The Highland International Comic Expo!

I will be attending the Highland International Comic Expo on the 2nd and 3rd of February. This is the first convention for me this year so get in early! More details of guests and location here. The usual sketching, signing and selling at a table for the whole weekend. Any aspiring comic book artists should bring along their portfolios for a quick review too. See you there.

Macbeth graphic novel by Classical Comics.

My good friend Jon Haward's new graphic novel of Macbeth is due to be released next month. It is a stunning piece of work with a script by John McDonald and beautiful colours by Nigel Dobbyn. Jon has been working on this for over a year and it is his best work to date. Have a look over at the Classical Comics site and see what publisher Clive Bryant has to offer. A great selection of books including more Shakespeare plays and other literary classics.

Jon's next book is The Tempest and I have already seen pages from it. It promises to be as good as Macbeth with more imaginative and creative visuals and sumptious vistas. Clive's approach is to produce good looking graphic novels with great stories by established artists and the classic literature of Shakespeare is beyond reproach. Cleverly, he has produced three text versions of each play; one for schools with the original text, a standard edition in plain English and a 'quick text' version for the nervous, first time reader. Having tackled Shakespeare at school myself I think this is a good decision as it allows people of varying interests to enjoy the series and hopefully the 'quick text' readers will venture further into the world of the Bard with this helpful introduction?

You will find plenty of sample pages up online and a free download of the 2008 Key Stage 3 English Text for schools. It clearly shows what Classical Comics is trying to do with the series and highlights the other classic authors to be published later this year. John M Burns and Mike Collins are also part of the team and new talent Declan Shalvey is shining on Frankenstein. Will Volley is another name to look out for on his wonderful Romeo and Juliet. Enjoy the site!

Dan Dare interview by Wakefield Carter online.

Wakefield Carter interviewed me late last year about Dan Dare and his article is online here. This is the full un-edited version of Q&A's read in the recent interviews for Deathray magazine, SFX and The Independent. A good selection of colour and lineart only images are included too. Thanks must go to Wakefield for allowing me to put across a lot of Garth's ideas and letting me discuss the approach to the Dare book. So much to cover when dealing with the Dare Legacy. Enjoy!

Army@Love in Print Magazine.

The February Print Magazine has published an article on graphic novels covering war in a comic book medium and includes a mention of Army@Love written and drawn by Rick Veitch. Some nice pics shown but clearer images on my MySpace site in the Photo Album section. Go see!

Dan Dare in Deathray magazine!

This month's Deathray magazine has a feature and interview on Garth Ennis' Dan Dare. I haven't read it yet but I gather it appears to cover most of the Dare Legacy and quite rightly so. There will always be respect for Hampson's original and those who followed.

Army@Love trade out in the shops!

The first Army@Love trade paperback is out in the shops this month. Written and drawn by comics veteran Rick Veitch it collects the first six issues of the acclaimed Vertigo series. Criticial reviews from The Washington Post, Variety and the Military Times bode well for the book and are deserved for Rick. He is a rare talent and a pleasure to work with.

Garry Leach's cover for Dan Dare part two.

Garry Leach provides the stunning cover for Dan Dare part two. The variant cover is by John Higgins and the issue is currently out in your local comic book shop.

I am very pleased to have them on board this series. Future cover artists include Ian Gibson, Glenn Fabry and Brendan McCarthy (who worked on the aborted Dan Dare television series) and the brilliant Dave Gibbons (another Dare player with the 2000AD version in the late eighties) It is a privilige to have these great British artists working with Garth and I on the Dare book.

Dan Dare goes to second print!

The news from Virgin Comics this week is that Dan Dare will see a second print of the first issue due to public demand. The comic has sold out in many stores and copies have already appeared on internet auction sites such as eBay for many times the cover price. Hopefully the second print will allow fans to purchase the premiere issue at the standard cover price. You can buy Dan Dare at specialist comic book stores and online at Virgin Comics.

Alternatively you can download serialised episodes of the new Dan Dare here.

More galleries uploaded to MySpace!

I have uploaded more galleries to MySpace. Dan Dare covers, promos and pencils available to look at. There is also a small selection of Star Wars covers and most of the popular Army@Love covers by Rick Veitch, Brian Miller and myself. Go see!

The Highland International Comic Expo.

I will be attending the Highland International Comic Expo on the 2nd and 3rd of February. This is the first convention for me this year so get in early! More details of guests and location here. The usual sketching, signing and selling at a table for the whole weekend. Any aspiring comic book artists should bring along their portfolios for a quick review too. See you there.