are floppies good for?" and I think the answer to that is "What they were designed for", which is, of course, on-going stories that are produced on a regular schedule and have a loyal audience that waits for each new issue in anticipation.

Of course the form influences the storytelling structure so they lend themselves to the kinds of stories that are naturally episodic and have a pace and shape that leaves the reader satisfied by 22 pages but still wanting more. Maybe I'll talk to some of our writers about doing a piece about structuring next year - that is a hidden art or science that is not seen explicitly on the page in the same way as the art style, or the dialogue, but one that can make or break a story.

So far probably most of the greatest examples of the medium have been created to fit this "floppy shape" mostly for business reasons (regular revenue streams, how the logistics of the previews, printing and distribution have worked, creators needing regular paychecks) rather than artistic concerns, but things are starting to change. This change is coming through technology, through a different view of "what comics are" and "what comics can do" from publishers and creators, through classifications being broken down and rebuilt in new forms, through people wanting to experiment with what they love.

Insomnia's format decision, though, springs mainly from our focus on creators and our desire to deliver something different. Neither of these things will work with a "floppies" model for a smaller publisher because:

• Different is understandably scary to readers and retailers on tight budgets
  
• Monthly schedules are practically impossible for newer creators with other commitments.
  

Both of those things contribute to a vicious circle that mean, in effect, you already have to be successful to be successful, retailers already need to know your books sell to try and sell your books and readers already need to know your work to know they want your work a try. Tricky, huh?

But, as has happened elsewhere, the internet has helped. The getting known is becoming easier. One of the good things about comics being the "problem child" of the art world is that the comics industry, and I use the term very loosely, is made up of a fairly anarchic bunch - now technology has got us all talking to each other the biggest question being asked is "Why I can't I do it my way?", "Do you want to try this?", "Are you the boss of me?".

An unfortunate fact is that the independent specialist comic shop is becoming an endangered species. There are now only around 100, give or take, in the UK. Of course you can find comics in other places, but many of those places have no place for single issues in their ordering, stocking or shelving systems.

A bright side is that many more people are discovering the medium from many angles, and by many routes, the audience is diversifying incredibly and the demand for a huge variety of styles and subject matter is increasing.

So, yes, we are producing complete books "from the off" and here are the main reasons why:

1) We can have our books carried by large book chains, independent bookshops, online retailers etc as well as specialist comic shops.

2) A book has a longer "shelf life" than an individual comic which has one month "on shelf" (probably tucked away in the Indie section, realistically, as shops have limited shelf space and have to have guaranteed sellers on show) before being consigned to the back issues boxes and no longer visible to potential customers. This is a big problem for indie books that people may not have heard of, or know to ask for.

3) Many retailers and readers are nervous about taking a chance on a new indie book - will it finish its run, will it come out regularly etc. It is much easier to try something new if you can get the whole story at once.

4)Reviewers like to read a complete story to make a complete review, especially when they may not have encountered the creative team before. Readers like reviews that cover the whole story. It is easier to decide if you want to buy something on a "this was great" than a "this looks promising". We let people read the first chapter for free as an ebook in most cases as well.

5) Our books are mainly for an older (15+) audience, and, within that, people who may not think of themselves as "into comics" or ever have been to a comic shop, but who are becoming more interested as the medium, and its potential, is getting more attention. I once heard Bryan Talbot say that when he was starting out his favourite film was "Don't Look Now" - and why couldn't we have that sort of artistry in comics storytelling? He was 30 years ahead of his time, and I still feel his question stands today. If you get the chance to hear him speak about this, what he has tried to achieve in his career, balancing his commercial and personal work etc at one of his talks drop anything else you had on that day and go.

6) The most important reason of all, though, is that we are trying to provide a new route into the industry for the many extremely talented creators who want to do something different / interesting / challenging with creator owned books, but who have not yet been able to (or perhaps don't even want to) go full time as comics professionals.

By putting a complete book out in one go we are able to agree schedules with our creative teams that mean they can fit working on the books around day jobs, page rate work, other commitments etc without the pressure of a monthly schedule which would not be realistic for them.

Also the "traditional routes" through the major publishers may not be suitable for the types of stories that some people want to tell - and you usually have to be a pretty big name before you get to use your own characters at larger publishers.

7) Finally it also allows us to include some of the "extras" like concept art, script pages, interviews with the creators etc that you normally have to wait (and buy a new edition) for.

So that is why we are doing what we are doing, I hope to see some of you there doing it with us.

Milk Before Bedtime

So, time to spill the beans, but hopefully not the MILK on a project we have been in discussions over for a while: MILK by Stref.


Visuals that will blow you away..
Stories that will mess with your mind...
Welcome to the world of MILK!

Instead of me telling you about it, take a look at this:

"Coming from a virtually unknown artist, MILK contains some of the most beautiful, expressive art that I've seen in a long time. It deserves to be a huge commercial success".
ALAN GRANT, June 2008


Yes, that Alan Grant. One of my absolute heroes. The man who co-created Johnny Alpha, the coolest character to step out of British Comics. In fact he wrote a lot more than that about the book, and has been very supportive to Stref during the creative process, but you'll have to wait til it comes out to find out about that.

And yes, it looks like Mr Grant is right. This is, after all, the book that got its facebook profile page suspended for having too many people sign up to it!

What is MILK all about then, and why has it got the internet so excited?

The simple answer is that MILK is a collection of short stories, but unlike most anthology titles they are all the work of one man. Every story in MILK is drawn by the same artist, but unlike most art portfolio books each piece is masterfully executed in a completely different style.

The book will be about 100 pages long, and consists of 14 short stories (so far!), a gallery of artwork, and plenty of "back matter" covering Stref's extraordinary style, the history of the project, and his creative techniques and inspirations.

MILK is a book you need to bring your brain to, with a range of story telling styles to match the diversity of the art, but it will also make you laugh. The stories are a mix of b&w, full colour and two colour work, sharing a similar themes and a very British strand of dark humour. While the stories are all individually excellent, reading them as a collection elevates them to a whole new level.

We heard of the MILK project through SmallZone a social network for independent comic creators run by the wonderful and indefatigable Shane Chebsey. This is a fantastic example of how technology, the web in particular, is changing "the way the comics industry works" and just the kind of thing we are keeping our eyes open for. Talent will out and there are so many ways now to connect creators, publishers and readers (and many people are something of each) in a glorious, blossoming chaos (to quote Cancertown writer, Cy Dethan in a recent interview) that can only be good for the medium we love.

• Check out the MILK youtube trailer
• See the MILK gallery on Facebook

This is one glass of MILK that won't give you a peaceful night's sleep.

Until next week.