Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #2: Samurai Mack

It has been my great privilege to work with many great artists - and oh man in my humble opinion come up with some pretty damn good work. Occasionally - only very occasionally - I read a strip that ends up as near perfect as I imagined in my head. It's one of those very rare things, where the artist takes my panel descriptions and produces an end product story and art (but especially story) with which I can find no fault. 'Samurai Mack', which appeared in Cartoon Network Action Pack 29, did just that. And that's why it's number 2 on this little list of mine. Winter woolly hat off to artist Mr Philip Moy. He's one to watch guys and gals.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #3: Lego Batman The Videogame

Batman Lego game on the X-Box? Free comic inside? Wondering why you recognise the name of the writer? That's because it is I! It's a neat little no-dialogue piece showing the same story from the very different perspectives of the Batman and the Joker.

It was a whirlwind commission and not without incident. Michael Wright at DC Licensing contacted me to ask if I was interested. I of course said yes and having pitched successfully was faced with the prospect of completing the script over a weekend. The days in question just happened to coincide with a stag weekend held in Madrid. Not only that but on the Saturday I turned on my ankle (non-alcohol related honest), which grew to the size of a large cabbage. And it had grown even larger by the time I returned to Glasgow on Sunday. I could hardly put any weight on the bugger and the next day needed my pal Drew to drive me to my son’s school in order to pick him up. But I still got my Batman Lego script done on time. Hey I know you're thinking it so I may as well say it - "what a guy!"

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #4: Aku's Fairy Tales

Aku's Fairy Tales is an occasional series appearing in Cartoon Network Action Pack where big bad Aku tells children (named after my son and niece) stories that cast Samurai Jack in a very bad light. I took the inspiration for the series from the Samurai Jack cartoon episode of the same name. I thought these pithy irreverent text heavy 4 page strips would break things up a little. The first as way of introducing the strip portrayed Aku as the good guy, but it was the evil dastardly Jack who took all the credit for Aku's heroics. The other two appearing this year riffed on Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beanstalk. And all drawn by the fair hand of Ethen Beavers. Oh and in case you're wondering they take me an eternity to write, but hey I'm not complaining (well not all of the time)!

Hell I even got a good review out of it. Comicbookbin writes, "Jim Alexander's Samurai Jack mini-story is a really novel comic fantasy that captures a sly, funny side of the menacing Aku." Couldn't have put it better myself.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #5: 4 Days

Appearing in Big Jim Stewart's underground magnum opus Ganjaman Presents #1, 4 Days is a one-pager by me and one-time winner and the other time nominated Eagle mainstay Declan Shalvey. There are words, but really Dec's pictures say it all. Ganjaman Presents is a wonderfully erratic, eclectic, gloriously disrespectful ensemble piece featuring luminaries such as Doug Moench, Gilbert Shelton, Bryan Talbot, and Alan Grant. And Big Jim published it all off his own back. I mean wow. Was delighted and honoured to contribute in my own small tiny way. Happy New Year to ye all!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #6: Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries: The Golden Carrot

I had two stabs at Granny, Sylvester and Tweety. The first one The Tweety Effect wasn't great. There was some good stuff in there, but I think I just tried too hard. The Golden Carrot, which appeared in Looney Tunes #166, was no less ambitious but I think a more satisfactory affair. It featured Marvin the Martian, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Not only that at the end Granny walks off the comic page in order to chastise and wave her umbrella in the direction of writer and artist (Chynna Clugston). Except that the writer doesn't bear my likeness, but was drawn in the guise of inker Mike DeCarlo, moustache and everything! I suppose that was rather naughty of Mike and his shady hirsute behaviour is even acknowledged by the editor in the final edit! I'm not even sure about the spelling of lapsang souchon either. Mad, I tell ye, mad!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #7: Sideburns: Conjoined Sins

Appearing in Bullet Proof #2 a rather eclectic, bold new UK anthology edited by Matt Yeo. Or should I say reprinted but with a spanking new lettering makeover. Lets face it the number of lettering mistakes on its original publication in Negative Burn was nothing less than shocking. Superbly drawn by Jon Haward, this was the second outing of our dog-eared ham shackled private detective. And not particularly lovable either as in the end he condemns one of his friends to a brutal gang war execution. I can't quite remember what frame of mind I was in when I wrote this one, but I could probably make an educated guess :-)

The third Sideburns script is in the can and with the over busy Mr Haward. It doesn't have a happy ending either.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008 #8: Camp Lazlo: Vote Lazlo!

