Gabriel #2 is now on sale. In addition to the second part of Gabriel where the mayhem and intrigue (if I do say so myself) continues; there are four bonus strips drawn by Declan Shalvey ('4 Days'), Chris McLoughlin ('In the Park') and Tom Nimmo ('Wall of Bread' & 'Pizza').

What can I say: buy, read, digest, eulogise.

Contact me @ jim@blackheartedpress.co.uk Cost is £3/$6 including shipping.

Also on sale Gabriel #1. Great review here: www.crikeyuk.co.uk/FeaGabriel.html
Also on sale Scout One #1. See my blog entry just under here.

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

Bristol Comics Expo this weekend and I'll be there. Will be participating in the 'Writing for Dummies' talk at the Mercure Saturday 11am. I mean at that time in a Saturday morning is there anything else worth watching now that Jamie has left Toonattik? If you can't make it this is what I'll be saying in a nutshell: "writing is all very well, writing for comics more so, but in the meantime get a real job sukka!" It's my first Bristol show in 4 years. I'm a-looking forward to it!

The latest Aku's Fairy Tale tells of a thumb-sized Jack who has, you know, issues. No creator credits on this one, an oversight, but it rarely happens and to be honest I'm not too worried. In any case everyone knows it's written by me. I mean come on who else would come up with the line: "Alas, his father was so poor he did not have two peas to put in a pod." International bankers should hang their heads in shame. Anyhoo 'Thumbling Jack' appears in Cartoon Network Action Pack #47 published by DC. Occasionally one hears talk of a Samurai Jack movie. Now wouldn't that be a good thing indeed?

Watched the first episode of the new Doctor last night. The highlight was by way of introduction having him taste various foodstuffs ('you're Scottish fry me something' - classic) before settling on fish fingers and custard. I also liked 'the corner of your eye' idea, although they could have done more with this. Doctor's new assistant seems to be a younger version of Donna, although I'm not complaining that much ;-)

Unfortunately the plot seemed to be taken from other episodes - the jumps in time as the Doctor first meets a character as a girl then a woman (Girl in the Fireplace), alien hiding from a galactic police force in a hospital (Smith and Jones), the Doctor using a phone to hack into some world network or other (did it to the Cybermen in Age of Steel, did it to Master with the Archangel Network) and I know his speech at the end where he tells an alien race that the earth is protected is a direct reference to David Tennant warning off the Sycorax in The Xmas Invasion, but it just seemed to force us to compare the new Doctor with the old one (at the moment there isn't a comparison), which hardly seemed fair to the new boy.

Incredibly ironic that one of the most repeated shows on the BBC should recycle quite so many plot lines? Anyhoo my son David enjoyed it and now they've got that always tricky first episode out of the way it's upwards and onwards (hopefully).

The Jimbos

In advance of the big night on Sunday just a little bit of fun:

Best Picture-
'The Blind Side' hasn't been released yet. Strange one that. Perhaps they are waiting for Sandy Bullock's Oscar win to propel it along. Or maybe not. Have seen the trailer though, so it does feel like I've seen the film.

Onto the ones I have seen. Let me tell you it's not been a good year. 'Avatar' - immersive but not involving. 'District 9' - great concept but derivative. 'An Education' - didn't really go anywhere. 'Precious' - surprisingly funny in places but unremittingly bleak and not in a good way. 'Up' - I rather liked it but not great. 'A Serious Man' - quirky and bizarre but didn't go anywhere. It's getting a bit of a habit with the Coens I tells ye.
Special mention goes to 'Inglourious Basterds' and 'Up in the Air'. The former's first scene demonstrates what a terrific film maker Tarantino is, film does descend into a piss-take if a highly enjoyable one. The latter is well acted, goes off the rails a little but gets back in track - good ending.

The one standout is The Hurt Locker. Doesn't say anything new about the nature of war, but it's stylish, packs a punch and my interest never wavered.

Direction-
This reward seems so indistinguishable from Best Picture don't you think. Or it did when Mel Gibson won it for Braveheart. Special mention to Quentin for Inglourious, but the gong goes to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.

Actor in a Leading Role-
Acting was generally very good as it usually is. I haven't see Jeff Bridges who appears to be the shoo-in. Taking the remaining four Clooney, Firth, Freeman and Renner, I would look at the one character who undergoes the most change during the film and on that criterion I'm plumping for George Clooney in Up in the Air.

Actor in a Supporting Role-
Matt Damon deserves a mention for being completely convincing as the captain of the South African rugby team in 'Invictus'. The winner though lights up his movie every time he's on screen. That's Chistoph Waltz in no-friend-to-the-spellchecker Inglourious Basterds.

Actress in a Leading Role-
Showed enough subtlety to make the character's development believable. Step forward Gabourey Sidibe for Precious.

Actress in a Supporting Role-
This is a tough one. I can't really separate Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick (both Up in the Air) and Mo'Nique (Precious), but I'm going to plump for our Vera as she's part Ukranian.

Animated Feature -
'Up' will get it, but for me the award goes to 'Fantastic Mr Fox'.

Cinematography-The Hurt Locker

Writing - Original Screenplay- Inglourious Basterds

Writing - Adapted Screenplay- Up in the Air

Music (Original Song)- “Almost There” - The Princess and the Frog

Music (Original Score)- The Hurt Locker

Visual Effects- District 9

Art Direction- Avatar

I know we're in the technical categories but does Sound Mixing and Sound Editing merit separate categories? How can the second Transformers film be nominated for the former and not the later? Oh hell I'll give them both to Avatar. Also I thought the sound on Star Trek wasn't very good.

