Tuesday 3 March 2009

SPExpo, Sisterhood, Censorship

Since Hi-Ex there's been more fall-out announced by the Diamond threshold revisions, with the monthly Harker book from Ariel Press being pulled after the first issue. This was one of the gems of last year's BICS and it's a great shame that this title won't get the wider notice it really deserves, but the plans to release the intended six-issue storyline as a trade further down the line is a silver lining on that particular cloud. Good luck, chaps!

Despite the Diamond hiccup work continues at Time Bomb Comics and we hope to secure future listings in the Previews catalogue. So much so, this week The Sisterhood:Morningstar has been sent off to Andy Martin at Diamond UK for scrutiny and hopefully approval. Irregardless of how successful that is, we're now looking forward to the Bristol SPExpo where this one-shot will be officially launched. This is shaping up to be quite an event and, for something that was put together in the wake of the downsizing of the the main Expo, is rapidly becoming the more interesting of the two. Just take a look at the SPExpo website for the incredible amount of exhibitors that will be there. And I reckon that despite the Main Expo being at the Bristol Ramada over the full weekend, the one-day SPExpo at the Mercure around the corner will be the place to be on the Saturday 9th May.


Other news, and one project on the horizon is Primetime, which has been briefly mentioned here before. The art on this one is by Paul Thompson - another new find - and Paul has been steadily working on the story for a few months now. Primetime is a fast paced crime caper in a futuristic city where televised entertainment is the be all and end all, and should be one of our early 2010 releases.

Also due 2010 is a follow-up to Dick Turpin and the Restless Dead, this time featuring everyone's favourite highwayman battling vampires in the heart of eighteenth-century London. I'm in the middle of scripting this one at the moment, but the Dick Turpin and the Crimson Plague one-shot is proving as much fun to write as the first Turpin story - and works perfectly well as both as a stand-alone and a sequel. Needless to say Andy Dodd will again be the artist on this one, and we should have a teaser piece ready for October's BICS.

Finally to get serious for a moment, please click over to the excellent Comic Shop Voice website which has been instrumental in forming the Comic Book Alliance in response to how the proposed Government Coroners Bill could have an effect on comics. Please read the excellent article on the Comic Shop Voice homepage and please then add your name to the online petition.