The cover story of Cartoon Network Block Party #51 (cover by Robert Pope and Mike Decarlo, interior art by Mike 'say it quickly' Kazaleh). The blurb says it best: Scoutmaster Lumpus is missing, and Lazlo and the other campers decide that one of their own must replace him! They do so by contesting an election. I wrote the script in the middle of a typically seemingly interminable US presidential race. Can you remember the time when people were discussing the result between Obama and McCain as too close to call? And then one Monday everyone realised the voting was due the next day and that history was finally going to be made. A month or so later this story came out and I was so grateful I hadn't put any topical references in there. Cute baby hamsters, maggots crawling into ears, mind-control rosettes, someone throwing a shoe at the departing Scoutmaster... No nothing topical in there at all.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2008: #9 Samurai Jack: Waiting For the Cavalry


This is the first of three Samurai Jack entries that rank as my publishing highlights for 2008. This year I've scripted a lot of stories starring the tall chap and it does help that I'm such a fan of the character. The best thing about Jack is how I can tell a story from his and others' perspectives keeping it fresh and iconic. 'Waiting for the Cavalry' appeared in Cartoon Network Action Pack #31. A four-page story told from a boy's point of view describing Jack's timely arrival to save a town from a group of marauding wrecking machines. The townspeople prayed for the cavalry to arrive and Jack duly obliged. The artist is Philip Moy and this is one of his pencilled pages (which I unashamedly lifted from his blog). Note the top left panel where Jack is finally, fully, revealed at the start of the last page. Looking all iconic and cool. With that chain in his hand don't be surprised if he's not in fact queuing up for the new Guns n Roses CD. Man he's that type of guy.

Hey, hi kids. Just a quick note (and my first entry this year I'm aghast to type) to say I'll be attending the up and coming NYCC. Indeed my flight leaves Glasgow Int. at 9am the morrow. Things have been a little quiet I'm the first to admit. Alas The Last Posse has been shelved indefinitely. Since then I've handed in a bunch of Samurai Jack and other Cartoon Network strips to DC. And scheduled for June is the Ripper Legacy Graphic Novel written by me with Mark Bloodworth on art and published by Transfuzion. More on all of this later - honestly. I do miss this blog. I miss the therapy. Okey doke I need to dash and I'll see y'all over the weekend somewhere in Manhattan. Cheers, Jim.

And while I'm on it I'm waiting for Ewan McGregor to grow old enough to play Ed MacBrayne in the movie.

It’s strange. After Scotland’s injury time loss to Italy at the football some weeks ago, which means we won’t be going to next year’s European Championships in the land of cuckoo clocks and lederhosen, I found myself searching the web looking for comments on ‘Calhab Justice’. Calhab was a strip written by me featuring a future Scotland, which appeared in Judge Dredd Megazine, oh, about 15 years ago. It went on for a wee while with artists John Ridgway, Colin McNeil, Lol, and Kevin Cullen contributing their woolly socks off.

Future Scotland as in reflecting the Scottish political situation back when another term of Conservative government (yep, the Tories in power, told you it was science fiction) was at odds with Caledonian yearnings of self-government. You know in some ways it was pretty prescient if I say so myself. I type now in a land with a Scottish Parliament run by the Scottish Nationalists.

Needless to say the story evolved, and not to everyone’s taste. Hipsterdad sums it up on his blog in his occasional review of old Megazines: “The weak link is certainly Calhab Justice, which has devolved from a light-hearted story about frontier judges fighting addictions to radioactive whiskey into some mad thing about a psychic super-judge obsessed with having children and bringing about the next stage of evolution or something.”

As attempt of explanation I have admitted in the past to my head disappearing up my arse, but I’ll have to think up something different in the future. And it would appear that I’ll never be forgiven in some sectors for pitching the main Calhab Judge Ed MacBrayne as a cross between Judge Dredd and Billy Connolly. But one can only run naked through Sauchiehall Street so many times before coming to the decision that full recompense has been paid.

And y’know 15 or so years on it’s still good to see the strip garner so much comment. It hasn’t been forgotten unlike so many other fragments of pop fodder over the last one and a half decades. And hey some of you guys have even fessed up to liking it. And there are some comments out there that tickle me pink, like a blog entry from Alex F (no relation), which ties into the comic strip panel up above:

“And of course there's comedy. We don't see the main character's face in this one, but rather his hapless chief commissioner - an indication that the series is very likely to make a comeback. One which will involve more mismatched police shenanigans. It almost doesn't matter what the story is (Calhab Justice, by the way) - you just need a certain kind of protagonist and you could transpose this panel onto the end. Strangely, this doesn't bother me.”

Strangely it doesn’t bother me, either.

