'Sword of Lochglen' - back in production

After the past year in which Chaz convinced himself (and everyone around him) that he had finally packed in drawing comics for good to concentrate on 'graphic fiction', a recent discussion with long-term Fenriswulf collaborator Frang has suddenly rekindled his interest in the historical Scottish satire, 'Sword of Lochglen'.

This bawdy, surreal and occasionally dark graphic novel features artwork by both Frang and Chaz, and the first two issues have already been made available in print, and digital format at the Lochglen webpage.

It's been over 5 years since Chaz lifted a pen to draw 'Lochglen', although Frang has since produced excellent work for the historical fantasy sequences which tell the tale of the narrator's romantic novel.



Greta Garbo - or just a humble teashop waitress? Hero William MacFaddyen meets secret admirer Rose in brand new panels drawn for Issue 3 of 'Lochglen'.

Expected release date: Spring/Summer 2012.

Geekz Still Going Strong

It was back in 2009 that Chaz first had the whimsical idea of creating a web comic based around an email technical support helpdesk (and in no way inspired by his own day job on an email technical support helpdesk). Some time later down the line, Chaz stumbled across fellow web cartoonist Jeff Swenson (the mind behind the Freethunk Freethinkers website - sometimes controversial, often edgy but always worth checking out), and that old webcomic idea returned fully-formed.

And so it was that the strip "IT's All Geek to Me" was born (a convoluted pun if ever there was one - hence it now being universally known as 'Geekz'). Well over a year later, and the weekly strip (updated every Monday) shows no signs of running out of steam, such is the bonus of working in an environment which feeds inspiration and ideas into the work. It also helps to have a colleague who is just as adept at coming up with strange and bizarre ideas and gags as Chaz is, and who can probably be named as the Geekz No. 1 fan (Mr. Dave, that's you - take a bow.)

Wouldn't it be great if all writing could be so easily inspired...with enough material to keep us going well into the foreseeable future?

'Geekz' is hosted by the most excellent Mr. Ofer Israel over at his 'Humor Portal', which can be every bit as daring and edgy. There's also a compilation 'Geekz' book planned before the end of the year, which will collect together the first 70-odd strips as well as some new content. Some of the earlier, then-topical iPhone gags might look a bit dated now but a true geek would never criticize such a thing - that sense of the retro just adds to the whole geekishness of the thing (we're hoping...)

'Geekz' has its own Facebook page with regular strip updates and some behind-the-scenes content too. Pop along and give us the thumbs-up if you like!

To Illustrate...or Not to Illustrate?

Chaz has a new guest blog article, 'A Problem in Promotion' over at Rainy Dark's writers' and bloggers' page. In it, he addressed the nature of illustrated fiction, and the preconceptions surrounding it, an issue which is very pertinent to Fenriswulf Books at the moment. The Wish & the Will series is being produced both in text-only and fully-illustrated e-book editions, while Maranatha has just seen its second revised edition, without the original illustrations.

The article ought to be of interest to any writer who is considering illustrations for their works, or anyone with a passing interest in the concept of illustrated fiction, as distinct from the more common 'graphic novels'.


Read the full post here.


Left: illustrated page from Episode 1 of The Wish & the Will: Sundancer's Regret

The Wish & the Will Comes Alive on Facebook

While the silence in the Lulu.com corner continues to be deafening, Chaz is continuing work on the surreal fantasy digital e-book series, 'The Wish & the Will' (which at least doesn't require ISBNs to get out there). The series has already attracted some interest and sold a few downloads, so Chaz is understandably keen to keep the momentum going.

As such, he has recently decided to set up a fully interactive and in-character Facebook group for readers and interested parties:

The Facebook Group is here.

Currently the principal five characters are in the process of bickering among themselves as they struggle to get acquainted with the wonders of social networking, and take each other to task both on matters related to events in the books, and elsewhere. If time allows, Chaz hopes to expand the cast of Facebook personalities to include 'bad guy' individuals and even some of the strange and sinister Daemonlords who rule the fantasy world of Middengarth.

Of Swords, and Other Tools of Mayhem...

