Get your Geek On (after you've taken your shoes off, please)

Many thanks go to Thom Burgess at Get Your Geek On - a website dedicated to cult tv, tech/gadgets, and, of course, comics - for he has just posted a comprehensive review of my three ghostly publications: The Grinning Man, Nature Red, and Proscenium! 

Check it out for a good word on what they're all about - and get yourself up to speed with all the latest news in games, tech, comics and tv, too!

Again Yet More Dirty Rotten Fun

"Remnant"; 420 x 594 mm ; oil on canvas

If your eyes appear to be watering and your nose is throbbing, it may be because Throwaway Press have just stepped out from behind a curtain and thrown yet another volume of excellent small press comics into your soft and delicate visage.

Just a thought.

Yes, it's true. Dirty Rotten Comics is back with its 12th volume. This time I have not provided a story within, but a story on the cover. Only I'll leave its interpretation up to you. Yup. Above is shown the image in its entirety; designed as a wraparound cover. Below you can see the image as printed on the back and front covers respectively, plus some concept sketches.

You can order the latest issue here. Fill yer boots.

Upwards and on, to Comic Con

Well, then. Here we are at last.

Hot - well, warmish, off the presses is my brand spanking new and spanking comic book Proscenium - best described as an anthology of Strange Stories. That and so much else besides will adorn my table at London Super Comic Con at the end of this very week.

As well as Proscenium, there will be copies of The Grinning Man and Nature Red; my two stand alone ghost story comic books, available too.

What else? Well, my second fan book - The Vault of Such; containing the collected art from the Vampire Variations series a while back plus various other illustrations from video games to classic horror movies, will be available alongside my remaining pair of custom painted shoes - Dragon Ball Z pair A. This pair is UK size 8. Prints, and Mike Read has Beautiful Breath; my strangely titled first fan book containing illustrations from video games, cartoons, and such, shall be available also.

So - if any of the above tickles your proverbial pickle; then my table, and indeed the rest of Artist's Alley, may be for you.

Yet More Dirty Rotten Fun

It's that time again.

Crack out the paper plates and Postman Pat tablecloths - UK Comics Anthology Dirty Rotten Comics have reached their tenth issue. In celebration, DRC #10 will feature and chin-bashing 92 pages of indie comics talent - and in full colour. MmmmMMMmmmm, I know!

I am very happy to be included in the line-up for this landmark small press title; having produced a brand new story - The Mulberry Tree especially for it.

You can now order this and previous issues of DRC in physical or digital copies on Amazon! Issue 10 may be ordered here.

My two other entries in the series: The Laundry Goblin and Insert 20 Pence are available in issues 7 and 8 respectively. But obviously there are multitudes of other reasons to buy them. Natch!

So yeah. Go nuts.

Alien Procrastination

With Alien: Covenant looming over the horizon, I thought it would be relevant for me to post this. Plus, I really should post something...

This was never intended to be seen by many, but here is a short silent comic I did for myself at the end of last year. It was conceived and designed as a storytelling exercise, and, where applicable, as a portfolio piece. Since I've been drawing Alien comics for myself since I was about 8 years old; it seemed both fun and natural. Yeah - I'm weird. I know.

The presence of anything actually 'Alienesque' was deliberately toned down to focus on mood and build-up.

The colour piece was just a mock 'cover' to go with it. It has no actual relevance to the story (little that there is) depicted.

 

Dirty Rotten Fun

Howdy everyone. It's been a while, hasn't it? I know, I escaped...

April 1st will see the release of Dirty Rotten Comics Issue 7 - a UK anthology of short comics from an enormous list of very talented creators. This issue I had the privilege of including my own short comic The Laundry Goblin within its voluptuous 68 pages.

You can check out DRC's website here, pre-order/purchase the issue through them here; and read previews of the comic from Broken Frontier and Down the Tubes.

In Tooth and Claw

 

Remember that new comic that I said was almost-sort-of-nearly here? Well, now it is. Really.

