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."

And something of a world exclusive for ya. Page 7 from the interior of Birds of Prey #91. Art by Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti. Hi-Fi Design is responsible for the gorgeous colours.

Here's the cover in all its full glory. On sale Feb 15th.

Jimbo's world tour 2006 continues with my confirmation as a guest at the Bristol International Comic Expo on May 13 and 14. The event is organised by Mike Allwood and he'll probably have me down for a signing. Have to say it's a pretty impressive guestlist. There's Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, Geoff Johns, and, er, me. Something for everyone really.

http://www.comicexpo.net/guests.html

Rather tentatively took a dip in one of the many Birds of Prey message boards. Not much has been made of issue 91. Most people I would imagine are reserving judgement until they read the thing. Mind you there was one post, which went just like this:

No way am I getting this. Never. I'm getting Nightwing #117 instead.

By gum I must have really upset the guy in a past life. Did I steal his drink one night, maybe unwittingly bought that last pair of patterned socks he desperately had his eye on, I dunno...? Anyhoo Birds of Prey #91 is out in two weeks time and I reveal a little more about the story on:

http://www.comicboards.com/birdsofprey/view.php?trd=060201174336