Makeup-

Star Trek. I thought Star Trek's green people were just as good as Avatar's blue people.

Film Editing-
I'm giving it to Precious because it relied on editing, in particular seamlessly incorporating the fantasy segments, more than any of the other categories. And for the most part it worked I think!

So tallying up we have The Hurt Locker 4, Up in the Air 3, Avatar 3, Inglourious Basterds 2, Precious 2, and with 1 each Fantastic Mr Fox, Frog and the Princess, District 9 and Star Trek.

The latest Aku's Fairy Tale 'Jack and his Shadow' appears in CNAP #46. This is an offshoot of the show where Aku narrates a tale with Jack as the bad guy. In this one drawn by Philip Moy the nefarious samurai is one of four princes. Two other princes have quite familiar names if you follow the fortunes of a certain Royal family. Striking a rather wretched figure Jack tells us early on, "No one likes me…life is so unfair…this morning an acorn fell on my head and it really hurt…" What's more it looks like Jack has no chance of winning the tournament to determine the next king; no chance that is until the intervention of his own shadow. As I describe this I can't get the image of Roger Moore out of my head. So there you have it another Aku's Fairy Tale. The best ones are where the bad guy (Jack) does a reverse-Scooby Doo and gets away with it despite those meddling kids. In this story Jack does have his comeuppance I am thoroughly ashamed to say. But there is a little twist and the story's good fun throughout and it's even got a bucking bronco! There are worse things out there - like Scotland throwing away a 10 point lead against Wales in the rugby…

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 1: the cold snap seems to have given way to the great thaw, well at least in the central belt of this place we call Scotchland. This means I only need wear three layers of clothing before contemplating visiting the local shops. Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2: 'Samurai Jack: Tower of Aku' written by me with art by 'man of 2009' Ethen Beavers out now in DC's Cartoon Network Action Pack #45. The story is inspired by the Bridge on the River Kwai. And it's got a bomb disguised as a birthday cake. Ethen has done a bang up job on this one. I have celebrated the fact by eating a fruit scone.

Happy New Year all! I know 2009 was tough for a lot of people. Let's hope things picks up in 2010. If they don't, I'm giving up this writing lark once and for all and take up being a chef.

This year from me should see more Samurai Jack and Aku Fairy Tales for DC, 'Cuckoo' to appear in Insomnia's 'Focal Point', and 'Food Chain' in four parts for Markosia. And who knows what other delights and challenges will fall my way all in the name of keeping me off the streets. It's called care in the community y'ken! Keep watching this space, well that is until the dots start to appear. Happy New Year all!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #1: 2012 Final Prayer:Manchester

Another year, another number one. 'Manchester' appears in the quite excellent Bob Heske anthology, which takes its inspiration from the Mayan prediction it'll be the end of the world as we know it (in a couple of years time). Think of the big budget movie 2012 and concept wise it's on similar lines - but please don't let this put you off the book! :-)

The remit for artist Andy Dodd and I was to create an 'end of days' riff, which we set in Manchester basing the main character a little on Morrissey. I'd just read 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson and I wanted to integrate into the story elements of the last man alive walking through the deserted streets. I wrote the script, but it's up and coming Andy Dodd's art and lettering that brings the strip alive. I still get one helluva kick out of the last page where we answer the question, "Will it be sudden? Will I die alone? And in Manchester?"

'Manchester' is available in e-preview form. The strip features alongside 'Harkington' by Duncan Eagleson and is well worth a gander. Click on the link below. Once there scroll down a little and click on the pale orange button that says 'launch this myebook now!' Then tell me what you think.

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=17811

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #2: Samurai Jack:Like Father

I've said it before but the beauty of Samurai Jack is with one story it can be full-out action, another can be comedy, and 'Like Father' published in CN Action Pack #42. A tale from Jack's youth and his first unrequited love Anna. To impress Anna, Jack climbs the tree of wisdom and acrobatically plucks an apple from its branches. Before he can give Anna the apple, though, some older kids beat him up and take it from him. He then faces his father seemingly in disgrace.

"No...," his father says. "They took it from you, yes, but not without a struggle. I see before me not a twisted wrist but determination...I don't see a scrape to the forehead, only courage. Not a black eye, this says to me honor instead. Son, you make me proud. Never forget."

For me 'Like Father' represents what it's all about to write. To see it on the printed page makes all the sweat and tears worth it. Can't explain the sheer joy the comic page can have for one such as I, you either get it or you don't. I'm hoping it's the former! Not for the first time Ethen Beavers does a magnificent job on the art front. He is my man of the year!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #3: Calhab Justice: Hogmanay

These days a sighting of Calhab Justice is as rare as a new Hugh Grant motion picture. I mention it as much as I can get away with on this blog (initially I typed in 'blob' there, and was tempted to leave it in). It was with some surprise then when I received an e-mail from Jon Haward informing me that 'Hogmanay' was reprinted in January's Judge Dredd Xmas GN 'Season's Beatings'.

I mean wow. The story still reads well and John Ridgway's art is as superb and uncluttered and smart as ever.

One wag lamented that all 'Hogmanay' involves is some future Scottish judges in plainclothes first footing each other for New Year. Which is kind of the point really. "Japanese whisky, huh?"