Longship Finally Sets Sail!

Finally!

Three years ago, in August 2011, we received Lawrence Rider's pitch for Longship. This weekend Time Bomb Comics will be launching the completed book at the ICE convention here in Birmingham.  Given that we found Lawrence's eventual co-creator Rebecca Teall at a Birmingham convention shortly after we received his first draft seems to make everything come full circle - and adds to the sense of closure.

Three years. That's a long time for a 50 page comic to be created, but sometimes it's worth waiting that little bit longer for something. During that time we published 4 other titles - and as each one of those reached their launch dates Longship continued to slowly bubble away in the background, steadily coming together to become something that we, and everyone else that has seen it so far, seems to get quite excited about.

It's a book with a lot of firsts. It's the first comics work that Lawrence and Rebecca have produced (which considering the quality of the finished article is really quite something), it's the first title that we have released in a hardcover edition as well as our standard softcover format, and it's the first book that we've received emails requesting copies for before we've solicited it anywhere. Add in to the mix that the advance reviews that Longship's received have been, well, amazing - we even got coverage on the Bleeding Cool website - and you've got something which we think is pretty special.

But then, we knew that three years ago.

(And you can still try and snag one of the limited hardcovers for yourself by forwarding £15 via Paypal to sales@timebombcomics.com)

Pre-Order An Exclusive Longship Hardcover!

Based on the overwhelmingly positive advance reviews of Longship (that you can see over on the official Facebook Longship page here) we're delighted to announce that we'll be releasing a very limited hardcover edition of Longship alongside the standard softcover edition!

This is really exciting for us - it's the first time we've released a hardcover and it's going to be something special because it's going to be strictly limited to just 50 copies!

Naturally, it will be numbered and signed by the full creative team - that's writer Lawrence Rider, artist Rebecca Teall and editor Steve Tanner of course - and the cost of the hardcover will be just £15!

But, and isn't there always a but, due to the cost these limited editions are to produce we really need to be sure we can get at least 30 copies sold, so we're also pleased to let you now that we are taking pre-orders for the hardcovers now that can either be collected direct from us at the launch of Longship at the Birmingham ICE convention on 2nd August or posted to any worldwide address!

Also, as a special thank-you to anyone who pre-orders a Longship hardcover we'll also include another limited edition at no further cost - a copy of "The Orb" print, which is a wonderful, quirky story produced by Lawrence and Rebecca that is ideal for framing!

Here's the pre-order prices and ordering instructions:

Limited Hardcover collected at the launch convention - £15

Limited Hardcover posted to any UK address - £18

Limited Hardcover posted to any other address worldwide - £15 for the book, but please contact us so we can let you know how much the postage would be for you.

Payment must be via Paypal to sales@timebombcomics.com and please ensure you include the full delivery address.

Any pre-ordered hardcovers will be posted out early August. 

Needless to say this is a perfect opportunity to get hold of a very special edition of Longship - and would make a pretty cool gift for someone, too!

Now Available To Pre-order From Previews!

The latest issue of Diamond's Previews catalogue (May 2014) features both Squadron of the Screaming Damned and Longship available to pre-order  - and you can see our listing in the photo above!

Needless to say, if you haven't already done so ask your local comics shop to order some copies in before the pre-order cut-off date in a couple of weeks.  Let us know too - it's always good to know which retailers out there are particularly Time Bomb friendly!

New Charlotte Corday Website Launched!

We're delighted to share the news that Charlotte Corday - that multidimensional super-spy who features in our London Calling and Squadron of the Screaming Damned books - now has her own official web presence at http://www.charlotte-corday.com/ where information about all her upcoming exploits can be found!

Created by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page, as well as her Time Bomb Comics dalliances Charlotte has a variety of other guises including her steampunk astronaut persona (seen above) that featured in the Iron Moon graphic album published by Strip Media a few years ago.

Our most recent adventure featuring Charlotte - the aformentioned Squadron of the Screaming Damned - will also be finally available for all UK comic shops to order through Diamond in their May Previews catalogue that will be published shortly.

Needless to say,  future adventures featuring not just Charlotte but also some of her eclectic supporting cast are in the pipeline - so watch this space!

More About Longship!

Click through to our Longship page on Facebook for lots of information and artwork about our forthcoming Longship book!

From artwork previews to test pages, our Longship facebook page is being regularly updated with details about the book and when it will be released.  The biggest news about the book though is that it will be available for pre-order in the May edition of Previews for delivery into shops during August, and that the official launch for the book will be at the Birmingham International Comics Expo on 2nd August!

2014 - The Year Of Longship

Happy New Year!

Nearly three years ago on 18th January 2011 Time Bomb Comics received a submission from writer Lawrence Rider. It was a short story and, following the feedback Lawrence received regarding that, later sent through to Time Bomb a pitch for a longer tale that could be developed as a one-shot.  That pitch was called "Longship" and I opened it up assuming it was something about Vikings. I was right, it was about Vikings, but other than that it was not in any way anything I had expected. I also knew that I really wanted it to be published by Time Bomb Comics.

Fortuitously, at roughly about the same time Lawrence had produced his final draft later that year we came across Rebecca Teall, a fine artist who had never worked in comics before but was looking for a suitable opportunity to do so.  Becs' style seemed ideal for Longship, she was as enthused about the story as Lawrence and I were and she began preparatory artwork at the beginning of 2012, pretty much a year to the day since Lawrence has first gotten in touch.

 Over the next two years Becs steadily put together the pages for the book.  Coming fresh to comics, she had no pre-conceived notions of what comics should be, and as she began to get further into the project her passion for it really began to show.  Ideas about format, layout and style were thrown in, pages were worked and reworked. Towards the end of production when a third-party letterer was being considered Becs locked herself away with a copy of the "Comicraft Guide to Lettering" to make sure she was able to letter the book herself. As I said, passion.

Three years on from that first email from Lawrence Longship is now completed and ready to go. If there's any more tweaks they'll be minimal - the size of the logo, the placement of the barcode box - the little things. At the moment Time Bomb Comics are planning to launch the book in August later this year (probably at the inaugural International Comics Expo that's being held in Birmingham on August 2nd). And with the book completed we're now about to start the most difficult part of publishing: the promotion and marketing!

So what is Longship actually about? As you'd assume from the title it's a story about Vikings, and a tale that Lawrence himself describes as 'a story of life, death, what you leave behind, and what we will do to honour those we love.' But as you can see from these opening couple of pages it's so much more than that. It's guaranteed to defy your expectations.
But you can expect to hear a lot more about Longship over the coming months...