Damaged Goods from Damaged Minds

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."

And what about those reviews I mentioned earlier?

Barry Nugent : Geek Syndicate

"Damaged Goods is a fantastic tour de force of sick and twisted horror fantasy."

"Horror is usually my least favorite genre but Damaged Goods is a fantastic tour de force of sick and twisted dark horror fantasy."

Simon Wyatt : Comic Book Creator

"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.

Pray they’re not hiding under your bed!"

Lee Grice : Small Press Big Mouth

"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."

Damian Smith : Kryptographik

"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!"

Alec Worley : 2000AD Writer

"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."

Dan Marshall : Sidekickcast

"Beautifuly bleak and startlingly effective. mcauliffe is a force of nature and i dont mean that in a good way."

PJ Holden : Artist (2000AD, Garth Ennis’ Battlefields)

"Damaged Goods is clearly a cry for help from a damaged mind. Horrifying."

Leigh Gallagher : Artist (2000AD, Vertigo)

"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."

Cy Dethan : Author (Starship Troopers, Cancertown)

"A wide-ranging manifesto of terror from a powerful and profoundly disturbed creative team."

Gavin Jones – Sidekickcast

"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!

Unbelievable

Story and art: Simon Wyatt

Letters: Nic Wilkinson

Kronos City

Story: Andrew Croskery

Pencils and Inks: Alex Willmore

Colours: Lauren Anne Sharp

Letters: Jim Campbell

The Ragged Man

Story: Cy Dethan

Pencils and Inks: Neil Van Antwerpen

Colours: Peter David-Douglas

Letters: Nic Wilkinson

Butterflies and Moths

Story: Corey Brotherson

Art: Jennie Gyllblad

Hope you enjoyed that visual feast! Check back next week for more...

After Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fallen Heroes News

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

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

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

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












Burke and Hare: Getting Into The Guts

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

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

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

Shock Theory

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

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

Imagine FX

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

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

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

Working With Artists

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

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

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

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

Followed a few days later by:

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

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

I'll Have What Sidhe's Having!

And what Sidhe's having is enough to make any girl jealous!

To whet your appetite, here are some work in progress pics from Sidhe, with comments from Kev and Rachel.

The passionate, intricate writing of Rachel Robbins and the beautiful art of Kev Crossley fuse the best from our oldest stories with our deepest, most troubling modern fears, to take you on a journey unlike any you will have taken before...

Over to Rachel to begin:

"Confession: I used to play Barbies when I was a child. With my very tolerant little brother."
"But we made them our own, chopping their hair and using food coloring to paint funky/punky ’do’s, shaving their heads, and designing wardrobes out of broken jewelry and leather scraps --cut from thrift store purses-- which I superglued together."


"Ken-boys wore hair extensions left over from the shaved Barbie heads, earrings, and sported ink-stamped tattoos of sharks and dragons. Everyone wore glittery nail polish as eyeshadow and magic markered fingernails. Josh and I took the clan outside; built them houses and caves out of rocks, moss, and dirt for shelters."



"They borrowed Star Wars model spaceships to get around on, and the occasional toy tractor. Some times we sat them on our cats' backs, which never made for happy felines but still provided a decent mode of transportation."


"Not ordinary Barbies, you see. These were Cyberbabes.

Cyberbarbies were nature worshippers, witches, and mediums...though we wouldn't have described them that way, that was the fact.

Cyberbarbies spoke to ghosts I sewed from lace scraps who had heads made out of painted eggshells. They had direct conversations with saints and God."


"Growing up resentfully Catholic, I felt the need to create a corrupt church against whom they fought: a parish who lived in cardboard Chiquita Banana box-- fully equipped with porcelain figures of nuns and priests, adorned with “prayer cards” on the walls. The head priest was a wind up Peter Pan toy who would spin in circles and fall over."


"Sometimes Cyberbarbies had to fight aliens, too, but that was just when my poor brother and I ran out of plot ideas. There was a lot of sex and every “episode” ended with a party or wedding. Pagan 11½ inch fashion figures with pose-able legs also spent much of their time hanging upside down from trees."


"This was, perhaps, the original incarnation of Sídhe.