In the middle of scripts at the moment. Few weeks ago I was commissioned a nice bundle of six scripts for DC/Cartoon Network (4 Samurai Jack and 2 Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy). I've now finished and sent off all the Samurai Jack. Don't know if you've seen the cartoon, but I think it's great. Jack is a Conan/Ronin-like figure who battles a magical monstrous tyrant called Aku. Primarily action, but with time for reflection, and dare I say it even a little pathos. I like it a lot. All in all I've scripted eight stories now for Jack, three having been published so far (the latest called 'Checklist' is in Cartoon Action Pack #18) and y'know it took me those first three strips, maybe not to find my feet, but to do the character justice. And I think with these new ones, particularly 'Tunnel of Stone', I've done just that. There's a source of personal satisfaction to be found there that I can barely begin to explain.

Now I'm starting the Grim stories with gusto. There's a different kind of tempo with these characters, dare I describe it as madcap...? The opening line reads, 'This here represents my greatest achievement since I balanced a saucepan on my head a week last Tuesday!' Capmad maybe.

Yes Birmingham looks that complicated even on a map! It probably took us nearly an hour to get out of the city centre by car. But at least we got to see that little more of the city than we bargained for - again and again and again.

The weekend was great. Everyone was smiling except for the writers mostly, it's always the writers. I didn't really spend much time at the Convention itself. It seemed really well organised and I really like the guys behind it and hope they did okay out of it. For someone like me I've finally discovered there's not much point being at these type of things unless you're actually involved in or looking to promote something. There's absolutely no work to be found that's for sure! But it was good to see everyone, and it was good that they saw me :-) I came back to find I had four Samurai Jack and two Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy scripts to compose for Joan Hilty at DC/Cartoon Network. So I'm not going to moan any more and go out for a couple of beers instead.

Oh and as a footnote I did find a bar showing the Scotland v Ukraine game last Saturday in Birmingham (well done the Sports Cafe on Broad Street). There were a few Scots present. Instead of a piper there was a guy with a harmonica playing 'Flower of Scotland'. Surreal is not the word (but it'll just have to do). For the record we won 3-1 and I jumped up and down and nearly cried when that third goal went in but checked myself just in time. Fast forward four days and we're beaten 2-0 by Georgia, which sets up an all or nothing game against Italy in Glasgow 17th November. Don't think I'm not aware of the stakes involved. I forbid any of my work to be translated into Italian forthwith. It begins here.

Hey there I haven't expired or anything. I just got out of the habit of writing about writing and it's taken a wee while to get back on the saddle so to speak. Thanks to all the good folks who lamented its absence. I'm with the Divinyls on this one: 'When I think about you, I dust my shelves.'

This weekend I'll be attending this years BICS or Birmingham International Comics Show for people who like a bit of a mouthful. It's my first convention appearance of 2008 which is worthy of a footnote, um, somewhere. I'll be buggering off early in the Saturday though to find a pub showing Scotland v Ukraine kick off 3pm. C'mon the Scotchland!

Out now is Cartoon Network Action Pack #10 from DC Comics. I have a Samurai Jack strip in there called 'Hit or Myth'. Of most interest I think is that this has been an idea I've been shopping round for years. 2000 AD's Pulp Fiction, Warhammer Monthly, crikey even a Star Wars anthology published by Dark Horse... All received a variation of the story and all rejected it. But y'know if you believe it's good enough, then stick with it, tweak it/improve it, and hey presto it'll get there eventually.

Well that's the plan anyway. Plenty more in the locker!

Progress on The Last Posse gathers apace. A redraft has been submitted and format set. 16,000 words of prose spread over a 80 page comic size tome, bookended by single-page illustrations with double-page ones inbetween. Artist Ken Hooper will be supplying those purty pages. Ken's worked extensively for DC among others and for your viewing pleasure his Primal Force cover is to the left.

Last year I did ok. Birds of Prey, Fury/Spidey/Captain Britain, Star Trek manga. With The Last Posse I've stretched myself further. Which was painful and I might have to go and see my doctor.

Watch this space dudes, dudettes, lads, and lassies.

Well friends and lassies that’s another year confined to the airing cupboard. Looking forward to 2007 my aspirations continue to remain modest in the extreme. This is a writer’s blog so I hope to continue reporting on my writing exploits for the mighty world of comics and prose. I don’t think my writing is ever going to change the world – unless I write that ‘Commando’ book of course – but I can have a darn good time trying.

Happy New Year to you and yours and lang may your lums reek!

A very merry Xmas to one and all. I had a quiet time, mostly spending kwality time with my boy. Between you and me though I've never been completely at ease with what the festive season is all about. I'm glad it's all over, but I sincerely hope y'all had a good good great great time.

Was also able to catch up on Otogi Zoshi volume 2, published by Tokyopop, written by Narumi Seto and adapted by yours truly. After the first volume establishes much of the background and grounding for the characters, volume 2 for me is what it's all about. It's a lovely vibrant wonderful story with a great ending, brimming with loads of emotional impact, one I'm intensely proud to be associated with. Ah, the wonders of Xmas joy. Good will to all men, ladies, girls, boys, dogs, and hamsters.

