♥ The Suitcase, by Dan Berry
Hi! Do you want to read Brit comics? Pick this up. It’s such a fantastic example of our scene! Dan Berry is a tragi-comic genius — at one point I snorted so hard a snot-bubble came out my nose when I was reading it. I think I’d recommend this to anyone, really. I want to buy it for everyone’s birthdays!!!! Also, did you know Dan runs a well-respected podcast called Make it Then Tell Everybody…?

♥ Demeter, by Becky Cloonan
Oh, hell yes. Modern classics. I am really down for nailing a specific atmosphere within comics — giving them a real personality and a proper feeling. Becky’s three self-published titles (Wolves, The Mire, and now Demeter) each create such a specific personality that compliment one another and sit so well together. Wolves is bitter and lonely and empty and swirling; the Mire is vast and still and ancient… Demeter, I found, was fresh, loud, and claustrophobic in its setting — you can hear the sea, and smell the air all the way through. Oh, those layouts. And oh, my god, that ending! YES I LOVE IT. FEEEEEEEL IT.

♥ Papa, written by Vera Greentea with art by Joseph Lacroix, Ben Jelter, Lizzy John.
Woah, woah, woah. Stop what you’re doing. PICK THIS UP. Super-duper short explorations of fable and family. These three stories are so nicely pitched, I either must write an essay about them, or say nothing but encourage you to get hold of Papa like now. (The latter is the probably most beneficial to you). I think the second one is my favourite. What’s yours?

♥ Avalon 2: The Girl and the Unicorn, created by Nunzio de Felippis and Christina Wier with Emma Vieceli, art by Emma Vieceli, tones by Nana Li. (Link to Amazon.co.uk listing — there’s gonna be other ways it’s sold, so, find your most preferred way!)
Lemme tell you a little story. So at the 2D festival in Derry, this young girl of 12 comes up to mine and Emma’s table, and this kid’s quite shy, so Emma begins talking about the books she’s got out on the table. She suggests Avalon’s the book for this little girl — it’s about a young, brave girl called Aeslin who travels to a fantasy world through a book, and has amazing adventures. This little girl’s face like, literally, LIGHTS up, like a proper “8D” face, snaps her head up to her mum to see if they can get the book, and it’s the most beautiful thing. This is her book. She totally comes out of her shell, and engages with Emma to chat a little more about the Avalon series. Honestly warmed my heart right up, and had I been PMTing that day I’m sure I would have broken down and wept. ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO CONTINUALLY MAKE THESE BRIGHT FACES BY PURCHASING.

Wow! I can’t believe we’re at issue #62 of the Phoenix already! Time flies! It’s doing so well as a comic, and I’m so happy for the team behind it, they have worked so, so hard to get the Phoenix going and spreading the word about it, and getting it into shops across the country (and internationally!)

Issue #62 features the start of a new boardgame series I’m doing: MEDIEVAL GAMES! I had, er, quite a LOT of fun making these. First up, we have “Who Can Steal a Scale from the Dragon?” in which you play as knights in a test of valour (and silliness) pit against one another to fetch the Key from the dungeons, and unlock the Door to the Dragon’s lair in order to steal the scale and prove you are the bravest! Will you make it past the traps? Will you avoid being turned into a troll? Can you reach the Door first…?

These games are designed so you can just open the centre spread, and play. All you need is a couple of dice (or dice-substitutes) and something to use as tokens… pennies, jelly-beans, or the downloadable-and-printable tokens I made, available on the Phoenix website. If you play it, let me know how you got on! There are more Medieval Games to come!

Wanted to write a bit about these two comics! First up is Dead Roots, a zombie anthology. I do rather like zombie stories, so this was up my street! I liked how each story focussed on how different people coped during a zombie outbreak. There’ll be more issues, so check it out here and show your support!

La Belle Dame sans Merci (part 1 of 4), by Philip Buchan and Karen Lusted, will be out at Thought Bubble. Based around the poem of the same name, we have part one of the story, some lovely pin-ups as extra material in the back, and a feminist essay at the back. Romantics and feminism in one? Hello, what more could you ask for! :D Check it out here, along with Bucky’s other work. I got to colour Karen’s lovely linework for the cover of issue one as well, which was real nice *^_^*

Okay! I’ll see people at Thought Bubble NEXT WEEK! Me and Paul are at Table 43! See you! \^_^/

Hi! Just as a quick update, I’ll be attending NICE along with mah bud Emma Vieceli! We will both have books for purchase and will most likely be sketching, too. It’s looking to be a really nice (sorry, sorry) event, so do come along and give a new show some support, and say hello to us!

Secondly, I got time to spend on something I’m really excited about! I’ve (literally) just finished a 4-pager for The Phoenix, which was written and devised by Neill Cameron. Neill is totally one of my favourite UK creators, and I was so pumped to get to work on something by him. I had *so* much fun making this comic, I can’t even begin to say! I really hope you guys will pick it up — you can get single issues of The Phoenix for just £2.99, delivered straight to your door (just to clear that up, because people always ask). I put up a little tiny snippet (like, really tiny — that section is about two inches high IRL) of it on my grainy Instagram the other day: http://web.stagram.com/n/autojoy I’m not sure which issue it will go out in yet, but I’ll let you know. I’ll be doing the cover, too!

Take care! ^_^/

Go webstore…! It’s open now. There is… so much stuff O_O; Because there is so much, I’ll give a quick listing here of what’s available right now… but once it’s gone, it’s gone! Here’s that list:

>>> ALL interiors plus the front cover from Fish + Chocolate: The Piper Man/The Cherry Tree/Matryoshka, including the title images
>>> The Golden Fables illustration series
>>> All Nelson interiors
>>> Both posters and both covers from The Lost Boy
>>> My cover for The Thrill Electric
>>> Various prints at A3 and A4

Most original pieces come with a same-sized, high-quality print of the finished image.

Coming soon are the interiors for The Lost Boy. I’ll wait a while until after the strip itself has finished its run before I put them up. There’s other stuff I’ll put up at a later date, when I can find it. I’m a but shopped-out at the moment, heh. If there’s something you want and it’s not around on the webstore, please give me an email and I’ll let you know if it’s available to buy! Thank you! :D