I've been quiet on here, purely because like a year 4 relationship, I think treating this blog mean and keeping it keen is the way to go..,
However...
Here's a little update for you all!
++++++++++++LETTERING AWARD WIN++++++++++++
So, I'm part of a group called the ASHCAN = Alternative Showcase Hub for Comics and Animation and they've recently done their Annual Awards for 2015...
Somehow I have managed to win the Best Letterer award for my work I've showcased within the group. I am absolutely astounded by this, and the nominees I was up against included DC Pro Letterer and Ghost Glyph studios creator Taylor Esposito and Nic J Klein or Merrick The Elephantman!
So we revealed on the Madius Facebook Page the cover image for Papercuts #02 from Jim Lavery's depraved, absurdist mind...
Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Come and like the Facebook page here and for sharing's sake, check out the twitter too.
Issue two is coming, as is a repackaged issue one, with a new story for you all, which will be available at conventions this autumn! And the digital version is coming too... All go here!
Take care you lovely people you!
Rob
Saturday 28 March 2015
This has been a pretty surreal week if I'm completely honest.
Let's start with the fact that 50 Signal, Madius's second comic, from the mind and bowels of Nick Gonzo is now available. 2 comics in as many months. That's terrifying. Let's hope we can keep up the momentum and carry on carrying on!
Then there's the fact that Papercuts print no 2 is in and selling nicely again. Huge thanks goes out to Stuart Gould of UK Comics who have done absolutely amazing work printing P & I and 50 Signal! I've gone through a fifth of the print run in two days! Which is pretty damn crazy again! I got word from Mr Lee Campbell, owner of Inter-Comics in Huddersfield, that he has sold out of copies there! I've just sent some copies down to Orbital Comics in London, and will hopefully be sending a few more copies Mr Campbell's way. I'm also trying to get the book stocked in several other places as well, similarly with 50 Signal!
Let's add to this as well that I was thumbing through the magazine section of WHSmith's in Birstall, Leeds the other day and came across this:
Papercuts made the print edition of Starburst magazine! 9/10! Amazing stuff! Coupled with the fact that they've also name dropped Papercuts and Inkstains in a recent interview with Manchester Con saying it was "a great collection...which [was] certainly one to watch" and called it one of the best indie titles out there under the radar!
Then there's also the fact that I got to see my unborn little one for the first time with my lovely wife today which was absolutely amazing and pretty much reduced me to tears. I've got a wonderful family, a comic which seems to be gathering traction and some absolutely fantastic creators/artists/writers/friends around me all working really damn hard on Madius Comic properties and ideas. I appreciate all the support from everyone who has bought the book and from those of you who RT/Fav/Share our stuff and any potential supporters we may have! You're all amazing!
Keep spreading the Madius news people, #MadiusMasses
Back so soon? Really Robin, with three posts in one week you are really spoiling yourself with all these random brain farts and nicely wrapped up adverts for yourself...
So, what is it you have in store for us today?
Well, basically, it's a production update. Papercuts and Inkstains #01 is now being reprinted by those awesome printers of comics and anathema UKComics. We have sold out! this is utterly amazing news to me, as I won't lie, I didn't think we'd sell any more than five, and that was to my family! On top of being able to reprint, Papercuts is now being stocked across the country. This was a complete surprise to me and I am so humbled that shops up and down the length of the land are happy and willing to take on Madius Comics own comics.
Added to this that I am currently in talks to have it stocked in Orbital Comics, London; Travelling Man, York; Page 45, Nottingham and others in Bristol, Brighton and St Austell, it means that wherever you may be in the country, you could pick up a copy of comic I wrote and was a part of. This means you have NO EXCUSE not to buy one...
If you want to...
No Pressure...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
After being reviewed on the excellent Comic Nom show, a review which I'm going to leave for you to watch here,
we decided as a whole that the Profits of Doom would become a regular strip, because, well, you guys asked for it! So, i enlisted Mr Mike Sambrook, co writer extreme and editer supreme, and we've already finished up writing #02...and I want you guys to have a sneaky peek at it...so here's an out of context picture of something that may just give you nightmares from artist Mike Smith, who deserves your attention on twitter so go follow him for heavens sake!
We're going bigger, better and more badass...er for issue two of Papercuts and we also have the cracking Papercuts Presents comics of The Kings Leap from myself and Gareth Sleightholme and then there's Weak Sauce from myself (notice a trend) and the mighty Mr Sambrook, with art by the simply mental Danny Gunn...
I've shared little tit bits of these on twitter, and feel I've given away far too much as it is! I fear the Madius torture bots may come for me...shit...what was that? They're here! Sound the alarms...
As you can probably tell from the header I've thrown on this one, this post is a bit of an advert...
WAIT! Don't go! I have biscuits and cookies...
Ok, honestly, if you're looking for cookies, I can tell you I actually don't have any. but what do I do have is a particular set of skills...
LETTERING!
Yes, I am a letterer of comics. What's a letterererer of comics do I hear you ask? Well, I put your amazing words on your amazing artwork to finish you amazing comic off! I add all those sound effects, gasps, shouts, cries of laughter or fear and all those cool and witty Tarrantinoesque bits of dialogue involving Royale's with cheese and such to your comic to give it that finished look!