Back from the Birmingham Comics Show where I seemed intent on drinking and smoking myself to death, but didn't quite succeed. I have to say the show was the best Winter Convention I'd been at for some time. I think the location had a lot to do with it. Conventions these days, especially the ones around this time, are pretty devoid of editors and the like, so there's little chance of work. But unlike Brighton, London and Bristol before, Birmingham is easy to reach so people didn't feel nearly as downhearted as they might have with a more hassle-intensive journey still fresh in the mind. Mind you, I heard for those souls going back to London on the Sunday that trains were stopping at Northampton. I helpfully suggested that they could pop in there and say hello to Alan Moore.

Yeh, the vibe was good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was good to catch up with Ben, Laurence, Jon, Dylan...oh the list goes on.

Accompanying art is the Silver Surfer from the brush of the insanely talented Esad Ribic. Esad is Croatian but this year I've drank with him in New York, San Diego, and now the mighty Brum. Ye cannae beat it!

I lifted the image to the right from David Bishop's blog. An ex-editor of mine. There's quite a few out there that fit that description. David now occupies the elevated position of writer and has built up some notable credits over the past few years. Quite an austere blog photo you have there, Dave.

Anyhoo this is the cover by Doug Klauba for the Phantom prose anthology book (that's proper writing to you and me) to be published by Moonstone scheduled May 2007. David Bishop and myself have short stories appearing. Last time I think we both shared credits on a publication was a Judge Dredd story written by me, edited by him, and drawn by Jim Murray. Not that anyone was credited for the story at the time...

http://viciousimagery.blogspot.com/2006/11/in-esteemed-company-with-ghost-who.html

Got a 'Dexter's Laboratory' strip in the latest issue of CNBP. Y'know you complete a script and send it off, but you're never quite sure if you've quite pulled it off until you read the thing in newsprint in front of you. Dexter has to hunt down one of his cleaner robots gone rogue (as opposed to rouge, which I found myself originally typing - maybe that would have been a better idea). The robot's called Al and draws his inspiration from Al Capone, or at least the version of that infamous historical figure that bounced around my mind at the time.

I have this sequence revolving around Dexter blowing his whistle. Not sure if it totally comes off, but the strip reads better second time round.

Anyhoo Happy Thanksgiving to all our good friends across the pond. And thank you in particular for Battlestar Galactica. I still maintain the person who came up with the idea of a Cylon attack every 33 minutes (going a wee way back there) should be given a medal.

Well I finished 'The Last Posse' and dutifully sent it off to Joe Gentile at Moonstone and after all this time devoted to getting it done I'm feeling kinda strange now that I've come at last to that point when it's done. Mind you while initial feedback from the publisher is good I have been promised comments, so it looks like the story'll be back on my lap pretty soon.

Anyhoo in the interest of posterity, here're the first two paragraphs of the story.

HE had been riding hard for three days and nights. Pounding through the shit hole desert, the dust filling the cracks in his creased leather skin. His mount kept a steady gallop. Mustang was the horse’s name. He’d been meaning to think up a better one, but never quite getting round to it. The sound Mustang’s hooves made upon the ground measured time like the beating of a heart. It instigated another chapter of the rider’s life in the shit and dirt and dust of the Wild West.

Time may be chronological, but life is a map of events in search of whatever connection it may find. Like the time he’d risen for a late breakfast of horsemeat and whisky, then made his way to Old Man Jessop’s for a dry shave. He sat slumped in the barber’s chair as Jessop caressed his neck and chin with sure fine strokes. Steady, Jessop was sure steady. In another life the old man would have been an artist or a gunslinger.

The 'he' in question above is Wyatt Earp. Around 16000 words later and we're done. More later.

Hullo. Was interviewed recently for 2000 AD. Its starting (and ending) point were letters I'd written to the comic as a young(ish) fan. One such letter appeared in Prog 494 and it went:

Tharg, It won't be long now until 2000AD reaches its mega 500th issue - that's 500reasons why the thrill-sucker is as extinct as the Dodo...

And Lord how it goes on. Please don't ask me to tell you how old I was when I wrote it. Did receive a fiver for getting it published, though. (Which is more than I get for most stories these days.) Nowadays you get a letter in 2000 AD and they send you a Strontium Dog tea towel.

Anyhoo back to the interview. Here's one of the answers, to the question 'How did you get that first commission, and how did it feel to work for Tharg for the first time?'

I met David Bishop, editor at the time of Judge Dredd Megazine, at a Glasgow Comics Convention and our discussion ended with me sending in a proposal, which became my first commission, 'Calhab Justice'. One of the Bishop's comments on the initial proposal was that the warring Clans structure felt very 2000 AD. After that I was commissioned pretty regularly for the Meg for a couple of years. It was a great feeling, truly a light headed affair. Although looking back I wish I never took it too much for granted and worked more on my writing, especially from the structure side. But it was a great bohemian life, in my twenties winding my way in coffee shops, plotting Ed MacBrayne and Judge Dredd and generally spouting all kinds of nonsense.