The second issue of 'The Sword of Lochglen' comic series is now just about to be released! The cover is a true collaboration between Chaz and Frang, with Frang pencilling the whole thing and doing much of the inking and colouring. As a result, 'Lochglen' now has its own dedicated webpage, located here. Currently we're only awaiting the arrival of the first set of proof issues from Lulu.com (which with the current weather could take us into 2011...though I seriously hope not!). Once the proofs have been approved, then the direct link to buy a download, or a print copy will become active on the Lochglen homepage.

Speaking of which, it appears that Lulu are current working on some new APIs to improve the digital commerce side of their services - out of all the new improvements, the addition of a 'shopping cart' for creators to place on their websites looks like the most useful so far.

In other news, Fenriswulf has now made it onto Facebook. The profile page is here, where we're looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people, and sharing opinions on comics, books and other things.

Dundee Comics Conference 2010...Been there, done it...wore the t-shirt!

A long day for Mssrs. Chaz and Frang began early on Sunday morning, and involved a frustrating argument with Dundee city's increasingly annoying system of 1-way traffic and strategically-placed roadworks, seemingly engineered to make their timely arrival at the opening of this event in the Dundee Literary Festival calendar as difficult as possible. There were times when reality felt as if it had been substituted for an interactive episode of TV's "Spaced", with comic geekiness and eternal obstacles intertwining to create a rather surreal journey to the Dundee University tower building.

Chaz left Frang in charge of setting up the stand after a brief and breathless Bisley-esque conversation before dashing off to move the car to a less illegal parking spot (which turned out to be 10 minutes' walk away...)

Following this inauspicious opening, Fenriswulf eventually staked out their merchandise stand at the far end of the main entry hall, sharing space with George Cordeiro's Black Hole comics store table, and a couple of other stalls selling relevant merchandise. The main point of the event for us had been more networking than profit, as well as meeting some very interesting people, and all of the above was happily accomplished. George sold a few of his self-penned "Far Out" comics titles (with art by Frang), and also agreed to promote Fenriswulf as much as he could - by taking on stock for his shop, as well as distributing business cards to customers throughout the day.



Chaz caught up with - surprise, surprise - Neil Cunie, onetime sales manager of Dundee's Borders store, who had been instrumental in getting Fenriswulf's first products out there to the public in the earliest days of the project. Frang attended a talk while Chaz chatted happily with the chap behind the "Fine & Dandy" DC Thomson licensed merchandise stall - and in the process learned much about the complex business of licensed products.

While the event wasn't as well-attended as maybe had been hoped, all those who were there seemed to enjoy themselves and all of the talks were educational, funny, and interesting. Alan Davis gave his personal angle on drawing comic art for the American market; a very animated Dez Skinn shared many amusing anecdotes related to the birth of his early editorial projects with IPC and UK Marvel in the 70s; and Pat Mills contributed some fascinating personal details of the differences between working in the Franco-Belgian, and the British, comics markets.



Friendly books signings concluded the day, which also included a genuinely-heartfelt tribute to the late local Beezer comic artist Bill Ritchie, and everyone adjourned to the DCA art bar for after-conference relaxation. Frang and Chaz spent the rest of the evening in discussion over the next phase of the Fenriswulf campaign for independent writing and comic art, with plenty of new material on the horizon. Products haven't been mega-selling yet but then nobody expected them to be - at this still very early stage in the game, brand recognition and networking are really the prime goals. Profit is mere vanity and was never even figured into the equation, though the day will come - not before too long, with any luck - when it does become a serious goal. Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day.

The Fenriswulf Corner

Only a few weeks now 'til the Dundee Comics conference. My man Frang has secured us a spot on a local comics dealer's stall...but some serendipity came my way today when I found this rather handy rotating display stand dumped literally outside my house.



Cleaned up and customised in a couple of hours, it was pressed into service and fits the full range of Fenriswulf products really well! Also hoping that my custom URL t-shirt should attract some interest on the day.

In other news, I've this week had to renew the domain name "fenriswulf-books.co.uk". Has it really been two years since I kicked off this very website on the back of a single tentative release, "Maranatha" ? So much seems to have happened since then. In the meantime, here's to another two years of creativity and independent publishing!

