New Rosie and Jacinda comic coming October!

So what’s been going on with Rosie and Jacinda since we last saw them?

Are they still best friends?
How are things working out with their romantic interests Benjamin and Aaron?
Are Kyle and Daniella still complete twonks?
All this will be revealed in Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud out in October!

Me and the great Zarina Liew (The Art of Sleep, Le Mime) are back working some fairytlale magic once again, but this time we’re joined by four amazing artists… Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather), Inko (Ketsueki (Markosia), Rachel Moves To Brighton), Chie Kutsuwada (King of a Miniature Garden, Self Made Hero’s As You Like It) and Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada).

Have a peak at Inko’s amazing cover
R&J2-cover-for-promoPlus for those who don’t know, there’s a launch party in London on Friday October 3rd, for Rosie and Jacinda: Demon Cloud along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Tempo Lush Tales, Bang! Crash! Whizz! and a new Lucy the Octopus comic.
Join many of the creators involved, ready to sign copies of comics and be friendly and charming at the wonderful Gosh Comics (1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR) October 3rd 2014, 7pm-9pm!
See the Facebook Event Page here!

Tempo Lush Tales out soon!

Time to make it official!

The new collection of comic book stories written by me is almost ready to go to print, to be on sale October 2014!

Here’s a sneaky-peak at the cover by designer, Darker Chi Lynch
Cover-for-PromoHere’s the full line-up of amazing artists involved.
I’ll even tease you with the names of the stories they’ll be working on…

Matt BoyerThe Great Feast
Francesca Cassavetti – In the Bedroom
Martin Eden – The Dig
Tim Hassan – Peacemaker John
Steve Horry – Smoky Digital Seahorse
Inko & Chie KutsuwadaTwo Sons
Mike MedagliaSave Night-Time for my Dreams
Aaron MurphyZardok Infiltration
Van NimAmy’s Hat
Karen Rubins – Not Going to Wondoznia
Paul Shinn – President of West Tibia

Keara Stewart will be providing special portraits and there’s even a foreword by Steven Walsh.

For those who don’t know, there’s a launch party in London on Friday October 3rd, for Tempo Lush Tales along with three other new Tempo Lush Publications, Rosie and Jacinda #2, Bang! Crash! Whizz! and a new Lucy the Octopus comic.
Join many of the creators involved, ready to sign copies of comics and be friendly and charming at the wonderful Gosh Comics (1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR) October 3rd 2014, 7pm-9pm!
See the Facebook Event Page here!

It’s going to be special!

Purley Manga Club – Comics Writing Workshop

I had a great time on Saturday, meeting kids at the Manga Club in Purley Library and running a workshop there on writing comics.

I’d heard good things about the club as my friends Chie Kutsuwada, Inko and Karen Rubins have all run workshops there before.  It’s enthusiastically run by Jayson Arago.  He’s created a perfect fun environment for kids to meet and talk about their passion for Manga, Anime, Cosplay and gaming.

Here’s the space ready to go….

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How many libraries offer folders full of Manga reference material, eh?!

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I wanted to talk about developing original ideas for stories.  The kids had fun using their skills to write six different endings for the same newspaper strip.

There were a lot of Pokemon references (no bad thing in my book)…

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The pic below illustrated the obstacles characters must face in their stories, and how finding solutions makes the story!
One boy in the group added the Health Points bars – nice touch!

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To end the workshop, the children all made their own comic pages.  The stories were based on their own Saturday mornings, often with a few fantasy elements thrown in…
They had a really good grasp of visual language.  I love the tummy rumbling here, an effective way to show the character’s wants and needs.

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This story below was a beautiful poetic take on not having enough time to get things done…

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There were some great Mangaka in the group…

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Thanks Purley Manga Club!  Stop on by at my table when I’m at a con some time!

Broken Frontier Interview

Happy to say I’ve been interviewed by Andy Oliver for Broken Frontier about my comics work including newspaper strips, mini comics, Lucy the Octopus and Rosie and Jacinda.
Look out for revelations about upcoming projects where I’m working alongside Inko, Sally-Anne Hickman, Francesca Dare, Tim Hassan, Jade Sarson, Chie Kutsuwada, Van Nim and Zarina Liew

Read the interview here!