As it happens I only did the one strip for 2000 AD. A Future Shock - some of my family still talk about it.

Dear old Brum, that's where this year's UK 'winter' Convention is going to be held. It follows on from last year's Brighton, and Bristol the year before that. I'm reliably informed that next year's will be hosted in Barlinnie!* Anyhoo I'll be there as I've always been partial to the yellow stuff.** Arriving Saturday afternoon and leaving on the Monday, so you never know might bump into some of you good people.***

*You might want to google Barlinnie prison, Scotchland to get the joke. That's if you think I'm joking of course.

**Custard.

***At least I should be able to talk about 'The Last Posse' at Brum with considerably more certainty as I've just finished the first draft. Yippee!

Hello. Thought it might be a good opportunity to mop up a few loose threads (mixed metaphor there). I did get that Phantom prose story finished. In fact it was approved by King Features (who own the character) without changes, which doesn’t happen every day. And plucky Scotchland did visit the Ukraine and were given a 2-0 beating for their troubles. Ah it was tough watching it. All I can say is Scotchland don’t play their next competitive game until next March and I thank the Lord for that.

It’s probably worth mentioning what I’m doing at the moment. It’s another prose story for Moonstone to be presented in Widevision, where you have text and illustrations. All you Brits out there of a particular vintage need not think beyond the ‘Rupert the Bear’ newspapers strips for an idea of what I mean. Final format is still up in the air I suppose and won’t be fully decided until I get the fecker done. It’s set in the Wild West with the working title of ‘The Last Posse’ featuring a number of characters including Wyatt Earp, Belle Starr, and Geronimo all coming together to battle an ancient threat imperiling a Western town. I should be finishing the first draft in the next week or so. The word count at the moment is heading above 15000. It’s a big and ambitious job and if I do any more prose I’m in real danger of being considered a proper writer, but oh Lordy if you have a couple of moments feel free to wish me well on it.

So what are you up to at the moment?

A little birdie may have told you that plucky Scotland beat World Cup finalists France 1-0 on Saturday. That’s France featuring plucky Thierry ‘va va voom’ Henry and the like. That’s France who had just beaten plucky World Cup winners Italy in their last game. And I was there at Hampden Park shouting my busty head off. What a day. Why are we so good? And now the lads are off to play the Ukraine on Wednesday. Alas I won’t be joining the team in Kiev opting for the closer proximity of the Auctioneers instead. But by gum I’ll be cheering them on. C’moan the lads! Anyhoo better go as Johnny Mnemonic is on the tele.

For your viewing pleasure here's an exclusive sneak peak of Page 1 of a new, vibrant, and exciting Johnny Bravo strip by me and Mike DeCarlo.

For me the highlight is Panel 3. Especially when you consider the detail I went into describing the scene. The panel description from the original script went hence:

Johnny’s face rips out through the newspaper.

Mike's done a pretty darn good job of depicting this as I'm sure all both of you will agree. Who says artists don't earn their keep.

Story's called Bad Mama Hair Day and is a heartfelt plea on the shocking amount of cash ladies pay in order to get their hair done! Y'know someone has to make a stand. Stop this insanity now! Unless of course you're a ginger in which case there's not much I can do for you. Bad Mama Hair Day will appear in a future issue of Cartoon Network Block Party from DC comics.

And here's Page 24 again from Michael. Spock, rocky vista, big monster...leaving absolutely no one in doubt that this is a Star Trek story! Yay!

Personally it was just great putting words into the fizzers of such wonderfully iconic characters. Scotty says it best. "What a hoot!"

Page 18 of 'Oban' with art by Michael. This is where Kirk talks dirty from his chair to an alien lifeform. But relax true believers they don't end up shagging.

Umm...come to think of it I think that particular exchange was rejected for something a little more serious more in keeping with the actual story. Still, check out that fourth panel and those come to bed eyes!

Happy Birthday Star Trek, which is now 40 years old. I've made my own tiny little contribution having written one of five stories in 'Star Trek The Manga' published by Tokyopop. Artist Michael Shelfer and me present 'Oban'. As the official blurb goes, "warring planets exchange peace offerings via the Enterprise, but one 'gift' may be more than what it seems".

It's a monster story basically, and I've tried to be as true to the original series as possible. Great characters, boys own adventure, and space ships. Ye cannae beat it.

The book is out now and this is one of three covers on offer. That's Spock saying hello, btw.

