Small Press

As well as dashing around the country the last few months for comic events for The Phoenix and Teenytinysaurs, I’ve also miraculously found time to contribute to a couple of anthologies!

First up – TINY PENCIL

Earlier this year, marvellous illustrators, Katriona Chapman and Amber Hsu put together the first edition of Tiny Pencil, an anthology dedicated to the wondrous art of the pencil. I think it’s fair to say that it blew everyone away with it’s beautiful design and incredible collection of illustrations and stories from artists worldwide. So I was honoured to be asked to contribute to the second issue, named TP 2.0: Mammals, Monsters, & Mars!

Again, it is a masterclass in design; a fantastic oversized matchbox (with awesome cover artwork from Kristyna Baczynski), with three perfectly formed magazines utilizing a different spot colour of green, red or yellow for each magazine. The emphasis this time is on interactivity and it comes with stickers and pencils and plenty of puzzles and games throughout to keep you happy.

I did a little tour of mudlarking on the Thames, with my mud monster, Flotsam and his trusty seagull pal, Squawk. Flotsam tells you everything you need to know if you get a chance to wander on the low-tide river banks! Here’s a little interview I did for Tiny Pencil.

Amongst the many illustrious contributors, the book also stars Fleecestation chums, David O’Connell, Viv Schwarz and my fellow Fleece Officer, Sarah McIntyre herself! Check out the website for special deals with limited edition prints.

Secondly – The Hic & Hoc Journal of Illustrated Humo(u)r, vol II

From their website: “Edited by the always jocular Joe List (The Annotated Weekender, Freak Leap) and Lizz Lunney (Depressed Cat and many other titles forthcoming from Top Shelf Digital), the second volume of an anticipated 196 volume series of the best of funny comics throughout the world…”

I have a jolly two page strip, called Captain Zzap!, a character I’ve been wanting to get down onto paper for quite a while now. He’s a hokey, loser space dude who fights evil with the Galactic Princess, Lula. (Expect more Captain Zzap! in the future in some form or another.)

The anthology focuses on funny UK cartoonists, showcasing the immeasurable talents of Lizz Lunney and Joe List, who co-edited the journal, alongside Stephen Collins, Philippa Rice, Joe Decie, Luke Pearson, Becky Barnicoat, Fred Blunt, Gareth Brookes, Liz Greenfield Jonathan Edwards and plenty more.

It’s available from the Hic and Hoc website, but if you wait till the 25th of October, there’s a big book launch at Gosh! comics in London.

Hooray!

Soon, when I’ve finally recovered, I’ll tell you all about my MAD MONTH!!!! But first, sleeeep … zzzzzzzzzzz …

The folks over at Forbidden Planet have just posted a nice review of my jolly new comic newspaper from Newspaper Club called “Bad Dog”. Here’s a lovely picture of it:

Well, it’s not exactly new. For one, it’s been out since October (and was for sale at MCM Expo and Thought Bubble), and secondly all the strips are reprints from all over the shop.

Bad Dog was originally an exercise in making me draw something new every day on my Ye Olde Blog (now deceased). I would sit there for five minutes, scribble out a piece of nonsense, then post it straight on the net untouched. Yeah, Rock and Roll dude. I would then collect the best ones into mini-comics and sell them at comic shows alongside my other scribbly wares.

Not everyone appreciated my manic doodles, but some people did, so hooray!

The Bad Dog Newspaper is a bit of a “Best Of” containing my favourites from the two mini-comics; a rare strip from a Zombie comic published by Sex Gore Mutants; the story Freddy the Little Goldfish from it’s own mini and a strip previously only seen on t’internets which was a bit of a fan-favourite at the time (Singing Zebras).

For a while back in the olden days, I also ran an on-going Bad Dog strip involving Sydney being kidnapped for Greyhound Racing. I didn’t end it due to the oncoming juggernaut of Derek the Sheep, but I definitely want to finally finish it off soon and reprint it in some form or another (Along with my Bad Dog graphic novel idea I came up with a couple of years ago. Sigh, if only someone invented more hours in a day…).

If you want to buy one, then leave a comment (I’ll see your email). They’re £4.00 plus P&P (which might be pricey – around £3.00).

Tiny Pencil AND Hic and Hoc Journal!

Bad Dog!