Now I have Kev Crossley. We play Barbies, but on paper. Insomnia is our sandbox."



Kev Continues:

"And so the summer slunk away without telling anyone where it was going and Autumn has crawled over everything like a mould, heralding skeleton trees and greying drifts of leaves heaped, grieving."


"The world of the Sidhe now inhabits my own. As the pages develop and the script unfolds from behind my eyes I'm increasingly finding the world Rachel has created to be invading every facet of my waking days. "


"The park down the road heaves with half seen creatures and the trees themselves stalk the edges of the grassed fields, looming above the people who play and walk there, seemingly blind to the scarecrow behemoths shaking and creaking in the tormented air. The streets and buildings are not free of this taint either. It's like seeing the world through a filter of the fantastic and macabre.

Kinda cool actually."



"This is the first time I've found myself so immersed in a story that I'm partly responsible for realising. I only hope the work I turn out benefits from this; I'd hate to be institutionalised for nothing!!!!!!"

Next week Kev will be at our stand at Thought Bubble with some of his gorgeous original art on show. You will also be able to see the magic take shape beneath his sorcerous pencil as he does some live sketching during the day.

Building Kronos City

If you want to see how the magic happens in this room:



That starts with a script that turns into this:

Which then turns into this:

Head over to the Kronos City blog where Alex and Lauren will take you through it all step by step, and all the stage in between.

Alex and Lauren will also be Thought Bubble to talk about the book, the characters and show off the latest artwork.

Final Thoughts

Other goodies at Thought Bubble will be a limited number of Ashcan previews of Urban Legends by Leeds very own Steven Stone (who has just launched his new blog Written In Stone, check it out) and James Daniels which will be given free with purchases while stocks last.

We'll also be talking more about what we'll be doing in the PSN Digital Comics store, so come by a for chat.

There will be a limited number of posters of the Frank Quitely pin up from Burke and Hare available - these ones in colour and signed by the man himself. Frank is the guest of honour this year so you may be able to catch him around the show, or see him interviewed in a very special Geek Syndicate live chat on the Saturday night.

Two unique competitions will be running from the stand:

1) Win a chance to visit the Buskers Film Set.

Entry to the competition is free with any purchase, or £1 per ticket

The draw will be made on the 1st of December and the winner notified by email. Any winner under the age of 18 will need to be accompanied on the set visit by an adult.

The date and time of the visit will be arranged personally with the winner.

Thanks to Jeymes Samuel for making this possible.

2) Win a PSP 3000 loaded with Insomnia Comics. This competition is in association with The Geek Syndicate. Thanks to Sony for donating this great prize.

If you will not be attending the show you can still enter the competition by heading over to the Geek Syndicate Website.

To be in with a chance to win all you need to do is send an email to geeksyndicate@hotmail.co.uk. with the title “Going digital with Geek Syndicate, Insomnia and Sony!”

The first entry pulled out of the hat will win.

Closing date for entry is 1st December.

Unfortunately this competition is only open to entrants who are 18 or over and have a UK Postal address.

Best of Luck!

Hope to see you all soon

Small Screen, Big News

...krrrk...we have a visual...krrk...

Here they are then, the first screen shots of Cages, Cancertown and Burke and Hare sitting proudly in the PSP.





Our friends at The Geek Syndicate visited 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 episode 139 which 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.

Over on the Kronos City Blog they said:

"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.

Until then...

Countdown BICS-2 Weeks

So much news - so little time!

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

Burke and Hare: Reaching the Heart

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

Hugh Parker

Gary Erksine

Frank Quitely

Layer Zero:Choices ebook sampler

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

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

Snow Job

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

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




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


Roy Huteson: Artist Double Header!

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

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

Alasdair said:

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

Daemon Seeds

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

Crowley: Wandering The Waste

Taking Over The Airwaves: Insomnia Podcastpalooza!

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

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

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

New Signing: Terminus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huge thanks to him for that.

Small Press Expo

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

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

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

Thanks Mickey!

Fallen Heroes Special Edition

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


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

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

Sketches are provided by:

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

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

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

And Finally...

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

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

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

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

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

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!