Scout One - my Scottish super-hero story with Sha Nazir - is out now.

Here's the blurb: In a world overrun by terror, despair and monsters, three kids cling to the belief that there once existed a champion of good, a super-hero now gone and all but forgotten. Despite the dangers and sheer hopelessness of the situation, they decide to go in search of the super-hero known as Scout One.

It's difficult to do this little gem justice as we are trying to do something (just a little bit) different to a genre that, it would be fair to say, has been round the block one or two times. But I genuinely feel we have something for parents and kids; the ones who huddle round the tele on a Saturday night to watch 'Dr Who' and then half of them suddenly go missing once 'Strictly Comes Dancing' comes on (!) Published by Black Hearted Press, give it a read and tell me what you think.

Contact me @ jim@blackheartedpress.co.uk
and I'll invoice you £3.95 (including postage) per issue through Paypal. Cheers!

I'm now a member of Black Hearted Press who are probably best known for organising this years Glasgow Comics Con, but they produce comics now - top notch comics to a terrific standard. And they very kindly asked me to come on board. My first missive with them is 'Gabriel' #1, which consists of material I retain copyright on that I think definitely deserves another run out. Look people don't thank me all at once.

Okay the blurb: 'Gabriel' Part 1 by me and David Hill: A demon runs rampage through the city of Glasgow. It is a different Scotland with a non-secular police force; a society where god and the devil is reality. Events centre round Stewart Gabriel, who has personal demons of his own.

The back-up strip is 'Manchester' by me and Andy Dodd: It is the end of the world. For one man the last day on earth is quite possibly the happiest day of his life.

Comic is priced £3/$6 including shipping either side of the pond. A digital copy is available for £1/$1. Send your order to jim@blackheartedpress.co.uk. Ta very much!

Oh I meant to say I have the lead strip (Ben 10) in Cartoon Network Action Pack #64. I even manage to squeeze in a little homage to 'Father Ted'. Where FT had a plastic cow, my story has a teeny flying saucer. I sincerely hope you are all keeping up with me here.

Oh - on the subject of Ben 10, I met Duncan Rouleau (one quarter of 'Man of Action') at NYCC a few weeks ago - what a gent.

Cartoon Network Action Pack #62 is out now from DC and features my debut Ben 10 story. Ben 10 is something of a phenomenon with intelligent ongoing storylines and evolving well-loved characters. Just ask your 8-year old. Note to self: as templates go for successful, fresh (regularly reinventing itself) franchises it’s not a bad one to follow. For me personally it was good to sit down and read ‘Paper Scissors Stone’ in its fully published form - which comes across as (hopefully) a breezy, engaging and exciting read - and which belies the sheer amount of blood and sweat excreted bringing the story together. I know. I paint such a delicate picture. Hats off to everyone involved for making it happen, especially the wonderful Luciano Vecchio (no relation) on art.

Laptop Guy #1 is out now. Brainchild of Sha Nazir I've contributed a couple of stories - 'Notebook Kid' & 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete'. It's an incredibly enjoyable collection of gentle madcap stories that I guarantee will bring a smile to your face. Sha and myself are collaborating on a new project. Even for a worn out old hack like me that's pretty exciting. More to follow no doubt over the next few weeks and months.

As for the present, check out Laptop Guy on
http://www.blackheartedpress.co.uk/

Well the Glasgow Comics Con was a hoot. Terrific fun. Sha and John did a remarkable job putting it all together. That's me at the writers' panel sitting next to the Rory McIlroy of comics Mr Mark Millar. (Thanks to TeamGrrrl for the photo.) And thanks to everyone who attended my workshop. I hope y'all gleaned something from it. It's probably too late now to claim for a refund if you didn't :-) And congratulations to all the awards winners. Being there for Alan Grant's outstanding achievement award was something pretty special. You can read about the SIBCA winners elsewhere, but two guys Craig Collins for Roachwell - a terrific piece of work - and Jim Stewart for Ganjaman - mainstay of the Glasgow scene when at its most moribund - also deserve a shout. Wow what a great day.

Bristol comes but once a year. Well, at least in terms of the Bristol Expo it does. I like Bristol in May. I like the canal walk. I like the Old Fish Market. Dammit I’ve even been known to walk through the old cemetery on a sunny day in May and feel strangely but appropriately inspired. Last Expo was something of an eye opener. David Lloyd had a friendly go at me. He said I was a good writer, but needed to apply myself more. It wasn’t enough to do little bits of writing here and there, fitting it in when I had the time. I had to make time. And you know what, it was the kick up the backside I needed. I found the extra hours. I get up earlier in the morning and write later in the night. And while I went into last year’s Expo with a heavy heart and the knowledge that the Samurai Jack work was drying up, I go into this one with 6 Cartoon Network scripts under my belt (Ben 10 and Generator Rex, each one 8-10 pages long). I also have 'Savant' scheduled to appear in the upcoming Strip magazine published by Print Media Publications. More of these in future posts, but you know what, when things aren’t going for you, you just have to suck it up and, for fear of repeating myself and paraphrasing a certain Bruce Willis movie, try harder. I think I knew that, but still needed someone to remind me of the fact. So God bless David Lloyd. The sooner we give the man a knighthood the better. Join me at the Bristol Expo Sat 14th and Sun 15th May. Sir David Lloyd, the petition starts here.

Just putting the finishing touches to two strips for two very different target audiences. The first is a 'Laptop Lad' script for Sha Nazir. Sha's self-publishing this lovely little character whose head is shaped like a (you guessed it) laptop. I'd say it's 'PG' rated not by intention, but that's just the rating the character comfortably sits in. Although I've probably pushed that as far as it can go with a 'rabies/energetically brushing his teeth/causing lots of mouth foam' gag. Trust me it looks worse when you read it in isolation like that; works perfectly fine in the context of the story. Anyhoo the story is about a young overactive nephew running riot much to the amazement and despair in equal measure of his poor uncle. Good clean, hygienic even, family fun.


The other thing is a 'spec' script for 'Crossed' published by Avatar. 'Crossed' was devised and originally written by Garth Ennis; zombie-like infected taking over the world where the disease takes away all inhibitions. So a Crossed will make a gash in your body with a knife and then promptly - umm how can I put this delicately - make love to it! Impaling, Severed limbs, sodomy by blunt instrument - my spec script ticks all the boxes, but y'know I love zombie movies (the well-made ones anyway) and there's a thin line between the 'man's inhumanity to man' subtext and an excuse for good sick, filthy even, fun.


I'm reminded of Steven Spielberg who during the day filmed the holocaust horrors of 'Schindler's List' while at night edited the dinosaur romp 'Jurassic Park'. As a species we are fascinated by horror, but we only have the capacity to take so much of it. As Colonel Kurtz once so succinctly observed; where there is only horror in peoples' lives it consumes them body and soul. Maybe the world would be a better place if everyone stopped for a while, no matter what they were doing, and watched Gary Tank Commander.

Lovely innit? This is the first page of 'Savant' written by me and drawn by Spanish duo Ferrer and Vila (are they Real Madrid or Barcelona supporters? - I do not know). Full details can be found on: http://stripcomicmagazineuk.blogspot.com/2011/04/seek-out-savant.html