 

Nature, Red; the second of my stand-alone ghost stories is now available online and in select comic book retailers across the UK, including:

 

Orbital Comics

Gosh! Comics

Foyles (Charing Cross Road, London and Cabot Circus, Bristol)

Excelsior! Comics Bristol

 

Online it is available direct from myself through my shiny new Down In The Dark store. Also available there are limited quantities of The Grinning Man, Illustration and Such from Popular Culture Vol. 1, and a special 'double pack' allowing you to get both ghost story comics at a reduced cost. You're welcome.

 

Nature, Red is limited to 75 signed and numbered copies.

 

 

 

Nature, Red



 

The Grinning Man

 

 

Mike Read Has Beautiful Breath: Illustration and Such from Popular Culture Vol. 1

Nature, Red

 

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here. Sort of. Here is the second of my Ghost Story comic books. And on Christmas Eve, no less.

 

 

Some Things Burn Darker in the Forest of the Mind.

 

A Man sits next to a person in a bar. They start by saying nothing at all. The more they drink, the more comfortable they get. After a while they are talking freely, and the man confides in the other. He says in a low tone:

 

"Now. Here's a curious thing..."

 

And so begins our tale. Nature, Red is the story of one man's experience through a woodland area in Gloucestershire. The narrative takes the form of one half of the conversation, and is an exploration of the strange, the unnatural, and the dark side of Nature - human or otherwise.

 

As the story, and the stories behind those stories, begin to unfold, we begin to question how far the Ghosts of our past are willing to intrude upon our present; and we wonder how much we really can trust the word of another...

 

 

Nature, Red is a 40-page full-colour softcover; and shall hopefully be creeping its way into your peripheral vision very soon. Watch this space.

 

In the meantime, as it's Christmas Eve and all that, here is a brief section of the comic for your festive merriment.

 

 

 

 

 



Swipe that smirk off 'is face!!

 

With physical copies running dangerously low (after its third and final reprint) I hereby introduce: The Grinning Man - kindle edition!! Ta Dah. It's really the same as the print edition...just without the touchy-feely bits.

 

The 24-page Ghost Story comic book is available for direct download NOW at Amazon sites worldwide. It will work with any Amazon Kindle device (although because it's quite a big file and obviously heavy on the images - I personally recommend it for Kindle Fire devices and upwards) and also with the FREE Kindle app that's available for phones, tablets and other magical e-reading devices. Go nuts!

 

You can read a review of The Grinning Man by Broken Frontier's Andy Oliver just over here.

The Grinning Man...available NOW at your local store...

 

For those of you perhaps wanting to grab a copy of my comic book The Grinning Man but without having to look at my stupid face as you do so - might want to check out Orbital Comics in Central London, as they now stock a number of copies. Go oooooooooon - treat yourself - you never know, it may be raining when you get outside....and I hear A4 is just perfect for keeping rain off your hair...

 

As well as the good ol' folks at Orbital, TGM and also my fan book, Mike Read Has Beautiful Breath are now available on the Down In The Dark Store.

 

LSCC.....OMG.....etc.....

 

With the London Super Comic Con just around the corner - here's a peek at what I will have at my table during the weekend.

 

 

As mentioned in the earlier post - The Grinning Man is an A4 sized, 24-page comic book ghost story about a young boy's journey through his own memory; and his mysterious encounter with the enigmatic 'grinning' man. But as the memory unfolds and the truth becomes darker - the boy is forced to realise that nothing is ever as it seems...

 

 

 

Also available will be an A5 sized Fan Book:

 

 

 Mike Read Has Beautiful Breath is a 24-page collection of my illustrations deriving from popular culture. (There's a double pop culture reference in the title - brownie points to those who spot its origin/s.)

 

 

 

It collects various images of my various fandoms, past and present, blogged and unblogged. Through Film/TV, comics, cartoons, and video games. It also has a sketchbook section containing doodles and sketches showing the inner workings of some of the larger pieces. From Adventure Time to Zombies, and everything inbetween.

 

 

 

 

 

I will also be bringing along this little fella...

 

 

 

As well as shoes I have been painting on t-shirts, and the little Mite from Ni No Kuni and others will be available at my table throughout the weekend. SO, if you're looking for 30 seconds to kill whilst you chew on a falafel or whatever - why not come visit me? I'll most probably be the one scowling or snoozing in a corner somewhere...or perhaps I'll be the one waving at you frantically like a mad person. Who knows?