I like to think I'm reasonably proficient and professional, I itemise and invoice all my work so you can keep track of where I am and what I'm doing with your project. I offer competitive rates and also offer a discounted rate for full comic projects. Everything is sent back to you, via the medium of your choice, be it We Transfer, Google Drive, Onedrive or Dropbox. I like to think I'm very flexible too with regards to finished products and will only accept payment once you are fully satisfied with my work. It is, after all, YOUR comic, and I want YOU to be 100% happy with it!
Drop me a line via twitter or on here and I would be more than happy to have a look over your project with you! I'm including a small selection of the stuff I've worked on, including a design page which was built from scratch for Jason Ford's The Servant, a project which was successfully kickstarted into the world!
I got into letterering comics to make sure, at the final hurdle, I could edit down my dialogue to suit the art. I love the process and have evolved the way I work, initially starting out on Photoshop, finding my feet and then making the jump to Illustrator. I love using Illustrator. It makes life so much easier being able to manipulate each and every letter with relative ease. It's a powerful tool to be able to use, and provides a much higher quality of work in the end results!
I admire so many awesome letterers, none more so however than Mr Blambot, Jim Campbell and Colin Bell. Colin has been a godsend, giving me hints, tips and encouragement, as well as the odd Walter White style warning to stay off his turf, but I owe pretty much everything to him with regards to how I work and how I am. He's a great guy, doing great things for the comics industry! His work can be found in BOOM comics, Image and a shit load of others and he writes his own comics as well, the immensely popular Dungeon Fun and backups in Titan's Doctor Who series... This man deserves your praise and respect!
Right...that's enough waffle. Go on with your daily lives...
Papercuts and Inkstains, my first comic has pretty much sold out it's first run. It's not a MASSIVE run, but in 9 days, I am pretty damn happy!
We've got shops picking it up, people interested in it, art being worked on for issue two + and scripts up for issue 5/6. That's a pretty awesome undertaking. So I just need you all to continue buying my comics I make...that would be swell!
For all of you who have already bought it, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! You're all amazing people and will sit at the right hand/tentacle of the flying spaghetti monster who did indeed create this Earth, as all good Pastafarians do.
I've probably thanked them about two hundred times, but Dan Butcher (Cover duties supreme), Nick Gonzo ("NO" artist extraordinaire) Kevin Pospisil ("BEOE" Zombie drawist) and Mike Smith ("POD" sketcher of doom) have all done an absolutely amazing job of issue one. Dan is returning on issue two to do the cover and is drawing up a future shock style story to be included in it, alongside Stephen Weafer's "Mary" and a couple of other awesome shorts as well. We're going slightly bigger with issue two as well! All good fun guys and girls and definitely something to keep your eyes on!
As I write this, I'm listening to the Kaiser Chiefs and thinking about the fact that Nick Gonzo was in the original "I predict a riot" video. Look for it on youtube and lookout for his gurning face in it! Go on. Do it. Done it? Good. That setup leads me nicely onto the next point. Nick's first release with Madius, 50 Signal is available NEXT WEEK! NEXT BLOODY WEEK! You need to buy this comic. It will make you question existence, space travel and just what songs and pop culture influences you and the way you live your life...
Comic Bastards absolutely loved it...don't believe me...HERE'S THEIR REVIEW:
Anymore loving in that and I think they would have been down on their knees giving Nick a quick blowie in the Cuthbert Broderick in Millennium Square...Did I mention Darick "TRANSMET/THE BOYS" Robertson thought it was charming?
Enough whoring...No? Want more? Well ok! I implore you to check out Gareth Sleightholme's twitter feed here and be amazed by the work that man is doing with a pencil, pen and paper. He's working on a one shot comic called: Papercuts Presents - "The Kings Leap". It is heavy metal distilled onto paper. Vikings, undead monsters, witches, Picts and Norse mythology! What else could you want in a comic? Exactly!
Madius also has another Papercuts Presents in the works, written by myself and Mike "ThunderFrappachino" Sambrook, with art by the insanely talented Danny Gunn...Who may or may not be a wrestler...Either way, this one is a madcapped, no holds barred love letter to the 80's, retro gaming and bad cheffing. You're gonna love it.
Final little shout out is to Brad Holman, artist on Average Joe and all round print guru/God! The man is the cornerstone of Madius Comics and he is one of my best friends. You should all bow down before him!
I leave you with the knowledge that this weekend, I've finished off one script, I'm hammering down another right after I finish typing this idiocy and you are all our MADIUS MASSES!
A premier post. Should be a celebration of hellos, welcomes and who the fuck are you's, however, today I'm not happy.
The world lost one it's sharpest, keenest and finest minds to a disease which slowly took that mind away from him. It robbed him of his memory, his ability to recall words, construct sentences and weave the magic he had done through 70 books.
Sir Terry Pratchett was and forever will be a true creator of imagination and a true visionary of the ridiculous. He will sorely missed by those who sought, comfort, familiarity, humour and the excitement of his books and the escapism of a far off place, flat and riding on the back of four elephants who were perched on the shell of a gigantic star turtle. A world which made a great deal more sense than our own.
Farewell Pterry, it seems, you have indeed, beaten the rush...
