If I can cast you back to New York mid February. Drinking in a pub called the Irish Rogue until 4 in the morn. Jim Lee was there, and those crazy dudes Esad Ribic and Frazer Irving among a multitude of other celebs large and small making funny noises. Anyhoo the photo is of Josh Blaylock from Devil’s Due doing his world-renowned Jim Kerr impersonation. But check out the guy on the left in the background looking up at a giant mouse. Ah, happy days.

Photograph courtesy of David Baillie, an Anglo Scot, but you can forgive him for that. He’s also one of those talented feckers who writes and draws. His blog is very entertaining and dare I say, not a little informative.

http://www.davidbaillie.net/blog/

Well that’s me survived yet another Bristol comics convention. Although I did have my doubts. I found myself drinking vodka and red bull the night before and it played havoc with my head on the plane to Bristol. My nose started to crackle with the cabin pressure, then I could feel my brain expanding in my skull.

But here I am alive and well and ready to tell you more of Star Trek Manga. This is the book from Tokyopop, which shows the Shat and his mates in a Manga light. I write ‘Oban’ with art from Michael Shelfer. Oban is a Scottish town on the West Coast, but otherwise sounds pretty Star Trek and groovy don’t you think? It isn’t the first time I’ve used Oban as inspiration for one of my stories. It makes an appearance in ‘Family Snapshot’, a Calhab Justice story I wrote for Judge Dredd Megazine a lifetime ago. The strip featured the Oban coliseum, which looks just like it sounds although smaller. Russell Crowe look-a-likes, screaming that they are Factimus Maximus, stretch out as far as the eye can see.

There’s been quite a bit of buzz about this book. More on our story, ‘Oban’, rather than the town, including a couple of pages of artwork can be found at:

http://trekweb.com/articles/2006/04/26/4450462b19f7e.shtml

It's this weekend in case you are wondering. I have a signing on Saturday at 11am, so come seek me out and I'll give you a free comic. Honest, guv, no strings an' anyfing. Then it's off to find a pub in Bristol showing the Scottish Cup Final. C'moan the Gretna!

http://www.comicexpo.net

The Scottish dialect has more words for rain than any other language. And it certainly seems that way as I look out the window this May evening and note that it's pissing down. Anyhoo don't let that put you off, usher in the summer with Negative Burn #3, published by Image and out in July. It features 'Sideburns: Conjoined Sins' by me and 10 foot tall Jon Haward. This is our anti-Panini Spider-Man if you like. The kind of story we couldn't tell in that particular organ in a million years. The book also features fellow stalwarts Frazer Irving, Brian Bolland, and Paul Jenkins. Imagine all three of them locked in a room trying to sing for their dinner. Ok, before I lose the thread completely. Negative Burn #3. For your perusal, Page One of our strip is featured in an earlier post but one. I thankyou.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=7121