Did you miss the UK Web and Mini Comics Thing this year?
Ever wanted a hard copy of Steve & Bob?
Ever wondered how shiny a cover COULD be?
Do you live in London?
Well today is your lucky day! You can now by issue one of the Steve & Bob comic from either Comicana or Orbital Comics! Woo!
I've got to say, I was well chuffed when they said yes. I went to Orbital first and after having a browse through, took five copies off me. Then I went to Comicana. The man initially said they don't really sell outsider comics but he'll have a look at one anyway. After a flick through, well, I was chuffed when he said he'd like to take a couple of comics too!
Next I have to get them into Gosh Comics. During the exhibition, the guy from the Gosh Comics table actually came over, had a flick through and said I could pop in and leave some to sell as it was just the sort of thing he was looking for (which was possibly one of the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me). I went over to Gosh yesterday, but that guy wasn't in so I have to go in tomorrow. Even though he said he'd sell it, I am still preparing for the big no, but that's just the pesimist in me. No harm ever came from trying.
The big one that I'm trying to break through though is Forbidden Planet. If I can get them to sell it, then it'll reach a wider audience in the UK as they have stores everywhere. Also, I'm hoping that working in Forbidden Planet might work to my advantage too.
But if you too would like to see Forbidden Planet stock S&B, send 'em an email saying you've read this and want to buy a copy from the store. Hell, if you want to buy more than one, mention that too. The people have a lot of power when it comes to getting things out on shelves, so if as many people as possible say they want it out there, it'll be there. I think this link'll help.
At the moment, I'm trying to figure out what will be the best way of selling it via the website as well, but until then, Obrital and Comicana is where it's at!

As if I haven't been plugging it enough, yesterday was the UK Web and Mini Comix Thing Exhibition and I very nearly didn't go.
Seems that after all my preparations, I had forgotten to plan two things. One was a decent suitcase to put all my stuff in and two, getting to the station. It was freezing when I left the house so it made carrying my case all that more difficult. It was weighing a ton due to all the comics I brought. I brought more than was needed just in case, but it seems I brought four or five times more than I needed.
At one point, I was so exhausted from the walk, I even called my sister so she could bring me home. But after a bit of a sit down, the energy suddenly surged through me and I rememebered that inspite of everything, I'm not a quitter. So my usual 15 minute walk to the station took a whole hour! But I got there in the end and the expo was now getting closer and closer even though I was getting later and later.
It turned out I was only five minutes late, but I instantly sat down and put all my stuff on the table.
It wasn't long before the old sales man in me appeared and I started talking to people. But after a while, the need for getting a sale disappeared as I just realised I enjoyed talking to everyone so much. I'd been worrying so much that I'd be lonely this year without Loop keeping me company, that I suddenly realised that this expo was full of people who all WANTED to be there and wanted to talk about comics. Whether it was aspiring artists or parents to people who had tables or couples who snuggled together as they browsed through each stall.
I wish I got his name, but one of the first guys who bought my comic said he read all of it pretty much in one go! I was so chuffed to hear that and slightly embarrassed to sign his comic for him.
I even had a lengthy conversation with someone about Legend of Zelda at one point. He had some very snazzy badges, which he got from New York and we were talking about how Link as gypped by being given the Courage Triforce when Power and Wisdom seemed so much cooler.
God bless Dani fro coming to see me. Last year she had a table but she seemed relieved to be just walking around, looking at other people's stuff. After getting a hint at how much dough she actually spent, I couldn't help gasp, but when you do walk around, it's very hard not to get temped.
Just walking around the area my table was, man, I must have spent half an hour just talking to people. There were so many fantastic people there, from the Scottish guys from Cascade Failure opposite and their fancy monitor showing drawings and odd animations of a big breasted bunny girl beating up Darth Vader and Transformers, to the absolutely beautifully detailed artwork from Goblin Hero on the table next to me.
And God bless Tards! I stopped at their table. I saw their stands. It just had drawings of pretty much the most ridiculous looking naked girls I've ever seen and I just burst out laughing! Needless to say I was impressed and spent probably ten minutes or so talking to them, laughing some more at the premise of the comic and slagging off Weebl and Bob for their lack of enthusiasm (which felt goooood!)
I instantly fell in love with Freddy the Clown, INSTANTLY! Poor Roger Langridge looked quite embarrassed when I praised him to high heaven and said it's just totally perfect. It reminds me so much of things like The Goon or the Marks Brothers. It's got that sort of humour about it.
Then, again, there were the guys at The Goldfish Bowl who instantly entertained me. Strangely though, their dynamic pretty much drove their comic out of my mind when I was talking to them as they seemed like a good enough comedy double act as they were. But now that I've had time to read their stuff online, it is SO much better than average!
That is a compliment! Honest!
But they should defiantly do podcasts or something.
As well as enjoying the trend of swapsies, I couldn't resist the odd toy. From the Ninja Bunny statuette at the... Ninja Bunny stall (and it was good to meet Mike at last after reading so much about him on his daily blog), to the Bunny comic's only cuddly and extremely cute plush bunny toys, which I kept in my shirt pocket. Just in case there were some dubious people about, he'd sort them out.
Thanks again to all the people who I talked to and currently can't remember. Keep in contact! There's a contacts page button to left hand side of this page, press it and you can email me and we can have virtual biscuits and everything!
This exhibition was infinitely better than last year. I think I put enough emphasis into telling everyone that Steve & Bob was NOT a Goddamn furry! Everyone loved the comic on display, mainly because of the shiny cover. Some people even stroked it against their faces saying "mmm!" and smelled it saying, "Mmm, freshly printed!"
I didn't sell as many badges as I would have liked to, but the big seller of the badges was the, "I Like Bears" badge. I even sold some of the Prints I made for last year too. After my shopping spree around the hall, a guy was going to buy just the one for three quid but when I told him he could get them both for four quid, he caved in.
Yes, I know, I'm going to burn in hell...
Even the anthology this year was infinitely better! The cover was fantastic, the theme was giraffes and I was so chuffed to see Steve & Bob as the first three comics in the book! This also had a first look at the new Jo skin that'll be appearing randomly on this site...
I simply can not emphasis how well this expo went for me! I enjoyed it so much, talked to so many fantastic people and learnt so much about other comics that I've definitely become a new fan of other people!