Arf & Mo...are Coming!

Now available: the first issue of Arf & Mo - anarchic animal antics featuring the titular duo of Chaz & Frang's warped creation: Arf, a bloated beer-swilling German Shepherd and Mo, his psychotic and twisted white lab rat buddy. Together, the pair have lurched through a series of bizarre, satirical and downright crazy lowbrow adventures over the last ten years, and this compilation brings together some of the best moments of their cartoon careers to date.



The original Arf & Mo was privately printed in 2001 and barely saw the light of day, but now they're back, in a big bumper collection that no fan of scabby, underground toilet humour should ever be without. At 40 pages, including a new foreword from creator Chaz detailing the misfit duo's origins, it's a must!

The Geeks are Out There...

...thanks to a couple of buddies across the water (well, one in the US and one in Israel).

A high-profile home for my gang of IT support clowns has been found at last: here.

My man Jeff Swenson (he of "The Cynic" fame) has taken on colouring duties to scrub up my low-fi scribbles into something a bit more presentable, and it looks like these will be published on at least a weekly basis. New stuff due at the start of next week.

Watch this space, as they say...

"Last Gas Pump" Now Out of Print...Thanks, Lulu

Busy old week.

While desperately trying to knock together final editions of "Lochglen" and get "Arf & Mo" issue 1 re-issue, I thought it would be an idea to update and revise the "Last Gas Pump" issue 1 and take some copies of the X-rated spoof along to the Comics Conference next month.

Until I saw the price shoot up mysteriously from £3.99 to £5.59 as I tried to complete the update.

"Obviously a mistake," I thought. Tried numerous updates, but the price hike remained. One communication with Lulu support later, and seemingly: "We recently repriced many of our books. Our most popular books have had a drop in price...by reducing the price of these books we have had to also increase the price of some specific sized books. Unfortunately the books you have revised have been affected by the price change and the price you are currently seeing is accurate."

Ah, so I see. With no warning, update, or any other kind of announcement...in other words, fairly typical of the kind of service I've come to expect now.

Which means that as of now, the "LGPotL" is officially out of print (£5.59 is a ridiculous price for a 28-page colour comic, even before adding creator commission and punter's postage & packing) and is now downloadable only - at least until I can find more favourable print costs elsewhere.

Dundee Comics Conference 2010: A Prelude

Much business followed a get-together with Fenriswulf collaborator Frang the other week. The hot topic of conversation was comics, and what we should be doing to get those that we have out there.

Arf & Mo is still hot on the agenda, but currently long-term collaboration project "The Sword of Lochglen" has finally seen print. Book 1 "Bejants & Blethers" of this quirky Scottish historical/fantasy satire is now available to buy online (see banner on left!), with Book 2 to follow later this year. Lulu didn't disappoint this time, and delivered a spot-on proof of Book 1 with sharp black and white interior printing, and a very good job on the front cover which does justice to Frang's painted artwork.

So, with the 2010 Dundee Comics Conference just a few weeks ago, we decided to get ourselves out there and put ourselves about at the event.

Highly professional Fenriswulf business cards were knocked up in good time by the highly-recommended Cards Made Easy, while I also banged together a US comic-format folio art book, showcasing some of my more professional art pieces from the last couple of years (just in case any talent scouts happen to be hanging around at the bar after the Comics exhibition!)

Local shops in Dundee are likely to be badgered before too long with regards to stocking some Fenriswulf products, as Frang & I work together to raise our local profile and branch out from online sales back into bricks and mortar stores, following the sad and very unexpected demise of Borders.

Actually going out into the outside world and mixing with human beings, rather than the electrons which clump together to form the Internet, can be a bit daunting for head-in-the-clouds hermit writers and artists, especially when it involes pushing their work in people's faces and saying "Look at this, isn't it funny?", but what better way to kick off that process than mixing with like-minded comics fans in a relaxing environment? Especially when the legendary Pat Mills of 2000 AD fame will be in attendance...

For more info and tickets on the Dundee Comics Exhibition, see here.