For most of this week I’ve forgone the custard creams in order to get my tax return together. Basically it all starts with a plastic bag full to the brim of all last year’s receipts. Then I have this internal dialogue where I ask myself why I couldn’t have kept my records up to date on a regular basis rather than the current situation rushing about at the last minute like a mad loon. But isn’t it always the way. There’s that lazy fecker in all of us, which of course explains how global warming came about.

Still, it’s a pain doing me tax return, keeping me away from a Johnny Bravo strip and the Western story I’m doing for Moonstone. Not to mention all those disappointed faces when I said I couldn’t go out last Wednesday. Well, mine mostly.

Having said that have you noticed how sexy comics have gotten recently? Not the actual comics themselves, but all things associated with those plucky little pamphlets? I was speaking to a lassie recently enthused by the motion picture ‘A History of Violence’. I piped in that I’d been for a meal with John Wagner, who wrote the graphic novel from Paradox on which the film is based. She reacted by insisting that I must be famous, which would be nice if it was true. But there you go, there’s so much out there informing popular culture originally inspired by the comics medium. I'm sure you can think of plenty more examples. Mind you the following exchange is also pretty typical: “I’m a big fan of Batman. I have all the DVDs.” It makes one wish I had a little ‘comics parcel’ I could hand over as I witter on about Dark Knights, and Killing Jokes, and source material and all that jazz.

Oh, and I did get my tax return finished eventually just in case you’re wondering. Huzzah! Ginger slices all round.

And over to the world of the non-fictional - My wee boy David started school today.

He is a star!

Negative Burn # 3, the anthology published by Desperado/Image, is out now guys and gals. 10 foot tall Jon Haward and me have a story in there, entitled ‘Sideburns’. Having sat down with a cup of strong coffee and read the strip, though, I’ve got to say some 'rogue' word balloon placements make it appear far more wilfully obscure than I would have wished. Our story, as now is, reminded me of Guy Ritchie’s ‘Revolver’. (Which isn’t that bad a movie, don’t you think the guy’s suffered enough anyway being married to Madonna?) All that was missing from ‘Sideburns’ was some bad guy wearing lizard-skinned underpants, but I can take care of that at a later date. Maybe I could combine it with my other ambition to write a sequel to ‘Nuns on the Run’.

Truth is I don’t know if I should laugh or cry, so have decided to do neither.

Personally I think 'Sideburns' boasts some of the finest artwork from big Jon I've seen. And Phil Hester and Federico Dallocchio 's 'The Stone Devil' is worth the admission fee alone. The book also has a rather delectable Frazer Irving sketchbook section. You have to admit Fraze is rather talented in his own diminutive way. Let’s face it if it was up to me I’d have him drawing Daleks battering the shit out of Cybermen and very little else.

Otogi Zoshi volume 1 adapted by me, but please, please, it’s Narumi Seto you should be thanking, who wrote and drew it. The book is a prequel of sorts to the well-received Anime of the same name. To those who aren’t in the know Manga is Japanese for comic strip, Anime for cartoon. If you’re glad you’ve started reading this, please don’t stop.

Opinions have been canvassed and here’s a quick straw pole.

A lassie called telophase says of the book:

One day the girl sneaks out and follows her brother, and starts a chain of events that theoretically lead to plot, but I'm not sure because I was so bored by all of it.

http://telophase.livejournal.com/616427.html

The much more sensibly named Hazel names Otogi Zoshi as ‘Hot pick of the month’. Oh momma. She also goes on to say:

…fantastic character design, fast paced fighting action and a lingering love interest you’re dying to see develop.

http://hazel.animeblogger.net/?cat=91

I say, lock ‘em in a darkened room and let ‘em fight it out among themselves. Alternatively I could put on my favourite ponytail and exclaim ‘vive la difference’ to the passing crowd before riding off on my charcoal-coloured horse. I suppose.

Ah-ha, that’s me back. Another San Diego Comic Convention consigned to the glorious trashcan of history. The fifth one in total I’ve attended in case you were wondering. Most of the time, though, I was asked if this was my first due to the near expert impenetrability of my accent. Think of the Scottish cousin at the wedding of Charlotte and Trey MacDougall in ‘Sex and the City’ and you’ll be halfway there. Anyhoo it was a good convention. From an editorial point of view I seem to have a good reputation. What’s missing is that project that’ll give me mass appeal. As to where I should acquire said assignment any comments/advice/limericks - all gratefully received. I thank you.

Also out is the first volume of Otogi Zoshi where I executed the rather magnificent role of ‘English Adaptation’. When you consider the paragraph above, you can just taste, nay chew, the irony. Tokyopop publishes said periodical and, yes, it’s Manga, and, yep, you read the thing back to front right to left. Nor should you be surprised that the book is a rather lovely piece of whimsy, life-affirming really. The first volume takes its time developing the characters before the second (and last) packs the punch, but you can’t have the one without the other. Lady Hikaru learns to use the bow and catches a cold in the rain of 10th Century Kyoto. She is seemingly frail, emotional, and true of heart. And she will become everything that a heroine should and can be.

