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.

"Mandrake" Finally Manifests

Been nothing much to post lately, due mainly to working on getting "A Surfeit of Mandrake" polished, uploaded and printed. Problems with PDF creation at my end stopped me from producing the required hi-quality 100MB file, until I downloaded OpenOffice and used it's rather handy instant PDF creator function. Which is all very good, as I've now completely ditched MS Word in favour of the free solution.

The first proof arrived today and the pencil artwork really looks good in the interior. The cover art from Frang also looks sharp and fine, however a flaw in the printing has rendered the copy useless, by throwing a regular greyed out area across the verso throughout the entire copy. This is the first actual printing flaw I've seen from Lulu.com and I'm hoping it will be the last. It has been reported, and despite the time of year I'm feeling less than charitable as I had promised my contributors I'd have copies fully ISBN'd and in the shops before the end of the year. Already a couple of weeks behind schedule thanks to the PDF problems, and this is really the last thing we need. I hope the matter is resolved quickly and satisfactorily, as my next order will be a bulk order for Borders and elsewhere (including the contributors themselves).