What a relief! After spending all night playing Black & White 2, I went to bed a lot later than I wanted to and had to wake up, quite groggily, to a knock on the door.
Who was at the door? Why it was the post man of course! Here to deliver his huge package. So big in fact that he had problems holding it with BOTH hands.
But more on that later.
More to the point, how could I possibly have time to stay up all night playing computer games? Well, I've officially booked the week off work to prepare for this year's UK Web and Mini Comic thing Exhibition! As if I haven't gone on about it enough, this year I've decided to prepare for it.
Last year I had never done an exhibition before so I didn't' know what to expect so I was woefully unprepared and spend my entire week off running around frantically, trying to get everything done as quickly as possible. I remember coming back to work and saying, "I need a holiday!" So this year, I decided to prepare everything early and it's definitely paid off. So much so, that I can actually have a proper holiday!
Huzzah!
The badges have been made and today, at last, I've got my comics! You see, when I said the postman had a big package, I meant a big box full of comics and not… a-anything else…
It's weird seeing them in greyscale but it's even weirder seeing them on paper. After several days of fretting and angry emails, they're finally here and they are mostly looking perfect. I had planned on releasing a varient too with Bob on the cover, but they're all a bit iffy so I won't be selling those.
Also, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but this contains two 3 panel strips that'll be exclusive to the comic. I won't be putting them online at all! So if there was ever an incentive to buy it, th-that's it…? Oh you know what I mean, I'm rubbish at selling stuff.
Now all there is left to do is wait for the 22nd March. I'm actually quite excited now that I know I've got these babies backing me up. I hope beyond hope to seeing you there and if you need to know the location, it's

Great Hall,
Queen Mary University,
Mile End,
London,
UK

I know there are fans out there so come on over and say hello. Hell, bring some cake with you too.

Just to get this off my chest, I haven't been writing any newsies of late because, even though ideas have proped up in my head, I have been doing some serious moarning of late. So much so that I feel like I've become a better person for it in some strange way. Corinne was an upbeat and enthusiastic woman who supported the strips since she laid eyes on them!
She was convinced it would do well!
So I shall endeavour onwards and I'll feel less miserable about it because, well, she showed me what it was like to be so ruddy happy!
Phew!
Now that's out of the way, I'll get back into the spirit of hyping up comics by brinigng up a fantastic one that came to my attention today.
The Zombies that ate my Chilean!
Great title, eh?
This is a new comic made by a mate at work with a group of his very bored friends
Now before you say, "Oh no, not another zombie comic! Boo!" I say, "Nay! This, you naive squirrel, is different for it has a Chliean!"
That's it.
That's my argument.
Aside from that, my mate Rich did it and that should be reason enough to get a copy. It's also three quid so it's well worth the dough.
Also, the drawings in it are ruddy brilliant!
Check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/thezombiesatemychilean and join the craze before everyone else does.
Coz it's wicked and that.

This is a an incredibly sad thing to write in a Newsies, but today I discovered that a very dear friend to me died yesterday.
Regulars to the website and members of Sarah Brightman Forums may know her as well enough to take this news with as much shock as it took me, but it's with great regret that I have to say Happy100 died yesterday morning.
Happy (or Corinne as I like to call her) has been struggling with cancer for over a year now and I was convinced that she beat it at one point. I was convinced that she'd be back at work at some point, jumping around excitedly in her bright orange coat.
My fondest memory of Corinne was a time when I was cleaning the air conditioning filter at Thorntons.
I was standing on this little ladder, pulling down the grate that covered the air-con, and giving it a good dusting. As I was doing it, dust would fall liberally all over my face. As I was "Pah-tooe!" with the dust in my mouth, I looked down to see Corinne there, looking at me with a very wide grin, highly amused. After another "Pah-tooe!" she just giggled. "Oh, I did want to talk to you about something." She said to my boss, "But I'm enjoying watching him."
We all laughed. And then we always laughed ever since. It was hard not to. Corinne had an infectious and bubbly personality, and as naff as she thought the name Happy100 was, it pretty much suits her.
I'll miss her terribly, I'll always remember the melted chocolate, the doughnut guy and that Steve and Bob mug. Cheers for being so fantastic and thanks for always bringing a smile to my face.
Rest in peace.