Oh, and the book lists my name as ‘Jim O. Alexander’ in the credits. This is probably just the result of misreading the initial of my middle name, which is David. But just maybe it’s all part of a cunning plan to make me appear more Japanese. Maybe the Vapours were right.

“I’m turning Japanese, I really think so.”

I’ll be heading oot to San Diego on Wednesday. It’s a damn long way to go. California is eight hours behind us in dear old blighty. By the time they’re eating breakfast I’m on my fourth fresh pair of socks.

Anyhoo if this year’s convention is anywhere near as good as last year’s it’ll be a good one. I enjoy a measure of name recognition now. I no longer have to go through the rigmarole of introduction, to then register the deadness behind the eyes of editor/publisher/creator/bar steward the precise moment I mention I’m a writer. Yep, that seems to be behind me now. Well, for the most part.

Perhaps a little.

I’ll see you in The Field 8pm (San Diego time) sharp.

In terms of shelf life Comics International #197 only has a week or so left, but it still merits a coupla mentions from me good self. My Spidey/Cap Britain/Fury story was given 9 out of 10 in the reviews section. So it’s official then, I’m Jim ‘9 out of 10’ Alexander. If that doesn’t impress the ladies then I don’t know what will.

It’s also worth mentioning the Top 100 US comicbook sales for February, which CI also lists. My Birds of Prey was no. 68 in the charts with sales of 29,835, a slight drop on the previous issue, but perhaps more disappointedly just sneaking under the 30,000 mark by the width of a bawhair. Ah, well, I’ll just have to take solace from all the beautiful women in a state of undress who shout out from their bedroom windows asking if I’m that ‘9 out of 10’ fella. To whit I’ll smile and maybe give a little wave.

As Mike Scott was once heard to warble, “What do I have to lose someone might wave back.”

I’m not one to talk in length about what I’m working on at that precise moment. Don’t want to tempt fate I suppose. But as I’m one of the names already bandied about for the Phantom Prose Anthology to be published by Moonstone, I may as well dwell on a few thoughts. I’ve nearly finished the first draft, and the story, called ‘Truth and Consequence’, is coming along rather nicely. Having said that it’s still a first draft with bits written in the first person, the third person, and in a person who turned up to the party uninvited who no one’s seen before.

The Phantom (AKA ‘The Ghost Who Walks’) is widely considered to be the first superhero, created by Lee Falk for a newspaper strip in 1936. And don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him as he’s pretty big in Sweden J If his name does ring a bell think of the Hollywood film a few years back starring Billy Zane and a pre-Michael Douglas Catherine Zeta Jones. But give the big guy his due he still does good business in the States and Europe, published by Moonstone and Egmont respectively. As for my story, the Phantom has been captured by the Nazis and is being interrogated in an isolated castle in Africa. There follows a war of wills between interrogator and prisoner. I could say more but I can’t be arsed. Think McGoohan’s ‘The Prisoner’ and, erm, stop thinking at around about there! I should say that it’s shaping up as an agreeably psychologically twisted tale and should be a nice change of pace from the more action-orientated stories normally associated with the character. Other writers involved in the project include Ron Marz, Steven Grant, and Paul Storrie. S’no bad indeed.

I take it everyone is enjoying the World Cup. C’moan the Ghana!

http://moonstonebooks.proboards67.com/index.cgi?board=phantom&action=display&thread=1142383573

Cartoon Network Block Party #21 is out about now. It features a Johnny Bravo strip called ‘Fishy Sitter’ by Mike Decarlo and me. In the story Johnny ‘baby-sits’ a goldfish for a friend. Of course he makes a right arse of it and comedy mayhem ensues. Again I’m revisiting an old theme here. In ‘Facts of Life’, a short strip which appeared in the original incarnation of Negative Burn, I tell the tale of a young man who was taught the facts of life by his mother using goldfish. Which itself was inspired by my mother’s real life admission that she taught my sister the facts of life using goldfish. And people wonder how I turned out the way I did.

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

There hasn't been anything like the fanfare that accompanied the first Captain Britain story, which appeared a year or so ago, but Spec Spidey 133 is out boasting a much stronger, more satisfying read. Don't take my word for it, read this:
http://khayem.blogspot.com/2006/04/stripping-down-2.html

Ok, I admit I couldn’t have written a better review myself, but I didn’t, not this one, honest guv. Interestingly Khayem the reviewer mentions the fact that Spidey doesn’t appear until midway through the story. The fact it takes so long for the lead character to make an appearance did give the marketing guys the jitters, but if you’re not giving these guys sleepless nights at least some of the time you’re not really doing your job. Oi, get that tongue out of yer cheek! Seriously, though, its fair-dos to everyone involved as the Fury story pushes the comic’s format as far as we could. In an environment where you can’t call the Fury a killing machine, where you can’t refer to Elektra as an assassin, and you can’t call the Red Skull a Nazi, I think the boys did good.

What with 'bird flu' hysteria gripping these Isles - (Well, it was mentioned a couple of times at work on Friday) - I thought I'd throw this page into the spotlight. A murder has been committed in a duck pond, as shown in the opening page of 'Sideburns: Conjoined Sins' written by myself with art from 10 feet tall Jon Haward. Story's scheduled to appear in the soon to be reincarnated Negative Burn from Image/Desperado. Is it in issue 1?* I dunno. I'll probably find out with the rest of you. It's quackers, man!

*(It's in issue 3, out in July.)

'Ello peeps. It may not be One Year Later, but Cartoon Network Block Party #19 is out from DC as of around about right now. No, I haven't written the Powerpuff Girls story. It's another Johnny Bravo for me - 'Whoah! Great popcorn! Bodacious babe! Hot movie! And not a pigtail in sight!' Yes it's true there is someone out there willing to pay me to write lines like this :-)

I'm busy at the moment. As if real life wasn't demanding enough I'm working on the script polish for Tokyopop's Otogi Zoshi vol 2. I'm putting together a Wide Vision proposal for Moonstone. And I have some more Cartoon Network scripts to bring to life.

As a wise man was once overheard to say, 'Nature abhors a vacuum. It doesn't matter how many nostril hairs one pulls out, they're all back again in the morning.'

Tomorrow is the general UK release date for V for Vendetta, the major motion picture based on the classic Warrior/DC comic strip (depending whether you first saw it in black and white or colour) by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Tomorrow is also the day I embark on a two night stag (not my own) in the beautiful windy Isle of Arran. Anyhoo to commemorate one if not the other here's the first page of David Lloyd's 'Elemental', which was published in Metal Hurlant and written by li'l old me. Does this make me two steps removed from Natalie Portman (yeh, yeh, like right it does)!

Portrait of a Writer as a Large Lugged Man. This little sketch was drawn by Michael Avon Oeming in a New York bar on a Saturday night. What can I say I am that real-life caricature. Someone recently compared me to their favourite mug.

You know I might have my revenge on the world yet by giving regular updates on my face. Like the pluke on the side of my nose that's resided there for the last three weeks...

It seems everyone and his or her granny has something to say on my BOP. I am very gratified. I am so very used to otherwise being ignored. But have to confess to a little ‘review fatigue’ creeping in. I know what you’re thinking, there’s no pleasing some folk is there? Mind you one of the more unusual reviews is from Polite Dissent, entitled ‘Birds of Prey # 91: A Medical Review’. It begins with a quote from Page 1 of the comic: The prognosis is acute renal collapse.

And proceeds to comment – "That’s really more of a diagnosis than a prognosis."

Incredibly insightful, I immediately awarded myself a D minus and promised to do better. Catch the whole review on:
http://politedissent.com/archives/1130

If you have your fast boots on then dash down to your local WH Smiths and pick up a copy of Panini's Spectacular Spider-Man #130. This shouldn't be viewed as much of an obligation as you can always hurriedly put it down again. Spidey teams up this issue with Spider-Woman against the dread might of Dormammu! I have to admit writing the script was as torturous as it gets, but it's come out surprisingly well. Worth buying for Spider-Woman saying the word 'mitts' and for John Royle's terrific art. Oh, and there's a free Spidey click camera 'n' all!

Oh, blog how I have neglected thee. To be fair I have been rather busy. The Birds of Prey issue came out as expected. And blow me down people seemed to like it. Of course I’ve now noticed a few bad reviews popping up recently. Yin and yang have so much to answer for don’t you think? But I’m glad most of the guys and gals who picked up the issue feel they got their 2 ½ bucks worth…or 1 pound 60p for that matter.

Then it was off to New York to meet my adoring public. Unfortunately that one guy had to spend the weekend in a clinic, leaving me to soldier on in my capacity as bit-player-C-celebrity-comics-writer-honest. It was a good Convention. I’m in this strange situation where most editors are aware of me but aren’t quite ready to talk projects. But y’know I met Ben McCool on Sunday 12.30pm at the Bull Moose Saloon and drank until 4 the following morning, so at least I have the memories – or I should say had the memories until I obliterated them with much lashings of alcohol. It was good seeing everybody. You know who you are.

I got into Glasgow on Wednesday morning, the threat of jetlag following me around like a black ominous cloud. Then had to plunge what energy I had left into revisions on my Star Trek Original Series Manga script for Tokyopop. As one great philosopher said to the other – "I could sleep for a week." As the other replied: "I could sleep for a fortnight."